dy."

Gonzaga nodded gravely, as if entirely approving, whilst with a fat
jewelled hand he stroked his ample chin.

"I, too, think that it is time," he said, whereupon Cosimo, with a sigh
of relief, would have resumed his seat but that I stayed him with the
last thing I had to say.

"My lord," I cried, appealing to Gonzaga, "the true events of that night
are set forth in a memorial of which two copies were drawn up, one for
the Pope and the other for your excellency, as the Emperor's vicegerent.
Shall I recite its contents--that Messer Cosimo may be examined upon
them.

"It is not necessary," came Gonzaga's icy voice. "The memorial is here
before me." And he tapped a document upon the table. Then he fixed his
prominent eyes upon Cosimo. "You are aware of its contents?" he asked.

Cosimo bowed, and Galeotto moved at last, for the first time since the
trial's inception.

Until now he had sat like a carved image, save when he had thrust out
a hand to restrain Falcone, and his attitude had filled me with an
unspeakable dread. But at this moment he leaned forward turning an ear
towards Cosimo, as if anxious not to miss a single word that the man
might utter. And Cosimo, intent as he was, did not observe the movement.

"I saw its fellow at the Vatican," said my cousin, "and since the
Pope in his wisdom and goodness judged worthless the witnesses whose
signatures it bears, his holiness thought well to issue the brief upon
which your excellency has acted in summoning Agostino d'Anguissola
before you here.

"Thus is that memorial disposed of as a false and lying document."

"And yet," said Gonzaga thoughtfully, his heavy lip between thumb and
forefinger, "it bears, amongst others, the signature of the Lord of
Pagliano's confessor."

"Without violation of the seal of the confessional, it is impossible
for that friar to testify," was the answer. "And the Holy Father cannot
grant him dispensation for so much. His signature, therefore, stands for
nothing."

There followed a moment's silence. The Ten whispered among themselves.
But Gonzaga never consulted them by so much as a glance. They appeared
to serve none but a decorative office in that Court of his, for they
bore no share in the dispensing of a justice of which he constituted
himself the sole arbiter.

At last the Governor spoke.

"It seems, indeed, that there is no more to say and the Court has a
clear course before it, since the Emperor cannot contravene the