"What you may infer," said the duke, reddening with anger, and
grievously embarrassed at his discovery--"What you may infer from this
silly bauble I shall not be at the pains to enquire. I addressed you,
my lord, in courteous and amicable terms; you have ill responded to
them; our conversation had better close here."

"As you will," said the chancellor, bowing; and he continued his way
towards the palace, with the same deliberate step with which he was
proceeding when accosted by the duke.

"He is master of our secret," muttered the duke. "He or I"----

CHAPTER II.

In an apartment of the palace fitted up with every luxury her native
Italy could supply, sat Bona, the young and beautiful queen of Poland.
She is known to have transplanted into that northern clime, not only
the arts and civilization of her own genial soil, but also the
intrigue and voluptuousness, and the still darker crimes for which it
was celebrated. Daughter of the crafty Sforza, Duke of Milan, educated
in a city and at a court where pleasure reigned predominant, married
out of policy to a monarch many years older than her own father, it
was almost to be expected that she should seek, in the society of some
gay cavalier, a compensation for this banishment to a northern
country, and a sexagenarian spouse. Nor had she hesitated long in her
choice. Albert Glinski, Duke of Lithuania, who, though he was the
father of a son ripening into manhood, was still in the vigour of
life, and surpassed all his younger rivals in grace of manner and
charm of conversation, had soon fixed her regard, and won whatever of
affection or love the luxurious princess had to bestow.

She now sat waiting his arrival. Punctually at the hour of eight he
entered. If any observer could have watched the duke as he traversed
the corridor which led to the queen's apartment, he would have had
great difficulty in believing that it was a favoured lover that was
passing before him; so serious a brow did he wear, and so deep an air
of abstraction was there on his countenance. No sooner, however, did
he enter that apartment, than, by a sudden effort, his countenance lit
up; his manner grew free and unrestrained, and he assumed that mingled
tone of gaiety and pathos so effective with the fair sex. Never had
the queen felt more entirely convinced of the merits of her cavalier;
never had she more thoroughly approved of the choice she had made.

When this favourable disposition was a