void this marriage. Yes, it
shall be set in writing and signed by me and witnessed ere I die. There
is ink and parchment in yonder little room."

"That's a good thought," said Hugh. "Dick, fetch the tools, for if we
try to move this fellow he will go farther than we can follow him."

Dick went and returned presently with an ink-horn, a roll of parchment,
pens and a little table. Then Hugh sat himself down on the altar rail,
placing the table in front of him and said:

"Say on. I'll write, since you cannot."

Now Nicholas, having before his glazing eyes the vision of imminent
judgment, briefly but clearly told all the truth at last. He told how he
had drugged Red Eve, giving the name of the bane which he mixed in the
milk she drank. He told how when her mind was sleeping, though her body
was awake, none knowing the wickedness that had been wrought save he and
Acour, and least of all her father, they had led her to the altar like
a lamb to the slaughter, and there married her to the man she hated. He
told how, although he had fled from England to save his life, Acour had
never ceased to desire her and to plot to get her into his power, any
more than he had ceased to fear Hugh's vengeance. For this reason, he
said, he had clad himself in the armour of another knight at Crecy, and
in that guise accepted mercy at Hugh's hand, leaving de la Roche to
die in his place beneath that same hand. For this reason also he had
commanded him, Nicholas, to bring about the death of Hugh de Cressi and
his squire beneath the daggers of assassins in the streets of Venice,
a fate from which they had been saved only by the wizard in the yellow
cap, whom no steel could harm.

"The black-hearted villain!" hissed Dick. "Well, for your comfort, holy
priest, I'll tell you who that wizard is. He is Death himself, Death the
Sword, Death the Fire, Death the Helper, and presently you'll meet him
again."

"I knew it, I knew it," groaned the wretched man. "Oh! such is the end
of sin whereof we think so little in our day of strength."

"Nay," broke in Hugh, "you'll meet, not the minister, but Him whom he
serves and in His hand are mercies. Be silent, Dick, for this wretch
makes confession and his time is short. Spare the tool and save your
wrath for him who wielded it. Go now and fetch David Day that he may
witness also."

So Dick went, and Nicholas continued his tale, throwing light into many
a dark place, though there was little more that Hugh