one step up to the duke and murmured in a choking voice--

"And the queen?"

"No one would believe you if you ventured to denounce her; but when the
Catanese and her son, the Count of Terlizzi and his wife and her most
intimate friends, have been accused by you, when they fail to endure the
torture, and when they denounce her unanimously--"

"I see, my lord. You do not only want my life; you would have my soul
too. Very well; once more I commend to you my children."

With a deep sigh he walked up to the tribunal. The chief-justice asked
Tommaso Pace the usual questions, and a shudder of horror passed through
the assembly when they saw the poor wretch in desperation opening his
mouth, which streamed with blood. But surprise and terror reached their
height when Nicholas of Melazzo slowly and firmly gave a list of Andre's
murderers, all except the queen and the princes of the blood, and went
on to give all details of the assassination.

Proceedings were at once taken for the arrest of the grand seneschal,
Robert of Cabane, and the Counts of Terlizzi and Morcone, who were
present and had not ventured to make any movement in self-defence. An
hour later, Philippa, her two daughters, and Dona Cancha joined them
in prison, after vainly imploring the queen's protection. Charles and
Bertrand of Artois, shut up in their fortress of Saint Agatha, bade
defiance to justice, and several others, among them the Counts of Meleto
and Catanzaro, escaped by flight.

As soon as Master Nicholas said he had nothing further to confess,
and that he had spoken the whole truth and nothing but the truth, the
chief-justice pronounced sentence amid a profound silence; and without
delay Tommaso Pace and the notary were tied to the tails of two horses,
dragged through the chief streets of the town, and hanged in the market
place.

The other prisoners were thrown into a subterranean vault, to be
questioned and put to the torture on the following day. In the evening,
finding themselves in the same dungeon, they reproached one another,
each pretending he had been dragged into the crime by someone else. Then
Dona Cancha, whose strange character knew no inconsistencies, even face
to face with death and torture, drowned with a great burst of laughter
the lamentations of her companions, and joyously exclaimed--

"Look here, friends, why these bitter recriminations--this ill-mannered
raving? We have no excuses to make, and we are all equally guilty. I