r was as
follows: entering the house by the passage of the stables, which
are in the middle, and advancing into the first room, we found two
side-boards, one for the service of plates, and the other for that
of the glasses, from which we were to supply the guests with drink.
From the said room, on the left, we passed to that where the tables
were laid, and the windows of which looked out on the country.
Between the room where they were to dine, and that where the
side-boards stood, was a square room, serving as an antechamber and
passage. Whilst they were eating, I was to take care that every
time the secretary Escovedo asked for drink, I should be the person
to serve him. I had thus the opportunity of giving him some twice;
pouring the poisoned water into his wine at the moment I passed
through the antechamber, about a nutshell-full, as I had been
ordered. The dinner over, secretary Escovedo went away, but the
others remained to play, and Antonio Perez having gone out for a
moment, rejoined his major-domo and me in one of the apartments
over the court-yard, where we gave him an account of the quantity
of water that had been poured into secretary Escovedo's glass;
after which, he returned to play. We heard, afterwards, that the
beverage had produced no effect.

"'A few days subsequent to this ill success, secretary Antonio
Perez gave another dinner in what is called Cordon House, which
belonged to the count of Punon Rostro, where secretary Escovedo,
Dona Juana Coello, the wife of Perez, and other guests, were
present. Each of them was served with a dish of milk or cream, and
in Escovedo's was mixed a powder like flour. I gave him, moreover,
some wine mixed with the water of the preceding dinner. This time
it operated better, for secretary Escovedo was very ill, without
guessing the reason. During his illness, I found means for one of
my friends, the son of captain Juan Rubio, governor of the
principality of Melfi, and formerly Perez's major-domo (which son,
after having been page to Dona Juana Coello, was a scullion in the
king's kitchens), to form an acquaintance with secretary Escovedo's
cook, whom he saw every morning. Now, as they prepared for the sick
man a separate broth, this scullion, taking advantage of a moment
when nobody saw him, c