les; you, Joan, and
you, Andre, will never forget the love and respect that are due between
husband and wife, and mutually sworn by you at the foot of the altar; and
you, my nephews all; my barons, my officers, render homage to your lawful
sovereigns; Andre of Hungary, Louis of Tarentum, Charles of Durazzo,
remember that you are brothers; woe to him who shall imitate the perfidy
of Cain! May his blood fall upon his own head, and may he be accursed by
Heaven as he is by the mouth of a dying man; and may the blessing of the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit descend upon that man whose heart is
good, when the Lord of mercy shall call to my soul Himself!"

The king remained motionless, his arms raised, his eyes fixed on heaven,
his cheeks extraordinarily bright, while the princes, barons, and
officers of the court proffered to Joan and her husband the oath of
fidelity and allegiance. When it was the turn of the Princes of Duras to
advance, Charles disdainfully stalked past Andre, and bending his knee
before the princess, said in a loud voice, as he kissed her hand--

"To you, my queen, I pay my homage."

All looks were turned fearfully towards the dying man, but the good king
no longer heard. Seeing him fall back rigid and motionless, Dona Sancha
burst into sobs, and cried in a voice choked with tears--

"The king is dead; let us pray for his soul."

At the very same moment all the princes hurried from the room, and every
passion hitherto suppressed in the presence of the king now found its
vent like a mighty torrent breaking through its banks.

"Long live Joan!" Robert of Cabane, Louis of Tarentum, and Bertrand of
Artois were the first to exclaim, while the prince's tutor, furiously
breaking through the crowd and apostrophising the various members of the
council of regency, cried aloud in varying tones of passion, "Gentlemen,
you have forgotten the king's wish already; you must cry, 'Long live
Andre!' too;" then, wedding example to precept, and himself making more
noise than all the barons together, he cried in a voice of thunder--

"Long live the King of Naples!"

But there was no echo to his cry, and Charles of Durazzo, measuring the
Dominican with a terrible look, approached the queen, and taking her by
the hand, slid back the curtains of the balcony, from which was seen the
square and the town of Naples. So far as the eye could reach there
stretched an immense crowd, illuminated by streams of light, and