, and he eagerly protested that it would
be well for others to follow his example. The Count of Terlizzi seemed
to express some doubt as to the prince's punctuality. Andre insisted, and
challenging all the barons present to see who would be up first, he
retired with the queen to the room that had been reserved for them, where
he very soon fell into a deep and heavy sleep. About two o'clock in the
morning, Tommaso Pace, the prince's valet and first usher of the royal
apartments, knocked at his master's door to rouse him for the chase.
At the first knock, all was silence; at the second, Joan, who had not
closed her eyes all night, moved as if to rouse her husband and warn him
of the threatened danger; but at the third knock the unfortunate young
man suddenly awoke, and hearing in the next room sounds of laughter and
whispering, fancied that they were making a joke of his laziness, and
jumped out of bed bareheaded, in nothing but his shirt, his shoes half on
and half off. He opened the door; and at this point we translate
literally the account of Domenico Gravina, a historian of much esteem.
As soon as the prince appeared, the conspirators all at once fell upon
him, to strangle him with their hands; believing he could not die by
poison or sword, because of the charmed ring given him by his poor
mother. But Andre was so strong and active, that when he perceived the
infamous treason he defended himself with more than human strength, and
with dreadful cries got free from his murderers, his face all bloody, his
fair hair pulled out in handfuls. The unhappy young man tried to gain his
own bedroom, so as to get some weapon and valiantly resist the assassins;
but as he reached the door, Nicholas of Melazzo, putting his dagger like
a bolt into the lock, stopped his entrance. The prince, calling aloud
the whole time and imploring the protection of his friends, returned to
the hall; but all the doors were shut, and no one held out a helping
hand; for the queen was silent, showing no uneasiness about her husband's
death.

But the nurse Isolda, terrified by the shouting of her beloved son and
lord, leapt from her bed and went to the window, filling the house with
dreadful cries. The traitors, alarmed by the mighty uproar, although the
place was lonely and so far from the centre of the town that nobody could
have come to see what the noise was, were on the point of letting their
victim go, when Bertrand of Artois, who felt he was