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 am
the youngest of all, and not the ugliest, by your leave, ladies, but if I
am condemned, at least I will die cheerfully. For I have never denied
myself any pleasure I could get in this world, and I can boast that much
will be forgiven me, for I have loved much: of that you, gentlemen, know
something. You, bad old man," she continued to the Count of Terlizzi,
"do you not remember lying by my side in the queen's ante-chamber? Come,
no blushes before your noble family; confess, my lord, that I am with
child by your Excellency; and you know how we managed to make up the
story of poor Agnes of Durazzo and her pregnancy--God rest her soul!