as that of a father, the recompense would be that of a
king. In fact, this recompense would be no less than the honour of
assisting as envoy, with the title of cardinal, at the marriage of
Lucrezia and Alfonso--a favour which would be very appropriate, since it
would be thanks to his devotion that the marriage could take place.

The Archbishop of Cosenza knew the men he was dealing with; he knew that
to save their own ends they would hesitate at nothing; he knew they had a
poison like sugar to the taste and to the smell, impossible to discover
in food--a poison that would kill slowly or quickly as the poisoner
willed and would leave no trace behind; he knew the secret of the
poisoned key that lay always on the pope's mantelpiece, so that when His
Holiness wished to destroy some one of his intimates, he bade him open a
certain cupboard: on the handle of the key there was a little spike, and
as the lock of the cupboard turned stiffly the hand would naturally
press, the lock would yield, and nothing would have come of it but a
trifling scratch: the scratch was mortal. He knew, too, that Caesar wore
a ring made like two lions' heads, and that he would turn the stone on
the inside when he was shaking hands with a friend. Then the lions'
teeth became the teeth of a viper, and the friend died cursing Borgia.
So he yielded, partly through fear, partly blinded by the thought of the
reward; and Caesar returned to the Vatican armed with a precious paper,
in which the Archbishop of Cosenza admitted that he was the only person
responsible for the dispensation granted to the royal nun.

Two days later, by means of the proofs kindly furnished by the
archbishop, the pope; in the presence of the governor of Rome, the
auditor of the apostolic chamber, the advocate, and the fiscal attorney,
pronounced sentence, condemning the archbishop to the loss of all his
benefices and ecclesiastical offices, degradation from his orders, and
confiscation of his goods; his person was to be handed over to the civil
arm. Two days later the civil magistrate entered the prison to fulfil
his office as received from the pope, and appeared before the archbishop,
accompanied by a clerk, two servants, and four guards. The clerk
unrolled the paper he carried and read out the sentence; the two servants
untied a packet, and, stripping the prisoner of his ecclesiastical
garments, they reclothed him in a dress of coarse white cloth which only
reached down to hi