admiring his own cleverness in pursuing his
infernal schemes, and putting away his sad looks, he smiled again with an
expression of indefinable pride. The madman at this moment was scoffing
at the justice of God. But Lello of Aquila, who was waiting at the
table, bent down, whispering gloomily--

"Unhappy duke, why did you refuse to believe me? Fly, while there is yet
time."

Charles, angered by the man's obstinacy, threatened that if he were such
a fool as to say any more, he would repeat every word aloud.

"I have done my duty," murmured Lello, bowing his head; "now it must
happen as God wills."

As he left off speaking, the king rose, and as the duke went up to take
his leave, his face suddenly changed, and he cried in an awful voice--

"Traitor! At length you are in my hands, and you shall die as you
deserve; but before you are handed over to the executioner, confess with
your own lips your deeds of treachery towards our royal majesty: so shall
we need no other witness to condemn you to a punishment proportioned to
your crimes. Between our two selves, Duke of Durazzo, tell me first why,
by your infamous manoeuvring, you aided your uncle, the Cardinal of
Perigord, to hinder the coronation of my brother, and so led him on,
since he had no royal prerogative of his own, to his miserable end? Oh,
make no attempt to deny it. Here is the letter sealed with your seal; in
secret you wrote it, but it accuses you in public. Then why, after
bringing us hither to avenge our brother's death, of which you beyond all
doubt were the cause,--why did you suddenly turn to the queen's party
and march against our town of Aquila, daring to raise an army against our
faithful subjects? You hoped, traitor, to make use of us as a footstool
to mount the throne withal, as soon as you were free from every other
rival. Then you would but have awaited our departure to kill the viceroy
we should have left in our place, and so seize the kingdom. But this time
your foresight has been at fault. There is yet another crime worse than
all the rest, a crime of high treason, which I shall remorselessly
punish. You carried off the bride that our ancestor King Robert designed
for me, as you knew, by his will. Answer, wretch what excuse can you
make for the rape of the Princess Marie?"

Anger had so changed Louis's voice that the last words sounded like the
roar of a wild beast: his eyes glittered with a feverish light, his lips
were pale