and
a suit was begun.

But as it was no easy task to prove an accusation of this nature,
especially if the archbishop should persist in maintaining that the
dispensation was really granted by the pope, it was resolved to employ
a trick with him which could not fail to succeed. One evening the
Archbishop of Cosenza saw Cardinal Valentino come into his prison; with
that frank air of affability which he knew well how to assume when it
could serve his purpose, he explained to the prisoner the embarrassing
situation in which the pope was placed, from which the archbishop alone,
whom His Holiness looked upon as his best friend, could save him.

The archbishop replied that he was entirely at the service of His
Holiness.

Caesar, on his entrance, found the captive seated, leaning his elbows
on a table, and he took a seat opposite him and explained the pope's
position: it was an embarrassing one. At the very time of contracting so
important an alliance with the house of Aragon as that of Lucrezia and
Alfonso, His Holiness could not avow to Ferdinand and Isabella that, for
the sake of a few miserable ducats, he had signed a dispensation which
would unite in the husband and wife together all the legitimate claims
to a throne to which Ferdinand and Isabella had no right at all but
that of conquest. This avowal would necessarily put an end to all
negotiations, and the pontifical house would fall by the overthrow
of that very pedestal which was to have heightened its grandeur.
Accordingly the archbishop would understand what the pope expected of
his devotion and friendship: it was a simple and straight avowal that he
had supposed he might take it upon himself to accord the dispensation.
Then, as the sentence to be passed on such an error would be the
business of Alexander, the accused could easily imagine beforehand how
truly paternal such a sentence would be. Besides, the reward was in the
same hands, and if the sentence was 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 t