and the carnifex alone
stood stolidly indifferent. Ramiro was to them the man that hired them;
with his intriguing they had no concern.

For a moment or two there was a silence, and Ramiro sat staring before
him, his white face glistening with the sweat of fear. A very coward at
heart was this overbearing ogre of Cesena, who for years had been the
terror and scourge of the countryside. At last he mastered his emotion
and sprang to his feet.

"You have had the laugh of me," he snarled, fury now ringing in his
voice. "But ere you die you may regret it that you mocked me."

He turned to the executioner.

"Strip him," he commanded fiercely. "He shall not hang as I intended--at
least not before we have torn every bone of his body from its socket.
To the cord with him!" And he pointed to the torture at the end of the
hall.

The executioner made shift to obey him when suddenly Madonna Paola
leapt to her feet, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright with a new
excitement.

"Is there none here," he cried, appealing to Ramiro's officers, "that
will draw his sword in the service of his overlord, the Duca Valentino?
There stands a traitor, and there one who has proven his loyalty to
Cesare Borgia. The Duke is likely to demand a heavy price for the
life of that faithful one to whose warning he owes his escape of
assassination. Will none of you side now with the right that anon you
may stand well with Cesare Borgia when he comes? Or, by idly allowing
this traitor to have his way, will you participate in the punishment
that must be his?"

It was the very spur they needed. And scarce was that final question of
hers flung at those knaves, when the answer came from one of them. It
was that same sturdy Lupone.

"I, for one, am for the Duke," said he, and his sword leapt from its
scabbard. "I draw my iron for Valentino. Let every loyal man do likewise
and seize this traitor." And with his sword he pointed at Ramiro.

In an instant three others bared their weapons and ranged themselves
beside him. The remaining two--of whom was Lucagnolo--folded their
hands, manifesting by that impassivity that they were minded to take
neither one side nor the other.

The carnifex paused in his labours of undressing me, and the affair
promised to grow interesting. But Ramiro did not stand his ground. Fury
swelling his veins and crimsoning his huge face, he sprang to the door
and bellowed to his guards. Six men trooped in almost at once, and
re