ly passed from his possession."

Cesare smiled.

"In recompense for the service you have rendered me this day," said he,
and my heart thrilled at the words and at the thought of the joy which
I was about to bear to my old mother, "I reinvest you in your lands
of Biancomonte for so long as you are content to recognise in me your
overlord, and to be loyal, true and faithful to my rule."

I bowed, murmuring something of the joy I felt and the devotion I should
entertain.

"Then that is done with. You shall have the deed from my hand by
morning. And now, Madonna, will you grant me some explanation of your
conduct in leaving Pesaro in this man's company, instead of repairing to
your brother's house, when you awakened from the effects of the
potion Ramiro gave you, or must I seek the explanation from Messer
Biancomonte?"

Her eyes fell before the scrutiny of his, and when they were raised
again it was to meet my glance, and if Cesare could not, for himself,
read the message of those eyes, why then, his penetration was by no
means what the world accounted it.

"My lord," I cried, "let me explain. I love Madonna Paola. It was love
of her that led me to the church and kept me there that night. It was
love of her and the overmastering passion of my grief at her so sudden
death that led me, in a madness, to desire once more to look upon her
face ere they delivered it to earth's keeping. Thus was it that I came
to discover that she lived; thus was it that I anticipated Ramiro del'
Orca. He came upon us almost before I had raised her from the coffin,
yet love lent me strength and craft to delude him. We hid awhile in the
sacristy, and it was there, after Madonna had revived, that the pent-up
passion of years burst the bond with which reason had bidden me restrain
it."

"By the Host!" cried Cesare, his brows drawn down in a frown. "You are a
bold man to tell me this. And you, Madonna," he cried, turning suddenly
to her, "what have you to say?"

"Only, my lord, that I have suffered more I think in these past few days
than has ever fallen to the life-time's share of another woman. I think,
my lord, that I have suffered enough to have earned me a little peace
and a little happiness for the remainder of my days. All my life have
men plagued me with marriages that were hateful to me, and this has
culminated in the brutal act of Ramiro del' Orca. Do you not think that
I have endured enough?"

He stared at her for a moment.

"