of Bertrand of Artois--the whole
drama up to its tragic denouement showed as in letters of fire on the
dark background of her sombre thoughts. Then arose cries of anguish in
her soul, even as on that terrible fatal night she heard the voice of
Andre asking mercy from his murderers. A long deadly silence followed
his awful struggle, and the queen saw before her eyes the carts of
infamy and the torture of her accomplices. All the rest of this vision
was persecution, flight, exile, remorse, punishments from God and curses
from the world. Around her was a frightful solitude: husbands, lovers,
kindred, friends, all were dead; all she had loved or hated in the world
were now no more; her joy, pain, desire, and hope had vanished for
ever. The poor queen, unable to free herself from these visions of woe,
violently tore herself away from the awful reverie, and kneeling at a
prie-dieu, prayed with fervour. She was still beautiful, in spite of her
extreme pallor; the noble lines of her face kept their pure oval; the
fire of repentance in her great black eyes lit them up with superhuman
brilliance, and the hope of pardon played in a heavenly smile upon her
lips.

Suddenly the door of the room where Joan was so earnestly praying opened
with a dull sound: two Hungarian barons in armour entered and signed to
the queen to follow them. Joan arose silently and obeyed; but a cry of
pain went up from her heart when she recognised the place where both
Andre and Charles of Durazzo had died a violent death. But she collected
her forces, and asked calmly why she was brought hither. For all answer,
one of the men showed her a cord of silk and gold....

"May the will of a just God be done!" cried Joan, and fell upon her
knees. Some minutes later she had ceased to suffer.

This was the third corpse that was thrown over the balcony at Aversa.