herself opened. The assassins entered, and the two women awaited the
issue in the room adjoining.

After a moment, seeing the sbirri reappear pale and nerveless, shaking
their heads without speaking, they at once inferred that nothing had
been done.

"What is the matter?" cried Beatrice; "and what hinders you?"

"It is a cowardly act," replied the assassins, "to kill a poor old man
in his sleep. At the thought of his age, we were struck with pity."

Then Beatrice disdainfully raised her head, and in a deep firm voice
thus reproached them:--

"Is it possible that you, who pretend to be brave and strong, have not
courage enough to kill a sleeping old man? How would it be if he were
awake? And thus you steal our money! Very well: since your cowardice
compels me to do so, I will kill my father myself; but you will not long
survive him."

Hearing these words, the sbirri felt ashamed of their irresolution, and,
indicating by signs that they would fulfil their compact, they entered
the room, accompanied by the two women. As they had said, a ray of
moonlight shone through the open window, and brought into prominence
the tranquil face of the old man, the sight of whose white hair had so
affected them.

This time they showed no mercy. One of them carried two great nails,
such as those portrayed in pictures of the Crucifixion; the other bore a
mallet: the first placed a nail upright over one of the old man's eyes;
the other struck it with the hammer, and drove it into his head. The
throat was pierced in the same way with the second nail; and thus the
guilty soul, stained throughout its career with crimes of violence,
was in its turn violently torn from the body, which lay writhing on the
floor where it had rolled.

The young girl then, faithful to her word, handed the sbirri a large
purse containing the rest of the sum agreed upon, and they left. When
they found themselves alone, the women drew the nails out of the wounds,
wrapped the corpse in a sheet, and dragged it through the rooms towards
a small rampart, intending to throw it down into a garden which had been
allowed to run to waste. They hoped that the old man's death would be
attributed to his having accidentally fallen off the terrace on his way
in the dark to a closet at the end of the gallery. But their strength
failed them when they reached the door of the last room, and, while
resting there, Lucrezia perceived the two sbirri, sharing the money
before making