will meet you to-morrow at this hour at the
water-gate of the palace. I will come in the Gonzaga barge, and we will
flee together to Venice, and thence whither you will."

As she spoke the door leading into the palace was flung open, and the
Grand Duke followed by courtiers and ladies came toward them.

"Ah! here are our actors," he exclaimed, "bring the laurel crowns. This
for my niece and this for the gifted artist who has honoured our
festival. Come forward Brandilancia and receive the token of our
appreciation." But as the wreath was presented the Grand Duchess caught
her husband's arm, exclaiming: "Ferdinando, this is the false Earl of
Essex who deceived us all in Rome. Ask Radicofani, ask your niece, she
cannot have failed to recognise him."

"Nay, ask the French envoy," replied Marie de' Medici, "his Highness the
Duke of Nevers will tell you whom we have the honour to entertain as our
guest."

"I, Mademoiselle," exclaimed the representative of the French King,
"truly, I have never before looked upon his face."

"Declare yourself Sire, I beseech of you," Marie de' Medici implored,
and Brandilancia answered calmly:

"I am the authorised representative of the Earl of Essex. Brandilancia
is the Italian equivalent of my name, which in English is plain Will
Shakespeare. That I am an actor and playwright you have graciously
conceded, and that is the only distinction which I have ever claimed."

His words carried overwhelming conviction to the brain of the deluded
girl, and she sank fainting into the arms of the man whom she had so
misunderstood and who was still far from comprehending the cause of her
emotion.

"Leave my niece to the care of her women," the Grand Duke commanded
sternly. "Radicofani, is this indeed the rogue who slipped from your
clutches?"

"It is, my lord," replied that worthy, as he grasped the actor's arm.

"Then consign him to the hospitalities of our sky-parlour. In the cage
suspended from that tower, young man, you may await my investigation of
your case."

From his lofty outlook in the iron cage, dizzily suspended between earth
and heaven, our adventurer obtained a new and wider view. The palace and
its life dwindled to a speck. Far away to the north he could discern the
white summits of the mountains that cradle the blue lake of Garda, while
at his feet the Mincio flowed peacefully toward the Adriatic, where a
good ship (on which, but for his folly in pausing at Mantua, he might on