ly, "the Duke is not yet dead. It is
impossible to let him live. You may think he voiced only a caprice
just now. I think so too, but I know the man, and I know that all this
madman's whims are ruthless and irresistible. Living, Duke
Alessandro's appetites are merely whetted by opposition, so much so
that he finds no pleasures sufficiently piquant unless they have God's
interdiction as a sauce. Living, he will make of you his plaything,
and a little later his broken, soiled and castby plaything. It is
therefore necessary that I kill Duke Alessandro."

She parted from him, and he too rose to his feet.

"And afterward," she said quietly, "and afterward you must die just as
Tebaldeo died."

"That is the law, madonna. But whether Alessandro enters hell to-day
or later, I am a lost man."

"Oh, that is very true," she said. "A moment since you were Count
Eglamore, whom every person feared. Now there is not a beggar in the
kingdom who would change lots with you, for you are a friendless and
hunted man in peril of dreadful death. But even so, you are not
penniless, Count Eglamore, for these jewels here which formed part of
your masquerade are of great value, and there is a world outside. The
frontier is not two miles distant. You have only to escape into the
hill-country beyond the forest, and you need not kill Duke Alessandro
after all. I would have you go hence with hands as clean as possible."

"Perhaps I might escape." He found it quaint to note how calm she was
and how tranquilly his own thoughts ran. "But first the Duke must die,
because I dare not leave you to his mercy."

"How does that matter?" she returned. "You know very well that my
father intends to market me as best suits his interests. Here I am so
much merchandise. The Duke is as free as any other man to cry a
bargain." He would have spoken in protest, but Graciosa interrupted
wearily: "Oh, yes, it is to this end only that we daughters of Duke
Alessandro's vassals are nurtured, just as you told me--eh, how long
ago!--that such physical attractions as heaven accords us may be
marketed. And I do not see how a wedding can in any way ennoble the
transaction by causing it to profane a holy sacrament. Ah, no,
Balthazar's daughter was near attaining all that she had been taught to
desire, for a purchaser came and he bid lavishly. You know very well
that my father would have been delighted. But you must need upset the
bargain. 'No, I will