apparently
remembering nothing else in his hour of triumph but the scream that had
been caused by his former danger, picked up the bull's head, and, giving
it to one of his equerries, ordered him to lay it as an act of homage at
the feet of the fair Venetian who had bestowed upon him so lively a sign
of interest. This fete, besides affording a triumph to each of the young
men, had another end as well; it was meant to prove to the populace that
perfect goodwill existed between the two, since each had saved the life
of the other. The result was that, if any accident should happen to
Caesar, nobody would dream of accusing Alfanso; and also if any accident
should happen to Alfonso, nobody would dream, of accusing Caesar.

There was a supper at the Vatican. Alfonso made an elegant toilet, and
about ten o'clock at night prepared to go from the quarters he inhabited
into those where the pope lived; but the door which separated the two
courts of the building was shut, and knock as he would, no one came to
open it. Alfonso then thought that it was a simple matter for him to go
round by the Piazza of St. Peter's; so he went out unaccompanied through
one of the garden gates of the Vatican and made his way across the
gloomy streets which led to the stairway which gave on the piazza. But
scarcely had he set his foot on the first step when he was attacked by a
band of armed men. Alfonso would have drawn his sword; but before it was
out of the scabbard he had received two blows from a halberd, one on his
head, the other on his shoulder; he was stabbed in the side, and wounded
both in the leg and in the temple. Struck down by these five blows,
he lost his footing and fell to the ground unconscious; his assassins,
supposing he was dead, at once remounted the stairway, and found on
the piazza forty horsemen waiting for them: by them they were calmly
escorted from the city by the Porta Portesa. Alfonso was found at the
point of death, but not actually dead, by some passers-by, some of whom
recognised him, and instantly conveyed the news of his assassination to
the Vatican, while the others, lifting the wounded man in their arms,
carried him to his quarters in the Torre Nuova. The pope and Caesar, who
learned this news just as they were sitting down to table, showed great
distress, and leaving their companions, at once went to see Alfonso, to
be quite certain whether his wounds were fatal or not; and an the
next morning, to divert any suspi