ould have been induced
to take share in the murder of her husband.' After some conversation
with the envoy, he added: 'It is certainly an ugly business. But what
can we do now that she has taken the veil?' Then he promised to
deliberate upon the matter, and return an answer later. Petrucci soon
perceived that the Church did not mean to relinquish its privileges, and
that Umilia was supported by powerful friends at court. Cardinal
Castrucci remarked in casual conversation: 'She is surely punished
enough for her sins by the life of the cloister.' A second interview
with Clement on June 21 confirmed him in the opinion that the Republic
would not obtain the dispensation they requested. Meanwhile the Signory
of Lucca prepared a schedule of the suspicions against Umilia, grounded
upon her confused evidence, her correspondence with Massimiliano, the
fact that she had done nothing to rescue Lelio by calling out, and her
sudden resort to the convent. This paper reached the Pope, who, on July
8, expressed his view that the Republic ought to be content with leaving
Umilia immured in her monastery; and again, upon the 23rd, he pronounced
his final decision that 'the lady, being a nun, and tonsured and
prepared for the perfect life, is not within the jurisdiction of your
Signory. It is further clear that, finding herself exposed to the
calumnies of those two witnesses, and injured in her reputation, she
took the veil to screen her honor.' On August 13, Petrucci returned to
Lucca.

Clement conceded one point. He gave commission to the Bishop of Lucca to
inquire into Umilia's conduct within the precincts of the monastery. But
the council refused this intervention, for they were on bad terms with
the Bishop, and resented ecclesiastical interference in secular causes.
Moreover, they judged that such an inquisition without torture used, and
in a place of safety, would prove worse than useless. Thus the affair
dropped.

Meanwhile we may relate what happened to Massimiliano and his _bravi_.
They escaped, through Garfagnana and Massa, into the territory of
Alfonso Malaspina, Marquis of Villafranca and Tresana. This nobleman,
who delighted in protecting outlaws, placed the four men in security in
his stronghold of Tresana. Pietro da Castelnuovo was an outlaw from
Tuscany for the murder of a Carmelite friar, which he had committed at
Pietrasanta a few days before the assassination of Lelio. Seventeen
years after these events he was still al