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Show : LOTC j or j ; , Death ; Rafael Sabatini i t (Copyright) ; ! WNU Scrvlo A CHAPTERI IV C ontinued 11 And now tlie fire in Ills eyes was not slniulutod. "It Is Impossible Unit you should not scorn my love," snid he. "Scorn It? I? I who have awakened awak-ened It I who have desired It?" "Desired It?" he echoed, almost In i whisper. "Desired It?" For a spell they stood so. staring each Into the other's eyes ; then they fell into each other's arms, she sobbing sob-bing lu her extreme joy, and lie upon the verge of doing no less, for, as you will perceive, It hod been a very Trying Try-ing morning for him. And it was thus the I.ady of San Leo and the Borgia enptain clasped heart to heart under the summer sky that Messer Tolentlno found them. Marveling at the long delay, the castellan had thought It well to go after them. And what he now beheld struck him to stone, left blm sranlnc like a foolish Image. They fell apart for very decency, and then the lady, rosily confused, presented Messer Lorenzo to the castellan cas-tellan as her future lord, and explained ex-plained to him in confidence and as she understood It the true reason of that gentleman's visit to San Leo. Thereafter. Messer Lorenzo was fared for as become a man of his position. A bath was prepared for lilm ; fresh garments were found to fit him, the richest and anost becoming becom-ing being selected ; the garrison was disappointed of Its execution, and the Borgia captain went to dine at Madonna's Ma-donna's table. For this banquet the choicest viands that the besieged commanded com-manded were forthcoming, and the rarest wines from Floravantl's cellar were procured. In all Italy there was no happier man In that hour than Lorenzo Cas-trocaro, Cas-trocaro, who, from the very edge of death, saw himself suddenly thrust up to the highest and best that he could have dared to ask of life. His happiness entirely engrossed his mind nwhile. All else was forgotten. But suddenly, quite suddenly, remembrance remem-brance flooded back upon him and left him cold with horror. He had been midway through his second song. Madonna languishing beside hlin, and ha ohninHp The lllfp fell I clattering from his grasp, which had j suddenly grown nerveless. I .With a startled cry his mistress I leaned over him. j "Enzo! Are you ill?" I He rose precipitately. I "No, no; not 111. But oh !" He 1 clenched his hands and groaned. 1 She too had risen, all sweet sollcl- I hide, demanding to know what ailed I him. He turned to her a face that ' j was blank with despair. I "What have 1 done? What have j 1 done?" he cried, thereby Increasing I her alarm. I It crossed her mind that perhaps j Hie effect of the magician's philter j was beginning to wane. Fearfully, j urgently she Insisted upon knowing j what might be alarming him ; and he, I teeing himself forced to explain, j paused but an Instant to choose u I middle course In words, to find ex-1 ex-1 i.rossious that would not betray htm. I "Why, It Is this," he cried, and I there was real chagrin in his voice as j there was in his heart. "In my hot I niHdness to come hither, I never I paused to count the cost. I am a Bor-I Bor-I gla captain, and at this moment no I better than a traitor, a deserter who I has abandoned his trust and his con-I con-I dotta to go over to the enemy to sit I here and take my ease In the very I castle that my duke Is now besieging. I "By heaven, It had been a thousand I times better had Tolentlno made an TOO of nie this morning as he Intended'" Intend-ed'" Then he checked abruptly, and turned to her penitently. "Ah, no, no! 1 meant not thnt, Madonna I I spoke 'itliout rellectlng. I were an Ingrate ; 10 desire that an Ingrate and a fool. i for had they killed me I had never known this day of happiness." E "Vet wha.t Is to be done?" she cried, misliing her hands together In her cony of mind. "What is to be done, y Knzo? To let you now depart ;. uld no longer save you. Oh. let me a 'nk, let me think !"' And then, nl- a ost nt once: "There Is a way!" she tr,ed; and on that cry, which had 1, keen one of gladness, she fell sud- f fonly very gloomy and thoughtful. e What n'ny?" qtioth he. n "I fear It Is the oiilv way,'.' she said ;a so wistfully. And then he guessed what was In 7 mind and repudiated the suggestion. sugges-tion. "Ah! Not that," he protested. l4 1111 way we must not think of. I oall not let you not even to save 18 T life." 6 on the word she looked up at. and her dark eye kindled anew I(,vue enthusiasm. n save your life yes. That Is mi ; enniiph to Justify me. For noth- "a '" would I do it, Knzo ; but to save youyou whom I have brought Into this pass " "What are you saying, sweet?" he cried. "Why, that the fault Is mine, and that I must pay the penalty." "The fault?" ' "Did I not bring you hither?" He flushed, something III at ease to see as he supposed his lie recoiling now upon him. "Listen!" she pursued. "You shall do as I bid you. You shall go as my envoy to Cesare Borgia, and you shall offer him the surrender of San Leo In my name, stipulating only for the honors of war and the safe-conduct of my garrison." "No, no!" he protested still, and honestly, his villainy grown repugnant. repug-nant. "Besides, how shall that serve me?" "You shall say that you knew a way to win into San Leo and accomplish accom-plish this which," she added, smiling smil-ing wistfully, "Is, after all. the truth. The duke will be too well content con-tent with the result to quarrel with the means employed." He averted his face. "Oh ! But It Is shameful !" he cried out, and meant not what si e supposed sup-posed him to mean. "In a few days In a few weeks, at most It will become Inevitable." she reminded him. "After all, what do I sacrifice? A little pride, no more than that. And shall that weigh against your life with me? Better surrender now. when I have something some-thing to gain from surrender, than later, when I shall have all to lose." He considered. Indeed, It was the only way. And, after all, he was robbing rob-bing her of nothing that she must not yield In time of nothing, after all, that It might not be his to restore her very soon, in part at least. "Be It so, my Blanca," he said ; "but upon terms more eenerous than vou 1 I "It Is Impossible That You Should Not Scorn My Love," Said He. have named. You shall not quit your dwelling here. Let your garrison depart, de-part, but you remain !" "How Is that possible?" she asked. "It shall be," he assured her confidently, confi-dently, the promised governorship In his mind. CHAPTER V That evening, with letters appointing appoint-ing him her plenipotentiary, he rode out of San Leo alone, and made his way down Into the valley by the bridle path. At the foot of this he came upon Delia Volpe's pickets, who bore him off to their captain, refusing to" believe his statement that he was Lorenzo Castrocaro. When Delia Volpe beheld him the warrior's single eye expressed at once suspicion and satisfaction. -Where have you been?" he demanded de-manded harshly. "In San Leo, yonder," answered Castrocaro Cas-trocaro simply. Delia Volpe swore picturesquely. 'We had accounted you dead. My men have been searching for your body all day at the foot of the rock." "i deplore your disappointment and the wasted labor," said Lorenzo, smiling- and Delia Volpe swore again. "How came you to fail, and, having failed, how come you out alive?" "1 have not failed." was tne answei. am riding to the duke with the garrison's gar-rison's terms of capitulation." Delia Volpe very rudely refused to believe him, whereupon Messer Lorenzo Lor-enzo thrust under the condottiero's single eve Madonna Blanca 's letters. At that "the veteran sneered nnpleas- Bv the horns of Satan! I see! You ever had a way with the women Lorenzo. I see!"' -Vor' a one-eyed man yon see too aw'av willnf l-XVlamwed. Ooodo.tf.tr t was very late when he reached 'nln0 nut late as It Nvas-long after n, dn"ght-the duke was not abed. In-'"eed In-'"eed Cesare Borgia never seemed to Ten At any hour of the day or night to be found by those whose patches for i presence. Z the young captain 'Xtr- quoth he sharply. "Do you br,ng 1 news of the capture of San Le.?Not exactly, highness," replied the condottiero. "But I bring you a pr posaT of surrender, aDd the articles of 1 cupltulatlon. If your highness will I sign them. I shall take possession of San Leo In your name tomorrow." The duke's fine eyes scanned the confident young face very searchlngly. He smiled quietly. "You will take possession?" he said, "As the governor appointed by your highness," Messer Lorenzo blandly explained. ex-plained. He laid his letters before the Duke, who scanned them with a swift eye, then tossed them to Agablto that the latter might con them more minutely. "There is a provision that the Lady Blanca de Fioravantl Is to remain In San Leo," said the secretary, mar- I vellng. ' 1 "Why that?" quoth Cesare of Messer Lorenzo. "Why, Indeed, any conditions?" condi-tions?" "Matters have put on a curious complexion," com-plexion," the condottlero "expounded. "Things went not so smoothly with me as I had hoped. I will spare your highness the details; but, in short, I was caught within the castle walls, and and I had to make the best terms I could under such circumstances." i "You do not, I trust, account them disadvantageous to yourself?" said Cesare. "It would distress me that It should be so. But I cannot think It; for Madonna Blanca Is accounted very beautiful." Castrocaro crimsoned in his sudden I and extreme confusion. For once he j was entirely out of countenance. "You are Informed of the clrcum- ! stances, highness?" was all that he could say. C'esare's laugh was short and almost contemptuous. "I am something of a seer," he replied. re-plied. "I could have foretold this end ere ever you set out. You have done well," he added, "and the governorship governor-ship Is yours. See to It at once, Agablto. Aga-blto. Ser Lorenzo will be In haste to return to Madonna Blanca." A half-hour later, after the bewildered bewil-dered yet happy Castrocaro had departed de-parted to ride north again. Cesare rose from his writing table, yawned, and smiled at the secretary, who had his confidence and affection. "And so, San Leo, that might have held out for a year, Is won," he said, and softly rubbed his hands In satisfaction. satis-faction. "This Castrocaro thinks It Is all his own achievement. The lady Imagines that It is all her own by the aid of that charlatan Trlsmeglstus. Neither dreams that all has fallen out as I had Intended, and by my contriving." con-triving." He made philosophy for the benefit of Messer Agabito : "Who would achieve greatness must learn not only to use men, but to use them In such a manner that they never suspect they are being used. Had I not chanced to overhear what I overheard that night at the house of Corvlnus Trismegistus, and, knowing what I knew, set the human pieces In this game In motion to yield me this result, matters might have been different Indeed, In-deed, nnd lives would have been lost ere San Leo threw up Its gates. And I have seen to It that the wizard's elixir of love should do precisely as he promised for It. Madonna Blancn, at least, believes In that Impostor." "You had foreseen this, highness, when von sent Castrocaro on that dan gerous errand?'' Agablto ventured to Inquire. "What else? Where should I have found a man for whom the matter was less dangerous? He did not know that Madonna Bianca was there. I had the foresight to keep that matter secret. I sent him, confident thnt, should he fail to open the gates to Delia Volpe and be taken, he was crafty enough not to betray himself, and Madonna must, of course, assume that It was her love-phllter had brought him to her Irresistibly. Could she have hanged him, knowing that? Could she have done other than she has done? "Indeed, Corvlnus has served you well." v, , "So well that he shall have his t.fe. The precious poison has failed to kill him, and this is the sixteenth day." The' duke laughed shortly, and thrust his thumbs Into the girdle of his robe, which was of cloth of gold, reversed ! witli ermine. "Give the order for his release tomorrow, Agablto. But bid them keep me his tongue and his fight hand as remembrances. Thus he will never write or speak another lie." San Leo capitulated on the morrow. Tolentlno and his men rode out with the honors of war, lance on thigh, the captain very surly at the affair, which he contemptuously admitted passed his understanding. Into the fortress came then Messer Lorenzo Castrocaro at the head of a troop of his own me", s"' ernorship at the feet of Madonna Blanca. , . Xnev were married that very day Id the chapel of the fortress and although al-though It was some years before each made to the other the confession of the deceit which each had practiced he surviving evidence all shows-and t0 the moralists this may seem de-plorable-that they were none the less hflppy ,n the meanly |