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Show LOVE or DEATH" : CHAPTER IV Continued 10 But the lady Blunea de' Floravantl never heard lils last words. She fell back a step, and rested, as If for support sup-port against one of the diminutive pillars of the porch. Her face hud become deathly white, her eyes stared dully at the soldier. "Whai . . . What Is his name, did you say?" she faltered. "Ixirenzo Castrocaro a captain of Valentlnols' " he repeated. "Lorenzo Castrocaro?" she said In her turn, but on her lips the name seemed another, so differently did she Btter It. "Ay, Madonna," he replied. Suddenly she gripped his arm, so that she hurt him. "And he Is wounded to the death?" she cried with a sudden fierceness, as It seemed to him. "Nay ; not wounded. He Is to die, havinc been captured. That is all. Messer Tolentlno will have him jump from the rock. You will have a good view from the battlements, Madonna Ma-donna It Is " She released his arm. and fell back from him in horror, cutting short his praise of the entertainment provided. "Take me to your captain," she commanded. 2 He stared at her, bewildered. "And tne priest .- (ne miiunru. "Let that wait. Take me to your captain." The command was so imperious that he dared not disobey her. He bowed, muttering in his beard, and, turning, went up the passage again, and so out into the courtyard, the lady and her women following. Across the Intervening space Madonna Ma-donna Blanca's eyes met the proud glance of Messer Lorenzo's, and saw the sudden abatement of that pride, saw the faint flush that stirred at sight of her In those pale cheeks. For to the young man this was a startling star-tling apparition, seeing that as Ce-sare Ce-sare Borgia had been careful to pro vide he had no knowledge or even suspicion of her presence in San Leo. A moment she paused, looked at Mm. her soul in her eyes ; then she Bwept forward, .past Bernardo, her women ever following her. Thus came she. very pale but very resolute of mien, to the captain of her fortress. Messer Tolentino bowed profoundly, uncovering, and at once explained the situation. "Here Is a young adventurer, Madonna, Ma-donna, whom we captured last night within these walls," said he. "He is a captain in the service of Cesare I Borgia." She looked at the prisoner again standing rigid before her, and from the prisoner to her otlicer. "How came he here?" she asked, her voice curiously strained. "He climbed the rock on the southern south-ern side at the risk of his neck," said Tolentino. "And what sought he?" "TIb what we cannot precisely ascertain," as-certain," Tolentino admitted. "Nor will he tell us. When captured last night he pretended to be an envoy from Duke Guldobaldo, which plainly he was not. That was but a subterfuge subter-fuge to escape the consequences of his rashness." And the captain explained, with a .rtawP narade of his own shrewd ness, how he had at once perceived that had- Messer Lorenzo been what he pretended, there would have been no need for him to have come to San Leo thus, in secret. "Nor need to risk his neck, as you hawe said, by climbing the southern 1 side, had he been employed by Cesare P.oi-gia," said the lady. That is too hasty a- conclusion. Ma-; Ma-; donna," Tolentino answered. "It Is ' only on the southern side that It Is possible to climb the wall; and along 1 the summit Itself there is no way round." To what end, then, do you con- celve that he came?" , "To what end? Why, to what end I . . . -.-- nn intr. the hands ; but to Detray -- - of the Borgia troops?" cried Tolen- $ tino, a little out of patience at such 8 i superfluity of questions. K "You have proof of that?" she asked 1 him a rising inflection in her voice -To common sense no proof Is need ed of the obvious." said he senten-tiously. senten-tiously. snorting a little as he spoke, oat of his resentment of this feminine interference in men's affairs. "We are about to fling him back the way he came." he ended with a certain rrlm finality. , But Madonna Blanca paid mtie heed to his manner. "Not until I am satisfied that his intentions were as you say," she re-... re-... . , - roo ovprv whit piled; ana ner tone - as Brm as his. and was Invested with a subtle reminder that she was the I mistress paramount of San Leo, and he no more than the castellan. Tolentino glowered and shrugged. "Oh. as you please, Madonna. Yet I would make bold to remind you that my ripe experience teaches me best how to deal with, such a matter." The girl looked that war-worn veteran vet-eran boldly In the eye. "Knowledge, sir captain, Is surely of more account than mere expert-fnco." expert-fnco." His Jaw fell. "You mean that you that yon have knowledge of why he came?" "It Is possible," said she, and turned I from the astonished captain to the I IM more astonished prisoner. ""1 talutlly she stepped up to Messer I 1-orenzo, whose deep sapphire eyes 1 Slowed now as they, regarded her, re- r fleeting some of the amazement in -4 nlch he had listened to her words By Rafael Sabatini (Cooyrlcht.) WNU Servlc He had weighed them, seeking to resolve re-solve the riddle they contained, and be It confessed at once wondering how he might turn the .matter to his profit In this present desperate pass. I fear you may discover here something some-thing of the villain In Messer Lorenzo. And I admit that he showed himself but little a hero of romance In that his first thought now was how he might turn to account the lady's Interest In-terest In him. But If It was not exactly ex-actly heroic. It was undeniably human, hu-man, and if I have conveyed to you any notion that Messer Castrocaro was anything more than quite ordinarily ordi-narily human, then my task has been 111 performed indeed. It was not so much his love of her as his love of himself, youth's natural natu-ral love of life, that now showed him how he might induce her to open a door for his escape from the peril that encompassed him. And yet, lest you should come to think more 111 of him than he deserves, you are to remember re-member that he had raised his eyes to her long since, although accounting her far beyond his adventurer's reach. She looked at him in silence for a moment. Then, with a calm too complete com-plete to be other than assumed, she spoke. "Will you give me your arm to the battlements, Messer Lorenzo?" A scarlet flush leapt to his cheeks ; he stepped forward briskly to her side. Tolentino would still have interposed. in-terposed. "Consider, Madonna," he began. But she waved him peremptorily-aside peremptorily-aside ; and, after all, she was the mis- j tress in San Leo. Side by side the prisoner and the lady paramount moved away toward the staircase that led up' to the embattled em-battled parapet. Tolentino growled his impatience, cursed himself for be- She Looked at Him In Sllenos for a Moment. ing a woman's lackey, dismissed his men in a rage, and sat down by the well In the center of the courtyard to await the end of that precious Interview. In-terview. ' Leaning on the embattled wall, looking out over the vast, sunlit Kmll-ian Kmll-ian plain. Madonna Bianca broke at last the long spell of silence that had endured between herself and Castrocaro. Castro-caro. T "I have brought you here, Ser bo-renso," bo-renso," she said, "that you may tell me the true object of your visit to San Leo." Her eyes were averted - ..., fa her bosom heaved rrom ii io gently, her voice quivered never so ""He'cleared his throat to answer her. His resolve was now clear and detl- n"-I can tell you what I did not come to do. Madonna," he answered and his accents were almost harsh. I. Id nTcome to betray you Into the hands of your enemies. Of that here make oath as I hope for the sal vation of my soul." It may seem perjury at the firs glance; yet It was strictly true. If not Z whole truth. As we have seen, he had not dreamt that she was In San j Leot or that in delivering up tne castle to Delia Volpe's men he would be delivering up Madonna Bianca. Had he known of her presence, he would not. It is certain, have accepted accept-ed the task. Therefore was he able to swear as he had done, and to swear truly, though he suppressed some truth. "That much I think I knew," she j answered gently. The words and the tone if they surprised him emboldened him in his deceit, urged him along the path to I which already he had set his foot. At no other time considering what he was, and what she would he have dared so much. But his was now the courage of the desperate. He stood to die. and nothing in life, daunts him who Is face to face with death. He threw boldly that he might at the eleventh hour win back the right to live. "Ah, ask me not why I came." he implored her hoarsely. "I have dared much, thinking that I dared all. But now here before you, under the glance of your angel eyes my courage cour-age falls me. I am become a coward who was not afraid when they brought me out to. die. "Look. Madonna." He held out his hands, bruised, swollen and gashed. "I am something in this state from head to foot." He turned. "Look yonder." And he pointed down the sheer face of tne curr. 'mat way i came last night in the dark, risking death at every step. You see that ledge, where there is scarce room to stand. Along that ledge I crept, to yonder wider space, and thence 1 leapt across that little gulf." She shuddered as she followed his tale. "By that crevice I came upward, tearing tear-ing knees and elbows, and so until I had gained the platform on the southern south-ern side, there." "How brave!" she cried. "How mad !" said he. "I show you this that you may know what courage then was mine, what indomitable impulse im-pulse drove me hither. You would not think, Madonna, that having braved so much, I should falter now. and yet" He stopped, and covered his face with his hands. She drew nearer, sidling toward him. "And yet?" said she softly and encouragingly. "Oh! I dare not!" he cried out. "I was mad mad!" And then by chance his tongue stumbled upon the very words to suit his case. "Indeed, I do not know what was the spirit of madness mad-ness that possessed me." He did not know! She trembled from head to foot at that admission. He did not know! But she knew. She knew! and hence the. confidence with which she had Interposed to brush Tolentino aside. For had he died, had the executioner driven him over the ledge In that horrible death-leap, death-leap, it would have been her hands that had destroyed him. For was It not she who had bewitched be-witched him? Was It not she who had drugged him with a love-philter the elixlriura aureum procured from Messer Corvinus Trlsmegistus? Did she not know that it was that elixir, burning fiercely and unappeasably In his veins, that had possessed him like a madness and brought him thither, reckless of all danger, so that he might come to her? ..poor poor Lorenzo!" -he murmured mur-mured fondly. He started round and srarea at ner, , verv white. "Oh, Madonna!" he cried, and sank upon one knee before her. "You have surprised my secret my unutterable secret! Ah, let me go! Let them hurl me from the rock, and so end my wretchedness!" j It was supremely well done, the vii- . lain knew; and she were no woman but a very harpy did she now permit his death". He was prepared for a pitying gentleness toward an affliction afflic-tion which she must now suppose her own beauty had Inspired, and so he had looked for a kindly dismissal. But he was not prepared for any such answer as she made blm. -nonr love, what are you saying? , Is there no other happiness for you save that of death? Have I shown anzer? Do I know aught but gladness that for me you should have dared so much?" He gave utterance to his overmastering overmas-tering amazement. -Oh it Is impossible!" he cried; and this time there was no acting In h'"What IS impossible?" quoth she; and setting her hands under hU elbows, el-bows, she raised him gentl- from h s kneeling posture. "What Is Impos-IZlr Impos-IZlr she repeated when they stood face to face once more. (TO BS CONTINUED.) |