both the seal and the handwriting to be his
own, and added some phrases of excuse, in
which he endeavoured to cast the blame that
attached to the writing of the letters on the
shoulders of other persons. While he was
speaking, the three men in attendance on
the Queen silently closed round him.

Her Majesty heard him to the end. "You
are a traitor," she said, and turned her back
on him.

The three men, as she spoke those words,
drew their swords.

The Marquis heard the clash of the blades
against the scabbards, and, looking quickly
round, saw the drawn swords behind him.
He caught the Queen by the arm immediately,
and drew her away with him, first
into one corner of the gallery, then into
another, entreating her in the most moving
terms to listen to him, and to believe in the
sincerity of his repentance. The Queen let
him go on talking without showing the least
sign of anger or impatience. Her colour never
changed; the stern look never left her
countenance. There was something awful in the
clear, cold, deadly resolution which her eyes
expressed while they rested on the Marquis's
face.

At last she shook herself free from his
grasp, still without betraying the slightest
irritation. The three men with the drawn
swords, who had followed the Marquis
silently as he led the Queen from corner to
corner of the gallery, now closed round him
again, as soon as he was left standing alone.
There was perfect silence for a minute or
more. Then the Queen addressed herself
to me.

"Father," she said, "I charge you to bear
witness that I treat this man with the
strictest impartiality." She pointed, while
she spoke, to the Marquis Monaldeschi with
a little ebony riding-whip that she carried in
her hand. "I offer that worthless traitor all
the time he requires—more time than he has
any right to ask for—to justify himself if
he can."

The Marquis hearing these words, took
some letters from a place of concealment in
his dress, and gave them to the Queen, along
with a small bunch of keys. He snatched
these last from his pocket so quickly, that he
drew out with them a few small silver coins
which fell to the floor. As he addressed
himself to the Queen again, she made a sign
with her ebony riding-whip to the men with
the drawn swords; and they retired towards
one of the windows of the gallery. I, on my
side, withdrew out of hearing. The conference
which ensued between the Queen and
the Marquis lasted nearly an hour. When
it was over, her Majesty beckoned the men
back again with the whip, and then
approached the place where I was standing.

"Father," she said, in her clear, ringing,
resolute tones, "there is no need for me to
remain here any longer. I leave that man,"
she pointed to the Marquis again, "to your
care. Do all that you can for the good of
his soul. He has failed to justify himself,
and I doom him to die."

If I had heard sentence pronounced against
myself, I could hardly have been more
terrified than I was when the Queen uttered
these last words. The Marquis heard them
where he was standing, and flung himself at
her feet. I dropped on my knees by his
side, and entreated her to pardon him, or at
least to visit his offence with some milder
punishment than the punishment of death.

"I have said the words," she answered,
addressing herself only to me; "and no
power under Heaven shall make me unsay
them. Many a man has been broken alive
on the wheel for offences which were innocence
itself compared with the offence which
this perjured traitor has committed against
me. I have trusted him as I might have
trusted a brother; he has infamously
betrayed that trust; and I exercise my royal
rights over the life of a traitor. Say no more
to me. I tell you again, he is doomed to
die."

With these words the Queen quitted the
gallery, and left me alone with Monaldeschi
and the three executioners who were waiting
to kill him.

The unhappy man dropped on his knees at
my feet, and implored me to follow the
Queen, and make one more effort to obtain
his pardon. Before I could answer a word,
the three men surrounded him, held the
points of their swords to his sides, without,
however, actually touching him, and angrily
recommended him to make his confession to
me, without wasting any more time. I
entreated them, with the tears in my eyes, to
wait as long as they could, so as to give the
Queen time to reflect, and, perhaps, to falter
in her deadly intentions towards the Marquis.
I succeeded in producing such an impression
on the chief of the three men, that he left us,
to obtain an interview with the Queen, and
to ascertain if there was any change in her
purpose. After a very short absence he
came back, shaking his head.

"There is no hope for you," he said,
addressing Monaldeschi. "Make your peace
with Heaven. Prepare yourself to die!"

"Go to the Queen!" cried the Marquis,
kneeling before me with clasped hands.
"Go to the Queen yourself; make one more
effort to save me! O, my father, my
father, run one more risk—venture one last
entreaty—before you leave me to die!"

"Will you wait till I come back? " I said
to the three men.

"We will wait," they answered, and
lowered their sword-points to the ground.

I found the Queen alone in her room,
without the slightest appearance of agitation
in her face or her manner. Nothing that I
could say had the slightest effect on her.
I adjured her by all that religion holds