For I have never denied myself any pleasure I could get in this world,and I can boast that much will be forgiven me,for I have loved much:of that you,gentlemen,know something.You,bad old man,"she continued to the Count of Terlizzi,"do you not remember lying by my side in the queen's ante-chamber?Come,no blushes before your noble family;confess,my lord,that I am with child by your Excellency;and you know how we managed to make up the story of poor Agues of Durazzo and her pregnancy--God rest her soul!For my part,I never supposed the joke would take such a serious turn all at once.You know all this and much more;spare your lamentations,for,by my word,they are getting very tiresome:let us prepare to die joyously,as we have lived."With these words she yawned slightly,and,lying down on the straw,fell into a deep sleep,and dreamed as happy dreams as she had ever dreamed in her life.
On the morrow from break of day there was an immense crowd on the sea front.During the night an enormous palisade had been put up to keep the people away far enough for them to see the accused without hearing anything.Charles of Durazzo,at the head of a brilliant cortege of knights and pages,mounted on a magnificent horse,all in black,as a sign of mourning,waited near the enclosure.Ferocious joy shone in his eyes as the accused made their way through the crowd,two by two,their wrists tied with ropes;for the duke every minute expected to hear the queen's name spoken.But the chief-justice,a man of experience,had prevented indiscretion of any kind by fixing a hook in the tongue of each one.The poor creatures were tortured on a ship,so that nobody should hear the terrible confessions their sufferings dragged from them.
But Joan,in spite of the wrongs that most of the conspirators had done her,felt a renewal of pity for the woman she had once respected as a mother,for her childish companions and her friends,and possibly also some remains of love for Robert of Cabane,and sent two messengers to beg Bertram de Baux to show mercy to the culprits.But the chief-justice seized these men and had them tortured;and on their confession that they also were implicated in Andre's murder,he condemned them to the same punishment as the others.Dona Cancha alone,by reason of her situation,escaped the torture,and her sentence was deferred till the day of her confinement.
As this beautiful girl was returning to prison,with many a smile for all the handsomest cavaliers she could see in the crowd,she gave a sign to Charles of Durazzo as she neared him to come forward,and since her tongue had not been pierced (for the same reason)with an iron instrument,she said some words to him a while in a low voice.
Charles turned fearfully pale,and putting his hand to his sword,cried--"Wretched woman!"
"You forget,my lord,I am under the protection of the law.""My mother!--oh,my poor mother!"murmured Charles in a choked voice,and he fell backward.
The next morning the people were beforehand with the executioner,loudly demanding their prey.All the national troops and mercenaries that the judicial authorities could command were echelonned in the streets,opposing a sort of dam to the torrent of the raging crowd.