<h2><SPAN name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></SPAN>CHAPTER II.</h2>
<h3>COUNT ANTONIO AND THE TRAITOR PRINCE.</h3>
<p>Of all the deeds that Count Antonio of Monte Velluto did during the time
that he was an outlaw in the hills (for a price had been set on his head
by Duke Valentine), there was none that made greater stir or struck more
home to the hearts of men, howsoever they chose to look upon it, than
that which he performed on the high hill that faces the wicket gate on
the west side of the city and is called now the Hill of Duke Paul.
Indeed it was the act of a man whose own conscience was his sole guide,
and who made the law which his own hand was to carry out. That it had
been a crime in most men, who can doubt? That it was a crime in him, all
governments must hold; and the same, I take it, must be the teaching of
the Church. Yet not all men held it a crime, although they had not
ventured it themselves, both from the greatness of the person whom the
deed concerned, and also for the burden that it put on the conscience of
him that did it. Here, then, is the story of it, as it is still told
both in the houses of the noble and in peasants' cottages.</p>
<p>While Count Antonio still dwelt at the Court, and had not yet fled from
the wrath aroused in the Duke by the Count's attempt to carry off the
Lady Lucia, the Duke's ward, the nuptials of His Highness had been
celebrated with great magnificence and universal rejoicing; and the
feasting and exultation had been most happily renewed on the birth of an
infant Prince, a year later. Yet heavy was the price paid for this gift
of Heaven, for Her Highness the Duchess, a lady of rare grace and
kindliness, survived the birth of her son only three months, and then
died, amidst the passionate mourning of the people, leaving the Duke a
prey to bitter sorrow. Many say that she had turned his heart to good
had she but lived, and that it was the loss of her that soured him and
twisted his nature. If it be so, I pray that he has received pardon for
all his sins; for his grief was great, and hardly to be assuaged even by
the love he had for the little Prince, from whom he would never be
parted for an hour, if he could contrive to have the boy with him, and
in whom he saw, with pride, the heir of his throne.</p>
<p>Both in the joy of the wedding and the grief at the Duchess's death,
none had made more ostentatious sign of sharing than His Highness's
brother, Duke Paul. Yet hollow alike were his joy and his grief, save
that he found true cause for sorrow in that the Duchess left to her
husband a dear memorial of their brief union. Paul rivalled the Duke in
his caresses and his affected love for the boy, but he had lived long in
the hope that His Highness would not marry, and that he himself should
succeed him in his place, and this hope he could not put out of his
heart. Nay, as time passed and the baby grew to a healthy boy, Paul's
thoughts took a still deeper hue of guilt. It was no longer enough for
him to hope for his nephew's death, or even to meditate how he should
bring it about. One wicked imagining led on, as it is wont in our sinful
nature, to another, and Satan whispered in Paul's ear that the Duke
himself was short of forty by a year, that to wait for power till youth
were gone was not a bold man's part, and that to contrive the child's
death, leaving his father alive, was but to double the risk without
halving the guilt. Thus was Paul induced to dwell on the death of both
father and son, and to say to himself that if the father went first the
son would easily follow, and that with one cunning and courageous stroke
the path to the throne might be cleared.</p>
<p>While Paul pondered on these designs, there came about the events which
drove Count Antonio from the Court; and no sooner was he gone and
declared in open disobedience and contumacy against the Duke, than Paul,
seeking a handle for his plans, seemed to find one in Antonio. Here was
a man driven from his house (which the Duke had burnt), despoiled of his
revenues, bereft of his love, proclaimed a free mark for whosoever would
serve the Duke by slaying him. Where could be a better man for the
purposes of a malcontent prince? And the more was Paul inclined to use
Antonio from the fact that he had shown favour to Antonio, and been wont
to seek his society; so that Antonio, failing to pierce the dark depths
of his heart, was loyally devoted to him, and had returned an answer
full of gratitude and friendship to the secret messages in which Paul
had sent him condolence on the mishap that had befallen him.</p>
<p>Now in the beginning of the second year of Count Antonio's outlawry, His
Highness was most mightily incensed against him, not merely because he
had so won the affection of the country-folk that none would betray his
hiding-place either for threats or for reward, but most chiefly by
reason of a certain act which was in truth more of Tommasino's doing
than of Antonio's. For Tommasino, meeting one of the Duke's farmers of
taxes, had lightened him of his fat bag of money, saying that he would
himself assume the honour of delivering what was fairly due to His
Highness, and had upon that scattered three-fourths of the spoil among
the poor, and sent the beggarly remnant privily by night to the gate of
the city, with a writing, "There is honour among thieves; who, then, may
call Princes thieves?" And this writing had been read by many, and the
report of it, spreading through the city, had made men laugh. Therefore
the Duke had sworn that by no means should Antonio gain pardon save by
delivering that insolent young robber to the hands of justice. Thus he
was highly pleased when his brother sought him in the garden (for he sat
in his wonted place under the wall by the fish-pond) and bade him listen
to a plan whereby the outlaws should be brought to punishment. The Duke
took his little son upon his knees and prayed his brother to tell his
device.</p>
<p>"You could not bring me a sweeter gift than the head of Tommasino," said
he, stroking the child's curls; and the child shrank closer into his
arms, for the child did not love Paul but feared him.</p>
<p>"Antonio knows that I love Your Highness," said Paul, seating himself
on the seat by the Duke, "but he knows also that I am his friend, and a
friend to the Lady Lucia, and a man of tender heart. Would it seem to
him deep treachery if I should go privately to him and tell him how that
on a certain day you would go forth with your guard to camp in the spurs
of Mount Agnino, leaving the city desolate, and that on the night of
that day I could contrive that Lucia should come secretly to the gate,
and that it should be opened for her, so that by a sudden descent she
might be seized and carried safe to his hiding-place before aid could
come from Your Highness?"</p>
<p>"But what should the truth be?" asked Valentine.</p>
<p>"The truth should be that while part of the Guard went to the spurs of
the Mount, the rest should lie in ambush close inside the city gates and
dash out on Antonio and his company."</p>
<p>"It is well, if he will believe."</p>
<p>Then Paul laid his finger on his brother's arm. "As the clock in the
tower of the cathedral strikes three on the morning of the 15th of the
month, do you, dear brother, be in your summer-house at the corner of
the garden yonder; and I will come thither and tell you if he has
believed and if he has come. For by then I shall have learnt from him
his mind: and we two will straightway go rouse the guards and lead the
men to their appointed station, and when he approaches the gate we can
lay hands on him."</p>
<p>"How can you come to him? For we do not know where he is hid."</p>
<p>"Alas, there is not a rogue of a peasant that cannot take a letter to
him!"</p>
<p>"Yet when I question them, aye, though I beat them, they know nothing!"
cried Valentine in chagrin. "Truly, the sooner we lay him by the heels,
the better for our security."</p>
<p>"Shall it be, then, as I say, my lord?"</p>
<p>"So let it be," said the Duke. "I will await you in the summer-house."</p>
<p>Paul, perceiving that his brother had no suspicions of him, and would
await him in the summer-house, held his task to be already half done.
For his plan was that he and Antonio should come together to the
summer-house, but that Antonio should lie hid till Paul had spoken to
the Duke; then Paul should go out on pretext of bidding the guard make
ready the ambush, and leave the Duke alone with Antonio. Antonio then,
suddenly springing forth, should slay the Duke; while Paul—and when he
thought on this, he smiled to himself—would so contrive that a body of
men should bar Antonio's escape, and straightway kill him. Thus should
he be quit both of his brother and of Antonio, and no man would live who
knew how the deed was contrived. "And then," said he, "I doubt whether
the poor child, bereft of all parental care, will long escape the
manifold perils of infancy."</p>
<p>Thus he schemed; and when he had made all sure, and noised about the
Duke's intentions touching his going to the spurs of Mount Agnino, he
himself set forth alone on his horse to seek Antonio. He rode till he
reached the entrance of the pass leading to the recesses of the hills.
There he dismounted, and sat down on the ground; and this was at noon on
the 13th day of the month. He had not long been sitting, when a face
peered from behind a wall of moss-covered rock that fronted him, and
Paul cried, "Is it a friend?"</p>
<p>"A friend of whom mean you, my lord?" came from the rock.</p>
<p>"Of whom else than of Count Antonio?" cried Paul.</p>
<p>A silence followed and a delay; then two men stole cautiously from
behind the rock, and in one of them Paul knew the man they called Bena,
who had been of the Duke's Guard. The men, knowing Paul, bowed low to
him, and asked him his pleasure, and he commanded them to bring him to
Antonio. They wondered, knowing not whether he came from the Duke or
despite the Duke; but he was urgent in his commands, and at length they
tied a scarf over his eyes, and set him on his horse, and led the horse.
Thus they went for an hour. Then they prayed him to dismount, saying
that the horse could go no farther; and though Paul's eyes saw nothing,
he heard the whinnying and smelt the smell of horses.</p>
<p>"Here are your stables then," said he, and dismounted with a laugh.</p>
<p>Then Bena took him by the hand, and the other guided his feet, and
climbing up steep paths, over boulders and through little water-courses,
they went, till at length Bena cried, "We are at home, my lord;" and
Paul, tearing off his bandage, found himself on a small level spot,
ringed round with stunted wind-beaten firs; and three huts stood in the
middle of the space, and before one of the huts sat Tommasino, composing
a sonnet to a pretty peasant girl whom he had chanced to meet that day;
for Tommasino had ever a hospitable heart. But seeing Paul, Tommasino
left his sonnet, and with a cry of wonder sprang to meet him; and Paul
took him by both hands and saluted him. That night and the morning that
followed, Paul abode with Antonio, eating the good cheer and drinking
the good wine that Tommasino, who had charged himself with the care of
such matters, put before him. Whence they came from, Paul asked not; nor
did Tommasino say more than that they were offerings to Count
Antonio—but whether offerings of free-will or necessity, he said not.
And during this time Paul spoke much with Antonio privily and apart,
persuading him of his friendship, and telling most pitiful things of the
harshness shown by Valentine his brother to the Lady Lucia, and how the
lady grew pale, and peaked and pined, so that the physicians knit their
brows over her and the women said no drugs would patch a broken heart.
Thus he inflamed Antonio's mind with a great rage against the Duke, so
that he fell to counting the men he had and wondering whether there were
force to go openly against the city. But in sorrow Paul answered that
the pikemen were too many.</p>
<p>"But there is a way, and a better," said Paul, leaning his head near to
Antonio's ear. "A way whereby you may come to your own again, and
rebuild your house that the Duke has burnt, and enjoy the love of Lucia,
and hold foremost place in the Duchy."</p>
<p>"What way is that?" asked Antonio in wondering eagerness. "Indeed I am
willing to serve His Highness in any honourable service, if by that I
may win his pardon and come to that I long for."</p>
<p>"His pardon! When did he pardon?" sneered Paul.</p>
<p>To know honest men and leave them to their honesty is the last great
gift of villainy. But Paul had it not; and now he unfolded to Antonio
the plan that he had made, saving (as needs not to be said) that part of
it whereby Antonio himself was to meet his death. For a pretext he
alleged that the Duke oppressed the city, and that he, Paul, was put out
of favour because he had sought to protect the people, and was fallen
into great suspicion. Yet, judging Antonio's heart by his own, he dwelt
again and longer on the charms of Lucia, and on the great things he
would give Antonio when he ruled the Duchy for his nephew; for of the
last crime he meditated, the death of the child, he said naught then,
professing to love the child. When the tale began, a sudden start ran
through Antonio, and his face flushed; but he sat still and listened
with unmoved face, his eyes gravely regarding Paul the while. No anger
did he show, nor wonder, nor scorn, nor now any eagerness; but he gazed
at the Prince with calm musing glance, as though he considered of some
great question put before him. And when Paul ended his tale, Antonio sat
yet silent and musing. But Paul was trembling now, and he stretched out
his hand and laid it on Antonio's knee, and asked, with a feigned laugh
that choked in the utterance, "Well, friend Antonio, is it a clever
plan, and will you ride with me?"</p>
<p>Minute followed minute before Antonio answered. At length the frown
vanished from his brow, and his face grew calm and set, and he answered
Duke Paul, saying, "It is such a plan as you, my lord, alone of all men
in the Duchy could make; and I will ride with you."</p>
<p>Then Paul, in triumph, caught him by the hands and pressed his hands,
calling him a man of fine spirit and a true friend, who should not lack
reward. And all this Antonio suffered silently; and in silence still he
listened while Paul told him how that a path led privately from the bank
of the river, through a secret gate in the wall, to the summer-house
where the Duke was to be; of this gate he alone, saving the Duke had the
key; they had but to swim the river and enter by this gate. Having
hidden Antonio, Paul would talk with the Duke; then he would go and
carry off what remained of the guard over and above those that were gone
to the hills; and Antonio, having done his deed, could return by the
same secret path, cross the river again, and rejoin his friends. And in
a short space of time Paul would recall him with honour to the city and
give him Lucia to wife.</p>
<p>"And if there be a question as to the hand that dealt the blow, there is
a rascal whom the Duke flogged but a few days since, a steward in the
palace. He deserves hanging, Antonio, for a thousand things of which he
is guilty, and it will trouble me little to hang him for one whereof he
chances to be innocent." And Duke Paul laughed heartily.</p>
<p>"I will ride with you," said Antonio again.</p>
<p>Then, it being full mid-day, they sat down to dinner, Paul bandying many
merry sayings with Tommasino, Antonio being calm but not uncheerful. And
when the meal was done, Paul drank to the good fortune of their
expedition; and Antonio having drained his glass, said, "May God
approve the issue," and straightway bade Tommasino and Martolo prepare
to ride with him. Then, Paul being again blindfolded, they climbed down
the mountain paths till they came where the horses were, and thus, as
the sun began to decline, set forward, at a fair pace, Duke Paul and
Antonio leading by some few yards; while Tommasino and Martolo, having
drunk well, and sniffing sport in front of them, sang, jested, and
played pranks on one another as they passed along. But when night fell
they became silent; even Tommasino turned grave and checked his horse,
and the space between them and the pair who led grew greater, so that it
seemed to Duke Paul that he and Antonio rode alone through the night,
under the shadows of the great hills. Once and again he spoke to
Antonio, first of the scheme, then on some light matter; but Antonio did
no more than move his head in assent. And Antonio's face was very white,
and his lips were close shut.</p>
<p>It was midnight when Duke Paul and Antonio reached the plain: the moon,
till now hidden by the mountains, shone on them, and, seeing Antonio's
face more plainly, Paul cried, half in jest, half in uneasiness, "Come,
man, look not so glum about it! 'Tis but the life of a rogue."</p>
<p>"Indeed it is no more," said Antonio, and he turned his eyes on Duke
Paul.</p>
<p>Paul laughed, but with poor merriment. Whence it came he knew not, but a
strange sudden sense of peril and of doom had fallen on him. The massive
quiet figure of Antonio, riding ever close to him, silent, stern, and
watchful, oppressed his spirit.</p>
<p>Suddenly Antonio halted and called to Martolo to bring him a lantern:
one hung from Martolo's saddle, and he brought it, and went back. Then
Antonio lit the lantern and gave an ivory tablet to Paul and said to
him, "Write me your promise."</p>
<p>"You distrust me, then?" cried Paul in a great show of indignation.</p>
<p>"I will not go till you have written the promise."</p>
<p>Now Paul was somewhat loth to write the promise, fearing that it should
be found on Antonio's body before he could contrive to remove it; but
without it Antonio declared he would not go. So Paul wrote, bethinking
himself that he held safe in his house at home permission from the Duke
to seek Antonio and beguile him to the city, and that with the witness
of this commission he could come off safe, even though the tablet were
found on Antonio. Taking the peril then, rather than fail, he wrote,
setting out the promises he made to Antonio in case (thus he phrased it)
of the death of his brother. And he delivered the tablet to Antonio; and
Antonio, restoring the lantern to Martolo, stowed the tablet about him,
and they set forth again.</p>
<p>As the clock in the tower of the cathedral, distantly booming in their
ears, sounded the hour of two, they came to where the road parted. In
one direction it ran level across the plain to the river and the city,
and by this way they must go, if they would come to the secret gate and
thence to the Duke's summer-house. But the second road left the plain,
and mounted the hill that faces the wicket-gate, which is now called the
Hill of Duke Paul. And at the parting of the road, Antonio reined in his
horse and sat silent for a great while. Again Paul, scanning his face,
was troubled, so that Martolo, who had drawn near, saw him wipe a drop
from his brow. And Paul said, "For what wait we, Antonio? Time presses,
for it has gone two o'clock."</p>
<p>Then Antonio drew him apart, and fixing his eyes on him, said, "What of
the child? What mean you by the child? How does it profit you that the
father die, if the child live?"</p>
<p>Paul, deeming that Antonio doubted him and saw a snare, and holding it
better to seem the greatest of villains than to stir suspicion in a man
who held him in his hands, smiled cunningly, and answered, "The child
will grow sickly and pine when his father is not alive to care for him."</p>
<p>"It is enough," said Antonio; and again a flush mounted on his face, and
died down again, and left him pale. For some think he would have turned
from his purpose, had Paul meant honestly by the child. I know not. At
least, the foul murder plotted against the child made him utterly
relentless.</p>
<p>"Let us go on and end the matter," urged Paul, full of eagerness, and,
again, of that strange uneasiness born of Antonio's air.</p>
<p>"Ay, we will go on and finish it," said Antonio, and with that he leapt
down from his horse. Paul did the like, for it had been agreed that the
others, with the horses, were to await Antonio's return, while the Count
and Paul went forward on foot: and Tommasino and Martolo, dismounting
also, tied the horses to trees and stood waiting Antonio's orders.</p>
<p>"Forward!" cried Paul.</p>
<p>"Come, then," said Antonio, and he turned to the road that mounted the
hill.</p>
<p>"It is by the other road we go," said Paul.</p>
<p>"It is by this road," said Antonio, and he raised his hand and made a
certain sign, whereat the swords of his friends leapt from their
scabbards, and they barred the way, so that Duke Paul could turn nowhere
save to the road that mounted the hill. Then Paul's face grew long,
drawn, and sallow with sudden fear. "What means this?" he cried. "What
means this, Antonio?"</p>
<p>"It means, my lord, that you must mount the hill with me," answered
Antonio, "even to the top of it, whence a man can see the city."</p>
<p>"But for what?"</p>
<p>"That this matter may be finished," said Antonio; and, coming to Paul,
he laid a hand on his shoulder and turned him to the path up the hill.
But Paul, seeing his face and the swords of Tommasino and Martolo that
barred all escape, seized his hand, saying, "Before God, I mean you
true, Antonio! As Christ died for us, I mean you true, Antonio!"</p>
<p>"Of that I know not, and care not; yet do not swear it now by Christ's
name if it be not true. How meant you, my lord, by your brother and your
brother's son?"</p>
<p>Paul licked his lips, for they had gone dry, and he breathed as a man
pants who has run far and fast. "You are three to one," he hissed.</p>
<p>"We shall be but man to man on the top of the hill," said Antonio.</p>
<p>Then suddenly Tommasino spoke unbidden. "There is a priest in the
village a mile away," said he, and there was pity in his voice.</p>
<p>"Peace, Tommasino! What priest has he provided for his brother?"</p>
<p>And Tommasino said no more, but he turned his eyes away from the face of
Duke Paul: yet when he was an old man, one being in his company heard
him say he dreamed yet of it. As for Martolo, he bent his head and
crossed himself.</p>
<p>Then Paul threw himself on his knees before Antonio and prayed him to
let him go; but Antonio seemed not to hear him, and stood silent with
folded arms. Yet presently he said, "Take your sword then, my lord. If I
fall, these shall not touch you. This much I give, though it is more
than I have right to give."</p>
<p>But Paul would not take his sword, but knelt, still beseeching Antonio
with tears, and mingling prayers and curses in a flow of agonised words.</p>
<p>At last Antonio plucked him from the ground and sternly bade him mount
the hill; and finding no help, he set out, his knees shaking beneath
him, while Antonio followed close upon him. And thus Tommasino and
Martolo watched them go till the winding of the path hid them from view,
when Martolo fell on his knees, and Tommasino drew a breath as though a
load had rested on his chest.</p>
<p>It was but a short way to the summit, but the path was steep, and the
two went slowly, so that, as they came forth on the top, the first gleam
of dawn caught them in its pale light. The city lay grey and drab below
them, and the lonely tree, that stands to this day upon the hill, swayed
in the wind with mournful murmurings. Paul stumbled and sank in a heap
on the ground. And Antonio said to him, "If you will, pray," and went
and leant against the bare trunk of the tree, a little way apart. But
Paul, thinking on man's mercy, not on God's, crawled on his knees across
the space between and laid hold of Antonio's legs. And he said nothing,
but gazed up at Antonio. And at the silent appeal Antonio shivered for
an instant, but he did not fly the gaze of Paul's eyes, but looked down
on him and answered, "You must die. Yet there is your sword, and there a
free road to the city."</p>
<p>Then Paul let go Antonio's legs and rose, and drew his sword. But his
hand was trembling, and he could scarce stand. Then Antonio gave to him
a flask that he carried, holding strong waters; and the wretch, drinking
greedily, found some courage, and came suddenly at Antonio before
Antonio looked for his attack. But the Count eluded him, and drawing his
blade awaited the attack; and Paul seized again the flask that he had
flung on the ground, and drained it, and mad now with the fumes rushed
at Antonio, shrieking curses and blasphemies. The sun rose on the moment
that their blades crossed; and before its rays had shone a minute,
Antonio had driven his sword through the howling wretch's lung, and Duke
Paul lay dying on the grassy hill.</p>
<p>Then Count Antonio stripped off his doublet and made a pillow of it for
Paul's head, and sat down by him, and wiped his brow, and disposed his
body with such ease as seemed possible. Yet he took no pains to stanch
the blood or to minister to the wound, for his intent was that Paul
should die and not live. And Paul lay some moments on his back, then
twisted on his side; once he flung his legs wide and gathered them again
under his body, and shivered, turning on his back again: and his jaw
fell, and he died there on the top of the hill. And the Count closed his
eyes, and sat by him in silence for many minutes; and once he buried his
face in his hands, and a single sob shook him.</p>
<p>But now it was growing to day, and he rose, and took from the Duke's
waist the broad silken band that he wore, wrought with golden embroidery
on a ground of royal blue. Then he took Paul in his arms and set him
upright against the trunk of the tree, and, encircling tree and body
with the rich scarf, he bound the corpse there; and he took the ivory
tablet from his belt and tied the riband that hung through a hole in it
to the riband of the Order of St. Prisian, that was round Paul's neck,
and he wrote on the tablet, "Witness my hand—<span class="smcap">Antonio</span> of Monte Velluto."
And he wiped the blade of his sword long and carefully on the grass till
it shone pure, clean, and bright again. Then he gazed awhile at the
city, that grew now warm and rich in the increasing light of the sun,
and turned on his heel and went down the hill by the way that he had
come.</p>
<p>At the foot, Tommasino and Martolo awaited him; and when he came down
alone, Martolo again signed the cross; but Tommasino glanced one
question, and, finding answer in Antonio's nod, struck his open palm on
the quarters of Duke Paul's horse and set it free to go where it would;
and the horse, being free, started at a canter along the road to the
city. And Antonio mounted and set his face again towards the hills. For
awhile he rode alone in front; but when an hour was gone, he called to
Tommasino, and, on the lad joining him, talked with him, not gaily
indeed (that could not be), yet with calmness and cheerfulness on the
matters that concerned the band. But Paul's name did not cross his lips;
and the manner in which he had dealt with Paul on the hill rested
unknown till a later time, when Count Antonio formally declared it, and
wrote with his own hand how Duke Paul had died. Thus, then, Count
Antonio rode back to the hills, having executed on the body of Paul that
which seemed to him right and just.</p>
<p>Long had Duke Valentine waited for his brother in the summer-house and
greatly wondered that he came not. And as the morning grew and yet Paul
came not, the Duke feared that in some manner Antonio had detected the
snare, and that he held Paul a prisoner; for it did not enter the Duke's
mind that Antonio would dare to kill his brother. And when it was five
o'clock, the Duke, heavy-eyed for want of sleep, left the summer-house,
and having traversed the garden, entered his cabinet and flung himself
on a couch there; and notwithstanding his uneasiness for his brother,
being now very drowsy, he fell asleep. But before he had slept long, he
was roused by two of his pages, who ran in crying that Duke Paul's horse
had come riderless to the gate of the city. And the Duke sprang up,
smiting his thigh, and crying, "If harm has come to him, I will not rest
till I have Antonio's head." So he mustered a party of his guards, some
on horseback and some on foot, and passed with all speed out of the
city, seeking his brother, and vowing vengeance on the insolence of
Count Antonio.</p>
<p>But the Duke was not first out of the city; for he found a stream of
townsmen flocking across the bridge; and at the end of the bridge was a
gathering of men, huddled close round a peasant who stood in the centre.
The pikemen made a way for His Highness; and when the peasant saw him,
he ran to him, and resting his hand on the neck of the Duke's horse, as
though he could scarce stand alone, he cried, pointing with his hand to
the hill that rose to the west, "The Duke Paul, the Duke Paul!" And no
more could he say.</p>
<p>"Give him a horse, one of you, and let another lead it," cried the Duke.
"And forward, gentlemen, whither he points!"</p>
<p>Thus they set forth, and as they went, the concourse grew, some
overtaking them from the city, some who were going on their business or
for pleasure into the city turning and following after the Duke and his
company. So that a multitude went after Valentine and the peasant, and
they rode together at the head. And the Duke said thrice to the peasant,
"What of my brother?" But the peasant, who was an old man, did but point
again to the hill.</p>
<p>At the foot of the hill, all that had horses left them in charge of the
boys who were of the party, for the Duke, presaging some fearful thing,
would suffer none but grown men to mount with him; and thus they went
forward afoot till they reached the grassy summit of the hill. And then
the peasant sprang in front, crying, "There, there!" and all of them
beheld the body of Duke Paul, bound to the tree by the embroidered
scarf, his head fallen on his breast, and the ivory tablet hanging from
the riband of the Order of St. Prisian. And a great silence fell on them
all, and they stood gazing at the dead prince.</p>
<p>But presently Duke Valentine went forward alone; and he knelt on one
knee and bowed his head, and kissed his brother's right hand. And a
shout of indignation and wrath went up from all the crowd, and they
cried, "Whose deed is this?" The Duke minded them not, but rose to his
feet and laid his hand on the ivory tablet; and he perceived that it was
written by Duke Paul; and he read what Paul had written to Antonio; how
that he, the Duke, being dead, Antonio should come to his own again,
and wed Lucia, and hold foremost place in the Duchy. And, this read, the
Duke read also the subscription of Count Antonio—"Witness my
hand—<span class="smcap">Antonio</span> of Monte Velluto." Then he was very amazed, for he had
trusted his brother. Yet he did not refuse the testimony of the ivory
tablet nor suspect any guile or deceit in Antonio. And he stood
dry-eyed, looking on the dead face of Duke Paul. Then, turning round, he
cried in a loud voice, so that every man on the hill heard him, "Behold
the body of a traitor!" And men looked on him, and from him to the faces
of one another, asking what he meant. But he spoke no other word, and
went straightway down the hill, and mounted his horse again, and rode
back to the city; and, having come to his palace, he sent for his little
son, and went with him into the cabinet behind the great hall, where the
two stayed alone together for many hours. And when the child came forth,
he asked none concerning his uncle the Duke Paul.</p>
<p>Now all the company had followed down from the hill after the Duke, and
no man dared to touch the body unbidden. Two days passed, and a great
storm came, so that the rain beat on Paul's face and the lightning
blackened it. But on the third day, when the storm had ceased, the Duke
bade the Lieutenant of the Guard to go by night and bring the body of
Paul: and the Lieutenant and his men flung a cloak over the face, and,
having thus done, brought the body into the city at the break of day:
yet the great square was full of folk watching in awe and silence. And
they took the body to the Cathedral, and buried it under the wall on the
north side in the shade of a cypress tree, laying a plain flat stone
over it. And Duke Valentine gave great sums for masses to be said for
the repose of his brother's soul. Yet there are few men who will go by
night to the Hill of Duke Paul; and even now when I write, there is a
man in the city who has lost his senses and is an idiot: he, they say,
went to the hill on the night of the 15th of the month wherein Paul
died, and came back mumbling things terrible to hear. But whether he
went because he lacked his senses, or lost his senses by reason of the
thing he saw when he went, I know not.</p>
<p>Thus died Duke Paul the traitor. Yet, though the Duke his brother knew
that what was done upon him was nothing else than he had deserved and
should have suffered had he been brought alive to justice, he was very
wroth with Count Antonio, holding it insolence that any man should lay
hands on one of his blood, and, of his own will, execute sentence upon a
criminal of a degree so exalted. Therefore he sent word to Antonio, that
if he caught him, he would hang him on the hill from the branches of the
tree to which Antonio had bound Paul, and would leave his body there for
three times three days. And, this message coming to Antonio, he sent one
privily by night to the gate of the city, who laid outside the gate a
letter for the Duke; and in the letter was written, "God chooses the
hand. All is well."</p>
<p>And Count Antonio abode still an outlaw in the mountains, and the Lady
Lucia mourned in the city.</p>
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