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. The sudden
insatiable cruelty that too often degrades human nature had awaked
in the populace: all heads were turned with hatred and frenzy; all
imaginations inflamed with the passion for revenge; groups of men and
women, roaring like wild beasts, threatened to knock down the walls of