Avon Modern Short Story Monthly #36 — page 84: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

ay, ales er) Le Or tee ee a Ls : x =, <0 r ay 5 eo | a ee en. ‘ ae ee s Lee, aS nae x Te Se \s' cs SA RAFAEL SABATINI a to Naples to-morrow as papal legate, yet dressed tonight in cloth of , gold, with no trace of his churchly dignity about him; there was their younger brother Giuffredo, Prince of Squillace, a handsome stripling, flanked by his wife, the free-and-easy Donna Sancia of Aragon; swarthy, coarse-featured, and fleshy, despite her youth; there was Giovanni’s sometime wife, the lovely, golden-headed Lucrezia, the innocent cause of all this hate that festered in the Lord of Pesaro’s soul; there was their mother, the nobly handsome Giovanozza de Catanei, from whom the Borgias derived their auburn heads; and there was their cousin, Giovanni Borgia, Cardinal of Monreale, portly and scarlet, at Madonna’s side. All turned to glance at this masked intruder who had the power so oddly to excite their beloved Gandia. “From the lady of the rose,’ Giovanni announced himself softly to the Duke. 3 “Yes, yes,’ came the answer, feverishly impatient. “Well, what is your message?” “To-night her father is from home. She will expect your mag- nificence at midnight.” Gandia drew a deep breath. “By the Host! You are no more than in time. I had almost des- paired, my friend, my best of friends. To-night!” He pronounced the word ecstatically. “Wait you here. Yourself you shall conduct me. Meanwhile, go sup.” And beating his hands, he summoned attendants. Came the steward and a couple of Moorish slaves in green turbans, to whose care the Duke commanded his masked visitor. But Gio- vanni neither required nor desired their ministrations; he would not eat nor drink, but contented himself with the patience of hatred to sit for two long hours awaiting the pleasure of his foolish victim. They left at last, a little before midnight—the Duke, his brother Cesare, his cousin Monreale, and a numerous attendance, his own retinue and those of the two cardinals. Thus they rode back to Rome, the Borgias very gay, the man in the mask plodding along beside them. They came to the Rione de Ponte, where their ways were to sep- arate, and there, opposite the palace of the Cardinal Vice-Chancellor, Gomichooks (E)