have made such a foolish outcry, but held your peace; and submitted—as is always best—to an evil that cannot be remedied."
"But this wrong must be remedied,—my child must be rescued. Thou hast promised thy aid—thou wilt not withdraw it?"
"O, fool, fool! You have been the deviser of your own ruin. Know you not that your reports have been carried to the Pope; that your case has been examined by the cardinals, by him convened; that it has been decided that you are a dangerous man, a spreader of evil rumors and seditions; that sentence of death has been passed upon you; that the messenger of the cardinals has brought me your death-warrant; and that the mask of St. Peter's is doomed to be your executioner!"
Delano staggered beneath this accumulation of horrors, and his face became deathly pale.
"I see," he gasped. "I was a fool to brave so terrible a power as that of Alexander Borgia! But I will not complain—death will be a mercy. Do thy work when and where thou wilt."
"And yet," muttered the mask, "I can hardly realize that I hold the warrant for his death. The cardinals have moved in this matter with greater haste than I expected. I am sorry for it; I do not desire Delano's death. Can the warrant be set aside? Not without making myself known; and that will not do—never, never!"
"I am ready for the sacrifice," continued the old man,—"yet before I die let me call down a curse upon the one who has wronged me so deeply, who has destroyed my daughter. Thou, God, that seest all things, be thou the avenger of one whose power for revenge is lost! May
