Donna Luerctia would have questioned her, but she was gone.
And there was a shade of sadness upon the minds of the lovers, that could not be banished. They knew that terrible deeds had been done, when there was less incentive than now; and could not help but feel that there was a dark and dangerous future before them.
Yet, even in such an hour, there was one star that shone upon them from the stormy heavens—
The star of Hope!
Who has not seen it—who has not looked to it with eagerness and fervent expectation; and who has not seen it blotted out, and mental night and desolation reigning in its stead?
"Well, if the worst is to come, we will meet it calmly," said Mercado, with a kind of forced calmness, as they prepared to leave the room. "But if I am indeed to become the victim of these bloodhounds—if I am lost to thee, dear Lucretia, forever—"
"My soul will be changed to that of a fiend, and terrible will be the hell that fiend will prepare for those who wrong Lucretia Borgia!"
VI.
THE MEETING OF THE CARDINALS.
A valuted room in the basement of the Inquisition. A marble table in the centre, several lighted candles thereon, and half a dozen men seated around it. They were the cardinals.
In one corner of the apartment stood the messenger
