X.
THE TERRIBLE PROMISE.
The inner office of the Inquisition. Pope Alexander VI. and Donna Lucretia entered, wearing black cloaks.
"Now show me Mercado," said the lovely woman, in a voice that trembled with commingled tenderness and anxiety for the loved one. "Then show me a way to avert the impending doom."
"Your wishes shall be gratified. Do you observe that glass socket in the wall yonder?"
"I do. It seems to be firmly set in the solid masonry. What is its object?"
"The keepers look through it, and are thus enabled to see what is going on in the cells within. Imitate their use of it, and tell me what thou seest."
The maiden obeyed, but instantly darted back with a shudder and exclamation of surprise.
"I gazed up and down the whole length of the corridor, and saw the cells upon either hand," she exclaimed.
"Look again. The foot of the corridor opens into a large room. Look at the lower end of that room, and tell me what thou seest."
Donna Lucretia obeyed.
"A figure chained to the wall,—a prisoner. Who can it be? Ha! a door opens; a man enters with a dark lantern; he turns it toward the captive's face. Can it be? Yes; great Heavens! the prisoner is Mercado!"
The fair Italian would have fallen to the floor, had Borgia's strong arm not been thrown around her waist.
