THE CHRONICLE OF CLEMENDY
caught the bough with a grasp like a smith's vice: and in an instant had torn it away so that the duke saw Constance his wife and Luigi Cortanto the scholar with their lips hard set together, and their arms around one another's necks. And the gentleman thought that his master would have leapt in and made short work of them both, and had turned away, for he rather liked the scholar and had no particular wish to see him die violently, only he listened for Constance her death scream. But the Duke did not so much as draw his sword; merely looking once into his wife's eyes, and then going back, he took hold of the gentleman's arm and led him forth. But when they had again come to the entrance my lord of San Giuliano put his finger on top of the pillar and pointed to the line De quo nullus vadere qui fuit intus, and said no more but only bade the courtier go to the castle and fetch an hundred men-at-arms to that place. This done, the soldiers were set all round the labyrinth, and their charge was to keep close watch, and if anyone strove to come out, by no means to kill but merely to push them back again within the maze. And the duke likewise sent messengers to the officers over all the townships within his lordship, to what intent you shall presently understand. Thus the hanging gallery of the Chasteau de Par Amours had fallen beneath Constance and her lover, and they were now tasting the points of the rocks beneath. But how they fared together, whether they reproached or consoled one another is not known, only before long one of the soldiers heard a rustling in the
[ 262 ]
