The Kennewick courier-reporter. [volume] (Kennewick, Wash.) 1914-1938, 1926-08-12

.
or riding with Valentinois in the
mighty charge that routed the CO.
lonna under Capua; and he had
a singularly vivid vision of the
dead men he had beheld on those
occasions and how they had looked
in death. So would he look tomor-
row, his reason told him. But still
his Imagination refused to picture
| it.
Then his thot shifted, to Ma
donna Blanca de'Fioravanti. whom
he would never see again. For
| months he had experienced an odd
tenderness for that lady, of a
sweetly melancholy order, and in
secret he. had committed some
atrocious verses in her honor.
| 1t had been no great affair when
all was said; there had been other
and more ardent loves in his short
! life; yet Madonna Blanca had
evoked in him tenderer regard,
"a holier feeling than any other
woman that he had known. Indeed,
the contrast was as sharp as that
which lies between sacred and pro-
fame love. Perhaps it was because
She was so unattainable, so dis
tant, so UNNECESSARILY above him,
the daughter of great lord, the
representative of great house,
while he was but a condottiero, an
adventurer who had for patrimony
no more than his wits and his
sword. He sighed 1t would have
been sweet to have seen her again
before dying-to have poured out
the story of his love as a swan
pours out its death song. Yet, after
all. it did not greatly matter.
You see that his examination of
conscience in that supreme hour
had little to do with the making
| of his soul.
He wondered would she hear of
the end he had made; and whether
hearing, she would pity him a lit
tie; whether, indeed, she would do
so much as remember him. 1t was
odd he reflected that he should
come to meet his end, in the very
castle that had been her fathers;
yet he was glad that it was not
her fathers hand that measured
out to him this death that he must
die tomorrow.
Physically exhausted as he was
by the exertions of his climb. he
fell at last into a fitful slumber:
and when next he awakened it was
to find the morning sunlight pour
ing thru the tall windows of his
prison. He had been aroused by
the grating of key in the lock,
and as he sat up, stiff and sore,
on his hard couch, the door opened.
and to him entered Bernardo, fol-
lowed by six soldiers, all in their
harness. !,
"a good day to you," said Ber-
nardo civilly. but a trifle thotless-
~. considering what the day had
In store for Messer Lorenzo.
The young man smiled as he
swung his feet to the ground. "a
better day to you," said he: and
thus earned by his pleasantly and
his debonair manner, the esteem
OF the gruff soldier.
1t had come to Messer Lorenzo
that since die he must, the thing
would be best done loosely. Lam
entatlons would not avail him. Let
him then be blithe. Perhaps. after
all, death was not so fearful a
business as priests represented it;
and as for that flaming hell that
lies >agape for young men who
have drunk of the lusty cup of
their youth there would be shrift
for him before he went. He arose,
and ran his fingers thru his long,
fair hair, which had become tous-
led. Then he looked at his hands.
grimy and bruised from yester- )
nights adventure, and begged Ber-
nardo to fetch him water. i
Bernardo's brows went up in
surprise. The labor of washing did
not seem a reasonable thing to {
him under the circumstances. Out
side IN the courtyard a drum be-
gan to beat call Bernardo thrust
out a dubious lip. "Messer Tolen- I
tho is awaiting you," he said.
~ know" replied Castrocaro. 6
''You would not have me present
myself. thus before him. 1t were to
show lack Of procer respect for 8
the hangman."
Bernardo shrugged, and gave an I
order to one of his men. The fell
low set his pike in corner and
went out, to return presently with t
an iron basin full of water. This 9
he placed upon the table. Messer
Lorenzo thanked him pleasantly,
removed his doublet and shirt, and t
stripped to the waist he proceeded 4
to make the best toilet that he
could as briefly as possible. t
Washed and refreshed, his gar !
ments busted and their disarray I
he acknowledged himself
ready. The men surrounded him at 9
q word from Bernardo. and march h
ed him out into the open where 3
The impatient castelar, awaited t
him.
With firm step, his head high, I
and his cheeks but little paler than u
their habit. Messer Lorenzo came s
into the spacious inner bailie of
the castle. He glanced wistfully c
at the cobalt sky, and then con-
sidered the line of. soldiers drawn q
up in the courtyard, all in their q
harness of steel and leather, with b
the gray walls of the fortress for i
their background. Not more than t
thirty men in all did they number, a
and they composed the castles en- t