The Historical Nights Entertainment | Page 9

Pierlulgi. "Seize them, and make them fast. About it!"
"Lord Prince!" cried the legate in a voice of appeal, wherein fear and
anger trembled.
It was the note of fear that heartened Affonso Henriques. "About it!" he
cried again, though needlessly, for already his men-at-arms were at
grips with the Cardinal's nephews. In a trice the kicking, biting,
swearing pair were overpowered, deprived of arms, and pinioned. The

men looked to their prince for further orders. In the background Moniz
and Nunes witnessed all with troubled countenances, whilst the
Cardinal, beyond the table, white to the lips, demanded in a quavering
voice to know what violence was intended, implored the Infante to
consider, and in the same breath threatened him with dread
consequences of this affront.
Affonso Henriques, unmoved, pointed through the window to a
stalwart oak that stood before the inn.
"Take them out there, and hang them unshriven," he commanded.
The Cardinal swayed, and almost fell forward. He clutched the table,
speechless with terror for those lads who were as the very apple of his
eye, he who so fearlessly had bared his own breast to the steel.
The two comely Italian youths were dragged out writhing in their
captors' hands.
At last the half-swooning legate found his voice. "Lord Prince," he
gasped. "Lord Prince . . . you cannot do this infamy! You cannot! I
warn you that . . . that. . ." The threat perished unuttered, slain by
mounting terror. "Mercy! Have mercy, lord! as you hope for mercy!"
"What mercy do you practice, you who preach a gospe of mercy in the
world, and cry for mercy now?" the Infante asked him.
"But this is an infamy! What harm have those poor children done?
What concern is it of theirs that I have offended you in performing my
sacred duty?"
Swift into that opening flashed the home-thrust of the Infante's answer.
"What harm have my people of Coimbra done? What concern is it of
theirs that I have offended you? Yet to master me you did not hesitate
to strike at them with the spiritual weapons that are yours. To master
you I do not hesitate to strike at your nephews with the lethal weapons
that are mine. When you shall have seen them hang you will

understand the things that argument could not make clear to you. In the
vileness of my act you will see a reflection of the vileness of your own,
and perhaps your heart will be touched, your monstrous pride abated."
Outside, under the tree, the figures of the men-at-arms were moving.
Expeditiously, and with indifference, they went about the preparations
for the task entrusted to them.
The Cardinal writhed, and fought for breath. "Lord Prince, this must
not be!" He stretched forth supplicating hands. "Lord Prince, you must
release my nephews."
"Lord Cardinal, you must absolve my people."
"If . . . if you will first make submission. My duty . . . to the Holy
See . . . Oh God! Will nothing move you?"
"When they have been hanged you will understand, and out of your
own affliction learn compassion." The Infante's voice was so cold, his
mien so resolute that the legate despaired of conquering his purpose.
Abruptly he capitulated, even as the halters went about the necks of his
two cherished lads.
"Stop!" he screamed. "Bid them stop! The curse shall be lifted."
Affonso Henriques opened the window with a leisureliness which to
the legate seemed to belong to the realm of nightmare.
"Wait yet a moment," the Infante called to those outside, about whom
by now a little knot of awe-stricken villagers had gathered. Then he
turned again to Cardinal Corrado, who had sunk to his chair like a man
exhausted, and sat now panting, his elbows on the table, his head in his
hands. "Here," said the prince, "are the terms upon which you may
have their lives: Complete absolution, and Apostolic benediction for
my people and myself this very night, I on my side making submission
to the Holy Father's will to the extent of releasing my mother from
duress, with the condition that she leaves Portugal at once and does not
return. As for the banished bishop and his successor, matters must

remain as they are; but you can satisfy your conscience on that score by
yourself confirming the appointment of Don Zuleyman. Come, my lord,
I am being generous, I think. In the enlargement of my mother I afford
you the means of satisfying Rome. If you have learnt your lesson from
what I here proposed, your conscience should satisfy you of the rest."
"Be it so," the Cardinal answered hoarsely. "I will return with you to
Coimbra and do your will."
Thereupon, without any tinge of mockery, but in completest sincerity