The Shame of Motley | Page 3

EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
ARE MADE TO YOU AS TO THE ETEXT OR ANY MEDIUM IT
MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or the
exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the above
disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you may have
other legal rights.
INDEMNITY
You will indemnify and hold the Project, its directors, officers,
members and agents harmless from all liability, cost and expense,
including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the
following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this etext, [2]
alteration, modification, or addition to the etext, or [3] any Defect.
DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm"
You may distribute copies of this etext electronically, or by disk, book
or any other medium if you either delete this "Small Print!" and all
other references to Project Gutenberg, or:

[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this requires that
you do not remove, alter or modify the etext or this "small print!"
statement. You may however, if you wish, distribute this etext in
machine readable binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form,
including any form resulting from conversion by word processing or
hypertext software, but only so long as *EITHER*:
[*] The etext, when displayed, is clearly readable, and does *not*
contain characters other than those intended by the author of the work,
although tilde (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may be used
to convey punctuation intended by the author, and additional characters
may be used to indicate hypertext links; OR
[*] The etext may be readily converted by the reader at no expense into
plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent form by the program that displays
the etext (as is the case, for instance, with most word processors); OR
[*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at no additional
cost, fee or expense, a copy of the etext in its original plain ASCII form
(or in EBCDIC or other equivalent proprietary form).
[2] Honor the etext refund and replacement provisions of this "Small
Print!" statement.
[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Project of 20% of the gross
profits you derive calculated using the method you already use to
calculate your applicable taxes. If you don't derive profits, no royalty is
due. Royalties are payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
Foundation" the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were
legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent periodic) tax
return. Please contact us beforehand to let us know your plans and to
work out the details.
WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU
DON'T HAVE TO?
The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, public
domain etexts, and royalty free copyright licenses. If you are interested

in contributing scanning equipment or software or other items, please
contact Michael Hart at: [email protected]
*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN
ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END*

This etext was produced by John Stuart Middleton


The Shame of Motley Being the Memoir of Certain Transactions in the
Life of Lazzaro Biancomonte, of Biancomonte, sometime Fool of the
Court of Pesaro.
by Rafael Sabatini

CONTENTS


PART I
FLOWER OF THE QUINCE

CHAPTER
I.
THE CARDINAL OF VALENCIA
II. THE LIVERIES OF SANTAFIOR

III. MADONNA PAOLA
IV. THE COZENING OF RAMIRO
V. MADONNA'S INGRATITUDE
VI. FOOL'S LUCK
VII. THE SUMMONS FROM ROME
VIII. "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN"
IX. THE FOOL-AT-ARMS
X. THE FALL OF PESARO


PART II
THE OGRE OF CESENA
XI. MADONNA'S SUMMONS
XII. THE GOVERNOR OF CESENA
XIII. POISON
XIV. REQUIESCAT!
XV. AN ILL ENCOUNTER
XVI. IN THE CITADEL OF CESENA
XVII. THE SENESCHAL
XVIII. THE LETTER

XIX. DOOMED
XX. THE SUNSET
XXI. AVE CAESAR!


PART I
FLOWER OF THE QUINCE

CHAPTER I
THE CARDINAL OF VALENCIA
For three days I had been cooling my heels about the Vatican, vexed by
suspense. It fretted me that I should have been so lightly dealt with
after I had discharged the mission that had brought me all the way from
Pesaro, and I wondered how long it might be ere his Most Illustrious
Excellency the Cardinal of Valencia might see fit to offer me the
honourable employment with which Madonna Lucrezia had promised
me that he would reward the service I had rendered the House of
Borgia by my journey.
Three days were sped, yet nought had happened to signify that things
would shape the course by me so ardently desired; that the means
would be afforded me of mending my miserable ways, and repairing
the wreck my life had suffered on the shoals of Fate. True, I had been
housed and fed, and the comforts of indolence had been