“He is dead.”

“But he did not die in his bed; he did not die a calm and peaceful death; he did not die the death of the good?”

“He died a violent death, in a terrible night, rendered so by the passions of man and a tempest from God. His body, pierced by a dagger, sank to the depths of the ocean. God pardon his murderer!”

“Proceed, then,” said Charles II., seeing that the count was unwilling to say more.

“The king of England, after having, as I have said, spoken thus to the masked executioner, added, — ’Observe, you will not strike till I shall stretch out my arms, saying — REMEMBER!’“

“I was aware,”