..at least," he gasped, "let me have a priest to shrive me. Do
not...do not let me die with all my sins upon me!"
In that moment there came from the ante-chamber the sound of swiftly moving
feet, and the clash of steel mingling with cries. The sound heartened him.
He conceived that someone came to his assistance. He raised his voice in a
desperate screech:
"To me! To me! Help!"
As he shouted I sprang towards him, to find my passage suddenly barred by
Galeotto's arm. He shot it out, and my breast came against it as against a
rod of iron. It threw me out of balance, and ere I had recovered it had
thrust me back again.
"Back there!" said Galeotto's brazen voice. "This affair is mine. Mine
are the older wrongs and the greater."
With that he stepped behind the Duke's chair, and Farnese in a fresh spurt
of panic came to his feet. Galeotto locked an arm about his neck and
pulled his head back. Into his ear he muttered words that I could not
overhear, but it was matter that stilled Farnese's last struggle. Only the
Duke's eyes moved, rolling in his head as he sought to look upon the face
of the man who spoke to him. And in that moment Galeotto wrenched his
victim's head still farther back, laying entirely bare the long brown
throat, across which he swiftly drew his dagger.
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