At last he mastered his emotion and sprang to his feet.
"You have had the laugh of me," he snarled, fury now ringing in his voice.

"But ere you die you may regret it that you mocked me." He turned to the executioner.
"Strip him," he commanded fiercely.

"He shall not hang as I intended--at least not before we have torn every bone of his body from its socket.
To the cord with him!" And he pointed to the torture at the end of the hall.
The executioner made shift to obey him when suddenly Madonna Paola leapt to her feet, her cheeks flushed and her eyes bright with a new excitement.
"Is there none here," he cried, appealing to Ramiro's officers, "that will draw his sword in the service of his overlord, the Duca Valentino?
There stands a traitor, and there one who has proven his loyalty to Cesare Borgia.

The Duke is likely to demand a heavy price for the life of that faithful one to whose warning he owes his escape of assassination.

Will none of you side now with the right that anon you may stand well with Cesare Borgia when he comes?
Or, by idly allowing this traitor to have his way, will you participate in the punishment that must be his ?" It was the very spur they needed.