At eleven o'clock the Duke of Gandia bade good-night to his mother.

Caesar at once followed suit, alleging his desire to go to the Vatican to bid farewell to the pope, as he would not be able to fulfil this duty an the morrow, his departure being fixed at daybreak.

This pretext was all the more plausible since the pope was in the habit of sitting up every night till two or three o'clock in the morning.
The two brothers went out together, mounted their horses, which were waiting for them at the door, and rode side by side as far as the Palazzo Borgia, the present home of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, who had taken it as a gift from Alexander the night before his election to the papacy.

There the Duke of Gandia separated from his brother, saying with a smile that he was not intending to go home, as he had several hours to spend first with a fair lady who was expecting him.

Caesar replied that he was no doubt free to make any use he liked best of his opportunities, and wished him a very good night.