Madame Serpent by Jean Plaidy Read Free Book Online Page B

she was about to suffer Alessandro’s revenge; she had
    known it must come because Alessandro never failed to take revenge. He drew aside the curtain and as she approached, he pointed to the floor. There lay the body of Fedo. It was stiffening, but the legs were contorted and she knew that Alessandro had poisoned the dog in a way calculated to give the maximum of suffering to the poor animal.
    Caterina sank on to her knees and touched Fedo’s body. Tears came to her
    eyes and ran down her cheeks. She sobbed bitterly. Alessandro stood very still, smiling at her.
    ‘Most unseemly!’ he murmured. ‘What would Aunt Clarissa say if she could
    see Caterina now?’
    Caterina lifted her reddened eyes to his jeering face; and then suddenly she lost control as she never had before. She forgot everything but that her beloved dog had been cruelly done to death by this wicked boy.
    She flew at him; she did what she had often longed to do. She kicked him; she bit him; she pulled at that stiff, ugly black hair. She screamed: ‘I hate you! I hate you! I hate you!’
    That Alessandro stood calmly laughing at her she did not notice; she was
    blinded by her rage.
    A woman came running in. Alessandro said: ‘Bring the Cardinal or my lady.
    The Duchessina has gone mad.’
    And still he stood there calmly, though it was not his nature to be calm; and he smiled at the blood which was flowing from the wound her teeth had made in his hand.
    ‘She has sharp teeth, this savage Duchessina !’ he murmured as though to himself.
    And then, suddenly, Caterina was aware of the tall figure of the Cardinal and with him her aunt, Clarissa Strozzi. Caterina turned from Alessandro and looked at them in horror. The Cardinal’s tired eyes in his cadaverous face expressed disbelief of what those eyes had witnessed; but Clarissa Strozzi was never at a loss for words.
    ‘Caterina Maria Romola de’ Medici!’ she said. ‘I would not have believed, after all our care, that you could behave thus.’
    Caterina saw that on Alessandro’s face was the same shocked expression as was on those of her aunt and the Cardinal. She burst out angrily: ‘But― he poisoned my dog― my little Fedo. He poisoned Fedo― most cruelly. He is too much of a coward to hurt me, so he hurts my little dog―’ Her voice broke and she began to cry miserably.
    ‘Be silent!’ commanded Clarissa. ‘Let us hear no more of this. Go to your room at once. There you will stay until summoned.’
    Caterina, only too glad to escape, ran from the room. Miserable and
    bewildered, she did not stop running until she reached her own apartment.
    Guido greeted her and she fell upon him weeping bitterly. He licked her face; the loss of Fedo was his well as hers.
    ―――――――
    Caterina was summoned to the apartments of the Cardinal, and taken to that room which was like a cell in its austerity. Not the Cardinal made much
    personal use of this room; it was kept for occasions such as this; the rest of the Cardinal’s apartments were sumptuously furnished, as fit for a man of his rank.
    On chairs that were like thrones sat the Cardinal, Clarissa Strozzi and
    Caterina. Caterina’s feet did not touch the floor, her face was solemn and expressionless. She dared show no emotion, for Aunt Clarissa’s eyes would be upon her until this ordeal was over. On the floor Guido lay stretched out. He had just eaten what had been given to him, and he was there that his mistress might watch his death agonies. This was her punishment. She had loved her dogs; she had loved then much that she had been trapped into a low-bred display of
    violent emotion. So now, she must watch, unmoved, the terrible suffering of a beloved friend.
    Caterina knew what was in Aunt Clarissa’s mind. This was the necessary
    lesson. All emotion must be suppressed, for emotion was childish. Caterina must be made to realize that there was only one thing that really mattered in her life―
    the advancement of a great and noble