going to be sad and he wanted her so desperately to be gay.
“Oh Father,” she said impulsively, “perhaps after all this marriage will bring no happiness to me.”
He caught her hand and kissed it. “It will bring great happiness, my Duchess. You have nothing to fear. You can trust me to care for Roderigo, for is he not your son! Does he not belong to us?”
“Father …” she faltered.
But he interrupted her. “You think that perhaps I shall not always be here.”
“Do not speak of such a thing. It is more than I can bear.”
He laughed. “Your father is an old man, Lucrezia. He is close to seventy years of age. Few live as long, and those who do cannot hope for much longer.”
“We cannot think of it,” she cried. “We dare not think of it. When we were little, it was you … Uncle Roderigo then … from whom all blessings flowed. It has not changed. Father, if you died, what would become of us? We should be only half alive, I believe.”
He enjoyed such talk. He knew that it was not flattery; there was no hyperbole … or perhaps but a little. They did need him—now as they always had. His delicate Lucrezia, his strong Cesare.
“I am strong and have much life in me yet,” he said. “But, my dearest, to satisfy you, the little one shall have another guardian besides myself. What think you of our kinsman, Francesco Borgia? The Cardinal is gentle; he loves you; he loves the child. Would you feel happier then, Lucrezia?”
“I would trust Francesco,” she said.
“Then so shall it be.”
He took her hand and noticed that it was trembling. “Lucrezia,” he said, “you are no longer a child. I shall be making a short tour of the territories very soon. I am going to leave you in charge, to take over my secular duties.”
She was aghast. “But … I am a woman, and this is a task for your most important Cardinals.”
“I would show them all that my daughter is equal to any task with which, as a Borgia, she may be faced.”
She smiled tremulously; she knew that he understood her fears of the new life which was stretching out before her. He wanted her to prove herself; he wanted to inspire her with the courage she would need.
He loved her with a devotion as great as he could feel for any and she loved him. She loved him fiercely, passionately; and she asked herself then: Is there some curse on us Borgias, that our love must be of such an intensity that there comes a point in our lives when we must turn from it, fly from it?
Rome was gay; the streets were crowded, everyone in the City wished to catch a glimpse of Lucrezia on her way to Santa Maria del Popolo, where she was going to give thanks because the Duke of Ferrara had at last signed the marriage contract between herself and his heir, Alfonso.
The Pope had wanted to make a grand occasion of this and, with that Borgian love of showmanship, he had arranged a pageant to dazzle even the eyes of Romans. As with all these spectacles the occasion was not only serious but gay, not only a solemn ceremony, but a masquerade. The cannons of St. Angelo were booming, and the bells were ringing all over the seven hills of Rome. Lucrezia, glittering with jewels, her dress trimmed with gold and precious stones, the net which held her hair being composed of gold and jewels, rode in triumph through the streets; with her were the ladies and noblemen of her court, three hundred in all, together with the ambassadors of Spain and France.
The people crowded about the doorway of the church as Lucrezia entered and made her way to Alexander’s impressive marble tabernacle where she knelt to thank God for bringing this great honor to her.
Her secular regency during Alexander’s absence had been a great success; she had dealt with all matters which were not ecclesiastical, and the Cardinals had all been astonished by her gravity and grasp of affairs.
For the first time in her life Lucrezia had been aware of responsibility, and she enjoyed the experience. Cardinal Giorgio Costa, who was eighty-five, had made himself her adviser in particular and delighting in her youth had done a great deal to make the regency a success. It seemed impossible for these Cardinals, when they contemplated this serenely beautiful girl who so desired to please and