“We will,” replied the boyars.
“Oh, Father, what have you made me do!” said the Princess to the Metropolitan, and she went sobbing with him.
The two boyars went into the sick man. The poison had not yet begun to do its work. Lapushneanu lay stretched out, his face uppermost, calm but very weak. When the two boyars entered, he looked at them for some time, but not recognizing them he asked who they were, and what they had to say.
“I am Stroici,” replied one.
“And I am Spancioc,” added the other, “and our wish is to see you before you die as we promised you.”
“Oh, my enemies!” sighed Alexandru.
“I am Spancioc,” continued that person, “Spancioc whom you would fain have beheaded when you murdered the forty-seven boyars, and who escaped from your clutches! Spancioc, whose property you have destroyed leaving his wife and children to beg for alms at the doors of Christian houses.”
“Ah, I feel as though a fire burnt me!” cried the sick man, grasping his stomach with both hands.
“To-day we free ourselves, for you must die. The poison works.”
“Oh, you have poisoned me, infamous creatures! Oh, what a fire! Where is the Princess? Where is my son?”