It is scarcely necessary to add how
much this honorable sentiment was strengthened by the unexpected
declaration of the headsman concerning the birth of Sigismund.
Notwithstanding the asseveration of Maso that the whole was an invention
conceived to fervor the son of Balthazar, it was supported by proofs so
substantial and palpable, to say nothing of the natural and veracious
manner in which the tale was related, as to create a strong probability
in the minds of the witnesses, that it might be true. Although it remained
to be discovered who were the real parents of Sigismund, few now believed
that he owed his existence to the headsman.
A short summary of the facts may aid the reader in better understanding,
the circumstances on which so much denouement depends.
It has been revealed in the course of the narrative that the Signor
Grimaldi had wedded a lady younger than himself, whose affections were
already in the possession of one that, in moral qualities, was unworthy of
her love, but who in other respects was perhaps better suited to become
her husband, than the powerful noble to whom her family had given her
hand.
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