At two o'clock
the company rose from table. The Prince led the way, intending to
pass to his private apartments above. The dining-room, which was
on the ground-floor, opened into a little square vestibule which
communicated, through an arched passage-way, with the main entrance
into the court-yard. This vestibule was also directly at the foot of
the wooden staircase leading to the next floor, and was scarcely six
feet in width. [2]
"Upon its left side, as one approached the stairway, was an obscure
arch, sunk deep in the wall, and completely in the shadow of the
door. Behind this arch a portal opened to the narrow lane at the side
of the house. The stairs themselves were completely lighted by a large
window, half-way up the flight. The Prince came from the dining-room,
and began leisurely to ascend. He had only reached the second stair,
when a man emerged from the sunken arch, and, standing within a foot
or two of him, discharged a pistol full at his heart."
When Jaureguy had fired at the Prince two years earlier, the ball
passing through his jaw, the Prince, at he faltered under the shock,
cried, "Do not kill him--I forgive him my death!" But he had no
time to express any such plea for his assailant after Gerard's
cruel shots.
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