Nobody knew what happened there under his superintendence. Mankind
being ever prone to believe the worst of every great man, all kinds of
stupid and even wicked things were said, though not during his
lifetime. People vowed that he carried on the old traditions, the
tortures and human sacrifices, and even improved upon them in his
blithe Renaissance manner. They were ready to supply circumstantial and
excruciating details of how, disguised, down to the minutest details of
costume, in the semblance of the Evil One, he had sought to prolong his
life and invigorate his declining health with the blood of innocent
children, artfully done to death after fiendish, lingering agonies.
Father Capocchio, needless to say, has some shocking pages on this
subject.
Mr. Eames, who had made a careful study of Duke Alfred's reign, came to
the conclusion that such excesses were incompatible with the character
of a ruler whose love of children was one of his most salient traits.
In regard to those other and vaguer accusations, he contended that the
Duke was too jovial by nature to have tortured any save those who, in
his opinion, thoroughly deserved it.
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