“‘On the Friday my lord was stronger and we dared hope for his life. My lady shed tears of joy. She had watched by his bed day and night, allowing no one else to take her place….’”

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked.

“Wait. It gets worse. She goes on: ‘On the Friday at night I sat with my lord again. I was afflicted with a strange heaviness of the eyes.’”

“So she was tired,” I said. “An old woman, sitting up night after night…”

“Sure, sure. But the judge said it was undoubtedly the countess’s black magic at work. Then, says the nurse, ‘When I woke I saw my lord standing by the bed. His face was strangely colored and his eyes turned in his head. He was dressed in hose and shirt only, with the embroidered belt my lady had made for him. When in my affright I spoke to him, he laughed a fearful laugh and looked not to know me. I ran to fetch my lady and she came from her room all heavy with sleep, her black hair about her face. When he saw her, my lord went mad. He felt at his belt as if for his dagger, but it was lacking, and when he so found, he threw himself at her throat and would have strangled her. I could not move him, but my cries brought the two men-at-arms who slept in the next chamber, and together we dragged my lord from his lady’s throat and put him into his bed, where he fell into a swoon. The next day he was in great pain and took no nourishment save a cup of broth. In the evening the painful torments of the first days suddenly returned. He lay in agony, his body torn by spasms, until at midnight his soul left him.’”

“How ignorant they were!” exclaimed Blankenhagen.

“What do you suppose was wrong with him?” I asked.

Blankenhagen shrugged.

“It might be any number of natural illnesses.”

“That wasn’t all,” said Tony, turning to another page of his notebook. “The countess’s maid, or tiring woman, tied the noose around her neck. She was even more verbose than the other witness, so I’ll synopsize. It seems that the week before the count returned she had to obey a call of nature in the middle of the night, and went to the privy—oh, yes, Doctor, they had them—near her mistress’s room. She was still in the darkness of the hall when she saw the countess’s door open and Konstanze standing there with a candle in her hand. Then—I’ll have to give you her own words, or you’ll lose the atmosphere—‘There appeared from nothingness a Tall Man clothed all in black, with only darkness where his face should be. He went to my lady and caught her in his arms, and the folds of his black cloak wrapped her round like two great wings. He was seven feet tall, my Lord Bishop, and I heard the click of his hooves upon the floor of the hall….’”