THE HISTORICAL NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENT, SECOND SERIES By Rafael Sabatini To David Whitelaw My Dear David, Since the narratives collected here as well as in the preceding volume under the title of the Historical Nights Entertainment—narratives originally published in The Premier Magazine, which you so ably edit—owe their being to your suggestion, it is fitting that some acknowledgment of the fact should be made. To what is hardly less than a duty, allow me to add the pleasure of dedicating to you, in earnest of my friendship and esteem, not merely this volume, but the work of which this volume is the second. Sincerely yours, Rafael Sabatini London, June, 1919. Contents Preface I. THE ABSOLUTION Affonso Henriques, First King of Portugal II. THE FALSE DEMETRIUS Boris Godunov and the Pretended Son of Ivan the Terrible III. THE HERMOSA FEMBRA An Episode of the Inquisition in Seville IV. THE PASTRY-COOK OF MADRIGAL The Story of the False Sebastian of Portugal V. THE END OF THE “VERT GALANT” The Assassination of Henry IV VI. THE BARREN WOOING The Murder of Amy Robsart VII. SIR JUDAS The Betrayal of Sir Walter Ralegh VIII. HIS INSOLENCE OF BUCKINGHAM George Villiers’ Courtship of Anne of Austria IX. THE PATH OF EXILE The Fall of Lord Clarendon X. THE TRAGEDY OF HERRENHAUSEN Count Philip Königsmark and the Princess Sophia Dorothea XI. THE TYRANNICIDE Charlotte Corday and Jean Paul Marat Preface The kindly reception accorded to the first volume of the Historical Nights Entertainment, issued in December of 1917, has encouraged me to prepare the second series here assembled. As in the case of the narratives that made up the first volume, I set out again with the same ambitious aim of adhering scrupulously in every instance to actual, recorded facts; and once again I find it desirable at the outset to reveal how far the achievement may have fallen short of the admitted aim. On the whole, I have to confess to having allowed myself perhaps a wider latitude, and to having taken greater liberties than was the case with the essays constituting the previous collection. This, however, applies, where applicable, to the parts rather than to the whole.