every direction, from you and your second; and he contrived the rest so well, that to this day, by the people of Calais, I am supposed to lie in the churchyard of St. Pierre. While I lay upon a bed of agony, never knowing that I should live from one hour to another, perhaps you may suppose that I felt the visitings of remorse; but no such thing-the time for that was not yet arrived: on the contrary, one passion more violent than any I had hitherto felt took possession of my soul, and to the accomplishment of one wish I directed every energy of my mind. It was to work your destruction-either to deprive you of life, or to render your existence so miserable, that death would be

a relief to you. I knew you to have strong feelings, and the man who has such is always the most susceptible of misery. On my recovery, I disguised my person, and changing my name, returned to Italy, where I understood you were; but first I wrote to England, inquiring for

my father,

from

from whom I wished to extort a supply of money but in answer, I received information that his affairs had gone to ruin, that his property had been sold, and that he had left Northumberland. Perhaps I felt a pang of remorse, but it was not of long duration. On arriving at Sienna, I found the wife I had deserted become the mistress of the baron."

Lord Burton looked shocked at the broadness of the expression.-" She does not understand English," said the other, replying to the glance of Frederic's eye; "and you, baron, must hear the truth as it is. I found her as I have said; my feelings, by this time, were completely dead; I wanted money, not only for my support, but also to prosecute my plans of revenge; and I formed a scheme which I made her execute, whereby she so worked upon the compassion of the baron, that he married her under the idea that she was at the point of death. The baron soon discovered her illness to be pretended;

I 4

pretended; his rage and indignation were beyond all bounds; for it seems, that both by affection and promise, he was engaged to a lady in his own country. Deceived as he had been, he still considered himself indissolubly bound to Biancha; and though he left her, he furnished her with money, and through her supplied my necessities. Lord Burton, I have ever since followed you indefatigably; I soon found that the idea of my death had destroyed your peace, and I gloried in your wretchedness. But this was not sufficient; I made myself acquainted with every part of your history and connexions, for the sole purpose of wounding you more deeply, and for the last year have scarcely ever lost sight of you. I followed you to England, and by one means or another, I discovered your plan of travelling with your cousin Charles. I traced you to Sturford Abbey, and coming across you by accident, had a convincing proof that you had not forgot my supposed death. I saw your eye fix

on

on me, the instantaneous change in your countenance, and the violence with which you reined in your horse: I saw also your fall, and odd as it may seem, I was fearful lest you had killed yourself; for to pursue you had become almost necessary to my existence; and I was alarmed lest I should lose the object of my hate, without my hand striking the blow. Amongst the inquiries I made, I found that, your only sister was residing with her aunt, near Ilfracombe; and in a moment I formed a plan for carrying her off. Extravagant as the idea might seem at first sight, I knew that boldness and decision would often effect the most improbable undertakings. I revolved in my own mind the bitterness of your mortification, and how immensely I might gain, could I once convey her to France. I set no bounds to the prospects it held out, and determined to undertaké it, let it cost me what it would. What followed you must know; I had her, as I thought, completely in my power, when she

I 5

she was rescued by your cousin Charles. He struck me, and he disappointed meand I marked him from that moment for

my vengeance. I then followed you both to Paris, and instigated the count de L by an anonymous letter, to challenge your cousin, to whom the consequences would have been fatal, had not you interfered and saved him. In Italy I came up with you near Locarno, and fired into the carriage; it mattered little to me which the ball struck, but it happened that you both escaped, and to get out of the way of pursuit, I crossed the country towards Turin. Here I got news of your sister and lady Anne Milsome, and once more fancied them in my power. It chanced that the keeper of one of the inns where I knew they must stop, had been an old gambling companion of mine at Milan; he had gone regularly down from soldier to gamester, and from gambler to assassin (or something very like it), and had, at last, dwindled into an innkeeper under the Austrian.

yoke.