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Such were the ideas that immediately struck me; and I now prepared for vengeance. Margaretha watched my wife narrowly, and on the evening following the one on which the letter had been delivered, Vitangela was seen to secure a heavy bag of gold about her person, and quit the mansion by the secret staircase of her apartment that apartment which is now the sleeping-place of your sister Nisida.
Then was it also for the first time that I learnt how Margaretha was the detestable spy whose agency had led to such a frightful catastrophe in respect to Eugenio and Vitangela; then I became aware that our mother's corpse slept not in the vault to which a coffin had been consigned: in a word, the full measure of our sire's atrocity O God! that I should be compelled thus to speak was revealed to me!
At first the document begat a deep and mournful interest, as it related the interviews of the late count with Vitangela in the streets of Naples; then amazement was engendered by the announcement of that lovely and unhappy being's ignominious parentage but a calmness was diffused through the minds of Flora and Francisco, as if they had found a resting place amidst the exciting incidents of the narrative when they reached that part which mentioned the marriage.
But it was immortal and it beset me as if it were the ghost of some victim I had ruthlessly murdered. Vitangela saw that my manner had somewhat changed toward her, and she frequently questioned me on the subject.
But the ceremony was conducted with even more privacy than the first; and one mourner alone was present. This was Francisco himself; and thus did he perform the sad duty of interring in sacred ground the remains of his ill-fated mother Vitangela and her brother Eugenio.
"Presenting my hand, therefore, to Vitangela, I escorted her to that part of the ground where the company were now assembled, and where I hoped that some accident might make known to me the person of the gallant with whom, as I supposed, she had walked in the avenue.
"'Behold, Vitangela, how the scalpel hews that form so loved by thee! Now hack away at the countenance deface that beauty pick out those mild blue eyes! and I laughed madly! "The countess fainted, and I ordered her to be carried back to her apartment, where Margaretha awaited her.
It was on this occasion that I said to her: "'Vitangela, I have thought profoundly on all that passed between us yesterday; and I am more than ever determined to make you my wife. Let us away to your father, and demand his consent to our union. "'Stay, she said, in an emphatic tone, 'and hear me patiently ere you either renew the promise to wed me, or reiterate your desire to seek my father.
"'Oh! she murmured, 'I would have been happier were you indeed the humble Signor Cornari! "'No; think not thus, I urged, 'wealth and rank are two powerful aids to happiness in this life. But at all events; my beloved Vitangela, you now recognize more than ever the paramount necessity which induces you to maintain inviolate your solemn vow of yesterday.
"'Holy Virgin! I thought, 'she deplores the fate that chains her to her husband! she weeps because she has not courage to fly with her lover! and now I experienced just the same sensations as those which stunned and stupefied me on that evening at Naples when I first heard that Vitangela was the child of the public executioner.
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