This lady was the younger daughter of a Sicilian nobleman, whose
avarice, or necessities, had devoted her to a convent. To avoid the
threatened fate, she fled with the lover to whom her affections had
long been engaged, and whose only fault, even in the eye of her
father, was inferiority of birth. They were now on their way to the
coast, whence they designed to pass over to Italy, where the church
would confirm the bonds which their hearts had already formed. There
the friends of the cavalier resided, and with them they expected to
find a secure retreat.
The duke, who was not materially wounded, after the first transport of
his rage had subsided, suffered them to depart. Relieved from their
fears, they joyfully set forward, leaving their late pursuer to the
anguish of defeat, and fruitless endeavour. He was remounted on his
horse; and having dispatched two of his people in search of a house
where he might obtain some relief, he proceeded slowly on his return
to the castle of Mazzini.
It was not long ere he recollected a circumstance which, in the first
tumult of his disappointment, had escaped him, but which so
essentially affected the whole tenour of his hopes, as to make him
again irresolute how to proceed. He considered that, although these
were the fugitives he had pursued over the plains, they might not be
the same who had been secreted in the cottage, and it was therefore
possible that Julia might have been the person whom they had for some
time followed from thence. This suggestion awakened his hopes, which
were however quickly destroyed; for he remembered that the only
persons who could have satisfied his doubts, were now gone beyond the
power of recall.
To pursue Julia, when no traces of her flight
remained, was absurd; and he was, therefore, compelled to return to
the marquis, as ignorant and more hopeless than he had left him. With
much pain he reached the village which his emissaries had discovered,
when fortunately he obtained some medical assistance. Here he was
obliged by indisposition to rest. The anguish of his mind equalled
that of his body. Those impetuous passions which so strongly marked
his nature, were roused and exasperated to a degree that operated
powerfully upon his constitution, and threatened him with the most
alarming consequences. The effect of his wound was heightened by the
agitation of his mind; and a fever, which quickly assumed a very
serious aspect, co-operated to endanger his life.