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friendly hand is held out to succour or to save me; I thought I could have perished ere I could have stooped to beg relief, yet I was mistaken; I did beg it, and it was denied me."

Montalva's eyes were rivetted upon the face of his intended murderer; his features, which were strongly marked, bore the traces of care and disappointment; and the fire of despair sparkled

in his eye.

"Thy life (cried the signor), is forfeited to the laws of Naples, and thou hast deserved to lose it; yet I wish to spare thee."

"I will not thank you for your intended mercy, signor (replied the stranger), to me 'tis cruelty; life, to a wretch who has no means to support it, is a gift not worth accepting; pursue, therefore, the advantage which my folly has given thee, and deliver me into the hands of justice."

"I would fain know thy story (cried Montalva); perhaps I may befriend thee;

but be sincere; the slightest deviation from truth will for ever lose thee my

favour."

"Your caution is needless, signor (said he, proudly); after what is past, I can have no wish to conceal from you any thing I have ever done; but dissimulation (added he, sarcastically), is natural to man, and therefore I am not surprised at your suspecting me."

CHAPTER XIII.

"My birth is noble, but the name of my family, signor, you must excuse my divulging; the patrimony I inherited from my parents, was small; but a maiden aunt, whose fortune was immense, adopted me; and from an early age, I was considered as her heir; I had the usual faults of young men, but my partial aunt saw them not; and to her blind indulgence, I owe all my misfortunes. The death of my father placed my little fortune in my own power, and I soon dissipated it in riot and extravagance. Though my aunt had avowed that I was

to be her heir, she did not, large as her fortune was, make me an allowance sufficient for my rank; and the habit of dissipation, which I had acquired, became my torment, when I lost the means of supporting it. A young Frenchman, who was one of the companions of my idle hours, advised me to have recourse to a jew; who would, he said, supply me with money; but on the most exorbitant terms. To that I was indifferent, the death of my aunt would put me in possession of immense wealth, and from her time of life it was an event which I thought must soon happen; I therefore told my friend that I was willing to agree to any term's that the usurer might demand, and he took me to the house of the jew, who was named Isaac Men+ dez; with the most fawning civility the extortioner offered me any money I wanted, and in an evil hour I borrowed a large sum.

I fully intended to be more prudent in my expenditure, than I had yet been,

and I hoped that the money thus obtained, would last me till I had the means to satisfy my creditor; but I knew little of my own heart, and less of the temptations to which I should be exposed. When my friends, as they stiled themselves, were informed of the means by which I became possessed of money to continue the career of dissipation which I had begun, schemes of pleasure were daily proposed, which I had not the resolution to object to, and my money wasted rapidly.

In an excursion which I made a few miles from Naples, I was struck with the appearance of a small neat dwelling, embosomed in a grove; it appeared too humble to be the abode of affluence, and and yet too good to be inhabited by the children of poverty. Fatigue and heat had rendered me thirsty, and I determined to try whether the tenant of this lovely spot would afford me rest and refreshment. An aged domestic opened the rustic gate, and courteously invited

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