MONTALVA; OR ANNALS OF GUILT. A TALE. BY A. HAMILTON, AUTHOR OF THE IRISHMAN IN LONDON. The image of a wicked, heinous fault Lives in his eye; that close aspect of his, VOL. II. LONDON : PRINTED FOR, AND PUBLISHED b., N. L. PANNIER, AT THE ENGLISH AND FOREIGN LIBRARY, NO. 15, LEICESTER-PLACE, LEICESTER-SQUARE ; AND SOLD BY J. M. RICHARDSON, 23, CORNHILL, AND ALL OTHER BOOKSELLERS. MONTALVA, &c. CHAP. I.. "VIOLA, and the service she had done me, occupied my thoughts till we met again. I took care to be at the garden gate by the appointed time; in a few minutes it was opened, and Viola appeared. Follow me, signor,' (said she, in a low tone;) I did so, and she led me to an arbour, which we entered. "Here we are safe for some time, (cried she). Mindez, I know, has not sent to you; he thinks that the delay of a few days will make you more anxi ous for the money; he waits, therefore, to see if you will send to him.' "Thanks to you, my kind Viola (said I), his schemes will fail; but I am all impatience to know your story.' who is "It is briefly this, signor (replied she). I am an orphan, and have no friend but the lady whom you saw, and my aunt. Under her protection I lived happily, from the time I lost my parents till about a year back, when her husband, the Signor Velloni, happened to have an affair of honour with the son of one of the most powerful of our Neapolitan nobles'; he had the misfortune to kill his antagonist, and in consequence was obliged to fly. His property was confiscated; but my aunt's friends procured her a small pension, and we retired to the cottage where you saw us. Signora Velloni had reason to suppose that in time her husband's fortune would be restored, and during his exile she sent him the greatest part of her pension. My little portion I had re |