in pursuit, there were no difficulties his undaunted spirit would not surmount: such was now the man, whose frame, weakened by indulgence, and whose mind, enervated by guilty retrospection, shrunk timidly from a sound, and stood the victim of an imaginary terror! "The Signior di Albenza," said his companion, in accents of proud equality, "is not unknown to me; for though chance has this night thrown us in the way of each other-the period yet must have arrived, when the bond of obligation that links thee to me now, would be poor, in còmparison to that with which it is in my power to enthrall thee. Start not!" (for Moraldi here betrayed an involuntary emotion,) "but mark me: To one great purpose have I dedicated my life; to perform a vow, registered at the pillow of a dying parent, have I

submitted

submitted to bear the burthen of an existence, commenced in disgrace, and nurtured in misfortune; in the hope, though at my latest moment, of working a great revenge: I have risen superior to the world's oppression. Your pardon, I trespass on your patience; but I would teach Moraldi, that the man before him is of no common stamp; the life I saved you, was an act of duty; the rewards of your family I disdain: your friendship I would possess, your confidence I would share my reasons are strong, are mighty; and the period will come, when you shall know my motives." "I confess myself," replied Moraldi, "at a loss to account in what manner my friendship can prove essential to you, or the cause in which you appear to be so much interested; a stranger to your name, your character, and conB6 nexions,

nexions, it does not follow, that because you have (for reasons best known to yourself,) become acquainted with mine, that I should lightly promise protection to one of whose history I am ignorant: that I am in your power, is a threat so vague, so futile, and ridiculous, as exceeds all bounds of probability, and is only calculated to excite the sentiments of contempt it merits; if, however, the assistance you rendered me, was really the impulse of Humanity, and not the result of premeditated design, then have you still the most forcible claim on my good offices. My friendship cannot be so easily afforded."-" My name," answered the stranger, "is Ubaldo: for my origin, it is marked in characters so black and so mysterious, that death and retribution alone can efface them; but that they must be effaced, is a

hope,

hope, which even in those years of tender infancy, (when the buoyant and elastic spirits scarcely retain impressions for an hour,) kindled a living flame within my bosom, and warmed me into action. But you do well to spurn my offers-well to assume a conscientious guise to him who has watched your conduct, and ascertained its motives; who knows thee as incapable of acting from principle thyself, as thou art unqualified to preach it to another. Have I not observed thy progress from the castle of thy father? Have I not followed thee to the Morano palace? Aye, and when under the guilty covert of the night thou hast vainly thought deceit and treachery might lurk unseen, have I not traced thy fearful footsteps to the lone dwelling "Horror!" cried Moraldi,

of

what art thou, that thus enveloped in

a cloud

A

a cloud of dark obscurity, doth steal upon me, more barbarous than the hireling wretch from whom but now thy strange and hidden policy has saved me, to blast my name, and sink me deeper than perdition!" The time and place was, at this moment, well calculated to excite sensations of alarm and superstition; the rugged and intricate road, skirted on one side by an immense wood, whose close, embowering shades, excluding the beams of the mid-day sun, rendered it a situation of peculiar gloom and solemnity: while, on the other, a high stupendous mountain, whose lofty summit rising impervious to the sight, appeared every instant ready to fall, and crush the unwary traveller as he passed, a grotesque figure of San-Pietro, placed by the holy zeal of some pilgrims at its base, added considerably to the natural awfulness

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