of her life. In short, she prevailed on Mr. Montfort to carry her off from Naples, and place her in safety at her seat of Villa Viciosa in Sicily. "From that period he himself removed to Sicily to be near her. He assures me there was nothing but what was innocent and honourable in their friendship, his whole design being to protect an interesting and beautiful woman from insult, and we must not controvert the assertion of a nobleman. "At length the miserable count di San Carlos died; and about the same period, Montfort became, by the death of his uncle (one of those valetudinarians who hold out to the verge of mortality), marquis of Beaudesert and earl of O'Melvyl. Fiorenza now expected he would marry her; but the enthusiasm of the marquis had, I fancy, a little subsided. Though still ignorant of the base deceit she had put upon him respecting his injured wife and child, he had, by some means, been made made acquainted with her relations with the pretended German baron; and this had so greatly lessened his esteem for her, that he was determined that she should never be marchioness of Beaudesert. "When an explanation to that purpose ensued, you may imagine a storm broke loose; but, on the contrary, Fiorenza, who meditated a deeper and surer vengeance, met her disappointment with apparent resignation. They parted. "The countess di San Carlos, who had no longer any pretext for not living at Naples, returned thither. The marquis, having no further tie to attach him to Italy, began also to think of revisiting his native home, when a letter was delivered to him from Fiorenza, which, for a time, recalled all his former habits and associations to his mind. The countess described herself as living in reduced circumstances, but regretting nothing in her change of situation except the loss of his society. She expressed a hope that what had had passed would not prevent his remembering her with kindness, and sometimes seeing, for her sake, the young count di San Carlos a request the marquis was not disposed to deny. "During the long period of his residence in Sicily, this youth had greatly won upon his affections, by the attachment he expressed to his person, and the spirit of courage and enterprise with which he had frequently made short voyages from Reggio, and braved a father's severest rage, to visit a beloved mother in her retirement. The letter concluded with a warm recommendation of the bearer, as a domestic of tried fidelity, but one whom she was obliged, on account of the reduction of her establishment, to dismiss; and a wish implied that the marquis would take him into his service. "Glad to be able to oblige Fiorenza at so cheap a rate, lord Beaudesert received Giacomo kindly, and gave him a situation in his household. He had not been many days days served by this new domestic, when, one evening, after dining alone, the marquis was taken suddenly and alarmingly ill, and, from the symptoms, was soon convinced that he was poisoned. Owing to a number of corroborative circumstances, suspicion instantly fell upon Giacomo, who was found to have fled. He was overtaken, secured, and, on a promise that his life should be spared, confessed every thing. He owned that he was employed by Fiorenza, and was to have had a reward for administering the deadly draught. "For six weeks the great strength of the patient enabled him to struggle against the effects of the poison that had been administered to him, and during this period the young count di San Carlos, who was ignorant of the dreadful share his mother had in this calamity, attended him with the duty and affection of a son. At length the powerful antidotes he had taken prevailed, and the marquis of Beaudesert desert rose from the couch on which Italian treachery had laid him, but changed from the gay, handsome Montfort, to the pale, haggard, emaciated object you have seen. 66 Disappointed in this attempt, Fiorenza's vengeance still pursued him. She caused him to be waylaid at night by bravoes, and he would undoubtedly have fallen their victim, but for the spirit and gallantry of young San Carlos. It was on that occasion, before the count came up to his assistance, he received that wound in the head which obliges him to have it wrapped up in a covering of black silk. 66 The faculty now all united in recommending a speedy return to his native country, as the only chance of life for lord Beaudesert. "His arrival could not be a secret, but it required caution to proceed in the business. We were, as yet, unacquainted with the excellent dispositions of San Carlos, |
