QR, THE NOVICE OF CORPUS DOMINI. a Romance... IN FOUR VOLUMES. BY LOUISA SIDNEY STANHOPE, AUTHOR OF MONTBRASIL ABBEY; THE BANDIT'S BRIDE; STRIKING This is an act so newly horrid, ' So ghastly a contrivance of revenge, hat fiends themselves would start at the proposal VOL. II. LEE. LONDON: PRINTED AT THE: Minerba-Press, FOR A.. K. NEWMAN AND CO.. LEADENHALL STREET. 1810. DI MONTRANZO. CHAP. I. Who can relate the tale, without a tear? DRYDEN. Blessed are those Whose blood and judgment are so well commingled, That they are not a pipe for Fortune's finger To sound what stop she pleases! SHAKESPEARE. "IT was on the eve of the Carnival, two days after my arrival at Venice, that; in crossing the Rialto, a stranger rushed hastily past me, absorbed in deep reflection: his pace was unequal; sometimes pausing, apparently subdued by feeling; sometimes hurrying VOL. II. B hurrying on, as though the very shadow of his own form was conjured up into a pursuer. Yielding to the impulse of the moment, I kept him in view, fearing lest misfortune had vacillated reason, lest desperation should drive to the black oblivion of self-slaughter. He perceived not my intention, although I followed him to the shore of the Adriatic-although, rendered bold, I ventured sufficiently near to catch the deep sigh, as it swelled his pent-up bo ́som. Witness, Heaven! it was not mere curiosity, but compassion, that induced me thus to purloin the secret of his sorrows! To a stranger, pride might have checked the tale of misfortune; from a stranger, the offer of service might have been rejected-I knew the inborn greatness of a Venetian soul, I pitied the internal struggles of a Venetian spirit. Poverty, my heart whispered, was the source of affliction; and, with exulting satisfaction, that source I determined to remove. Instantly I formed a plan of following the stranger to his dwell |