Puslapio vaizdai
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when the subject is mentioned, and carefully refrains from alluding to it himself."

"It must, indeed, have been some sad disappointment to have so affected a mind like his."

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Something more, I suspect, than mere disappointment. Time, in a healthy mind, will heal all sorrows that are not mingled with remorse." "Do you suspect him, then, of any crime?" "It does not become us to condemn without proof; yet there is a settled sadness in the palmer's conversation, which leads me to think that his breast contains some secret which for ever haunts his imagination, and induces him to shun the society of other men."

"And yet he seems to be humane, and incapable of wronging any one."

"Yes," said Manfredi, " he has outlived the age of passion, and looks with an indulgent eye on the errors of others; but it waxes late, and I have much to do to-morrow. Lights thereho!"

CHAPTER VII.

A democrat as fierce as Caius Gracchus,

Whose thunders bade the proud patrician tremble,
And shook the deep foundations of old Rome
Even to their lowest base.

ANON.

MANFREDI had fixed on the following evening for calling together his friends and adherents, in order to put his long cherished project in execution; as he knew well that if he spent any time in unnecessary delay, he had little chance of escaping the vigilance of the new ruler of Milan.

The hour of midnight had been named as the time of meeting, and an apartment at the roof of his palace was prepared for the reception of the conspirators. It was a large low-roofed cham

ber, and the shutters had been carefully closed, that no light might be visible from without, which at that late hour might have caused suspicion. The walls were covered with faded tapestry, which in many places was torn and defaced, as if the room had not been in use for many years; and in a recess at one end hung a portrait of the Virgin, in front of which there was suspended a lamp of antique shape. Immemediately under it, a small raised platform had been erected, and seats for thirty or forty persons were placed around the room.

There were only two individuals present, Manfredi and his guest. The former was dressed in a rich court suit, and his appearance formed a strange contrast with the cold deserted air of the apartment.

It was a few minutes past the appointed time, when a man wearing a mask, and enveloped in a large black cloak, entered the room.

"You are welcome, Count Angelo," said the master of the house.

"Well, Julio, this is a strange place you have brought us to," said the other, scanning the

apartment curiously; "if age improves tapestry as it does wine, your walls are rarely hung, for by'r lady, it seems to be of the most venerable antiquity. But how is this, Julio: you look grave as St. Peter?"

"I have my reasons," replied Manfredi.

"That may be," rejoined the other; "but I know that I have just broken up as merry a company as ever met, to keep my engagement here; and I expect, in consideration of my disinterested conduct, to be rewarded according to my merit, when the republic is established."

"You may rest assured of that,” replied Manfredi, significantly; "but here comes Lorenzo della Torre, the hereditary enemy of the Visconti: my lord, you are most welcome;" he advanced towards another of the conspirators, as he spoke, and extending his hand to him, they both became engaged in earnest conversation.

The others now began to arrive one by one. They were all masked; but their host showed great quickness in distinguishing each by his voice, and pointing out his seat according to his rank.

After they had all assembled, the door was closed, and he proceeded to call over their names, which each answered in his turn.

Meanwhile, Alfred's attention was attraced by the strange behaviour of one of the party, who was dressed precisely like the others, although he appeared carefully to abstain from conversing with any one. This circumstance might have escaped his observation in a mixed company, had not the individual in question kept so entirely aloof from all the others, and fixed his eyes continually on himself, as if watching all his movements.

He was about to inform Manfredi of the circumstance, when he observed the latter was preparing to address the conspirators.

He stood on the platform beneath the lamp, which shed a sombre lustre over his pale but handsome features. He was uncovered, and after a pause of a few seconds, during which not a whisper was heard in the apartment, he spoke as follows:

"It becomes every man, my friends, before engaging in an enterprise of difficulty, to weigh well the consequences which may arise from it,

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