185 

 THERESA ABRUZZI. 



Continued from page 133. 



" Your conditions are hard, I had almost said unjust/^ exclaimed 

 Marco. 



"They are at least unchangeable," replied the count drily: 

 "you know the oath that Theresa has sworn to me, and you 

 know also the only terras on which my consent shall ever be 

 yielded to your union." 



" You leave me, then, no choice," cried Marco mournfully ; 

 "but may I not see Theresa ere I depart?" 



" For what purpose ? '^ 



" Alas, I know not ! Oh, count, you little know what you 

 have this day counselled — Heaven grant that the issue may never 

 recoil upon you." 



He sighed and departed. \ 



Theresa, informed by her father of the result of their confer- 

 ence, grew more composed, and by degrees regained much of that 

 elasticity of mind which had shed its fairy beams over her earlier 

 years. Naturally sanguine, and unversed in worldly affairs, she 

 looked forward with hope, almost with confidence, to the result 

 of those efforts which she understood from time to time employed 

 the unceasing attention of Marco. Of the nature of those efforts 

 little was known. His absences from Mantua were frequent, 

 and often protracted ; but the few domestics whom he yet retained, 

 and who were ancient servants of the family, preserved a religious 

 silence on all that respected their master : yet there were those 

 who pretended to read in their dejected looks and faltering speech 

 a tale of disaster and disappointment. The count himself ob- 

 served that there was much mystery about the actions of Petroni, 

 and even hinted his apprehensions that the hopes of Marco 

 pointed to the same fatal source in which the ruin of his father 

 had originated. After the lapse of a few months, however, 

 brighter prospects seemed to open. It was ascertained that 

 Marco had remitted considerable sums to his steward, and had 

 even directed certain repairs to be commenced in his palace, 

 which seemed to indicate an intention of restoring it to its former 

 grandeur. Thus time rolled on till one month only of the stipu- 

 lated period remained to be accomplished, when Petroni suddenly 

 presented himself at the villa Abruzzi. His pursuits, whatever 

 they had been, had much changed him. His looks were wild, 

 his features haggard — and there was a degree of ferocity in his 

 VOL. VI. — 1835. z 



