ness I had of a
practical plan of retribution--more terrible perhaps than any human
creature had yet devised, so far as I knew. Unchristian you call me? I
tell you again, Christ never loved a woman! Had He done so, He would
have left us some special code of justice.

CHAPTER IX.

I rose very early the next morning--I was more than ever strengthened
in my resolutions of the past night--my projects were entirely formed,
and nothing remained now but for me to carry them out. Unobserved of
any one I took my way again to the vault. I carried with me a small
lantern, a hammer, and some strong nails. Arrived at the cemetery I
looked carefully everywhere about me, lest some stray mourner or
curious stranger might possibly be in the neighborhood. Not a soul was
in sight. Making use of the secret passage, I soon found myself on the
scene of my recent terrors and sufferings, all of which seemed now so
slight in comparison with, the mental torture of my present condition.
I went straight to the spot where I had left the coffined treasure--I
possessed myself of all the rolls of paper money, and disposed them in
various small packages about my person and in the lining of my clothes
till, as I stood, I was worth many thousand of francs. Then with the
help of the tools I had brought, I mended the huge chest in the split
places where I had forced it open, and nailed it up fast so that it
looked as if it had never been touched. I lost no time over my task,
for I was in haste. It was my intention to leave Naples for a fortnight
or more, and I purposed taking my departure that very day. Before
leaving the vault I glanced at the coffin I myself had occupied. Should
I mend that and nail it up as though my body were still inside?
No--better leave it as it was--roughly broken open--it would serve my
purpose better so. As soon as I had finished all I had to do, I
clambered through the private passage, closing it after me with extra
care and caution, and then I betook myself directly to the Molo. On
making inquiries among the sailors who were gathered there, I heard
that a small coasting brig was on the point of leaving for Palermo.
Palermo would suit me as well as any other place; I sought out the
captain of the vessel. He was a brown-faced, merry-eyed mariner--he
showed his glittering white teeth in the most amiable of smiles when I
expressed my desire to take passage with him, and consented to the
arrangement at once for a sum which