gth, to the reasons which
induced the writer to think it his absolute duty, as an affectionate son
and faithful servant of the Church, not to rest until he had restored
to the successors of the apostles in his day the property which had been
fraudulently taken from them in days gone by. The writer held himself
justified, in the last resort, and in that only, in using any means for
effecting this restoration, except such as might involve him in mortal
sin.

The third section described the priest's share in promoting the marriage
of Maddalena Lomi with Fabio; and the hopes he entertained of securing
the restitution of the Church property through his influence over his
niece, in the first place, and, when she had died, through his influence
over her child, in the second. The necessary failure of all his
projects, if Fabio married again, was next glanced at; and the time at
which the first suspicion of the possible occurrence of this catastrophe
occurred to his mind was noted with scrupulous accuracy.

The fourth section narrated the manner in which the conspiracy of the
Yellow Mask had originated. The writer described himself as being in
his brother's studio on the night of his niece's death, harassed by
forebodings of the likelihood of Fabio's marrying again, and filled
with the resolution to prevent any such disastrous second union at
all hazards. He asserted that the idea of taking the wax mask from
his brother's statue flashed upon him on a sudden, and that he knew of
nothing to lead to it, except, perhaps, that he had been thinking just
before of the superstitious nature of the young man's character, as he
had himself observed it in the studio. He further declared that the idea
of the wax mask terrified him at first; that he strove against it as
against a temptation of the devil; that, from fear of yielding to
this temptation, he abstained even from entering the studio during his
brother's absence at Naples, and that he first faltered in his good
resolution when Fabio returned to Pisa, and when it was rumored, not
only that the young nobleman was going to the ball, but that he would
certainly marry for the second time.

The fifth section related that the writer, upon this, yielded to
temptation rather than forego the cherished purpose of his life by
allowing Fabio a chance of marrying again--that he made the wax mask in
a plaster mold taken from the face of his brother's statue--and that he
then had two separate in