ighland blood in his veins brought strong fancies
and sudden passions to his head and heart, such as his chemistry could
not explain; and when the brain burned and the heart beat fast, it meant
doing or dying with him, as with many a Scotchman before and since. Life
had never seemed to be worth much in his eyes, compared with a thing he
wanted.

He sat still and thought the matter over, and considered the question of
death, for a few short minutes. There was not a trace of philosophical
speculation in his reflexions, or they would have lasted longer. He
merely desired to be sure, with that curious Scotch caution, of his own
intentions, in order not to be obliged to think the matter over again at
the last minute.

He had drunk a measure of strong wine with his dinner, as usual. To-day
it increased the gloom of his temper, and the pessimistic view he took.
In less than a quarter of an hour he had made up his mind that if Maria
Addolorata repented at a late hour and refused to leave the convent, he
would make an attempt to carry her away by force. If he failed, and
found himself shut off from all possibility of intercourse with her,
life would not be worth living, and he would throw it away. When strong
men are in that frame of mind, they generally accomplish what they have
in view. Moreover, it is a great mistake to think that the people who
think and talk of suicide will not take their own lives. On the
contrary, statistics show that it is more often those who speak of it
the most frequently, who ultimately make away with themselves. The mere
fact of contemplating and discussing death familiarizes man with it till
he does not even attribute to it its true value, which is little enough,
as most of us know. Dalrymple was in earnest, and he knew it.

He rose from his chair and unlocked his little laboratory. Among many
other things upon the long table there was a plain English oak box,
filled with small stoppered bottles, each having a label upon it with
the name of the contents written in his own hand. Some were merely
medicines, which he carried with him in case his services should ever be
required, as had happened at the present time. Others were chemicals
which he used in his experiments, such as he could not easily have
procured in Italy, outside of the great cities. One even contained the
common spirits of camphor, of which he had once given Annetta a
teaspoonful when she had complained of a chill and sickness. One,