ally dead_; and being assured
that she was, quickly rejoined, _let us lose no time, but return to the
vineyard_;[24] and so they escaped. Meanwhile the police (Forza) having
been called, it arrived with its chief officer (Bargello), and a
confessor was soon procured, together with a surgeon, who devoted
himself to the treatment of the unfortunate girl."

"Monsignore, the Governor, being informed of the event, immediately
despatched Captain Patrizj to arrest the culprits; but on reaching the
vineyard the police officers discovered that they were no longer there,
but had gone towards the high road an hour before. Patrizj pursued his
journey without rest, and having arrived at the inn, was told by the
landlord that Franceschini had insisted upon obtaining horses, which
were refused to him because he was not supplied with the necessary
order; and had proceeded therefore on foot with his companions towards
Baccano. Continuing his march, and taking the necessary precautions, he
arrived at the Merluzza inn, and there discovered the assassins, who
were speedily arrested; their knives still stained with blood, a hundred
and fifty scudi in coin being also found on Franceschini's person. The
arrest, however, cost Patrizj his life, for he had heated himself too
much, and having received a slight wound, died in a few days."

"The knife of Franceschini was on the Genoese pattern, and triangular;
and was notched at the edge, so that it could not be withdrawn from the
wounded flesh without lacerating it in such a manner as to render the
wound incurable."

"The criminals being taken to Ponte Milvio, they went through a first
examination at the inn there at the hands of the notaries and judges
sent thither for the purpose, and the chief points of a confession were
obtained from them."

"When the capture of the delinquents was known in Rome, a multitude of
the people hastened to see them as they were conveyed bound on horses
into the city. It is related that Franceschini having asked one of the
police officers in the course of the journey _how ever the crime had
been discovered_, and being told _that it had been revealed by his
wife, whom they had found still living_, was almost stupefied by the
intelligence. Towards twenty-three o'clock (the last hour before sunset)
they arrived at the prisons. A certain Francesco Pasquini, of Citta di
Castello, and Allessandro Baldeschi, of the same town, both twenty-two
years of age, were the assis