ng hold on one leg, dismounted him
in a twinkling, and, seizing his throat as he lay, would have soon
despatched him without the use of firearms, had he not been prevented by
his friend Renaldo, who desired him to desist, observing that his
vengeance was already satisfied, as the Count seemed to be in the agonies
of death. The Major was loth to quit his prey, as he thought his
aggressor had acted in a treacherous manner; but recollecting that there
was no time to lose, because, in all probability, the firing had alarmed
the castle, he took his leave of the vanquished hussar, with a couple of
hearty kicks, and, mounting his horse, followed Melvil to the house of a
gentleman in the neighbourhood, who was kinsman to the Countess, and very
well disposed to grant him a secure retreat, until the troublesome
consequences of this rencontre should be overblown.

Trebasi, though to the young gentleman he seemed speechless and
insensible, had neither lost the use of his reason nor of his tongue, but
affected that extremity, in order to avoid any further conversation with
the victor. He was one of those people who never think of death until he
knocks at the door, and then earnestly entreat him to excuse them for the
present, and be so good as to call another time. The Count had so often
escaped unhurt, in the course of his campaigns, that he looked upon
himself as invulnerable, and set all danger at defiance. Though he had
hitherto taken no care of the concerns of his soul, he had a large fund
of superstition at bottom; and, when the surgeon, who examined his wound,
declared it was mortal, all the terrors of futurity took hold on his
imagination, all the misdemeanours of his life presented themselves in
aggravated colours to his recollection.

He implored the spiritual assistance of a good priest in the
neighbourhood, who, in the discharge of his own conscience, gave him
to understand that he had little mercy to expect, unless he would,
as much as lay in his power, redress the injuries he had done to his
fellow-creatures. As nothing lay heavier upon his soul than the cruelty
and fraud he had practised upon the family of Count Melvil, he earnestly
besought this charitable clergyman to mediate his pardon with the
Countess, and at the same time desired to see Renaldo before his death,
that he might put him in possession of his paternal estate, and solicit
his forgiveness for the offence he had given.

His lady, far from waiting