moment I set eyes on
you, and at this moment I should be the most wretched of men. You must
forgive me, sir, and become my friend."

I embraced him cordially, telling him that if I had been in his place I
should have acted in a precisely similar manner.

We returned to the room, and found Betty leaning against the bed, and
weeping bitterly.

The blood continuing to flaw from my wound, I sent for a surgeon who said
that a vein had been opened, and that a proper ligature was necessary.

Betty still wept, so I told Sir B---- M---- that in my opinion she deserved
his forgiveness.

"Forgiveness?" said he, "you may be sure I have already forgiven her, and
she well deserves it. Poor Betty repented directly you shewed her the
path she was treading, and the tears she is shedding now are tears of
sorrow at her mistake. I am sure she recognizes her folly, and will never
be guilty of such a slip again."

Emotion is infectious. Betty wept, Sir B---- M---- wept, and I wept to keep
them company. At last nature called a truce, and by degrees our sobs and
tears ceased and we became calmer.

Sir B---- M----, who was evidently a man of the most generous character,
began to laugh and jest, and his caresses had great effect in calming
Betty. We made a good dinner, and the choice Muscat put us all in the
best of spirits.

Sir B---- M---- said we had better rest for a day or two; he had journeyed
fifteen stages in hot haste, and felt in need of repose.

He told us that on arriving at Leghorn, and finding no Betty there, he
had discovered that her trunk had been booked to Rome, and that the
officer to whom it belonged had hired a horse, leaving a watch as a
pledge for it. Sir B---- M---- recognized Betty's watch, and feeling
certain that she was either on horseback with her seducer or in the wagon
with her trunk, he immediately resolved to pursue.

"I provided myself," he added, "with two good pistols, not with the idea
of using one against her, for my first thought about her was pity, and my
second forgiveness; but I determined to blow out the scoundrel's brains,
and I mean to do it yet. We will start for Rome to-morrow."

Sir B---- M----'s concluding words filled Betty with joy, and I believe
she would have pierced her perfidious lover to the heart if he had been
brought before her at that moment.

"We shall find him at Roland's," said I.

Sir B---- M---- took Betty in his arms, and gazed at me with an air of
content, as if h