enchman who had been guilty of embezzlement, and was afraid of being
found out, went into a theatre in Lyons, and stabbed a young woman whom
he had never seen before in his life, in order that he might die by the
hands of the executioner, and so escape the inconvenience of rushing
into the other world without having time to make his peace with Heaven.
He desired death as a refuge from the anguish of mind he was suffering;
but instead of killing himself be killed somebody else, because the law
would allow him leisure for repentance before it inflicted the penalty
of his crime.

It will be said the man was mad--I suppose he was; and so is every body
whilst under the influence of an absorbing passion, whether the mania be
love, jealousy, fanaticism, or revenge. The following tale will
illustrate one phase of such a madness.

In the year 1789, there resided in Italy, not far from Aquila in the
Abruzzo, a man called Gaspar Mendez. He appears to have been a Spaniard,
if not actually by birth, at least by descent, and to have possessed a
small estate, which he rendered valuable by pasturing cattle. Not far
from where he resided there lived with her parents a remarkably handsome
girl, of the name of Bianca Venoni, and on this fair damsel Mendez fixed
his affections. As he was by many degrees the best match about the
neighborhood, he never doubted that his addresses would be received with
a warm welcome, and intoxicated with this security, he seems to have
made his advances so abruptly, that the girl felt herself entitled to
give him an equally abrupt refusal. To aggravate his mortification, he
discovered that a young man, called Giuseppe Ripa, had been a secret
witness to the rejection, which took place in an orchard; and as he
walked away with rage in his heart, he heard echoing behind him the
merry laugh of the two thoughtless young people. Proud and revengeful by
nature, this affront seems to have rankled dreadfully in the mind of
Gaspar; although, in accordance with that pride, he endeavored to
conceal his feelings under a show of indifference. Those who knew the
parties well, however, were not deceived; and when, after an interval,
it was discovered that Giuseppe himself was the favored lover of Bianca,
the enmity, though not more open, became more intense than ever.

In the mean time, Old Venoni, Bianca's father, had become aware of the
fine match his daughter had missed, and was extremely angry about it;
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