t paper my
brother-in-law, Alessandro, will presently tell you!" He then offered
his hand to Bianca, who, no less pleased than astonished to see the
contract destroyed, willingly responded to this token of good-will by
giving him hers, which he kissed, asking her pardon for any pain he had
occasioned her; after which, bowing to the company, he quitted the room,
mounted his horse, and rode off to Forni.

When the sound of the animal's feet had died away, and the parties
concerned were sufficiently composed to listen to him, Malfi proceeded
to make the communication he had been charged with; whereby it appeared
that Ripa had been unjustly accused, and that Antonio Guerra was the
real criminal. Mendez knew this very well, and would not have thought of
accusing his rival had not his brother and sister, and indeed everybody
else, assumed Ripa's guilt as an unquestionable fact. The temptation was
too strong for him, and after he had once admitted it, pride would not
allow him to retract. At the same time he declared that he would never
have permitted the execution to take place, and that after the marriage
with Bianca he intended to procure the innocent man's liberation, on the
condition of his quitting that part of the country. Of course it was he
who wrote the letter to Marino, and he had used the precaution of
placing a sealed packet, containing a confession of the truth, in the
hands of a notary at Aquila, with strict directions to deliver it to
Ripa if the authorities should appear disposed to carry his sentence
into execution.

He had nevertheless suffered considerable qualms of conscience about the
whole affair; and the moment he saw Guerra on the road that night, he
felt certain that he had come with the intention of waylaying him as
before--the man being well aware that it was on that day he usually
received his rents. He perceived that he should never be safe as long as
this villain was free, and that he must either henceforth live in
continual terror of assassination, or confront the mortification of a
confession whilst the fellow was in his power.

With respect to Guerra himself, he made but feeble resistance when he
was seized. He had, in the first instance, left Mendez for dead; and he
would have immediately fled when he heard he was alive, had not the news
been accompanied with the further information that the Spaniard had
pointed out Ripa as his assailant. He was exceedingly surprised, for he
could scarcely