I ugly or
repulsive? Nay, the world calls me beautiful, yet I seek to be beautiful
only in your eyes, my beloved. Why, then, have you despised my advances,
disregarded my mute invitations, and left me to pine with disappointment
and with hope deferred? Why will you not take me in your arms, cover me
with kisses, and breathe into my ear the melody of your whispered love?'

The lady paused, and the Italian gazed at her with admiration. Ah, how
beautiful she looked! and yet how like a fiend in the shape of a lovely
woman, tempting a man to ruin!

'Lady,' said Montoni, as a shade of sadness passed over his fine
features--'you have mentioned your husband, and the recollection that
you _have_ a husband forbids that I should take advantage of your
preference for me. God forbid that I should be the cause of a wife's
infidelity! Pardon me, lady--you are very beautiful; the Almighty never
created so fair a sanctuary to become the dwelling place of sin; be
advised, therefore, to suppress this guilty passion, and remain faithful
to your husband, who, old though he be, has claims upon your constancy.'

'I long for the declarations of a lover, not the reasonings of a
philosopher,' cried Julia passionately.--'Thou man of ice, nothing can
melt you?'

'Remember your duty to your husband,' said Montoni, gravely, as he arose
to depart. 'I will see you to-morrow evening--adieu.'

He left her to her reflections.--Wild, tumultuous thoughts arose in her
mind; and from the chaos of her bewildered brain, came a Hideous
Whisper, prompting her to a bloody crime.

She thought of her husband as an obstacle to her happiness with Montoni;
and she began to hate the old man with the malignity of a fiend.

'Curses on the old dotard!' she cried, in a paroxysm of rage--'were it
not for _him_, I might revel in the arms of my handsome Italian, whose
unaccountable scruples will not permit him to enjoy the bliss of love
with me, while I have a husband.--Were that husband DEAD--'

Then, like a Mighty Shadow, came that dark thought over her soul.
Myriads of beautiful demons, all bearing the semblance of Montoni,
seemed to gather around her, and urge her to perpetrate a deed
of--_murder_!

But then a fair vision spread itself before her wandering fancy. There
was her girlhood's home--far, far away in a green, flowery spot, where
she had dwelt ere her life had been cast amid the follies and vices of
cities. Then she thought of her mother--that gentle mo