indiscreetly in his own affairs, had not given her the most favourable
opinion of his understanding and his character; notwithstanding the
decrease of her affection, her assiduity for him had redoubled. He did not,
however, remark the great change which had really taken place; her anxiety
for his recovery, her watching for hours at his bedside, appeared to him
rather proofs of friendship and love, than the effects of compassion, and
he hoped, on his recovery, to be re-instated in all his former rights.

But how greatly was he mistaken! In proportion as his health and strength
returned, all tenderness and affection for him vanished; nay, her aversion
for him now was equal to the pleasure with which she formerly regarded him.
He had also, in consequence of these multiplied reverses, contracted a
habit of ill-humour, of which he was himself not aware, and which greatly
contributed to alienate Antonelli. His own bad management in business he
attributed to others; so that, in his opinion, he was perfectly justified.
He looked upon himself as an unfortunate man, persecuted by the world, and
hoped for an equivalent to all his sufferings and misfortunes in the
undivided affection of his mistress.

This concession he insisted on, the first day he was able to leave his
chamber, and visit her. He demanded nothing less than that she should
resign herself up to him entirely, dismiss her other friends and
acquaintances, leave the stage, and live solely with him, and for him. She
showed him the impossibility of granting his demands, at first mildly, but
was at last obliged to confess the melancholy truth, that their former
relation existed no more. He left her, and never saw her again.

He lived some years longer, seeing but few acquaintances, and chiefly in
the company of a pious old lady, with whom he occupied the same dwelling,
and who lived on the rent of an adjoining house, her only income. During