She gazed wildly at me--"correspondence!--what correspondence?"

"Have you not repeatedly received and replied to my letters?"

She clasped her hands with solemnity and fervor--"As I hope for mercy,
never!"

A horrible surmise shot through my brain--"Who told you I was dead?"

"It was reported that the ship in which you embarked for Naples
perished at sea."

"But who told you the report?"

She paused for an instant, and trembled--

"Filippo!"

"May the God of heaven curse him!" cried I, extending my clinched fists
aloft.

"Oh do not curse him--do not curse him!" exclaimed she--"He is--he is
--my husband!"

This was all that was wanting to unfold the perfidy that had been
practised upon me. My blood boiled like liquid fire in my veins. I
gasped with rage too great for utterance. I remained for a time
bewildered by the whirl of horrible thoughts that rushed through my
mind. The poor victim of deception before me thought it was with her I
was incensed. She faintly murmured forth her exculpation. I will not