great; he was quite lacking in the sort of charity which believeth all
things, and had a large capacity for suspicion of everybody and
everything; he held all men to be liars and most women to be something
worse.

"Men are at least Christians," he would say to Nino, "but a female is
always a female."

If he took a liking for any one, as for Marcello, he excused himself for
the weakness on the ground that he was only human after all, and in his
heart he respected his dog for snarling at everybody without
discrimination. There was no doubt, however, that he felt a sort of
attachment for the boy, and he admitted the failing while he deplored
it. Besides, he detested Corbario, and had felt that his own common
sense was insulted by the fact that Folco seemed devoted to Marcello.
The suspicion that Folco had got rid of his stepson in order to get his
fortune was therefore positively delightful, accompanied as it was by
the conviction that he should one day prove his enemy a murderer.
Perhaps if he could have known what Folco Corbario was suffering, he
might have been almost satisfied, but he had no means of guessing that.
In his opinion the man knew what had become of Marcello, and could be
made to tell if proper means were used. At night Ercole put himself to
sleep by devising the most horrible tortures for his master, such as no
fortitude could resist, and by trying to guess what the wretched man
would say when his agony forced him to confess the truth.

He was almost sure by this time that Marcello was dead, though how Folco
could have killed him, carried off his body to a great distance and
buried him, without ever absenting himself from the cottage, was more
than Ercole could imagine. He paid Corbario's skill the compliment of