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reluctant submission to his arbitrary will. But, of late days, I had
given myself up entirely to wine; and its maddening influence upon my
hereditary temper rendered me more and more impatient of control. I
began to murmur,--to hesitate,--to resist. And was it only fancy which
induced me to believe that, with the increase of my own firmness, that
of my tormentor underwent a proportional diminution? Be this as it may,
I now began to feel the inspiration of a burning hope, and at length
nurtured in my secret thoughts a stern and desperate resolution that I
would submit no longer to be enslaved.
It was at Rome, during the Carnival of 18--, that I attended a
masquerade in the palazzo of the Neapolitan Duke Di Broglio. I had
indulged more freely than usual in the excesses of the wine-table; and
now the suffocating atmosphere of the crowded rooms irritated me beyond
endurance. The difficulty, too, of forcing my way through the mazes of
the company contributed not a little to the ruffling of my temper; for
I was anxiously seeking, (let me not say with what unworthy motive) the
young, the gay, the beautiful wife of the aged and doting Di Broglio.
With a too unscrupulous confidence she had previously communicated to me
the secret of the costume in which she would be habited, and now, having
caught a glimpse of her person, I was hurrying to make my way into her
presence.--At this moment I felt a light hand placed upon my shoulder,
and that ever-remembered, low, damnable whisper within my ear.
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