ts. She had
been wedded to Francesco Peretti, but, tiring of him and seeing the
opportunity for marriage with the duke, she and her mother plotted the
husband's death, and it was her handsome and unscrupulous brother who
did the deed. Despite the pope's opposition, the marriage was
consummated, but the guilty pair were not allowed to remain unmolested
for a long time, as Vittoria was soon arrested and tried for complicity
in her first husband's murder. While thus under arrest, she lived in
great state and entertained in a most lavish way, and seemed in no way
abashed by her position. Though finally acquitted, she was ordered by
the court to leave the duke and lead henceforth a life which might be
above suspicion. Through the brother Marcello and his constant
companion, who is continually alluded to as the "Greek enchantress," the
duke and his wife were soon brought together again; they were again
married, that the succession might be assured to Vittoria. Indeed, they
were twice married with this purpose in view, but they were so scorned
by the members of the duke's own family and so harassed by the pope's
officers, who were ever threatening prosecution, that their life was one
of constant care and anxiety. When the duke finally died, Vittoria was
left his sole heir, though the will was disputed by Ludovico Orsini, the
next in succession. Vittoria was spending her first few months of
widowhood in the Orsini palace at Padua, when one night the building was
entered by forty men, all masked in black, who came with murderous
intent. Marcello, the infamous brother, escaped their clutches; another
brother, much younger and innocent of all crime, was shot in the
shoulder and driven to his sister's room, where he thought to find
shelter; there they saw Vittoria, calmly kneeling at her _prie-dieu_,
rosary in hand, saying her evening prayers. As the story goes, she flung
herself before a crucifix, but all in vain, for she was stabbed in the
heart, one assassin turning the knife to make death absolutely certain.
She died saying, it is reported: "Jesus, I forgive you!" The next day,
when the deed was noised abroad, and the corpse of Vittoria was exposed
to the public gaze, her beauty, even in death, appealed to the Paduans;
and they at once rushed to Ludovico's palace, believing him guilty of
the crime or responsible for it in some way. The place was besieged, an
intercepted letter revealed the fact that Ludovico had killed Vittoria