by far too much excitement and interest
in the life you will lead to make you wish to go back to the dull
routine from which I shall have emancipated you.'

"Such was the tenor of his conversation; and though I declined accepting
his offer, it made an impression which I should not at the time have
supposed possible.

"I had for some time past observed that he seemed to pay more attention
to my youngest sister, Nina, than to the other members of the family,
and she used to listen to his words, and to watch his looks with an
eagerness which ought to have warned those about her of the too probable
result.

"I, at length, the day before I left home, informed my mother of my
fears that the stranger was becoming attached to my sister, and
entreated her to be on her guard. She assured me that my alarm was
groundless; that she had not remarked anything particular in Signor
Caramitzo's manner; and that at all events Nina was far too well brought
up to give her affections to one of whom she knew so little. We left
our beloved and happy home--my brother, alas! never to return. We were
the only two of the family the stranger feared; for he saw that we did
not thoroughly trust him.

"Our parents treated him with all the courtesy due to an honoured guest;
and it was against all their notions of hospitality to hint to him that
as his strength was re-established, he should take his departure. He
now began his accursed employment of winning and enslaving the pure
affections of my young sister, in order to allure her from her father's
home. He found the task of making her love him, not very difficult, for
she knew nothing of the perfidy of man; but when he first proposed her
flying with him, she was startled and horrified, and would have betrayed
him, had he not assured her that he had mentioned the subject merely to
try her, and that it was far from his intention to make her do anything
of which she might repent.

"He still continued urging his suit in secret, and winding himself
deeper and deeper into her affections, till she no longer lived or
breathed, except for his sake. He at last really and truly loved her as
much as his nature was capable of; and I believe that if any compunction
ever visited his mind, it was at what had been his intention with regard
to that sweet girl.

"Two weeks after I left the castle a letter reached me, with the
information that the stranger had taken his departure on board a vessel
which pu