Count Trebasi, was
not at all agreeable either to the friends of the Count de Melvil, or to
her own relations, who knew her second husband to be a man of a violent
temper, and rapacious disposition, which the nature of his education and
employment had served rather to inflame than allay; for you well know he
was a partisan during the whole course of the late war. They were,
moreover, equally surprised and chagrined, when they found she took no
step to prevent his seizing upon that inheritance which of right belonged
to you, and which, by the laws of Hungary, is unalienable from the heir
of blood. Nevertheless, they are now fully convinced, that she hath more
than sufficiently atoned for her indiscretion, by the barbarity of her
husband, who hath not only secluded her from all communication with her
friends and acquaintance, but even confined her to the west tower of your
father's house, where she is said to be kept close prisoner, and
subjected to all sorts of inconvenience and mortification. This severity
she is believed to have incurred in consequence of having expostulated to
him upon his unjust behaviour to you and Mademoiselle, whom he hath
actually shut up in some convent in Vienna, which your relations have not
as yet been able to discover. But the memory of your noble father is so
dear to all those who were favoured with his friendship, and the
sufferings of the Countess and Mademoiselle have raised such a spirit of
resentment against her cruel jailor, that nothing is wanted but your
presence to begin the prosecution, and give a sanction to the measures of
your friends, which will in a little time restore your family to the
fruition of its rights and fortune. For my own part, my dear Count, I
consider myself as one wholly indebted to your house for the rank and
expectation I now enjoy; and my finances, interest, and person, such as
they are, I dedicate to your service."

Renaldo was not slow in making his acknowledgments to this generous
Hibernian, whom he informed of his scheme, recounting to him his uncommon
transaction with the benevolent Jew, and communicating the letters of
recommendation he had received by his means to some of the first noblemen
at the Imperial court. Meanwhile, he burned with impatience to chastise
Count Trebasi for his perfidious conduct to the widow and the fatherless,
and would have taken the road to Presburg, without touching at Vienna, in
order to call him to a severe account,