rly as he was poor, and would have been very much pleased
to have a rich son-in-law. Nor was he disposed to relinquish the chance
so easily. After first trying his influence on Bianca, upon whom he
expended a great deal of persuasion and cajolery in vain, he went so far
as to call upon Gaspar, apologizing for his daughter's ignorance and
folly in refusing so desirable a proposal, and expressing a hope that
Mendez would not relinquish the pursuit, but try his fortune again; when
he hoped to have brought her to a better state of mind.

Gaspar received the old man with civility, but answered coldly, that any
further advances on his own part were out of the question, unless he had
reason to believe the young lady was inclined to retract her refusal; in
which case he should be happy to wait upon her. With this response
Venoni returned to make another attack upon his daughter, whom, however,
fortified by her strong attachment to Ripa, he found quite immovable;
and there for several months the affair seems to have rested, till the
old man, urged by the embarrassment of his circumstances, renewed the
persecution, coupling it with certain calumnies against Giuseppe,
founded on the accidental loss of a sum of money which had been
intrusted to him by a friend, who wanted it conveyed to a neighboring
village, whither the young man had occasion to go. This loss, which
seems to have arisen out of some youthful imprudence, appears to have
occasioned Ripa a great deal of distress; and he not only did his utmost
to repair it by giving up every thing he had, which was indeed very
little, but he also engaged to pay regularly a portion of his weekly
earnings, till the whole sum was replaced.

His behavior, in short, was so satisfactory, that the person to whom the
money had belonged does not seem to have borne him any ill-will on the
subject; but Venoni took advantage of the circumstance to fling
aspersions on the young man's character, whilst it strengthened his
argument against the connection with his daughter; for how was Giuseppe
to maintain a wife and family with this millstone of debt round his
neck? Bianca, however, continued faithful to her lover, and for some
time nothing happened to advance the suit of either party. In that
interval a sister of Gasper's had married a man called Alessandro Malfi,
who, being a friend of Giuseppe's, endeavored to bring about a
reconciliation betwixt the rivals, or, rather, to produce a more cordial