me, that he could not make out the way further on, which he
had taken during the storm, half stunned by the roaring of the thunder,
on foot, wandering over ploughed land and meadow.

They crost the large plain in every quarter; wherever trees or bushes
were to be seen, thither Antonio spurred his horse, in the hope of
meeting with that den of robbers and the marvellous apparition within
it; or at least, should the inhabitants have absconded, as he might
well expect, of gaining some sort of tidings about them.

At length the Podesta, after they had been roaming about thus for a
great part of the day, began to fancy that the youth's heated
imagination had merely beheld these phantoms in the wild ravings of
his grief. "Such happiness," he exclaimed, "would be too great; and I
am born only for misfortune."

On reaching a village they were forced to let their horses and
servants bait. The inhabitants said they knew nothing of any such
suspicious neighbours, nor had the bodies of the slain been found
anywhere round about. After a short pause Antonio again set off, but
the Podesta now followed him more mistrustingly. Inquiries were made
of every peasant they fell in with; but none could give them any
certain information.

Toward evening they got to a building that appeared to have been
destroyed; ashes and rubbish lay around; some charred beams peered out
from among the stones; the trees that stood near were scorcht.

Here the youth seemed to recognize what he saw. This, he affirmed
confidently, had been the abode of the murderers and of that wonderous
Crescentia. They made halt. Far and wide through the waste country
there was no house to be seen, no human being to call to.

A servant rode to the next hamlet, and returned an hour after,
bringing an old man on horseback. This old man said he knew that a
good year since a hut had been burnt down there, having been set fire
to by some soldiers; that the owner of the estate had already been ten
years at Rome waiting for an office promist him in the church; and
that his bailiff had taken a journey to Ravenna for the sake of
getting in an old debt.

Vext and wearied the travellers rode back to the city. The Podesta
Ambrosio determined to give up his office, to withdraw from public
life, and to leave Padua, where everything reminded him only of his
misfortunes.

Antonio resolved to learn in the school of the renowned Apone how to
bear his wretchedness, and perchance to for