I hastened to seize my prey.  There was a forlorn kind of triumph at having at length become her exclusive possessor.  I bore her off into the thickness of the forest.  She remained in the same state of insensibility and stupor.  I was thankful that she did not recollect me; for had she once murmured my name, I should have been overcome.  She slept at length in the arms of him who was to poniard her.  Many were the conflicts I underwent before I could bring myself to strike the blow.  My heart had become sore by the recent conflicts it had undergone, and I dreaded lest, by procrastination, some other should become her executioner.  When her repose had continued for some time, I separated myself gently from her, that I might not disturb her sleep, and seizing suddenly my poniard, plunged it into her bosom.  A painful and concentrated murmur, but without any convulsive movement, accompanied her last sigh.  So perished this unfortunate.

He ceased to speak.  I sat horror-struck, covering my face with my hands, seeking, as it were, to hide from myself the frightful images he had presented to my mind.  I was roused from this silence by the voice of the captain.  “You sleep,” said he, “and it is time to be off.  Come, we must abandon this height, as night is setting in, and the messenger is not returned.  I will post some one on the mountain edge, to conduct him to the place where we shall pass the night.”

This was no agreeable news to me.  I was sick at heart with the dismal story I had heard.  I was harassed and fatigued, and the sight of the banditti began to grow insupportable to me.

The captain assembled his comrades.  We rapidly descended the forest which we had mounted with so much difficulty in the morning, and soon arrived in what appeared to be a frequented road.  The robbers proceeded with great caution, carrying their guns cocked, and looking on every side with wary and suspicious eyes.  They were apprehensive of encountering the civic patrole.  We left Rocca Priori behind us.  There was a fountain near by, and as I was excessively thirsty, I begged permission to stop and drink.  The captain himself went, and brought me water in his hat.  We pursued our route, when, at the extremity of an alley which crossed the road, I perceived a female on horseback, dressed in white.  She was alone.  I recollected the fate of the poor girl in the story, and trembled for her safety.

One of the brigands saw her at the same instant, and plunging into the bushes, he ran precipitately in the direction towards her.  Stopping on the border of the alley, he put one knee to the ground, presented his carbine ready for menace, or to shoot her horse if she attempted to fly, and in this way awaited her approach.  I kept my eyes fixed on her with intense anxiety.  I felt tempted to shout, and warn her of her danger, though my own destruction would have been the consequence.  It was awful to see this tiger crouching ready for a bound, and the poor innocent victim wandering unconsciously near him.  Nothing but a mere chance could save her.  To my joy, the chance turned in her favor.  She seemed almost accidentally to take an opposite path, which led outside of the wood, where the robber dare not venture.  To this casual deviation she owed her safety.