Page:The Italian - Radcliffe, volume 1 (1797).djvu/204

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of the vault lay an object, which seemed to tell the fate of one who had been confined here, and to hint his own: it was a gar­ment covered with blood. Vivaldi and his servant discovered it at the same instant; and a dreadful fore­boding of their own destiny fixed them, for some mo­ments, to the spot. Vivaldi first recovered himself, when instead of yielding to despondency, all his facul­ties were aroused to devise some means for escaping; but Paulo's hopes seemed buried beneath the dreadful vestments upon which he still gazed. "Ah, my Sig­nor!" said he, at length, in a faultering accent, "who shall dare to raise that garment? What if it should conceal the mangled body whose blood has stained it!"

Vivaldi, shudderingly, turned to look on it again.

"It moves!" exclaimed Paulo; "I see it move!" as he said which, he started to the opposite side of the chamber. Vivaldi stepped a few paces back, and as quickly returned; when, determined to know theevent

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