Page:The Italian - Radcliffe, volume 1 (1797).djvu/9

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several steps above the pavement of the church; and on either hand was a small closet, or box, with steps leading up to a grat­ed partition, at which the penitent might kneel, and, concealed from observation, pour into the ear of the confessor, the consciousness of crimes that lay heavy on his heart.

"You observe it?" said the Italian.

"I do," replied the Englishman; "it is the same which the assassin has passed into; and I think it one of the most gloomy spots I ever beheld; the view of it is enough to strike a criminal with despair!"

"We, in Italy, are not so apt to despair," replied the Italian smilingly.

"Well, but what of this confessional?" enquired the Englishman. "The assassin entered it!"

"He has no relation, with what I am about to mention," said the Italian; "but I wish you to mark the place, because some very extraordinary cir­cumstances belong to it."

"What

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