"
"You don't mean that he is arrested," returned the youngster thus
addressed.
Manutoli nodded his head two or three times gravely, as he said,
"That is the worst of the bad business; and a very bad business it
is in every way."
"You don't mean that you think Ludovico can have done it, Manutoli?"
said one of the others.
"No, I don't say I think so. I don't know what to think. I should
have said, that I was just as likely to do such a thing myself, as
Ludovico di Castelmare. But if there is any truth in what is said,
that the Marchese Lamberto was going to marry the girl, it looks
very ugly. God knows what a man might be driven to do in such a
case."
"I suppose if the old Marchese were to marry and have children,
Ludovico would have about the same fortune as the old blind man that
sits at the door of the Cathedral?" asked the previous speaker.
"Just about as much. He would be absolutely a beggar," said the
Conte Leandro, who appeared to find considerable pleasure in the
announcement.
"I think, that if that was the case, and Ludovico had put the
unlucky girl out of the way, it would be the Marchese Lamberto who
ought to bear the blame of it. An old fellow has no right to behave
in that sort of way," said one of the group.
"Of course he has not. To bring a fellow up to the age of Ludovico
in the expectation that he is to have the family property; and then
to take it into his head.
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