And then I was told that the men at the
Porta Nuova had declared that they had seen him pass out of the city
going in the direction of the Pineta at a very early hour that
morning."
"Per Bacco! it is very strange. What, in the name of all the saints,
could he be doing out there at that time, when all honest folks were
in their beds?"
"Remember all the snubbing he has had from the poor Diva all through
carnival. By Jove! it looks very queer."
"Do you remember how he turned all sorts of colours here last night,
when we were talking of it?"
"And how anxious he seemed to say everything that appeared to make
it bear hard upon Ludovico?"
"Yes, and. contradicted himself. First, he knew about it, and then
he knew nothing."
"Per Dio! I don't know what to think of it."
"So, then, there are now three persons suspected--Ludovico; and the
Venetian girl, and the Conte Leandro?"
"And all three were not far from the spot where the deed was done,
and all three had motives, more or less credible, for doing it."
"Ludovico, because his uncle was going to marry the woman, which
would have cut him out of his inheritance; the Venetian girl,
because she loved Ludovico, and saw him making love to the poor
Diva; and Leandro, because she snubbed him, and laughed at him, and
would have nothing to say to either him or his verses.
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