All he knew was that he was mad, and suffering
torments worse than any imagination had ever depicted the tortures
of the damned; the pulses were beating, and the blood was rushing in
his ears and in his eyes, he wrote, in such sort that all sounds
seem to him one universal buzzing, and all objects vague and
uncertain, and tinged with the colour of blood.
And, in this condition, he waited and waited till almost a wild hope
began to creep upon him that the Conte Leandro had lied to him.
Suddenly he saw them coming towards the edge of the wood.
With difficulty, he stood upright, resting the front of his shoulder
and his forehead against the trunk of a tree, from behind which he
glared out, while his eyes were blasted by what he saw.
Judging more sanely than the poor Marchese was able to judge, and
putting together all the circumstances and conduct and declarations
of the other parties, we may probably conclude, that though he saw
enough to madden the heart and brain of a man whose mind had already
been warped and distorted by jealousy, he did not see aught that
could have been deemed to menace the future happiness of Paolina. No
doubt La Bianca, despite her declared intention to make the Marchese
Lamberto a good and true wife, had he married her, would have
preferred to become Marchese di Castelmare by a marriage with his
nephew.
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