In this case I also resolved--to be won! A grim courtship truly--between a dead man and his own widow! Ferrari never suspected what was going on; he had spoken of me as "that poor fool Fabio, he was too easily duped;" yet never was there one more "easily duped" than himself, or to whom the epithet "poor fool" more thoroughly applied.

As I said before, he was SURE--too sure of his own good fortune.

I wished to excite his distrust and enmity sometimes, but this I found I could not do.

He trusted me--yes! as much as in the old days I had trusted HIM.

Therefore, the catastrophe for him must be sudden as well as fatal--perhaps, after all, it was better so.
During my frequent visits to the villa I saw much of my child Stella.
She became passionately attached to me--poor little thing!--her love was a mere natural instinct, had she but known it.