Beautiful Rienzi; or, The Secret Vendetta — page 247: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

240 | BEAUTIFUL RIENZI. ‘‘Defeated and despairing, she writhed from his grasp. ‘© ¢J will give you cause to remember Gemma to the day of your death!’ she exclaimed in her native language, and fled. ‘‘He made no attempt to pursue her; probably he did not care to confront her with his pale and innocent bride. ‘© As she hurried wildly through the streets, she suddenly encountered her husband, who was on his way home from a tour; he asked her no questions; his lymphatic temperament being disturbed by no pangs of jealousy, and she returned home with him, broken in spirit, and doubly humiliated by her failure. «She lived at Joselyn Wold a year, and bore the third child; when it was three weeks old, an irresistible tempta- tion seized her to forsake her wretched home and appease her craving for revenge by another attempt on her enemy. ‘¢Tn an evil hour she fled with the hapless infant, and ar- rived in Washington for the second time. Guiseppe Rienzi was a father by this time; daily a beautiful child was car- ried in the arms of the nurse from out of the stately man- sion; poor Gemma’s heart turned with jealous hatred. She determined on a strange, half-insane revenge; the infants were about the same age; she would steal the child of Guiseppe Rienzi and put her own in its place. He should cherish a viper, which at the last, would sting him to the core; the infants were not dissimilar; their complexion and eyes were the same; they were both girls. The parents were absent on a journey. She succeeded in her purpose; she stole in at midnight, drugged the nurse, stole the daughter of the Rienzis and put her own in its place. She crept back to the hiding-place, and she says—ah, me! she says the child she brought away died in herarms. But, alas! I fear the hand that sped the poisoned dagger, sped the infant life on its dark journey! ‘‘Tva, you know now who Isolina is!” Once more she paused; the wild tale died to silence; but it danced in my brain with feet of fire. ‘© An infamous fantasy! I will not believe it!” I mut- tered, huskily. ‘‘ Unnatural—foul attempt to tear you from us!” «Do not struggle with the agonizing truth,” said Isolina, bending with unutterable love over me; ‘‘I haye struggled comicbooks. co