Agnes: A Tale of the Streets — page 103: what you’re looking at

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238 when she beheld De Vere held a captive i in th | midst of the brethren —tho ominous looks o! Fousano—the sombre gloom, mingled with uncer: tainty, that appeared upon the features of the Marquis—and the flushcd cheeks of the captive himeelf, “Signora,” said Fossano, “ this young man be- lies not the opinion which many must have formed of him when he introduced himself amongst us. He is a spy !—and as such I accuse him 1% “A spy P” end the Countess recoiled as if she experienced # sudden shock : : faen nétantancously Sno Taal tele she © ole * Wo eve roa this?" Pi <a" thooaent ‘thanks,’ geod.qpinidn !” said ‘De Verey sunt ¥¢ will hot be felsified 1 & <The cave is most grave,” snid the Marquis of Ortona, “and must be immediately investigated. Come to the proper place.”, He led the way into the hall of assemblage, and took his seat in the presidential chair. The brethren conducted Charles De Vere thither, and stationed him in front of the nobleman who was now to act as his judge. Some dozen or fourteen other members of the Society, who still remained there, gazed with surprise and consternation upon one another as they hurriedly received the whis- pered statement that De Vere was accused of being aapy. -Father Taleonara was not present: he had previously left the conclave, as it was not bis in- tention tu accompany the expedition to Leghorn. “In the first place,” said the Marquis of Or- tons, * we will bear the accusation; and while it is being made, I charge you, Signor De Vere, to hold your peace. You.sball in due course have every opportunity of defending yourself.” “TI must begin by informigg your lordship,” said Foseano, “ that I had previously had some acquaintance with Signor De Vere in my capacity of an agent of police at Florence. But your lord- ship is aware that though I served in that capa- city, it wgs only for the purpose of gleaning such intelligence as might be useful to tho secret bro- therhood whereof I have long been a member, and whose intereats I have most dearly at heart. I believe that the testimonials which I had the honour of this evening presenting to your lord- ship, speak thus much in my favour P” “On that point there is no doubt,” sdid tho Marquis. “ Proceed.” “This young oeetloman,” continued Fossano, “fancied from the mero fact of my having been & police-agent in Florence, that I must necessarily be a spy; and under that impression he beggn to sound me in a way which led me to answer him in ® particular strain that I might the better extract his own views, objects, and designs. It is unne- necessary to enter into full details. Suffice it to say that I led him om until be confessed his determination to betray the conspiracy, if possible. I suffered him to believe that my aims were en- tirely in accordanco with his own; and he penned a billet in cipher, which he purposed to deliver into the hands of some ane whom he expected to be lurking near the carriage that wae to be in readiness to convey him away from the mansion. The note bas been found upon his person.” “Tis here,” said one of the brethren. ee rather than ani tw ledy, for that a and rest assured exclaimed, AGNES; OR, BEAUTY AND PLEASUEH. “X 7 constitutes the key to the cipher, my lord,” said Fossano: “and you can now read the document for yourself.” The Marquis atudied it for a few moments; and then he read it aloud. It would be impossible to describe the sensation which was thus produced : the brethren gave vent to fierce ejaculations of rage, demanding the itamediate death of the sup- posed culprit. The Marquis looked sombro and dubious: but the Countess, standing forward, said, * Tetno farm be done to Signor Be Vere until hel ‘Kaye'spoken i in his defonce.” Get the. accased speak,” said the Marquis ; “and God grant that for the safety of himself, andthe honour of the cause, he may be enabled to convince us that worthy Signor Fossano is labouring under some etrange mistake.” “That will I soon do,” said De Vere, “if there were ever an instance when truth might prevail against the vilest faleehood! I commence, there- fore, by proclaiming mine innocence, and by: hurl- ing back the accusation in the teeth of this mis- creant. It is he who is the apy! The testimonials which he produced this 5 evening | are from onfliho is himself aspy!” . “It will not serve you, Signor De Vere,” said ‘the Marquis of Ortona gravely, “to level accusa- tions against any absent persons who have hitherto borne a high character in the movement.” “TI tell your lordship the same thing which this man told me with his own lips,” continued De Vere, “The writing of this billet is not mine: it is his! I compelled him to pen another in a very different strain, when he suddenly threw it into the fire, seized upon me, and charged me with being that which he himeelf is.” * But if you had previously suspected him to ba a spy,” asked the Marquis of Ortona, “ wherefore did you not at once lay bands upon him ?” ‘“* Perhaps,” suggested the Countess di Milazzo, “Signor De Vere was only waiting until he got in his possession the documvnt which he was compel- ling Signor Fossano to write. Was it so P’—and she looked at our hero with the earnest air of ove x o wished that he might be enabled to give a tisfactory answer. “TI cannot say that I should have laid hands upon this man and accused him at all,” said De Vere. “ Nay, more—I will confess that it was my design to spare his life ; but I should have effectu- ally prevented him from doing any mischief.” “Such a confesion alone,” ejaculated several” roices, “is sufficient to ensure the condemnation of this Englishman ! He never ought to have been spared in tha first instance, and allowed to ‘ompromise matters with new-fangled oaths ” “The fact that I would not take the first oath “ which \' preaontéd d to me,” said Do Vere, “is a proof thht I was no ill-intentioned person. If I had come amongst you as a spy, 1 should have done everything to lull suspicion asleep.” ‘You might not have originally come amongst us asaspy, said one of the brethren,—“ and ndeed we think that there is ‘sufficient proof that jou did not: but that the idea of betraying us mubsequently entered into your imagination, is only too possible.” “And let it be borne in mind,” said Fossano, that the prisoner bas had opportunities of com- municating with persons in the course of this oO MIKGIOO C© s S C©