"I visited the chaplain of the little church of San Giulio, he was a young man not unsusceptible to my charms. His predecessor, the old priest, had just died. For a long time he had been in confinement in the cloister, and under examination. In the nearest diocese a trial was to be instituted against him for forgery, of which he had been guilty. The chaplain himself conducted me up the high steps by the lake into the sacristy of the church, where he searched through the registry to reply to my question as to your marriage day. If ever I exerted my eyes I did so then. Eagerly I followed his movements, noted the book, the number of the page, the entrance to the sacristy. I thanked the chaplain, the good man even became tender towards me, and when he bestowed his blessing upon me he kissed me upon my brow.
"It was still early morning, and a long day of twelve hours lay before me. People might, perhaps, have taken me for a love-sick dreamer if they had seen me wander upon the woodland paths behind the little town. I could not remain long in the Leone d'oro, feverish restlessness had taken possession of me.
"I scrambled up the path with its numerous chapels leading to the pilgrims' church of San Franciscus. I prayed here and there. I did penance for that which I was about to begin. I felt as if I belonged not to the bright day, not to this glorious nature! How exquisite was the view over the lake from the Sacro Monte, upon the chestnut and walnut woods of Pella, upon the high Alps of Monte Rosa, what a breath of Spring quivered yonder in the fruit hedge and made the lake ripple! With my sinister purpose I seemed to be out of place in this bright world!
"How sleepily the hours crept on. How long it was before the sun declined into the west and cast its more slanting rays into the waves of the lake and upon the house roofs of the little town. And much as I had longed for this hour with feverish impatience, I became proportionately alarmed again at the approach of fatal night.
"Like an incendiary I had provided myself with a tinder-box that was sufficiently well supplied to contain ample provision, even for many vain attempts.
"The windows of the little church of San Giulio were brightly illuminated, it was the hour of evening service. My boat glided over the lake in the moonlight, and landed at the tall granite stairs.
"I ascended the steps. The moon was just hiding its light in a cloud; and looking back upon the lake, in a boat that seemed to be circling round the little rocky island, like an eagle round his eyrie, I perceived a closely enveloped figure, which reminded me of that man with the bandage.
"My sight is keen, but it was too dark to recognise the figure more accurately, and I soon came to the conclusion that I had become the victim of a morbid delusion. The skiff disappeared behind a rocky promontory which rose up steeply to the summit, upon which stood the old tower of Berengarius.
"I entered the church, but neither could I join in the devotions of the congregation nor examine the pillars of porphyry, the image of the Madonna of Ferrari, nor the mosaics of the floor. I only looked about for some place of concealment in which I could hide myself, and believed I had discovered one behind a small tomb.
"I took advantage of a moment in which the sacristan, like the rest of the congregation, was occupied with the service, to creep behind the door of the sacristy, and quickly as lightning drew out the key, then I descended the stairs, and unperceived cast it into the lake.