"Fear not," continued Rosalvo; "Monaldeschi, it is true, fell by my
hand, but fell in honourable combat. The blood which stained his
sword flowed from my veins, and in his last moments conscience
asserted her empire in his bosom. He died not till he had written
in his tablets the most positive declaration of my innocence as to
the crimes with which his hatred had contrived to blacken me; and he
also instructed me by what means I might obtain at Naples the
restoration of my forfeited estates and the re-establishment of my
injured honour. Those means have been already efficacious, and all
Naples is by this time informed of the arts by which Monaldeschi
procured my banishment, and of the many plots which he laid for my
destruction; plots, which made it necessary for me to drop my own
character, and never to appear but in disguise. After various
wanderings chance led me to Venice. My appearance was so much
altered, that I dreaded not discovery, but I dreaded (and with
reason) perishing in your streets with hunger. In this situation
accident brought me acquainted with the banditti, by whom Venice was
then infested. I willingly united myself to their society, partly
with a view of purifying the Republic from the presence of these
wretches, and partly in the hope of discovering through them the
more illustrious villains by whom their daggers were employed. I
was successful. I delivered the banditti up to justice, and stabbed
their captain in Rosabella's sight. I was now the only bravo in
Venice. Every scoundrel was obliged to have recourse to me. I
discovered the plans of the conspirators, and now you know them
also. I found that the deaths of the Doge's three friends had been
determined on; and in order to obtain full confidence with the
confederates, it was necessary to persuade them that these men had
fallen beneath my dagger. No sooner had my plan been formed than I
imparted it to Lomellino. He, and he only, was my confidant in this
business. He presented me to the Doge as the son of a deceased
friend; he assisted me with his advice; he furnished me with keys to
those doors to the public gardens, which none were permitted to pass
through except Andreas and his particular friends, and which
frequently enabled me to elude pursuit; he showed me several private
passages in the palace by which I could penetrate unobserved even
into the Doge's very bed-chamber. When the time for his
disappearance arrived, he not only readily consented to lie
concealed in a retreat known only to ourselves, but was also the
means of inducing Manfrone and Conari to join him in his retirement,
till the fortunate issue of this day's adventure permitted me to set
them once more at liberty. The banditti exist no longer; the
conspirators are in chains; my plans are accomplished; and now,
Venetians, if you still think him deserving of it, here stands the
bravo Abellino, and you may lead him to the scaffold when you will."