"Exactly so; a carriage was waiting at the end of the Via Macello. Beppo
got in, inviting the Frenchman to follow him, and he did not wait to be
asked twice. He gallantly offered the right-hand seat to Beppo, and sat
by him. Beppo told him he was going to take him to a villa a league from
Rome; the Frenchman assured him he would follow him to the end of the
world. The coachman went up the Via di Ripetta and the Porta San Paola;
and when they were two hundred yards outside, as the Frenchman became
somewhat too forward, Beppo put a brace of pistols to his head, the
coachman pulled up and did the same. At the same time, four of the band,
who were concealed on the banks of the Almo, surrounded the carriage.
The Frenchman made some resistance, and nearly strangled Beppo; but he
could not resist five armed men, and was forced to yield. They made
him get out, walk along the banks of the river, and then brought him
to Teresa and Luigi, who were waiting for him in the catacombs of St.
Sebastian."
"Well," said the count, turning towards Franz, "it seems to me that this
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