the rustic beauty withdrew, without a word, to
her father's house. The friends of the parties,
knowing what must ensue, rallied speedily
around them; eight lives were lost in the first
encounter; and so terrible and comprehensive
was the feud, that, after the sacrifice of twenty
more lives, the survivors gradually abandoned
the village, leaving its ruins visible as a memorial
of the most sanguinary vendetta on record.

Widely different in every point of view, though
yet more fatal, is the case about to be noticed,
the circumstances of which, during a judicial
inquiry extending over seventeen days, created
the most painful and engrossing interest:

Some few years ago, there appeared at Sassari,
the second city of the island, a person of the
name of Ardison, who had quitted the beautiful
Riviera di Genova to establish himself in
Sardinia as an oil-distiller: purchasing, for the
purpose of his trade, the refuse of the olives from
the crushing-mills. He was mean and illiterate;
but, being shrewd and persevering in business,
succeeded, in an amazingly short period, in
amassing a considerable fortune. His example
was followed by fresh speculators, and, as another
and another distillery shot up in his neighbourhood
and prospered, Ardison found his business
dwindling into the mere shadow of itself, with
the prospect of a still further decline.

Ardison arrived at the diabolical resolution to
remove one or more of his competitors by murder.
An instrument was at hand. His foreman,
Cossa, was a person of such notoriously
unscrupulous character, that it is quite possible the
sight of these "means to do ill deeds"
suggested the first step in the bloody journey.
Certain is it, that the master having " faintly
broke" his wishes to the man, found the
latter so amenable to argument, and so
moderate in his views respecting reward, that it
was agreed between them to get rid of—not
one, but all the interlopers, at the small charge
of twenty pounds English a head. And the
bargain, once struck, was punctually performed.

The facility with which the respectable foreman
entered into an affair so much out of his
regular line of business, will be understood by
a fact elicited on a subsequent trial: that he,
Cossa, was a member of a brotherhood of
professed assassins, chiefly refugees from different
parts of the Continent, calling themselves the
"Confraternity of Saint Paul."

Signor Ardison had now once more the field
to himself. But was he much the better? Will
not that fearful foreman have a word occasionally f
or his master's ear? And will it be always
prudent to bid him mind his oil-vats and his pay-
book? Such misgivings greatly qualified the
satisfaction derivable from the sum total of
profits now once more accruing to the original oil-
distiller. But the whisper came at last, in a
somewhat different manner from that which his
misgivings suggested.

The Confraternity of Saint Paul had been
engaged in preparing a little list of gentlemen
in the neighbourhood, chiefly, but not necessarily,
connected with trade; for it sufficed that Signor
Anybody laboured under the disadvantage of
being either rich enough to pay, or troublesome
enough to render his decease desirable.

A correspondence to the following effect was
proved on the trial:

"Signor Anybody: Ardison, from interested
motives, has offered two hundred and fifty francs
for your life."

Rejoinder:

"What have I done to injure him?"

Answer:

"Lessened his profits. He requires your
removal, signor, and will, sooner or later, carry
his point. He is rich. What will you give?"

Terrified reply:

"My good fellow, self-preservation is the first
law of nature. Should anything happen to Ardison,
come to me for twenty pounds."

Anonymous protector:

"But, signor, what security?"

Final answer:

"Take the money, you rascal, and have done
with it."

The foreman now waited upon Ardison. Sorry
to inform respected padrone, that Signor Anybody
has become aware of certain facts against him,
and is determined on revenge. He has had the
vileness to offer twenty pounds for the padrone's
life—and will have it, for he is rich—and will
assuredly either kill or denounce the padrone.

"Impossible: that cannot be permitted.
Here, my good Cossa, take these twenty pounds.
Upon the demise of Signor Anybody, come to me
for twenty more."

That same night, Signor Anybody deceases:
having purchased death, not life and safety.
Ardison, the golden goose, is allowed to live;
but so completely did he become the prey
and dupe of this band of miscreants; so
effectually was he enveloped in the network of
crime, that he lived in perpetual dread of
assassination: purchasing at immense prices the
continuance of his miserable existence, and
authorising, if not directly ordering, the destruction
of no fewer than forty persons, many of
whom he had never seen.

At length the day of reckoning dawned.

One Sacchi—a horrible ruffian—was arrested
on a charge of homicide, and lodged in gaol,
from whence he forwarded to Ardison a demand
for money, both for the purpose of subsistence
and for the cost of his defence. The padrone
refused money, but promised to supply an
excellent daily repast, and apparently redeemed
his promise even better than if he had been a
government inspector of provisions for
discharged Indian veterans; for the prisoner
became alarmingly ill, and, under the conviction
that he had been poisoned by Ardison, sent for
the gaoler and priest, and denounced to them
with his dying breath, both Ardison and the
Confraternity.

The entire gang were speedily in custody, and
the trial commenced at Cagliari about the middle
of last March. It occupied seventeen days, and
comprised the testimony of nearly three hundred
witnesses.