Thus, while Albert was
wholly occupied with election matters, the Duchess had written him
only two letters; one in which she told him that the Duc d'Argaiolo
was in danger, and one announcing her widowhood--two noble and
beautiful letters which Rosalie kept back.
After several nights' labor she succeeded in imitating Albert's
writing very perfectly. She had substituted three letters of her own
writing for three of Albert's, and the rough copies which she showed
to the old priest made him shudder--the genius of evil was revealed in
them to such perfection. Rosalie, writing in Albert's name, had
prepared the Duchess for a change in the Frenchman's feelings, falsely
representing him as faithless, and she had answered the news of the
Duc d'Argaiolo's death by announcing the marriage ere long of Albert
and Mademoiselle de Watteville. The two letters, intended to cross on
the road, had, in fact, done so. The infernal cleverness with which
the letters were written so much astonished the Vicar-General that he
read them a second time. Francesca, stabbed to the heart by a girl who
wanted to kill love in her rival, had answered the last in these four
words: "You are free. Farewell."
"Purely moral crimes, which give no hold to human justice, are the
most atrocious and detestable," said the Abbe severely. "God often
punishes them on earth; herein lies the reason of the terrible
catastrophes which to us seem inexplicable.
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