Languages & literature > Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane > Volume 3

GIL B L A 5< T4J
Ceiled hie perfon from thofe who obferved his re¬
treat. All I know is, that you are deceived : that
1 am certain of. The concern which I ought to
have in this affair but too well verifies my report.
Since I declare myfelf againft Eftephania, 1 mutt
he well convinced of her infidelity.
“ It is in vain, (added he, obferving that his dif-
courfe had the defired effett) it is in vain for me to
tell you more. I perceive that you don’t de-
ferve the ingratitude with which your love is re¬
paid ; and that you meditate juft vengeance on
the guilty. I will not oppofe your defign. Never
examine who the viflim is, whom you intend to
ftrike; but fhew to the whole city, that there
is nothing which you cannot facrifice to your ho-
The traitor thus animated a too credulous huf-
fcand againft an innocent* wife, and painted in
fuch lively colours the infamy with which he
would be covered, if he fhould leave the injury
unpunifhed, that he grew mad with revenge.
Con Anaftafio having loft his judgment, feemed
afluated by the furies, and went home, with a
refolution to ftab his unhappy wife, who was juft
going to bed when he came in. He conftrained
himfelf at firft, and waited until the fervants were
Withdrawn : then, unreftridted by the fear of
heaven’s wrath, by the difhonour he was going
to refledt upon his family, and even by the natural
pity which he ought to have felt for an infant,
which his wife had already carried fix months in
her womb, he approached the vidlim, faying, in
a furious tone, “ Thou muft die, wretch! thou
haft but a moment to live; and that my genero-
fity allows thee, fo fpend in a prayer to heaven,
to pardon the outrage thou haft committed againft