Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 419 | Page 6

when

he entered the room, what he had done with Mendez--a question that
seemed to imply a suspicion against himself.
This tale, of course, was not believed: indeed his whole demeanour on
the night in question tended strongly to his condemnation; added to
which, Malfi, who had been his friend, testified that not only had Ripa
betrayed all the confusion of guilt during the walk from his house to
Forni, but that having hold of his arm, he had distinctly felt him
tremble as they passed the spot where Mendez was subsequently
discovered.
With regard to Mendez himself, it appeared that when found he was in
a state of insensibility, and he was still too weak to give evidence or
enter into any particulars; but when, under proper remedies, he had
recovered his senses, Faustina Malfi, his sister--to whose house he had
been carried--asked him if Giuseppe Ripa was not the assassin; and he
answered in the affirmative.
Giuseppe was thrown into prison to await his trial; and having public
opinion, as well as that of the authorities against him, he was
universally considered a dead man. The only person that adhered to
him was Bianca, who visited him in the jail, and refused to believe him
guilty. But if he was innocent, who was the criminal? It appeared
afterwards that Ripa himself had his own suspicions on that subject, but
as they were founded only on two slight indications, he felt it was
useless to advance them.
In the meantime Gaspar Mendez was slowly recovering the injuries he
had received, and was of course expected to give a more explanatory
account of what had happened to him after he left Forni on his way to
Alessandro Malfi's. That he had been robbed as well as wounded was
already known--his brother and sister having found his pockets empty
and his watch gone. The explanation he could give, however, proved to
be very scanty. Indeed, he seemed to know very little about the matter,
but he still adhered to his first assertion, that Ripa was the assassin.
With regard to the money he had lost, there was necessarily less
mystery, since it consisted of a sum that he was carrying to his sister,
and was indeed her property, being the half share of some rents which
he had received on that morning, the produce of two houses in the town
of Aquila which had been bequeathed to them conjointly by their
mother. The money was in a canvas bag, and the other half which

belonged to himself he had left locked in his strong box at home, where,
on searching for it, it was found. As Ripa was known to be poor, and
very much straitened by his endeavours to make good the sum he had
lost, that he should add robbery to assassination was not to be
wondered at. On the contrary, it strengthened the conviction of his guilt,
by supplying an additional motive for the crime.
The injuries having been severe, it was some time before Mendez
recovered sufficiently to return home; and when he was well enough to
move, instead of going to Forni, he discharged his servant Antonio
Guerra, and went himself to Florence, where he remained several
months.
All this time Giuseppe Ripa was in prison, condemned to die, but not
executed; because after his trial and sentence, a letter had been received
by the chief person in authority, warning him against shedding the
blood of the innocent. 'Señor Mendez is mistaken,' the letter said: 'he
did not see the assassin, who attacked him from behind, and Giuseppe
Ripa is not guilty.'
This judge, whose name was Marino, appears to have been a just man,
and to have felt some dissatisfaction with the evidence against Ripa;
inasmuch as Mendez, who, when first questioned, had spoken
confidently as to his identity, had since faltered when he came to give
his evidence in public, and seemed unable to afford any positive
testimony on the subject. The presumption against the prisoner, without
the evidence of the Spaniard, was considered by the other judges strong
enough to convict him; but Marino had objected that since the attack
was made by daylight--for it was in the summer, and the evenings were
quite light--it seemed extraordinary that Mendez could give no more
certain indications of his assailant. Added to this, although every means
had been used to obtain a confession--such means as are permitted on
the continent, but illegal in this country--Giuseppe persisted in his
innocence. Moreover, as no money had been found about him, and
Faustina Malfi was exceedingly desirous of recovering what had been
lost, she exerted herself to obtain mercy to at least the extent that hopes
of a commutation of his sentence should be held out to the prisoner,
provided