ing it was for her murder the criminal was to die: but coming nearer, the malefactor aſked him, 'If he had heard any news of his lady?' and then, in tears confeſſed, 'That himſelf and another had been hired to murder her, to which end, they carried her into a great wood, (which he named to him) but, by a miraculous providence, ſhe escaped out of their hands; that afterwards he had reported to thoſe that ſet him to work, that he had actually murdered her: for which he received the reward, but which way ſhe eſcaped, he knew not; and that this was about two years ſince.' The Count urged him to tell the names of thoſe that had ſo hired him; but he ſaid, 'He had ſworn upon the holy ſacrament of the altar never to diſcloſe them: and that he ſcared damnation if he ſhould: Only, ſaid he, this I may ſay, without breaking my oath, they were two perſons in whom you have put a great deal of confidence.' And then ſolemnly atteſted, 'That what he ſaid was the truth;' and ſoon after was executed.
This dying criminal's confeſſion confirmed Alanſon, that Deidamia had been treacherouſly carried thither, either from his houſe or the nunnery; and he no longer doubted that Fronovius and Antonio were the perſons that had hired villains to murder her; and therefore, tho' they had been removed from his ſervice ſome time, yet he was reſolved to purſue them, in order to bring them to juſtice: but firſt he intended to make a freſh ſearch after Deidamia, the criminal having given him an account where ſhe eſcaped from them; and therefore he thought, if ſhe was ſtill alive, ſhe might be ſomewhere in the vicinity of the wood: towards that, therefore he bended his courſe, and being arrived in
