ABSTRACT
Gabrielle returned home in a state of agitation and alarm; the commixture of events too, in so short a space of time, the conversation she had overheard, and the subsequent conduct of the Genoese, distracted and confused her to such a degree, that, for a certain space, she was unable sufficiently to arrange her ideas to resolve upon the line most proper to be pursued. She easily perceived, from the observations she had heard, how much the unguarded Angelo had committed himself with the base Oriana, in having taught her to anticipate the period of his death with pleasure and impatience; from this too she saw the extent of his infatuation, since it could lead him thus far. When one moment, therefore, she resolved to expose to him the infamous character of the Genoese, and reveal to him the plot meditated against him, she discarded that resolution in the next; first, lest her mere assertions should not obtain unlimited credit; and secondly, from knowing the warmth and precipitancy of Angelo, lest he should instantly fly to his mistress, tax her with what he had heard, and thus leave himself open to her blandishments, by which she might convince him that the whole was an infamous fabrication; she, in such result, as the supposed incendiary, might be driven with rage from the presence of Angelo, and these machinating fiends would ultimately achieve their dreadful purposes.
