Matilda and Verezzi are looking down the precipice, when a man, who has been instructed to play the part of an assassin, rushes with upraised dagger on the Count, who deems himself the mark of the bravo's weapon. A second later, and the Contessa di Laurentini, hurling herself between the two men, receives the descending poniard in her right arm. Disappearing in the forest, the sham-bravo leaves the uninjured Verezzi with the wounded Contessa,--the one overflowing with gratitude to his preserver, whilst the other exults in the success of her artifice. Soon after this theatrical scene, the Count, yielding to Matilda di Laurentini's 'siren illusions and well-timed blandishments,' addresses her as his wife, adding '_And though love like ours wants not the vain ties of human laws, yet, that our love may want not any sanction which could possibly be given to it, let immediate orders be given for the celebration of our union_.' Their marriage having received the vain sanction of human laws, Matilda and Verezzi enjoy a brief term of tempestuous bliss. On her wedding-day, 'Matilda's joy, her soul-felt triumph, is too great for utterance,--too great for concealment. The exultation of her inmost soul flashes in expressive glances from her scintillating eyes, expressive of joy intense--unutterable. Animated with excessive delight, she starts from the table, and seizing Verezzi's hand, in a transport of inconceivable bliss, drags him in wild transport and varied movements to the sound of swelling and soul-stirring melody.' By this time, the virtuous Verezzi has so completely succumbed to 'siren illusions' that instead of showing any disapproval of the Contessa's forwardness, or any annoyance at being dragged about thus sportively, he exclaims with delight, 'Come, my Matilda, come, I am weary of transport,--sick with excess of unutterable pleasure.' In the earlier days of the honeymoon, one circumstance alone moderates Matilda's happiness. Though the Count thinks Julia la Marchesa is dead, the Contessa has received no intelligence of a successful issue to her arrangements for her rival's murder. This source of uneasiness passes away, however, for a time, when Zastrozzi assures the Countess he has removed Julia di Strabozzi with poison. But malignant fate soon puts a period to the feverish felicity of the husband and wife. Ere they have been married a month, Matilda La Contessa di Laurentini is summoned before the Inquisition. In their alarm at the letter of citation, the Count Verezzi and Matilda (albeit the latter has been warned by Zastrozzi to keep away from the capital) fly to a secluded dwelling in the eastern suburb of Venice, in the hope of living there in concealment from the agents of the dread Tribunal.