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The reader may remember the villain Egidio, who lived near the

walls of the monastery into which Lucy had been received; now, he

was one of the most intimate colleagues in crime of the Unknown;

and this accounts for the promptness with which this lord assumed

the charge of the undertaking. However, no sooner was he left

alone than he repented of his precipitation. He had for some time

experienced, not remorse, but a vague uneasiness on account of

his crimes; at every new addition to them, the remembrance of

those he had previously committed pressed upon his memory, if not

upon his conscience, and loaded it with an intolerable weight. An

undefinable repugnance to the commission of crime, such as he had

experienced and subdued at the outset of his career, returned

with all its force to overwhelm his spirit. The thoughts of the

future contributed to render the past more painful. "To grow old!

to die!