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The nuptial morn, so justly dreaded by Julia, and so ie was to be celebrated

with a nificence which demonstrated the joy it occasioned to the

randeur superior to

any thing that had been before seen in it The neighbouring nobility

were invited to an entertainment which was to conclude with a splendid

ball and supper, and the gates were to be thrown open to all who chose

to partake of the bounty of the marquis At an early hour the duke,

attended by a numerous retinue, entered the castle Ferdinand heard

froour and the policy of theof hoofs in the courtyard above, the

rolling of the carriage wheels, and all the tumultuous bustle which

the entrance of the duke occasioned

He too well understood the cause

of this uproar, and it awakened in hi those

which the condemned criminal feels, when his ears are assailed by the

dreadful sounds that precede his execution When he was able to think

of himself, he wondered by what uests He, however, knew too well the dissipated

character of the Sicilian nobility, to doubt that whatever story