Page:Clermont - Roche (1798, volume 2).djvu/140

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was laid in blood:—with riches, wretchedness, if possible, increased, 'tis now fifteen years since I murdered my friend; and from that period to this, peace has been a stranger to my breast. Remorse pervaded my soul; horror pursued my steps, and the blood I had shed continually swam before me.

'Having at length secured an ample independence, and being disgusted with the place where I lived, or rather, as is often the case with the wretched, imagining change of scene might alleviate my misery, I resolved on returning to my native country; but the abode of my youth I was destined never more to behold; my conscience would not suffer me to remain unconcerned on beholding the skeleton, and thus did Providence, I may say, make me call for justice on myself.'

"In consequence of his confession (continued Floretta), he was committed to prison, and soon after tried, condemned, and executed on the spot where he had committed the murder. A little time before his death, he deposited a sum of money in the hands of