Wolfstein
refuses to deny God. Both Ginotti and his victim are blasted by
lightning, amid which the "frightful prince of terror, borne on
the pinions of hell's sulphurous whirlwind," stands before them.
"On a sudden Ginotti's frame, mouldered to a gigantic
skeleton, yet two pale and ghastly flames glared in his
eyeless sockets. Blackened in terrible convulsions,
Wolfstein expired; over him had the power of hell no
influence. Yes, endless existence is thine, Ginotti--a
dateless and hopeless eternity of horror."
Interspersed with this somewhat inconsequent story are the
adventures of Eloise, who is first introduced on her return home,
disconsolate, to a ruined abbey. We are given to understand that
the story is to unfold the misfortunes which have led to her
downfall, but she is happily married ere the close. She
accompanies her dying mother on a journey, as Emily in _The
Mysteries of Udolpho_ accompanied her father, and meets a
mysterious stranger, Nempere, at a lonely house, where they take
refuge. Nempere proves to be a less estimable character than
Valancourt, who fell to Emily's lot in similar circumstances. He
sells her to an English noble, Mountfort, at whose house she
meets Fitzeustace, who, like Vivaldi in _The Italian_, overhears
her confession of love for himself.
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