A Sicilian Romance

The commission of one crime often requires the perpetration of another. When once we enter on the labyrinth of vice, we can seldom return, but are led on, through correspondent mazes, to destruction. On the northern shore of Sicily, a tourist visiting the ruins of the once-magnificent castle of the house of Mazzini uncovers the noble family’s turbulent history. The Marquis Mazzini’s daughters, Emilia and Julia, are beautiful and accomplished young ladies. Julia quickly falls in love with the young and handsome Italian Count Hippolitus de Vereza, but, to her dismay, her father decides that she should marry Duke de Luovo instead. On the night before her wedding, Julia flees to elope with Hippolitus, but the marquis ambushes them and seemingly kills Hippolitus, whose body is carried away by his servants. The marquis demands that Julia accepts the engagement with de Luovo, but she manages to escape again, this time alone. In a tense game of cat and mouse, the marquis and the spurned Duke d