Danger in the Dark - ZseZse

198 DANGER IN THE DARK.
consequence was, this son at an early age was thrown
among the baser sort, and learned to indulge in all
manner of vice, debauchery and dissipation. Surrounded
by such influences, and having constantly
before him the very worst examples, we can scarcely
think it strange that he grew up to be the artful and
treacherous Jesuit we have described. An education
like that would rarely produce a better man than has
been portrayed in the character of Dupin. A mind
and heart by nature noble and exalted, may awhile
resist the influence of evil communications and vicious
society, but not always. Forever in contact with
that which tends to pollute the mind and lead the
heart astray, an angel would hardly be secure.
1 have heretofore neglected to mention that Dupin
was cousin to Bedini, the bloody butcher of Bologna.
The history of the former is so interwoven with the
life and conduct of the latter, that it will become
necessary to say something also of- this inhuman
monster.
Though it be no pleasing task to speak of so vile a
wretch as Bedini, yet it is one I have no disposition
to shun, since he has, by the most perfidious acts,
rendered himself so deserving universal execration
and the world's scorn. It is but proper, at least 80
to my mind, that the American people know more
than they have yet learned of the private life and
public conduct of one who has so recently been in
our midst, producing civil discord wherever he went,
and yet dem ding of this government, with unheard-