He was much struck by the story, but urged me to invert the order in which it was told.

The main incident of the plot is a murder caused by jealousy, and I had begun by narrating the circumstances which led up to it in their natural sequence.

He advised me to begin by bringing before the reader the murdered body of the victim, and then unfold the causes which had led to the crime.

And I followed his advice.
The murder is represented as having been committed on a sleeping person by piercing the heart with a needle, and then artistically covering the almost imperceptible orifice of the wound with wax, in such sort as to render the discovery of the wound and the cause of death almost impossible even by professional eyes.

And I may mention that the facts were related to me by a distinguished man of science at Florence, as having really occurred.
Perhaps, since I have been led to speak of this story of mine, I may be excused for recording an incident connected with it, which occurred some years subsequently at Rome, in the drawing-room of Mrs.Marsh.
The scene of the story is Ravenna.