Page:Anecdotes of Great Musicians.djvu/227

Rh  the services of two other bandits more desperate than the others, and, disguising them as merchants, sent them off to Turin.

Meanwhile Stradella had secured the good will and assistance of a certain duchess who placed Ortensia in a convent and kept the musician in her own service as chapel master. He kept within the palace walls for some time, till one night, thinking that vengeance no longer pursued him he ventured to take a walk on the ramparts of the city. But the assassins were on the watch and quickly attacking him, left him with what they supposed fatal wounds.

As good fortune would have it, Stradella recovered from the attack and signalized his recovery by marrying his charmer. But such good fortune was too good to last. The Venetian noble was continually on his track, having sworn never to give up his pursuit of revenge. A short time after his wedding, Stradella visited Genoa to superintend the performance of one of his operas, and it was there that vengeance overtook him and his wife. The assassins easily discovered their stopping place, and, gaining entrance to their bedchamber, stabbed them both, this time fatally.  

In spite of his occasional petulance of temper, Beethoven had a warm heart for those in distress; and, moreover, he seldom forgot any one who had rendered him a good service, although he did at times impute selfish motives to his friends when they advised him for what they considered his own good. When his mother lay ill at his old home in Bonn, he hurried to her from Vienna, but arrived in time only to witness her death. After the funeral he found himself reduced to the verge of starvation. Had it not been for the violinist, Ries, who advanced him some funds, he would have suffered the pangs of hunger. 