Their enjoyment of Verona was suspended most abruptly when, returning to their pensione, the Darcys met an old gentleman coming from the opposite direction whence they had just come, visibly distressed in his mind, as well as his person, and the contents of his chaise in great disarray. Mr. Darcy assisted the spare, elderly man down from the seat, and learnt that he was just come from Vicenza and had been set-upon by a troupe of banditti, armed with pistols and knives. He was a physician from Geneva, and had been at Padua to attend some scientifical lectures there, when, on his road home, he had been beaten and robbed. The masked banditti had forced the postillion to dismount; they then secured his neck with ropes under one of the wheels of the carriage to prevent his assisting his master. The largest highway-man had then proceeded to attack the gentle doctor, whilst his associates threw everything out of the chaise, including its seats and carpets, taking anything and everything of value. The old man was spared only after shewing them where anything of value had been stored; consequently, he had been robbed of all of his cloathes, save what he was wearing, and had been deprived of his watch, his money, his boots, and even his hat and gloves. The banditti had apparently mistaken him for a personage of greater fortune; thus, the doctor counted himself extremely lucky to have escaped with his life, so enraged were the highway-men at finding that his valuables fell greatly short of their expectations. Mr. Darcy attended him into the hôtel, and saw that the doctor was well-treated and comfortable, before returning to Elizabeth and Georgiana.

In consequence of the poor doctor’s misfortune, Mr. Darcy secured the services of two Austrian mounted soldiers to ride with their carriage, and, leaving Verona early the next morning with their baskets full of foods for eating en route, he planned for only a brief stop at mid-day, arriving at Vicenza that evening. Despite their early departure and the many trees adjoining the road, the drive was hot, dirty, and seemingly interminable. The entire length of the road from Verona to Vicenza was lined with mulberry vines, to which various fruits and flowers had been anchored; Elizabeth remarked that such Arcadian surroundings seemed at great variance with the necessity of travelling with armed guards. Arriving late, and taking an hasty supper, the Darcys tarried some little time in the morning to see Vicenza, before setting off for Padua, a less arduous distance than the previous day’s journey by one-third. Their guards were to leave them at Padua, asserting that the road to Venice was unquestionably safe.