Long ago, in the city of Messina, on the Italian island of Sicily, there lived two brothers who were merchants. They were very well off, because their father had died and left them a thriving import/export business. They lived in a large old villa with their sister named Isabella, who was a beautiful young woman, both charming and sweet. The father had loved his daughter very much, and on his deathbed he had told his sons, "Don't let your sister marry below her station”. So the brothers had promised to keep Isabella away from men of lower social and economic classes.

Isabella had a maid-servant to look after her, but sometimes she would go into her brothers' workplace alone, and that's where she met and fell in love with Lorenzo. Lorenzo was a trusted employee, who managed most aspects of the business. He was a handsome young man, but a romance between the two of them would be a scandal because of his lower station in life. At first they both were lovesick, watching and thinking about each other all the time. Then they arranged to meet in secret where others, especially Isabella’s brothers, would not see them together.

One day, however, one of her brothers happened to be in the street near Lorenzo's house and he saw Isabella going in. He stopped and watched the house for a long time. A few hours later, she emerged, and it was not difficult for him to figure out what was going on. Not wanting to cause a scene, he did not confront his sister at the time. He went home and told his brother all about it. "We have to nip this romance in the bud and avoid a scandal on our family and our business" he said. The other brother agreed, and said, "I guess the easiest thing to do is just get rid of Lorenzo." "What do you mean...?" asked the other brother. "Kill him", he answered coldly.

Well, that's what they decided to do. They made a plan. They buddied up to Lorenzo, acted friendly towards him, so he and everyone else would think they were the best of friends. No one would suspect that they were really planning to kill him. Then they took him out on a hunting trip in the country. When they were in a dark forest where no one would see them, they killed him and buried him. They spread leaves over the place so it would look like nothing had happened there, and then returned to the villa.When Lorenzo was not at work the next day, they told everyone they had sent him on a long business trip, which was credible, because he often went abroad on business. But Isabella missed him sorely. Day after day, she worried about him. She became distraught, but she couldn't ask about him for fear they would guess her secret. So she suffered alone in silence.

Then one night in the middle of the night, she woke up and saw beside her bed the ghost of Lorenzo. His beautiful, wavy hair shone in the moonlight, but his clothes were dishevelled and ragged and he had a pained expression on his face. "Darling Isabella," he said, in a thin voice. "You've done nothing but grieve and weep for me since I've been gone. But it's no use; I can never come home to you again. On the last day you saw me, your brothers murdered me and buried my body." He described the deed and the place where it had been done. Then he said sadly "And now, my love, I must go." "No! Don't!" she cried, but he was already gone.