Vanina Vanini by Stendhal

Vanina Vanini, the nineteen-year-old daughter of a Roman aristocrat, Don Asdrubale Vanini, is sought after by all the young princes of Rome, but refuses them all, for of "the same [reason] that led Sulla to abdicate: her contempt for the Romans." When she notices that her usually carefree father is taking pains to lock up one room in his palace, and that a window in that room that is normally closed is open, she begins to investigate.
Vanina finds another window that lets out on the same terrace, and looks through into the mysterious room. There, she sees a wounded woman lying in bed, as well as bloodstained woman's clothing that seems to have been pierced many times with a knife. She observes her father come up to the room and speak to the woman, though she cannot hear what the two are saying...