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"I repeat once more," he said, "that what this priest has told you, Caroline, were the last words of your aunt."

"And I repeat once more," said Caroline, " �tis false."

"Your suspicions," said the baron, "concerning the death of your aunt make you doubt the word of this holy man."

"I have no suspicions," answered Caroline,�"no doubts. All is dreadful certainty."

"Should you be convinced," said Count Durlack, "that you are wrong in stating that violence has been done your relative, you would then consent to her request of an union with me?"

"Never!" answered Caroline.

"Where, then, is your affection for your only relative?"

"I would not tamper with my conscience for one moment on this question," said Caroline. "You urge your suit in vain, Count Durlack."

"There is a point of patience, Caroline Mecklenburgh," said the baron, "that if you once drive us past you will bitterly repent the act."

"Sooner," said Caroline, "would I descend these steps and take my place by the side of the remains of the poor being whose memory you have so cruelly mocked than consent to become the wife of the Count Durlack."

The baron was about to make a passionate reply, when the count interrupted him by saying, calmly,�

"With the suspicion on her mind that Mademoiselle Mecklenburgh has

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given utterance to her conduct is natural. Remove that, and her better judgment will guide her to a more conciliatory course."

"I would willingly remove it," said the baron.

"Then," continued the count, "let us descend once more into the vault, and prove that this publicly uttered charge made by Caroline Mecklenburgh is unfounded."

"I agree," said the baron.

"Can you," said Caroline, "dare such proof?"

"I can," answered the baron. "I loathe such sights, but I am ready to descend again to that vault which I hoped never in life to see again."

Roland, who stood on the brink of the aperture, now spoke.

"The morning is breaking," he said. "I saw the baroness die. All was right."

"Let us descend," said the count.

"What?" cried Roland. "Go down into that suffocating hole again?�Not I."

"Dare you dispute my orders?" said the baron.

Roland looked very pale and still hesitated.

The Count Durlack regarded him for a few moments with an eye that seemed to search his inmost soul.

Roland quailed under the glance, and step by step he retreated into the darkness away from the opening to the vault.

The count beckoned the baron to another part of the chapel.

"Here is a discovery, baron," he said, in a low voice.

"By Heaven and hell," muttered the baron, " I know nothing about it. It is a mystery to me, count."

"Roland has throttled the baroness," said Durlack, "I can read the fact in the fellow�s countenance."

"On my soul," cried the baron, "I was not privy to the deed."

"It is unfortunate," said Durlack, "for it has destroyed all chance of our schemes succeeding with Caroline."

"The rascal!" cried the baron.

"Yes," said Durlack, indifferently. "He might have waited till he was told."

"I�ll take his life upon the spot," said the baron, laying his hand upon his sword.

"No, no," said Durlack. "He is most useful just now. We must try to leave him to-morrow evening. Temporise with him till then, and run him through as soon as we get clear of the vaults."

"Agreed," said the baron. "What will be your plan of operations now?"

"A visit to the vaults is useless."

"Quite, count, if what you suspect be true."

"Oh, I know Roland, baron. The matter is past suspicion."

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"What can be done?"

"Adhere to our resolution. Enforce the marriage or the signature to the papers which I have already prepared, conveying the Mecklenburgh estates to an agent, for whose name there is a blank left, for my benefit."

"Be it so, then. Let us return. This conference will beget suspicion."

The whispered conversation between the baron and the count occupied a much shorter space of time than it has taken to narrate, and they were again standing by the head of the vault staircase before Caroline had time to form any new resolve in the perplexing position she was in.

"Caroline Mecklenburgh," said the baron, "are you now prepared to fulfil the wishes of your aunt?"

"I will not affect to misunderstand you," said Caroline. "You decline the visit to the vault?"

"With a consciousness of innocence I do," answered the baron.

"It matters little," said Caroline. "The truth is sufficiently apparent."

"Do you consent to the marriage?" again urged the baron.

"No!" answered Caroline, firmly.

"Then force shall accomplish what cannot be done by persuasion," said Count Durlack. "Caroline Mecklenburgh you shall be mine."

"Never! never!" cried Caroline.

"We shall see," cried the baron in a loud voice. "Replace the marble slab."

The attendants, officiously assisted by Roland, raised the slab and covered the opening to the vault.

"There is no lover now," sneered Count Durlack, "to interpose at the lucky moment to save you."

"There is a righteous Providence," said Caroline, "which will interpose to protect the innocent. Where is your promise to await my answer till to-morrow evening?"

"Ah! ah!" laughed the count. "Gone to the winds. Time passes, charming Caroline. I could not controul my impatience."

"Priest, do your duty," said the baron.

"Yes," said Caroline. "Your duty priest�your duty. It is to protect the innocent from the oppressor�do your duty!"

"I am here," said the priest, "to wed the noble Count Durlack to Caroline Mecklenburgh. Come to the chapel, lady."

"Aye," cried the count, in a reckless tone; "to the chapel. To the chapel."

"You cannot, you dare not, force me to this union!" cried Caroline, much alarmed.

"We dare do a great deal in the Castle of Zindorf," said Durlack.

"To the chapel!" cried the baron. "Drag her to the chapel."

"Help! help!" shrieked Caroline.

"Courage!" said the voice of Euphoric in her ear.

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Roland advanced, and with a countenance expressive of savage exultation, he grasped Caroline so tightly by the arm, that she uttered an exclamation of pain.

"Ruffian! murderer!" she exclaimed.

"To the chapel," shouted the baron.

Caroline was dragged from the oratory to the chapel, and placed close to the altar, where the priest had already taken his position.

"Here, before an alter, reared to the worship of God," cried Caroline; "I protest against this sacrilege."

"Protest as much as you please, lady," sneered, Durlack; "in five minutes I shall salute you as my countess."

Caroline looked around, in vain, to catch some ray of hope, but there she was without one consolation to cling to; surrounded by enemies and in the power of men who regarded no laws, human, and divine. Men, who with all the will, and likewise all the power, to perpetrate any act of villany that their vile passions might suggest.

The baron now, in the very extremity of her distress, stepped forward and said, in a tone of pretended sympathy,

"Is there not any means, my noble friend, Count Durlack, by which this marriage may be avoided?"

"There is one way," answered the count.

"Name it," cried Caroline.

"If you will," said Durlack, "place your signature to such documents as I shall produce to you, I may forego my claim to your hand."

"Claim," answered Caroline; "you have none. What are the papers you require me to sign?"

"There is certain trifling property which I won of your father."

"Proceed," said Caroline, with a deep sigh.

"At some future day there might be food for litigation concerning it. To obviate such a contingency, I wish you to sign a document transferring your right entirely to me and my benefit."

"Your request is modest," said Caroline, contemptuously.

"I state it fairly and openly," said the count; "in order that all present may witness that you fully understood what you were asked to do."

"Of what does this property consist?" asked Caroline.

The Count answered reluctantly. "Three estates in Bavaria."

"The bulk of my father�s property?" exclaimed Caroline.

"Yes," answered Durlack, unblushingly.

"If I refuse?"

"You shall then become my wife, and I will claim it in right of your marriage with me."

"But you cannot force me to become your wife."

"If I can do nothing else," answered Count Durlack, calmly; "I can amply revenge my disappointments. Recollect, Caroline Mecklenburgh, where you are."

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Caroline shuddered as she felt the conviction that she was, indeed, fully in the power of the man who was thus making conditions with her, which he knew she had no refuge from, but in death. She clasped her hands and remained a few moments in silent thought.

"Oh," she reflected, "could I offer in happier times, these estates to Claudio, my poor hand might then be more worthy of acceptance. How his noble nature would grace wealth and influence."

With a deep sigh, she spoke.

"I will sign upon one condition."

"Name it," said the count.

"The freedom of the two prisoners in the dungeon below here."

"It is granted," said the baron. "They shall be freed the moment the papers are properly signed and attested."

"I consent, then," said Caroline, in a faint voice.

"You are all witnesses to this free consent," said Count Durlack, turning to the attendants.

Euphoric seized the opportunity to whisper in Caroline�s ear, "The other condition�his life only."

Caroline had quite forgotten the admonitions of the page to make a condition, that should the count die, the estates should again revert to herself and her heirs.

"Hold," she cried, "yet a moment, Count Durlack. �Tis hard parting thus for ever with the means of subsistence. I would name another condition."

"What is it?" said the count, impatiently.

"That, in the event of your death, the estates again revert to me."

"By the fiend, I care not to whom they revert, when I am dead," said the count. "I am alone in the world."

"Then you consent?"

"Truly yes, Caroline Mecklenburgh. Sufficient for the day is the enjoyment of it. The powers of hell may claim the estates when I am gone, for all I shall care about them."

The baron whispered to an attendant, who retired, and presently returned with writing materials.

The count spread a parchment upon the altar.

"This document," he said, "conveys the rents of the estates to me or my agent."

Caroline signed it in silence.

"This other," said the count, "authorises me to use for my own benefit, the monies so received, without hindrance of any kind."

"For your life," said Caroline.

"That I will insert," answered Durlack, taking the pen.

The necessary alteration was made, and Caroline likewise signed the second document.

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"Now," she said, "perform your promise, baron, and release the prisoners."

"I had forgotten," said the baron, "that the Count Durlack has a private quarrel to settle with him called Claudio. When that is settled, they shall both most freely depart."

"I am deceived ?" said Caroline.

"Oh, no," answered Durlack, "you may trust my honour, surely?"

"Your honour!" exclaimed Caroline.

"Enough of this," cried the baron. "To your chamber Caroline Mecklenburgh."

"Say no more," whispered Euphoric. "All will be well."

Caroline, when she made the condition, had not the least idea that if granted, it would be kept. Upon Euphoric she alone relied for the liberation of Claudio and Maurice, and her great object now was to bring the present scene to as speedy a conclusion as possible, in order that Euphoric might be at liberty to exert himself in the prisoner�s behalf.

Without another word, therefore, she walked from the chapel, preceded by Roland bearing the torch, and Euphoric with the key of the ante-room.

At a sign from the baron to the attendants, he and the count were left alone in the chapel, into which the daylight was dimly breaking, and struggling for the mastery over the lights.

" �Tis done so far," cried Durlack. "To-night we depart."

"At one hour after sunset," said the baron.

The count laid his hand upon the baron�s arm, and while a demoniac smile distorted his countenance, he said:�

"Caroline Mecklenburgh shall yet be mine. I yet will see that proud beauty at my feet."

CHAPTER XLIX.

We must now re-conduct the reader to the cavern of Chevalier D�Anville and his fair daughter, in order to relate events which nearly concern the various personages of our tale.

Frederique prepared himself to listen to the details of the causes which had led to the banishment from court of the Chevalier D�Anville, who had at one time been esteemed one of its brightest ornaments.

The chevalier thus began his narration:

"Several years, Frederique, have now passed over my head in this cavern, and had it not been for the society of my dear Constance, and the cares entailed upon me in her education, I must have sunk under the ennui

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thus inflicted upon me, who had been accustomed for so long to the splendour and festivities of a brilliant and gay court.

"It happened that a masked ball of unusual splendour was given at the palace, at which were present all the nobility then present in the capital.

"The gardens of the palace were brilliantly illuminated, and every means had been adopted to render the place delightful and inviting.

"Jets of perfumed water imparted an agreeable coolness to the air, at the same time that they flung around them the most delicious odours.

"I had been dancing in the grand ball-room of the palace, until I was heated and fatigued. The cool air of the gardens was irresistibly inviting, and I strolled out to enjoy the beauty of the night and relieve my eyes for a time from the glare and blaze of lights, jewels, and splendid uniforms."

"I have been at such scenes," said Frederique, "they are truly enchanting to intoxicate the senses."

"I strolled onwards," continued D�Anville, "until I had cleared the lighted part of the gardens, and was enjoying the delicious coolness and dim light, in a long shady walk, when I heard voices near me, apparently disputing.

"I advanced more cautiously, and presently heard that the speakers were only separated from me by a hedge. The voices I knew directly they were those of Count Durlack and the Baron Zindorf.

"A third voice I likewise heard, which I did not know.

" �What do you require?� I heard the Baron Anselmo of Zindorf say.

" �A hundred gold pieces!� replied the strange voice.

" �Tell us your secret,� cried the Count Durlack, �and then we can better judge of its value.�

" �The gold pieces,� said the voice to which I was a stranger; �the gold, Count Durlack, first, and then the secret.�

" �You may rely on my liberality,� said Baron Zindorf.

"The man laughed loudly, and repeated the words��Liberality? The Baron Zindorf�s liberality? Ha! ha! ha!�

" �The Count Durlack will see that justice is done to you,� said the baron, in a tone of provocation.

" �Better still,� cried the man; �you are facetious, baron. The Count Durlack is a fine security for a hundred gold pieces!�

" �You have no secret at all,� said the baron.

" �Very well,� replied the man; �good evening, gentlemen.�

" �What will you do?� said Count Durlack.

" �Tell my secret somewhere else,� answered the man. �I am starving, I have parted with everything else, and I must make the most of that one possession that I have left.�

" �It concerns us, you say?� cried the baron.

" �It does,� answered the man, �and you, most particularly, Baron Zindorf. Come, will you purchase it?�

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" �If I refuse?� said the baron.

" �Then,� said the man, �I sell it to the king.�

" �I have not so much money about me,� said the baron.

" �You and the count,� said the man, �have jewels about you to more than the amount. Give them to me, and I will see you in the morning, when you can redeem them. A small sum in ready money to-night will suffice.�

" �Take them,� said the Count Durlack after a pause.

" �Now, be quick,� cried the baron; �the secret�the secret.�

" �It is this," answered the man; �the children of your cousin, baron, still live.�

" �Live!� cried the Baron Zindorf.

" �Aye, live!� repeated the man. �They were rescued on the night of the murder of their parents, and I repeat, they still live.�

" �Where are they?� asked Count Durlack.

" �They are,� continued the man, �in the care of a humble man called Maurice.�

" �A dead silence now ensued for some moments, and I overcame my first impulse, which was silently to leave the parties to their conference, thinking myself justified in listening to particulars which might be the means of unmasking villany of the most atrocious character.

The Count Durlack first broke the silence, and he said:�

" �Is this secret in your sole possession?�

" �It is,� answered the man; �the children are only known to their protector as the orphans of an officer.�

" �And the name?�

" �They go by a name which was given them on the spur of the moment by him who saved their lives.�

" �What is it?� said the baron.

" �Not yet,� replied the man, �you have had enough for your money, baron. You know more than enough to spoil your rest, ha! ha!�

" �And you know more than enough to ensure your destruction!� cried Count Durlack.

"I heard a struggle, and then a faint groan.

"In one moment, and before I could decide upon any course of action or even lay my hand upon my sword, the count and the baron rushed past me, and made quickly for the palace.

"I hesitated not a moment, but plunged into the thicket, and there I beheld a sight which I was in some measure prepared for.

"A man of athletic form, but pale and sick, apparently from want and misery, lay bleeding upon the grass.

"The place was in the shade, comparatively with the brilliant light illuminating the rest of the garden, but still it was sufficiently light for me to see the man well, as he lay weltering in his blood.