o the arms of her long-lost, her adored Wagner.

* * * * *

Nisida was now acquainted with the marriage of her brother, the secret
chamber had been visited, the manuscript brought forth to be read; but
one of the party that but a few moments before occupied that room was no
more--_Fernand Wagner was dead_! True to the letter were the words of
the founder of the order of the Rosy Cross, that "the spell which the
Evil One hath cast upon thee, Fernand Wagner, shall be broken only on
that day and that hour when thine eyes shall behold the bleached
skeletons of two innocent victims suspended to the same beam."

Flora and Francisco had visited the secret chamber alone, but the scream
of horror which came from the bride on seeing the spectacle which there
presented itself to her, brought Wagner and Nisida to their side.
Instantly on seeing the skeletons, the prophecy of Rosencrux rushed on
the mind of Wagner; a complete revolution came over his whole frame,
beautiful visions floated before his eyes, as of angels waiting to
receive him and herald him to eternal glory; then stretching forth his
arms, as if to embrace something immaterial, he fell heavily to the
earth, and in a few moments he had breathed his last in the arms of
Nisida.

* * * * *

We will now proceed to the reading of the manuscript, and pass over a
detail of the indescribable agony that rent the heart of Nisida on
seeing her beloved Wagner a corpse, and the revulsion of her feelings on
beholding the loathsome change that came over the face and form of the
once god-like Fernand, a repetition of which would grate too harshly on
the feelings of the reader.

THE MANUSCRIPT.

"In order that you, Francisco--and she who as your bride, shall
accompany you on your visit to the secret cabinet wherein you are
destined to find this manuscript--in order, I say, that you may both
fully comprehend the meaning of the strange and frightful spectacle
there prepared to meet your eyes, it is necessary that I should enter
into a full and perfect detail of certain circumstances, the study of
which will, I hope, prove beneficial to the lady whom you may honor with
the proud name of Riverola.

"In the year 1494 I visited Naples on certain pecuniary business, an
intimation of which I found amongst the private papers of my father, who
had died about ten months previously. I was then just one-and-twenty,
and had no