lip, curled in scorn,--the brilliant teeth, glistening between the
quivering vermilion,--and the swan-like arching of the dazzling neck;
there also was the dark glory of the luxuriant hair!

"For a few moments I was spell-bound--motionless--speechless. Clothed
with terror and sublimity, yet in all the flush of the most perfect
beauty, a strange--mysterious being stood over me: and I knew not
whether she were a denizen of this world, or a spirit risen from
another. Perhaps the transcendent loveliness of that countenance was but
a mask and the wondrous symmetry of that form but a disguise, beneath
which all the passions of hell were raging in the brain and in the heart
of a fiend. Such were the ideas that flashed through my imagination; and
I involuntarily closed my eyes, as if this action could avert the
malignity that appeared to menace me. But dreadful thoughts still
pursued me--enveloping me, as it were, in an oppressive mist wherein
appalling though dimly seen images and forms were agitating; and I again
opened my eyes. The lady--if an earthly being she really were--was gone.
I rose from my couch and glanced nervously around--expecting almost to
behold an apparition come forth from behind the tapestry, or the folds
of the curtains. But my attention was suddenly arrested by a fact more
germane to worldly occurrences. The casket wherein I kept the rich
presents made to me at different times by my Andrea had been forced open
and the most valuable portion of its contents were gone. On a closer
investigation I observed that the articles which were left were those
that were purchased new; whereas the jewels that had been abstracted
were old ones, which, as the count had informed me, had belonged to his
deceased wife.

"On discovering this robbery, I began to suspect that my mysterious
visitress, who had caused me so much alarm, was the thief of my
property; and I immediately summoned old Margaretha. She was of course
astounded at the occurrence which I related; and, after some reflection,
she suddenly remembered that she had forgotten to fasten the house-door
ere she retired to rest on the preceding evening. I chided her for a
neglect which had enabled some evil-disposed woman to penetrate into my
chamber, and not only terrify but also plunder me. She implored my
forgiveness, and besought me not to mention the incident to the count
when next we met. Alas! my noble Andrea and I never met again.

"I was sorely perplexed by