e--hush! he must
not hear your voice--I will go to him and tell him all--all--" She rose
and stretched out her arms with a gesture of entreaty:

"Guido! Guido!"

With a sudden chilled awe at my heart I looked toward the spot that
thus riveted her attention--all was shrouded in deep gloom. She caught
my arm.

"Kill him!" she whispered, fiercely--"kill him, and then I will love
you! Ah!" and with an exclamation of fear she began to retire swiftly
backward as though confronted by some threatening figure. "He is
coming--nearer! No, no, Guido! You shall not touch me--you dare
not--Fabio is dead and I am free--free!" She paused--her wild eyes
gazed upward--did she see some horror there? She put up both hands as
though to shield herself from some impending blow, and uttering a loud
cry she fell prone on the stone floor insensible. Or dead? I balanced
this question indifferently, as I looked down upon her inanimate form.
The flavor of vengeance was hot in my mouth, and filled me with
delirious satisfaction. True, I had been glad, when my bullet whizzing
sharply through the air had carried death to Guido, but my gladness had
been mingled with ruthfulness and regret. NOW, not one throb of pity
stirred me--not the faintest emotion of tenderness, Ferrari's sin was
great, but SHE tempted him--her crime outweighed his. And now--there
she lay white and silent--in a swoon that was like death--that might be
death for aught I knew--or cared! Had her lover's ghost indeed appeared
before the eyes of her guilty conscience? I did not doubt it--I should
scarcely have been startled had I seen the poor pale shadow of him by
my side, as I musingly gazed upon the fair fallen body of the traitress
who had wantonly wrecked both our lives.

"Ay, Guido," I muttered, half aloud--"dost see the work? Thou art
avenged, frail spirit--avenged as well as I--part thou in peace from
earth and its inhabitants!--haply thou shalt cleanse in pure fire the
sins of thy lower nature, and win a final pardon; but for her--is hell
itself black enough to match HER soul?"

And I slowly moved toward the stairway; it was time, I thought, with a
grim resolve--TO LEAVE HER! Possibly she was dead--if not--why then she
soon would be! I paused irresolute--the wild wind battered ceaselessly
at the iron gateway, and wailed as though with a hundred voices of
aerial creatures, lamenting. The torches were burning low, the darkness
of the vault deepened. Its gloom concerned me