g on the
arms of his brothers. When Stenio Salvatori, spoke thus, the Count had
withdrawn, and the noise in the hall prevented the judges from hearing
him. The tumult was as great as possible in the hall, which hitherto had
been so calm and silent. The public seemed to move, shout, and become
clamorous, as a recompense for the constraint which had been so long
enforced.

The beautiful woman in the recess, who had been so long impassible and
motionless, seemed to sympathize with the excited crowd, and lifting up
her noble form to its full height, as the Grand Judge spoke the last
words, she threw aside her veil, and lifted to heaven her eyes, full of
gratitude and joy. She then looked toward Monte-Leone with an expression
of the most passionate love, and immediately letting fall her veil, as
if to enwrap her sentiments in night, left the room. Quickly, however,
as she left, the first of the young men, whose conversation was detailed
in the early part of this chapter, had time to see her, and said to his
companion:

"Signor, indeed you are fortunate. The lady of whom we spoke not long
since, and whom you know so well, is the very spirit of beauty
incarnate, she is the most magnificent woman in the world. It is _La
Felina_."

"You think so?" said Taddeo Rovero, who had become yet paler when the
singer threw up her veil.

"Yes, I think so," said the first speaker, with a smile, "and I am also
sure you know so." He left.

In the mean time the friends and partisans of the Count surrounded him.
Among them were the chief nobles of Naples, for, as has been said
before, the cause of one of the order became that of all, and
Monte-Leone's success was a triumph to all the class. Amid a proud and
gallant escort, the Count left the _Castello Capuano_. Scarcely had he
left the door when enthusiastic cries were heard on all sides. The
people, who had been in the street since dawn, waited impatiently for
the result of the trial, for Monte-Leone was immensely popular. The
crowd from time to time heard the various incidents of the trial from
persons who had contrived to get into the hall. The rumors in favor of
Monte-Leone were received with shouts of joy, and those injurious to him
with cries and curses. The sentence was hailed as a priceless boon by
the crowd around the _Chateau Capuano_. The people are everywhere, it is
said, the same. The people of every country are doubtless impressionable
and easily excited. A kind of electric