lable of which struck deep
into my heart, she said, "Is this secret your own, or have you ever
revealed it to another?"

"I have never told it, nor, Indeed, till now, was the full mystery known
to myself."

These few words, which served to confirm her own wavering terrors, at
the same time that they showed how she herself had betrayed her dreadful
secret, increased her suffering, and for a space she seemed overwhelmed
by affliction.

"Let us speak of this no more," said she at last, in the same hurried
voice which once before had made me suspect the soundness of her
intellect. "I cannot, I dare not, trust myself to dwell upon this theme;
nor will I suffer any one to usurp an ascendency over me from terror.
No, sir; you shall not deceive yourself by such a delusion. I have
friends--great and powerful friends--who will protect me. I have money,
and can buy the aid that outstrips patronage. Beware, then, how you
threaten me!"

"You are unjust to me, lady," said I, calmly, but resolutely. "I never
meant to threaten. A mere accident hae put me in possession of a secret
which, while you live, none shall ever hear from my lips; nor need you
fear any allusion to it will ever escape me, to yourself."

"Then let us part. Let us see each other no more," said she, rising,
and approaching a small ivory cabinet which she unlocked. "See, here
is enough to satisfy the desire for mere money, if your heart be so set
upon wealth that it has no other idol. Take these, and these, and these;
they are gems of price, and taken from a royal crown. That necklace
of rubies once graced the shoulders of an empress; and here are rings,
whose value will buy long years of dissipation and excess."

"I must interrupt you, Senhora," said I, offended at the tone she
assumed towards me. "There is no need to 'buy me off;' I am ready to
take my leave,--to quit Naples within an hour,--and I pledge myself
that we shall never meet again, or if we do, as utter strangers to each
other."

"These were the terms of our contract once before," said she, fixing her
gaze steadfastly on me.

"And by whom broken, and how?" said I.

"True,--too true!" exclaimed she, in a voice of deep emotion. "Fate,
that did this, has doubtless other punishments in store for me! It
is plain, then, that I must trust you,--I, who can feel confidence in
none!"

"I do not seek for it, Senhora," replied I; "my offer is to leave this
city, where already I see but little prospect o