gon room. Her light had gone out as she closed the door,
and sitting close by in the dark, she heard the sound of some one
breathing as he listened at the key-hole. Then a careful hand tried
the door, so noiselessly that no sleeper would have been awakened; and
as if to guard against a second surprise, the unknown person drew two
bolts across the door and stole away.

"Safe for a time; but I'll not pass another night under this roof,
unless this is satisfactorily cleared up," thought Helen, now feeling
more angry than frightened.

The last hour that struck was three, and soon the summer dawn reddened
the sky. Dressing herself, Helen sat by Amy, a sleepless guard, till
she woke, smiling and rosy as a child. Saying nothing of her last
night's alarm, Helen went down to breakfast a little paler than usual,
but otherwise unchanged. The major never liked to be disturbed till
he had broken his fast, and the moment they rose from the table he
exclaimed,--

"Now, girls, come and see the mysteries of Udolpho."

"I'll say nothing, yet," thought Helen, feeling braver by daylight,
yet troubled by her secret, for Hoffman might be a traitor, and this
charming chateau a den of thieves. Such things had been, and she was
in a mood to believe anything.

The upper story was a perfect museum of antique relics, very
entertaining to examine. Having finished these, Hoffman, who acted as
guide, led them into a little gloomy room containing a straw pallet,
a stone table with a loaf and pitcher on it, and, kneeling before a
crucifix, where the light from a single slit in the wall fell on him,
was the figure of a monk. The waxen mask was life-like, the attitude
effective, and the cell excellently arranged. Amy cried out when she
first saw it, but a second glance reassured her, and she patted the
bald head approvingly, as Karl explained.--

"Count Severin is an antiquarian, and amuses himself with things of
this sort. In old times there really was a hermit here, and this is
his effigy. Come down these narrow stairs, if you please, and see the
rest of the mummery."

Down they went, and the instant Helen looked about her, she burst into
a hysterical laugh, for there sat her ruffian, exactly as she saw him,
glaring over his shoulder with threatening eyes, and one hand on the
pistol. They all looked at her, for she was pale, and her merriment
unnatural; so, feeling she had excited curiosity, she gratified it by
narrating her night's adventure.