hrouded in
vapour, might be heard, at intervals, dull rumbling sounds, like
thunder, followed by distant explosions.

Pale, but resigned, the unfortunate Count de Mediana remained standing.
Buried in deep reverie, he did not appear to notice the continually
decreasing shadow.

All exterior objects vanished from his sight. His thoughts were divided
between the past which no longer concerned him, and the future he was
about to enter.

However, pride still struggled within him, and he maintained an
obstinate silence.

"My Lord Count," said Fabian, who was willing to try a last chance, "in
five minutes the poignard will have ceased to cast a shadow."

"I have nothing to say of the past," replied Don Antonio. "I must now
think only of the future of my race. Do not, therefore, misjudge the
sense of the words I am about to speak. Whatever may be the form in
which it may come, death has no power to terrify me."

"I am listening," said Fabian gently.

"You are very young, Fabian," continued Mediana, "and the thought of the
blood that has been shed will therefore be so much the longer a burthen
to you."

Fabian's countenance revealed the anguish of his feelings.

"Why then so soon pollute a life which is scarcely begun? Why refuse to
follow a course which the unlooked-for favour of Providence opens to
you? Here you are poor, and without connections. God restores you to
your family, and, at the same moment, confers wealth upon you. The
inheritance of your race has not been squandered by me. I have for
twenty years borne the name of Mediana, at the head of the Spanish
nobles, and I am ready to restore it to you with all the honours I have
conferred upon it. Accept then a fortune which I joyfully restore to
you, for the isolation of my life is burthensome to me; but do not
purchase it by a crime, for which an imaginary act of justice cannot
absolve you, and which you will repent to your last hour."

Fabian replied, "A judge who presides at his tribunal must not listen to
the voice of nature. Supported by his conscience, and the service he
renders to society, he may pity the criminal, though his duty requires
that he shall condemn him. In this solitude, these two men and myself
represent human justice. Refute the crime attributed to you, Don
Antonio, and I shall be the happiest of us two; for though I shudder to
accuse you, I cannot escape the fatal mission which heaven has imposed
upon me."

"Consider wel