r the wide
court, and one wing of the Palace was in' deep shade, when suddenly I
heard the roll of wheels and the tramp of horses on the distant road.
I listened attentively. They were coming near; I could hear the tread of
many together; and my practised ear could detect the clank of dragoons,
as their sabres and sabretasches jingled against the horses' flanks.
"Some hurried news from the Emperor," thought I; "perhaps some marshal
wounded, and about to be conveyed to the Palace." The same instant the
guard at the distant entrance beat to arms, and an equipage drawn by
six horses dashed in at full gallop; a second followed as fast, with a
peloton of dragoons at the side. My anxiety increased. "What if it were
the Emperor himself!" thought I. But as the idea flashed across me,
it yielded at once on seeing that the carriages did not draw up at the
grand stair, but passed on to a low and private door at the distant wing
of the Palace.

The bustle of the cortege arriving was but a moment's work. The
carriages moved rapidly away, the dragoons disappeared, and all was as
still as before, leaving me to ponder over the whole, and actually ask
myself could it have been reality? I opened my door to listen; but not a
sound awoke the echo of the long corridors. One could have fancied that
no living thing was beneath that wide roof, so silent was all around.

A strange feeling of anxiety,--the dread of something undefined, I knew
not what, or whence coming,--was over me, and my nerves, long irritable
from illness, became now jarringly sensitive, and banished all thought
of sleep. Wild fancies and incoherent ideas crossed my mind, and made me
restless and uneasy. I felt, too, as if the night were unusually close
and sultry, and I opened my window to admit the air. Scarcely had I
drawn the curtain aside, when my eye rested on a long line of light,
that, issuing from a window on the ground-floor of the Palace, threw its
bright gleam far across the courtyard.

It was in the same wing where the carriages drew up. It must be so;
some officer of rank, wounded in a late battle, was brought there. "Poor
fellow!" thought I; "what suffering may he be enduring amid all the
peace-fulness and calm of this tranquil spot! Who can it be?" was
the ever-recurring question to my mind; for my impression had already
strengthened itself to a conviction.

The hours went on; the light shone steadily as at first, and the
stillness was unbroken. Wearied w