away, you shall not stay another hour in my service.'

"Then he went out, holding on to the wall; and I remained alone in the
chamber, all trembling, and feeling as sick as if I had known that a
great misfortune was coming upon us.

"However, I heard nothing more for a time; and as the minutes passed
away, I was just beginning to reproach myself for having been so
foolishly alarmed, when I heard two cries; but, O sir! two such fearful,
sharp cries, that I felt cold shivers running all over me.

"As I did not dare leave the room, I put my ear to the door, and I
heard distinctly the count's voice, as he was quarrelling with another
gentleman. But I could not catch a single word, and only made out that
they were angry about a very serious matter.

"All of a sudden, a great but dull noise, like that of the fall of a
heavy body, then another awful cry, I had not a drop of blood left in my
veins at that moment.

"Fortunately, the other servants, who had gone to bed, had heard
something. They had gotten up, and were now coming down the passage.

"I left the room at all hazards, and went down stairs with the others,
and there we found my mistress fainting in an armchair, and my master
stretched out at full-length, lying on the floor like a dead man."

"What did I say?" cried Trumence.

But the commonwealth attorney made him a sign to keep quiet; and,
turning again to the girl, he asked,--

"And the visitor?"

"He was gone, sir. He had vanished."

"What did you do then?"

"We raised up the count: we carried him up stairs and laid him on his
bed. Then we brought mistress round again; and the valet went in haste
to fetch Dr. Seignebos."

"What said the countess when she recovered her consciousness?"

"Nothing. Mistress looked like a person who has been knocked in the
head."

"Was there any thing else?"

"Oh, yes, sir!"

"What?"

"The oldest of the young ladies, Miss Martha, was seized with terrible
convulsions."

"How was that?"

"Why, I only know what miss told us herself."

"Let us hear what she said."

"Ah! It is a very singular story. When this gentleman whom I have just
seen here rang the bell at our gate, Miss Martha, who had already gone
to bed, got up again, and went to the window to see who it was. She saw
me go and open, with a candle in my hand, and come back again with the
gentleman behind me. She was just going to bed again, when she thought
she saw one of the statues in the garden move,