n
love with the daughter of one of his foresters. The man was a dull,
brutal cur, and, when drunk, especially savage. His daughter was rarely
beautiful; at all events, the count, a good judge, thought her peerless.

"He meant fairly by the girl from the first, and promised her marriage,
actually intending to keep his word. Still there were arrangements to be
made before he could introduce such a novel element into blood that for
centuries had been pure as the _sangue azzura_. He went up to Vienna for
that purpose, leaving his design a profound secret to all his
dependents. If these thought about it at all, they probably believed
their master's intentions to be--like Dick Harcourt's toward the Irish
lady--'strictly dishonorable.'

"One night during his absence shrieks came from the cottage where the
forester lived alone with his daughter. Those who heard them made haste;
but it was a desolate spot, far from any other dwelling, and they came
too late.

"They found the girl lying in her blood, not a feature of her pretty
face recognizable. Near her were the butt of a gun shivered, and her
father senselessly drunk. He had evidently finished the bottle after
beating her to death.

"Whether it was merely an outbreak of his stupid ferocity, or if she had
exasperated him by her threats and taunts, for she was of a haughty
spirit, poor child! and perhaps rather elevated by the thought of the
coming coronet, will never be known. The murderer was in no state to
make a confession, and he remained obstinately silent in prison till his
lord's return."

"How very horrible!" Mrs. Bellasys cried out, shuddering; "was not the
count very angry?"

"Well, he _was_ rather vexed," replied Guy, coolly. "They are high
justiciaries on their own lands, those great Bohemian barons, and so he
gave the forester a fair trial. It was soon over; the man denied
nothing, only whining out, in excuse, that he thought his daughter was
dishonored. The shadow of death was closing round him, and he was nearly
mad with fear.

"The old steward saw a strange sort of smile twist his master's white,
quivering lips when he heard this, but he never said a word. I imagine
he thought to reveal his purpose now that it was crushed too great a
sacrifice even to clear the dead girl's fair fame; perhaps, though, he
could not trust his voice, for he did not announce the sentence in
words, but wrote it down: his hand shook very much, and it never carried
a full glas