way on, a stone stair led
down into the chapel; and as the key of the door was attached to the one
I held in my hand, I determined at once to solve the mystery. Hastening
on, I opened the door in the turret, and descended noiselessly. I
reached the bottom of the steps, and a few paces more brought me to the
door which opened into the chapel.

"I confess that, at that moment, all the stories I had ever heard of the
power of the spirits of evil to assume the human form, or of the
departed to return on earth, or of horrors mysterious and undefined,
rushed into my mind, and, for a time, I stood irresolute and trembling.

"At length, I mustered courage and burst open the door. The scene which
met my sight made me recoil with a feeling very different to what I
expected.

"A priest was at the altar--a stranger, whom I knew not; and before him
stood my young sister Nina, her hand clasped in that of the man whose
life I had saved--of whom I had now so many dark suspicions, Argiri
Caramitzo. I rushed forward with a cry of rage, and would have borne
Nina off from him. He put me aside with a contemptuous smile, for I was
unarmed, and far weaker than he. I snatched a dagger from a man
standing near, and would have plunged it in his heart, when the voice of
the priest arrested my hand, uttering the word--

"`Forbear!'

"Nina had looked confused and alarmed; she shrieked out--

"`Oh! injure him not, Paolo, he is my husband--my life; till me, if I
have done wrong; but he would have it so.'

"`She speaks truly,' said the priest. `She is the wedded wife of Signor
Argiri Caramitzo, or by whatever name this signor is known.'

"`I can bear much from you, Paolo,' said Caramitzo, speaking to me for
the first time; `but you must not interfere in a case of this sort.
Your sweet sister has bestowed on me her hand, as she has long given me
her heart; and this very night I bear her hence to my home upon the
waves.'

"As he said this, he pressed Nina to his bosom, and seemed about to bear
her away, while he stretched out his other hand, as if to prevent my
approach. `Whether wife or not, she leaves not this castle without her
father's consent--with one, too, whose name and profession are
doubtful,' I again exclaimed, springing forward, and attempting to seize
her.

"`If you will have it so, you must take the consequences,' he replied,
in the same cool tone. `Seize that young signor, and bring him along; I
will not be interfere