ne can
comprehend. The lady stood over him, her graceful form slightly bowed,
her large lustrous eyes alternately fixed upon the kneeling youth and
roving anxiously round the apartment.

"Don Federico," she said, in tones whose sweetness thrilled his blood,
"may the Holy Virgin forgive my unmaidenly boldness. I have yielded to
an impulse stronger than my reason, to the desire of seeing you, of
hearing--"

"That I love you," interrupted Federico--"that I adore you since the
first hour I beheld you,--that I will die at your feet if you refuse me
hope!"

She bent forward, and laid her small rosy hand upon his throbbing
forehead. The touch was electric, the fiery glow of passion flashed in
her glance. "Light of my eyes!" she whispered, "it were vain to deny
that my heart is thine. But our love is a flower on the precipice's
brink."

"I fear not the fall," Federico impetuously exclaimed.

"Dare you risk every thing?"

"For your love, every thing!" was the enthusiastic reply.

"Listen, then, to the difficulties that beset us, and say if they are
surmountable."

The maiden paused, started, grew pale.

"Hark!" she exclaimed--"what is that? He comes! Be still! be silent!"
With wild and terrified haste, she seized Federico's hand, dragged him
across the room, and opened a door. The student felt a burning kiss upon
his lips, and before he knew where he was, the door was shut, and he was
in total darkness. All that had happened since he entered the house had
occurred so rapidly, was so mysterious and startling, that he was
utterly bewildered. For a moment he thought himself betrayed, groped
round his prison, which was a narrow closet, found the door, and,
grasping his stiletto, was about to force his way through all
opposition, when he suddenly heard heavy steps on the other side of the
tapestried screen. Motionless, he listened.

"Bring lights!" said a deep commanding voice; "the lamp burns dim as in
a bridal chamber."

"It anticipates its office," replied another male voice, with a laugh.
"Is not your wedding-day fixed?"

"Not yet; in the course of next week, perhaps," answered the first
speaker, striding up and down the apartment.

"You are in small haste," returned his companion, "to enjoy what all
envy you. Never did I behold beauty more divine and captivating."

"Beautiful she certainly is," was the reply; "but what is woman's
beauty? The vision of a day; snow, sullied and dispelled in a night."

"You are