if pursued. Several people, who
witnessed Stella's mad career, feared that evil would happen him
before he went much farther. Their fears were not groundless, for
before him, where the road took a sharp turn, was a bridge that
spanned a deep flowing river; and unless the animal was carefully
guided, there was danger of him plunging into the water instead of
taking the bridge. Nearer and nearer he approached the dangerous spot,
swifter and swifter the horse went, urged on by the spurs that pierced
its sides. Excited and more excited the rider became. Both man and
beast appeared to be doomed; and so it proved. Over the fence they
went, and in a few minutes Stella's body was carried over a fall into
a deep boiling pool, out of which it could never be recovered.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Antonio the Rich--Soul sold to the Devil--Dreadful
Announcement from a Volcano's Mouth--Three Ghosts--A
Thrilling Story--Human Remains found behind a
Stove--Mozart apprehensive of Death--A Strange
Visitor--Mozart writing a Requiem for himself--The
Stranger's Return--Messenger from another
World--Mozart's Death--Ghost of a Lady--The White
Lady--A Haunted House--Terrified Servants--Iron
Cage--Youth starved to Death--Frightful Dreams and
Dreadful Sights--Dog frightened by a Spirit--Ghost
sinking into the Earth--Deserting a Disturbed
House--Duchess of Mazarin--Madam de Beauclair--Compact
between the Living and the Dead--A Lady's Death
foretold by a Spirit--The Prediction fulfilled.

In the reign of Henry VIII., Mr. Gresham, a London merchant, coming
home from Palermo (wherein resided one Antonio, generally called the
Rich, who at one time had two kingdoms mortgaged to him), heard a
strange voice that filled him with alarm. Antonio had accumulated a
vast amount of riches, in ways not altogether in accordance with the
eighth commandment. His money was given in loan at shamefully high
rates of interest, and both principal and interest were often
recovered by oppression. In fact, gold seemed to be his god: for it he
appeared to live; for it, his poor neighbours asserted, he had sold
his soul to the devil. Mr. Gresham being detained at Strombuli by
contrary winds, he, with eight sailors, ascended a burning mountain
there. Approaching the crater as near is they could with safety, they
heard a hideous noise proceeding from the volcano's mouth, and a voice
crying