about him; and there, on the left-hand side of the way as they
went back to Rome, he saw a dusty by-road with a tomb upon the one hand
and a garden of evergreen trees upon the other.--'Yes,' says he, with a
changed voice. 'Let us by all means hurry back to Rome. I fear you are
not well in health.'--'O, for God's sake!' cried the count, shuddering,
'back to Rome and let me get to bed.' They made their return with scarce
a word; and the count, who should by rights have gone into society, took
to his bed and gave out he had a touch of country fever. The next day
the baron's horse was found tied to the pine, but himself was never
heard of from that hour.--And now, was that a murder?" says the Master,
breaking sharply off.

"Are you sure he was a count?" I asked.

"I am not certain of the title," said he, "but he was a gentleman of
family: and the Lord deliver you, Mackellar, from an enemy so subtile!"

These last words he spoke down at me, smiling from high above; the next,
he was under my feet. I continued to follow his evolutions with a
childish fixity: they made me giddy and vacant, and I spoke as in a
dream.

"He hated the baron with a great hatred?" I asked.

"His belly moved when the man came near him," said the Master.

"I have felt that same," said I.

"Verily!" cries the Master. "Here is news indeed! I wonder--do I flatter
myself? or am I the cause of these ventral perturbations?"

He was quite capable of choosing out a graceful posture, even with no
one to behold him but myself, and all the more if there were any element
of peril. He sat now with one knee flung across the other, his arms on
his bosom, fitting the swing of the ship with an exquisite balance, such
as a featherweight might overthrow. All at once I had the vision of my
lord at the table, with his head upon his hands; only now, when he
showed me his countenance, it was heavy with reproach. The words of my
own prayer--_I were liker a man if I struck this creature down_--shot at
the same time into my memory. I called my energies together, and (the
ship then heeling downward toward my enemy) thrust at him swiftly with
my foot. It was written I should have the guilt of this attempt without
the profit. Whether from my own uncertainty or his incredible quickness,
he escaped the thrust, leaping to his feet and catching hold at the same
moment of a stay.

I do not know how long a time passed by: I lying where I was upon the
deck, overcome with terro