arch was continued for
hours, and morning at length began to break over the dreary scene,
without one ray of hope. By the gray cold dawn, the yellow flood could
be seen for a considerable distance, and the banks too, over which
a gauzy mist was hanging; but not a living thing was there! The wild
torrent swept along his murky course with a deep monotonous roar. Trunks
of trees and leafy branches rose and sank in the wavy flood, but nothing
suggested the vaguest hope that either had escaped. The traveller's
carriage returned to Spezia, and Billy, now bereft of reason, was
conveyed to the same place, fast tied with cords, to restrain him from a
violence that threatened his own life and that of any near him.

In the evening of that day a peasant's car arrived at Spezia, conveying
the almost lifeless courier, who had been found on the river's bank,
near the mouth of the Magra. How he had reached the spot, or what had
become of his antagonist, he knew not. Indeed, the fever which soon set
in placed him beyond the limit of all questioning, and his incoherent
cries and ravings only betrayed the terrible agonies his mind must have
passed through.

If this tragic incident, heightened by the actual presence of two of the
actors--one all but dead, the other dying--engaged the entire interest
and sympathy of the little town, the authorities were actively employed
in investigating the event, and ascertaining, so far as they could, to
which side the chief blame inclined.

The raftsmen had all been arrested, and were examined carefully, one
by one; and now it only remained to obtain from the traveller himself
whatever information he could contribute to throw light on the affair.

His passport, showing that he was an English peer, obtained for him all
the deference and respect foreign officials are accustomed to render to
that title, and the Prefect announced that if it suited his convenience,
he would wait on his Lordship at his hotel to receive his deposition.

"I have nothing to depose, no information to give," was the dry and
not over-courteous response; but as the visit, it was intimated, was
indispensable, he named his hour to admit him.

The bland and polite tone of the Prefect was met by a manner of cold but
well-bred ease which seemed to imply that the traveller only regarded
the incident in the light of an unpleasant interruption to his journey,
but in which he took no other interest. Even the hints thrown out
that he ou