t sufficiently
humiliated? Dare to breathe a word in his favor, and it shall go hard
with thy minion. Punishment thou canst not avert; say but a word, and
that punishment becomes death; for he is mine, soul and body, to have
and to hold, to head or to hang--my vassal, my slave! What ho, there!"

As he stamped his foot, a throng of attendants poured into the room.

"Search me that fellow!" cried the count, pointing with his finger to
Alexis.

A dozen officers' hands examined the person of Alexis, one of them,
more eager than the rest, discovered a golden bracelet, and brought it
to the count.

"Ha!" cried the count, as he gazed upon the trinket; "truly do I
recognize this bawble. Speak, dog! when got'st thou this?"

Alvina was about to speak, and acknowledge that she had bestowed it;
but before she could utter a syllable, the page exclaimed,--

"I confess all--I stole it."

"Enough!" cried the count. "Daughter, retire to your apartment."

"Father!" cried the wretched girl, wringing her hands.

"Silence, countess!" cried the count, with terrific emphasis.
"Remember that I wield the power of life and _death_!"

Casting one look of mute agony at the undaunted page, the hapless lady
retired from the room.

"Zabitzki," said the count, addressing the foremost of his attendants,
"take me this thieving dog into the court yard, and lay fifty stripes
upon his back. Then bear him to the dungeon in the eastern turret that
overlooks the moat; there keep him till you learn my further
pleasure."

The page was brave as steel. His cheek did not blanch, nor did his
heart quail, as he heard the dreadful sentence. His lips uttered no
unmanly entreaty for forgiveness; but, folding his arms, and drawing
up his elegant figure to its full height, he fixed his eagle eye upon
the count, with a glance full of bitter hatred and mortal defiance.
And afterwards, when submitting to the ignominious punishment, with
his flesh lacerated by the scourge, no groan escaped his lips that
might reach the listening ear of Alvina. He bore it all with Spartan
firmness.

Midnight had struck when the young countess, shrouded in a cloak, and
bearing a key which she had purchased by its weight in gold, ascended
to the eastern turret, resolved to liberate the prisoner. The door
swung heavily back on its rusted hinges as she cautiously entered the
dungeon. Drawing back the slide from a lantern she carried in her left
hand, she threw its blaze before he