assion. He advanced and took her hand, but she flung it from him
fiercely.

"Slave!" she exclaimed, "dare you pollute with your vile touch the
hand of a high-born dame--the daughter of your master?"

"Anna, what means this passion?" cried Michael, in astonishment.

"Silence, slave!" cried the imperious woman. "What ho, there!" she
added, stamping her foot; "who waits?"

Half a dozen menials sprang to her call.

"Take me this slave to the court yard!" she cried vehemently; "he has
been guilty of misbehavior. Let him taste the knout; and woe be to you
if you spare him. Away with him! Rid me of his hateful presence!"

While Michael was subjected to this hateful punishment, the vindictive
girl, still burning with passion, sought her sister. What passed
between them may be conjectured from what follows.

Michael, released from the hands of the menials, stood, with swelling
heart and burning brow, in one of the lofty apartments of the castle.
He had felt no pain from the lash, but the ignominy of the punishment
burned in his very soul, consuming the image that had been in his
inner heart for years. The scales had fallen from his eyes, and he now
beheld the younger daughter of the count in all the deformity of her
moral nature--proud, imperious, passionate, and cruel.

A door opened--a female, with dishevelled hair, and a countenance of
agony, rushed forward and threw herself at his feet, embracing his
knees convulsively. It was Anna!

"O Michael!" she cried, "forgive me, forgive me! I shall never forgive
myself for the pain I inflicted upon you."

"I have suffered no pain," replied Michael, coldly. "Or if I did, it
is the duty of a slave to suffer pain. You reminded me this morning
that I was still a slave."

"No, no! It is _I_ that am _your_ slave!" cried the lady. "Your
slave--body and soul. Behold! I kiss your feet in token of submission,
my lord and master! Michael, I love you--I adore you! I would follow
you barefoot to the end of the world. Let me kiss your burning wounds;
and O, forgive--forgive me!"

Michael raised her to her feet, and gazed steadily in her countenance.

"Lady," said he, "I loved you years ago, when, as a boy, I was only
permitted to gaze on you, as we gaze upon the stars, that we may
worship, but never possess. It was this high adoration that refined
and ennobled my nature; that, in the mire of thraldom, taught me to
aspire--taught me that, though a slave, I was yet a man. Through your