age-feast--the
marriage-feast!" But instantly the expression of the voice and the
countenance altered. The light of joy was shrouded in clouds.
"Arrest--arrest me?" was the exclamation--"me! at my marriage-feast! A
dungeon for me! Mercedes! Mercedes! My love--my wife! Oh! God! it is the
Chateau d'If! Despair--despair!"

Shocked, terrified at the terrible energy of these words, and the
expression of unutterable woe that rested on the countenance of the
sleeper, the affrighted woman, who comprehended but too well the fearful
significance of the abrupt and disjointed syllables, hastily arose as if
to rouse the slumberer from his dream or to call on the Nubian for aid.

But, before she could carry the purpose into execution, the aspect of
the Deputy's visage again had changed. A dark frown settled on the brow,
a spirit of fixed resolve contracted the firm lip and dilated the
nostril, and the word, "Vengeance--vengeance!" in whispers scarcely
audible, but repeatedly and rapidly pronounced, was heard.

A longer silence than before succeeded. At length another change swept
over the face, and the words, "Free--free--I am free!" burst from the
lips; then they murmured, "Treasure untold! wondrous
wealth!--diamonds--pearls--rubies--ingots of gold! The mad abbe's dream
was reality!" Again the countenance darkened. "Fourteen years in a
dungeon for no crime!--a father dead of starvation!--a bride the bride
of the fiend who has done all this--and he a peer of France--and his
friends a millionaire of Paris and the Procureur du Roi!
Vengeance--vengeance--vengeance!" There was a pause, and the dreamer
exultingly continued, "It is done! The peer of France is a disgraced
suicide! The Procureur du Roi is a madman! The banker is a bankrupt!"
The dreamer again paused, and his countenance once more changed. "Alas!
alas! man is not God! 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord!'
The innocent suffer with the guilty. To avenge a wrong has been
sacrificed a life, and only misery has been the recompense! No more--no
more--no more of this! Man and man's happiness be henceforth the aim! To
that be devoted wealth untold!"

The lips ceased to move. Gradually the high excitement of the features
passed away and was succeeded by an expression of sadness and love.
"Haydee--gone--gone to a better world. Mercedes--Mercedes--oh! does she
love me yet? The long lost idol of my heart!--the adored angel of my
life!--come! come! come!"

As the dreame