she turns to the right,
she will reach the great staircase. She will hurry down to the quarters of
the castellan and his wife; she will call--scream!

Oh, if she can only get so far!

She flies up the little steps, but she feels the pursuer close at her
heels. And just as she reaches the top step, his hand, like a lion's paw,
is laid upon her shoulder.

"Stand still, or I will strangle you!" he murmurs. "Stand still, and I
swear that I will not kill you!"

"No, no, I do not believe you!" she gasps, and with both hands she seizes
his and thrusts it back. Only on, on! She no longer knows whether she
turns to the right or left, she runs down the dimly lighted corridor, and
he follows.

"O God! O God! there is no staircase!" She has missed the way--there is no
way out now! The dread enemy is behind her! She can no longer avoid him!
He will kill her, for she knows his secret! No escape!--no deliverance!

But at the end of the corridor she sees a door. If she can only succeed in
opening it, jumping into the room, shutting the door, and drawing the bolt!

"God help me! God be with me!" she calls out aloud and flies to the door,
bursts it open, rushes through, and--his weight presses against it; she
can not shut it, she can not draw the bolt. He is there with her in that
little room, which has no other outlet. No deliverer is near! She falls
upon her knees, and lifts up her arms to him imploringly. "Oh, sir! oh,
sir, pity! Do not kill me! I will be silent as the grave!"

"As the grave!" repeats he, with a savage smile.

He stoops down and something bright glitters in his hand! She sees it
quite clearly, for it is a bright summer night, and her eyes are inured to
darkness.

"Almighty God, you would murder me! Mercy, sir, mercy!"

He has closed the door behind them, yet the shriek of her death agony has
penetrated the door and echoed down the corridor. Nobody hears it. All the
chambers in this upper story are bare and uninhabited, and for economy's
sake the corridors and staircases in this upper part of the castle are
unlighted. To-day, however, at nightfall, the Stadtholder had himself
brought word to castellan Culwin that every passage, landing, and
staircase in the whole castle should be lighted! And so it was, and even
in that remote upper story lamps are burning. How long and solitary this
corridor is! Not the slightest sound has broken the stillness since those
two sprang into that room.

But now! A fearful, p