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still a bounteous providence that holds over the boasted power of the Baron Zindorf at naught."

"You have your choice," said the baron, in a voice which plainly shewed the great mental effort he was making to appear calm, while his soul was bursting with fury. "You have your choice. The wife of the Count Durlack you shall be, or—"

"Or death," said Caroline.

"No—oh, no—not death. You are too valuable. Those charms were made for human enjoyment—you shall be his mistress!"

"Heaven!" cried Caroline, "would pardon me, even the sin of self-destruction to avoid that blood-stained man. You, Baron Zindorf, would hardly wish to add another victim to the list."

"What list?" cried the baron, in a voice of thunder, breaking through all restraint. Suddenly, as if by magic, he stood transfixed in one position—his face assumed the hue of a corpse—his hair bristled on his head—and his glaring eyes were fixed upon the aperture of the sliding panel.

Caroline turned to look in the same direction, and with a cry of joy, she recognised the face of Claudio—but so pale and wan that she could have almost believed it to be his apparition.

Slowly the Baron Zindorf retreated backwards, with his eyes still fixed upon the pale face of Claudio.

"Hence! hence!" he cried, "hence—avenging spirit mock me no—oh, horror, horror—

approach me not—off—off—"

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He reached the door, with his eyes almost starting from their sockets, and passed out, still keeping his face towards the panel.

"Claudio! Claudio!" cried Caroline, "you are safe!"

He smiled faintly, and said in a low voice, "Fly, oh fly; your door is unlocked. Save yourself."

At the instant the door was heard to be locked from the outside, and Claudio sank down upon the turret stairs in a state of utter exhaustion.

"Claudio—Claudio," shrieked Caroline, rushing towards him.

"Be not alarmed, young lady," said Maurice, who now appeared, "food is all my poor master wants."

"To the turret, then," cried Caroline. "I have food and will bring it instantly; ah, quick, good Maurice. Bear him to the turret. He will die. He will die." "No, no! he is only exhausted from want of nourishment. I am little better myself. Oh, young lady, we have indeed passed a period of horror."

CHAPTER XVII.

WE left Claudio and Maurice in a most critical and unenviable situation in the vaults underneath the castle, and, in order to account for their opportune appearance at the panel, we must pursue the terror of their adventures.

Claudio was in the greatest perplexity, when Maurice, overcome by the foul air and nauseous vapours of the vaulted passage, fainted at his feet.

For a short time, he still stood with his back to the wall, holding his sword on the defensive, and determined to sell his life as dearly as possible should he be attacked by mortal foes.

By degrees, however, the echoes of the wild yell which had sounded so appalling in that gloomy place subsided, and a solemn stillness, as before unbroken, save by the pattering of the water from the roof reigned all around.

"Maurice! Maurice!" cried Claudio; "speak, my friend. Oh, speak, if it be but one word to assure me that you still live."

Maurice groaned heavily.

"Thank God!" cried Claudio, "there is still life."

Maurice now spoke, although faintly.

"Oh, Claudio, my dear Claudio!" he said, "hasten from this place."

"Maurice," cried Claudio, "you cannot tell what joy it gives me to hear your voice once again."

"I am better," said Maurice. "A sudden faintness came over me, and at the same instant, I slipped upon the damp earth."

"Have you, dear Maurice," said Claudio, "the means of procuring a light?"

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"I have," said Maurice. "Thank Heaven! I did not omit that precaution against any untoward accident."

"I have a small flask of wine in my pocket," said Claudio, "which would recruit your strength if you could see to take it. This darkness is the most intense that ever I experienced. Hold out in your hand the means of procuring a light, and I will endeavour to take them of you."

Carefully moving his arms about, Claudio, at length, felt Maurice’s hand extended, and took from him a tinder- box and matches.

With very great difficulty, he struck a light, and, by the blue gloom of the match, he saw the lantern laying at his feet. In another moment he had restored the lantern to its former state, and now, as before, he could see dimly about him.

"Here, Maurice," he said, producing a small wine flask from his pocket, "drink; you will find it will much revive you."

"No, no," said Maurice, "I am better now, Claudio. Who knows but you may require yourself the contents of that little flask?"

"Do not hesitate to take it," said Claudio; "you are getting in years Maurice, and require it more than I."

Maurice drank a small portion of the contents of the flask, and would not be persuaded to take more.

"I feel much revived," he said; "let us proceed, Claudio."

"We will leave this passage," said Claudio; "but, as we are in it, we may as well note it well, for it may become of future importance."

Maurice had risen, and they now proceeded as before, carefully examining the walls as they retraced their steps to the first passage which they had traversed, and from which the one they were now in was but a turning.

Nothing met their observation but the same damp earthen walls till they had arrived about half way back, and then Maurice suddenly said,—

"Hold, Claudio! The hilt of my sword strikes against something in the wall which is harder than the surrounding earth."

Claudio, who was carrying the light, immediately advanced, and upon carefully examining the wall, they perceived a small door. It was so much the colour of the surrounding walls, and was so covered with earth, that it might well have escaped detection by any other means than that adopted by Claudio of sounding the walls.

"This door," said Claudio, "appears to have been carefully concealed."

"It has been plastered with the clay and earth from the floor," said Maurice, "in order to make it appear level with the rest of the wall."

"We can easily, with our swords," said Claudio, "scrape off such encumbrances from the door, if it really be such."

As he spoke, he removed great masses of clay and earth from before the door, and soon saw that it was of massive construction, and studded with large iron nails.

"Where," said Maurice, "can this lead to?"

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"Doubtless," answered Claudio, "to some of the dungeons of the castle in the passages leading to which we have only hitherto been."

Claudio now carefully examined the door, and discovered two immense bolts, which were so rusted into their places, that it seemed a matter of impossibility to move them.

"I cannot perceive any lock," said Maurice. "If we could stir these ponderous bolts, I think the door would yield to us."

"Our united strengths may suffice," said Claudio.

In vain they tried to move the bolts; neither would stir.

"They are fixed by the rust," said Claudio, panting from his exertions. "If we strike them with the hilts of our swords, we may loosen their adhesion sufficiently to enable us then to move them."

Grasping his sword firmly in his hand, Claudio made the vaulted passage ring with the blows which he dealt against the upper bolt of the old door.

Suddenly he paused; for some other sound seemed to his ear to mix with that occasioned by his blows.

"Did you hear anything, Maurice?" he said.

"I fancied I did," replied Maurice; "but I can hardly tell what it was. I thought, at one moment, it sounded like a laugh."

"And so, indeed, did I," said Claudio, "but I will not be deterred from my purpose by anything short of overpowering force. These dungeons of Zindorf Castle have, I am convinced, too long concealed the victims of tyranny and lawless oppression."

"The bolt has moved," said Maurice.

Claudio immediately, grasped it with his hands, and without much difficulty, succeeded in drawing it back.

"The place," said Claudio, "to which this door leads, will not be much longer a hidden mystery to us, Maurice."

The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when wild shrieks sounded through the vaulted passage, which were immediately succeeded by a peculiar noise, resembling the gnashing of teeth.

Claudio and Maurice suspended their labours, and looked at each other in amazement.

"What can all this mean?" cried Claudio. "Some beings, mortal or immortal, seem resolved, if possible, to scare us from our purpose."

"These are truly awful sounds," said Maurice. "I thought I saw a bright flash of light for a moment in the distance, near to the pool of water.

"Such cries as these we have heard," said Claudio, "cannot harm us. I strongly suspect their mortal origin; but, far from despairing, I gather hope from them; for it would seem that we are objects of fear, and that our progress is dreaded."

"Murderers!" cried a voice in hollow accents, as if conveyed by some means from a great distance.

" ’Tis false!" cried Claudio; "murderers we are not. We came to succour innocence."

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"Beware!" said another voice, in low accents.

Claudio started, for the voice appeared close to his ear, and he fancied he could feel the breath of the speaker upon his cheek.

"Beware of what?" he cried. "I beware of nothing but guilt. My errand here is one of peace and good-will to the oppressed."

A dead silence now reigned throughout the vaulted passage. Claudio paused in his operations upon the door for some minutes, to listen if there should be any repetition of the mysterious sounds, and then, as all continued still, he commenced, without further hesitation, hammering with his sword hilt upon the lower bolt.

Maurice cast uneasy glances around him as he stood close to Claudio with the light, and he was in momentary expectation that some awful supernatural appearance would be presented to their horrified gaze. He well knew, however, the undaunted courage and determination of Claudio, and he forbore to urge an instant departure from a place which he fairly believed to be haunted by the spirits of the victims of the Baron of Zindorf and his ancestors.

Claudio now essayed his strength against the lower bolt, and, by a great effort, he succeeded in moving it.

"Now, Maurice," he cried, "we shall see whither this door, which has been so carefully hidden from casual observation, will lead us."

With all his force he pushed against the door, but it seemed as immoveable as ever. Then, clutching, as well as he could, with both hands, the ponderous bolt he tried, by a strong pull, if the door opened outwards. But not either way would it come a hair’s breath. It seemed as fast and firm as if it had formed a portion of the solid wall.

Claudio desisted from his efforts, and taking the light from Maurice, he carefully examined the door.

"There must," he said, "be some other fastening, which has escaped our notice. We will not, however, despair of still seeing the other side of this well-secured door."

By carefully moving the light over the surface of the door, and thus examining it, as it were, inch by inch, he, at length, saw a small square plate of metal.

"Here is the secret, Maurice," he cried. "The door is secured by a spring."

He pressed upon the plate, which yielded immediately, and the massive door, with a creaking noise, swung heavily inwards upon its rusted hinges.

Claudio and Maurice both involuntarily recoiled from the entrance as the door opened; for a rash of noxious and pestiferous air came from the aperture, which nearly, for a moment, deprived them of breath.

"This place must have been closed for many years," said Claudio; "there can be no living creature here."

For about five minutes they paused at the entrance, and then, after holding the lantern as far as possible into the dungeon, and finding that the air

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had become sufficiently pure for the light to burn as usual, they entered the place.

"This apartment, or dungeon," said Claudio, "seems of immense extent. Hold the light, Maurice, as high as possible, that we may obtain as good a view of it as our means will allow."

"I have," said Maurice, "some pieces of wax candle as a supply for the lantern, and one of them stuck on the point of your sword, will enable us to see much better than with the lantern."

"It will," answered Claudio; "give me a piece."

Claudio, with his sword elevated at arm’s length, and the piece of wax candle at its extremity, was enabled to cast a dim ray of light to the farthest extremity of the gloomy dungeon.

The place was very lofty, and seemed to be divided into two compartments, by massive stone pillars, running at short distances from each other down the middle of the extensive vault. The walls were reeking with clammy moisture and the place smelt like a charnel house.

"Look," said Maurice, grasping Claudio by the arm; "what is that dark-looking heap laying at the base of yon further column?"

Claudio cast his eyes in the direction which was indicated by Maurice, and he saw a dark mass of something on the ground.

He walked forward towards the spot.

"Hold your lantern down, Maurice," said Claudio, "that we may see what spectacle is here. A feeling of horror comes over me."

Maurice did as he was desired, and the dim light from the lantern fell upon a human skeleton, which was lying in a huddled heap at the base of the column.

For a few seconds, both Claudio and Maurice stood gazing with horror at the revolting spectacle.

The flesh had rotted from the bones, which were of a dull, yellow, colour, and covered with an unwholesome dampness.

The skeleton still hung to the pillar, suspended round the waist by an iron hoop. The fleshless skull was resting upon the knees, and the long, bony fingers were twined round an iron chain, which was twisted as many times round the fleshless bones. As Claudio and Maurice continued to gaze on the sad remains, a long, slimy, shining reptile, of a kind they had never before seen, crept from one of the sockets of the eyes, and dropped among the bones beneath.

"This is a perfect sight," said Claudio.

"It is," cried Maurice, with a shudder. "Such a spectacle as this I never saw, and trust I may never see again."

"What unheard of miseries," continued Claudio, "may this hapless being have endured? He may have remained years in this horrible abode, sighing for death before it came to alleviate his hopeless misery."

"It must have been," said Maurice, "some monster in a human form

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that could condemn a fellow creature to imprisonment in such a place as this."

As Maurice spoke, a heavy, dull sound shook the whole vault, and a loud bang behind caused them to look back hurriedly.

"Great Heaven!" cried Claudio, "the door is closed."

"The door closed?" shrieked Maurice; "oh, no, no, do not say so, Claudio."

CHAPTER XVIII.

CLAUDIO had sprung to the door—it was fast; they were prisoners in that fearful dungeon, and with such a fearful companion.

Claudio seemed for a moment overcome by the shock. He dropped his sword upon the moist earth, and clasped his hands in momentary despair.

"Heaven help us!" he cried; " or that alone can save us now."

"Claudio! Claudio!" cried Maurice, springing to his side, "do not despair,—oh, do not let me see you thus! That despairing look will kill me."

"And you too, Maurice," said Claudio, "you I have loved to destruction, that thought is the bitterest of all!"

"Oh, say not so, Claudio," answered Maurice, "say not that. You know well that come what may, I would prefer to share it with you. I rather share death with you than live to mourn your loss."

"Oh, Maurice, Maurice," cried Claudio, "I am unworthy of such affection. Could I restore you to liberty, methinks that, like yon sad remnant of mortality, I could die even here, and leave my bones to moulder in the gloom of this sad prison house."

"Let us still hope," said Maurice, assuming a gaiety which his heart belied, "it is but a door which stands between us and liberty."

"Hope is almost dead within my heart," said Claudio, with a sigh; "but what men can do that we will do, Maurice."

"Now, Claudio," cried Maurice, "you are yourself again."

"I was wrong," said Claudio, "to doubt or forget Heaven’s mercy—that there was a Providence above us which permits not the meanest of its creatures to fall unheeded."

The slamming of the door had shaken the skeleton figure, and the back bone dividing, suffered it to fall altogether to the ground, while the iron hoop, which had confined the unfortunate being when in life, now fell against the pillar with a rattling sound.

Claudio started at the noise, but, advancing, he soon discovered its cause. He bent over the mouldering form with a sort of reverential awe.

"Sad emblem of mortality," he cried, "what a lesson art thou to human vanity and pride, as well as to human vengeance. Thou hast been even as

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now I am, instinct with life and feeling. What schemes may not have been devised within the hollow chamber of thy now fleshless skull? The smile of beauty may have brought sunshine to thy heart, which has resolved itself to its elements, and forms but a portion of the noxious vapour of a dungeon. Alas! those eyes, which now shall shine no more, but have become in the course of all earthly things, food for meaner insects than ourselves, may they not have at one time flashed with celestial fire, and shed upon the world, the bright reflection of the light of reason which illumines the soul. And man, thy fellow worm, he, perhaps, who now, like thyself, hast become but a loathsome mass of teeming corruption, has sought to chain and confine thee here. How weak and impotent is human malice? how feeble human vengeance? The pure spirit takes its ærial flight, despite of bolts and bars, and now, even now, the poor remnant of the bodily structure, the case from which the bright gem that lent it beauty and lustre has departed, is, by the shutting of a door or the casual passage of a draught of air, freed from its bondage. Poor being, whoever thou wert, that art now free. Thy chains lie resting on the damp earth; the manacle that bound thee hangs idly above thy mouldering bones!"

"Our swords," said Maurice, "may work our way to freedom."

"We can try," said Claudio. "Maurice, we will rise superior to this stroke of harsh fortune."

They both walked as by one impulse to the door, and examined it with the greatest care to see if the spring could be made available in the inner side. The surface, however, presented to them no such indications, and all Claudio’s strength, aided too by the exertions of Maurice, failed to produce the least effect in moving the massive door.

"How long, Maurice," said Claudio, "do you think that we have been in this subterraneous vaults and passages?"

"We must," said Maurice, "have been many hours; for I feel a sensation of uneasiness, and a craving for food."

Claudio sighed, "We have no means," he said, "of measuring or noting the flight of time here. Our deliverance must be speedy, or we shall lack the strength to accomplish it."

"This door," answered Maurice, "may resist our efforts long. There may be some other outlet from this dungeon, which, perchance, will not present so many difficulties."

"There may, indeed," replied Claudio. "Let us first, with such a hope, carefully examine the walls of this gloomy prison."

Maurice raised the lantern from the ground, upon which Claudio had placed it, and they both looked for a moment inquiringly round them from the spot on which they stood.

"We have not yet," said Claudio, "penetrated the obscurity behind the range of pillars; there may be something to discover there."

As he spoke he advanced, while Maurice followed with the light, and