BLACK MASK. n99V 



to the spot. The figure was dressed in deep black ; the heavy folds of 

 which concealed the form of the wearer as perfectly as did the black 

 hood and mask her face and features. She stood for a moment silently 

 before him, and then said, " Can the heart of him whom thousands re- 

 joice to call their own, be sad amid a scene like this ?" 



" What mean you ?" cried he. " How knew you me?" 



" How knew I thee?" she repeated in a low melancholy tone. 



There was something in the way these few words were uttered, 

 which chilled his very life's blood j and yet he knew not wherefore. 

 Wishing, however, to rally his spirits, he observed, with an assumed 

 carelessness, " My thoughts had rambled far from hence, and I was 

 thinking of" 



" Of those you had long forgotten is it not?" said the mask. 



" How !" cried he ; " what means this ? You have roused me to a 



state of frightful uncertainty, and I must know more of you ere we 

 rt 



"'That shall you do," said the mask; but my moments are few, 

 and I would speak with you alone." Saying which she led the way, and 

 he followed to a small cabinet, which leading off one angle of the salon, 

 descended into a secluded court-yard of the palace. A single carriage 

 now stood at the entrance, and as the emperor entered a small remote 

 apartment, the thought of some deception being practised on him, made 

 him resolve not to leave the palace. The Mask was now standing beside 

 a marble table, a small lamp the only light of the apartments. She 

 turned her head slowly round as if to see if any one was a listener to 

 their interview ; on perceiving that they were alone, she laid her hand 

 gently upon his arm : he shuddered from some indescribable emotion 

 as he felt the touch ; but spoke not. There was a silence of some 

 moments. " I have come to keep my promise/' said the Mask in the 

 same low voice in which she at first addressed him. " What promise have 

 you made ?" said the emperor, agitated ; " I can bear this no longer/' 

 " Stay ! stop !" cried she gently ; and the voice in which that word was 

 uttered thrilled to his inmost heart: it was a voice well known, but long 

 forgotten. 



" To keep a promise am I come bethink thee, is there no debt of 

 uttered vows unpaid then ? Have you all now you ever wished for, ever 

 hoped?" 



He groaned deeply. 



" Alas !" he exclaimed involuntarily, < c that I could be spared that 

 thought ! I do remember one but " 



" Then hear me, false-hearted ! She who once loved thee, loves thee 

 no more : her vows are broken broken as her heart. She has redeemed 

 her pledge farewell !" and the voice with which the word was uttered 

 faltered and died away in almost a whisper. 



He stood entranced he spoke not moved not: the hand which 

 leaned upon his arm now fell listlessly beside him, and the Mask made 

 a gesture of departure. 



" Stay !" cried he. " Not so you leave not thus. Let me know who 

 you are, and why you come thus ?" and he lifted his hand to withdraw 

 her mask by force. But she suddenly stept back, and waving him 

 back with one hand, said in a low and hollow voice, " Twere better 

 you saw me not. Ask it not, I pray you, Sir, for your own sake, ask it 

 not my last, my only prayer !" and she again endeavoured to pass him 



