he was temporarily
absent. My noble Andrea was dead, and at that very moment his funeral
obsequies were being celebrated in the neighboring church--the very
church in which I had first beheld the mysterious lady! Frantic with
grief--unmindful of the exposure that would ensue--reckless of the
consequences, I left the house--I hastened to the church--I intruded my
presence amidst the mourners. You know the rest, Fernand. It only
remains for me to say that the countenance which I beheld ere now at the
window--strongly delineated and darkly conspicuous amidst the blaze of
light outside the casement--was that of the lady whom I have thus seen
for the third time! But, tell me, Fernand, how could a stranger thus
obtain admission to the gardens of your mansion?"

"You see yon lights, Agnes!" said Wagner, pointing toward the mansion
which, as we stated at the commencement of that chapter, was situated at
a distance of about two hundred yards from Fernand's dwelling, the backs
of the two houses thus looking toward each other. "Those lights," he
continued, "are shining in a mansion the gardens of which are separated
from my own by a simple hedge of evergreens, that would not bar even the
passage of a child. Should any inmate of that mansion possess curiosity
sufficient to induce him or her to cross the boundary, traverse my
gardens, and approach the casements of my residence, that curiosity may
be easily gratified."

"And to whom does yon mansion belong?" asked Agnes.

"To Dr. Duras, an eminent physician," was the reply.

"Dr. Duras, the physician who attended my noble Andrea in his illness!"
exclaimed Agnes. "Then the mysterious lady of whom I have spoken so
much, and whose countenance ere now appeared at the casement, must be an
inmate of the house of Dr. Duras; or at all events, a visitor there! Ah!
surely there is some connection between that lady and the family at
Riverola?"

"Time will solve the mystery, dearest sister, for so I am henceforth to
call you," said Fernand. "But beneath this roof, no harm can menace you.
And now let me summon good Dame Paula, my housekeeper, to conduct you to
the apartments which have been prepared for your reception. The morning
is far advanced, and we both stand in need of rest."

Dame Paula, an elderly, good-tempered, kind-hearted matron, shortly made
her appearance; and to her charge did Wagner consign his newly-found
relative, whom he now represented to be his sister.

But as Agnes