h all the
resolution, all the magnanimity, all the firmness with which her
masculine soul was capable.

The dial on the mantel in the chamber marked the hour of eleven; and
Nisida commenced her preparations.

Having divested herself of her upper garment, she put on a thin, but
strong, and admirably formed corselet, made so as to fit the precise
contour of her ample bust, and completely to cover her bosom. Then she
assumed a black velvet robe, which reached up to her throat, and
entirely concealed the armor beneath. Her long flexible dagger was next
thrust carefully into a sheath formed by the wide border of her
stomacher; and her preparations for defense in case of peril were
completed.

She now took from a cupboard six small bags, which were nevertheless
heavy, for they were filled with gold; and these she placed on a table.
Then seating herself at that table, she wrote a few lines on several
slips of paper, and these she thrust into her bosom.

Having accomplished her arrangements thus far, the Lady Nisida took a
lamp in her hand, and quitted her apartments.

Ascending a staircase leading to the upper story, she paused at one of
several doors in a long corridor, and slowly and noiselessly drew the
bolt, by which that door might be fastened outside.

This was Antonio's room; and thus, by Nisida's precaution, was he made a
prisoner.

She then retraced her way to the floor below, and proceeded to the
apartment in which her father breathed his last, and where the
mysterious closet was situated.

No one until now had entered that room since the day of the late count's
funeral; and its appearance was gloomy and mournful in the extreme; not
only on account of the dark, heavy hangings of the bed, and the drawn
curtains of the windows, but also from the effect of the ideas
associated with that chamber.

And as Nisida glanced toward the closet-door, even she trembled, and her
countenance became ashy pale; for not only did she shudder at the
thought of the horrors which that closet contained, but through her
brain also flashed the dreadful history revealed to her by the
manuscript--of which, however, only a few lines have as yet been
communicated to the reader. But she knew all--she had read the whole;
and well--oh! well might she shudder and turn pale.

For terrible indeed must have been the revelations of a manuscript
whereof the few lines above alluded to gave promise of such appalling
interest,--those lines whi