ned her right arm upon the table, and half-buried her
countenance in the snowy cambric handkerchief which she held.

The notary-general commenced the reading of the will.

After bestowing a few legacies, one of which was in favor of Dr. Duras,
and another in that of Signor Vivaldi himself, the testamentary document
ordained that the estates of the late Andrea, Count of Riverola, should
be held in trust by the notary-general and the physician, for the
benefit of Francisco, who was merely to enjoy the revenues produced by
the same until the age of thirty, at which period the guardianship was
to cease, and Francisco was then to enter into full and uncontrolled
possession of those immense estates.

But to this clause there was an important condition attached; for the
testamentary document ordained that should the Lady Nisida--either by
medical skill, or the interposition of Heaven--recover the faculties of
hearing and speaking at any time during the interval which was to elapse
ere Francisco would attain the age of thirty, then the whole of the
estates, with the exception of a very small one in the northern part of
Tuscany, were to be immediately made over to her; but without the power
of alienation on her part.

It must be observed that, in the middle ages many titles of nobility
depended only on the feudal possession of a particular property. This
was the case with the Riverola estates; and the title of Count of
Riverola was conferred simply by the fact of the ownership of the landed
property. Thus, supposing that Nisida became possessed of the estates,
she would have enjoyed the title of countess, while her brother
Francisco would have lost that of count.

We may also remind our readers that Francisco was now nineteen; and
eleven years must consequently elapse ere he could become the lord and
master of the vast territorial possessions of Riverola.

Great was the astonishment experienced by all who heard the provisions
of this strange will--with the exception of the notary-general and
Father Marco, the former of whom had drawn it up, and the latter of whom
was privy to its contents (though under a vow of secrecy) in his
capacity of father-confessor to the late count.

Francisco was himself surprised, and, in one sense, hurt; because the
nature of the testamentary document seemed to imply that the property
would have been inevitably left to his sister, with but a very small
provision for himself, had she not been so