ath this mask and this black dress, became enamored of her, as
much for the singularity and mystery of her life as for her beautiful
form and noble appearance--that having had the imprudence to follow her,
they had never reappeared. The police, having even noticed that these
young men were all Austrians, had brought all their manoeuvres into
use to discover them, and get possession of her who was accused as the
cause of their disappearance. But the _sbirri_ were not more fortunate
than the revenue-officers, and were never able to learn anything about
the young foreigners or to lay hands upon _her_. A strange incident had
discouraged the most ardent spies of the Venetian Inquisition. Finding
that it was impossible to seize the Mask by night in Venice, two of the
most zealous of the police resolved to wait for her in her own gondola,
so as to capture her when she should enter it to row away. One evening,
when they saw it moored to the Quay dei Schiavi, they got into it and
concealed themselves. They remained there all night without hearing or
seeing any one, but an hour before day they thought they perceived that
some one was untying the boat. They rose silently and prepared to fall
upon their prey, but at the same instant a terrible push capsized the
gondola and the unlucky agents of Austrian rule. One of them was
drowned, and the other only owed his life to aid brought him by the
smugglers. The next day there was no trace of the boat, and the police
were forced to believe it submerged, but in the evening it was seen
moored in the same place and in the same condition as the night before.
Then a superstitious terror took possession of the police, and not one
of them was willing to make the same attempt a second time. After that
day they no longer sought to disturb the Mask, who continued her
excursions as in the past.

"In the beginning of last autumn there came to the garrison here an
Austrian officer named Count Franz Lichtenstein. He was an enthusiastic,
passionate young man, who had within him the germ of all great
sentiments and an instinct for noble thoughts. In spite of his bad
education as a great lord, he had been able to preserve his mind from
all prejudices, and to keep in his heart a reverence for liberty. His
position forced him to dissimulate in public his ideas and tastes, but
as soon as his duties were performed he hastened to throw off his
uniform, which seemed to him a badge of all the vices of the govern