z in an agitated voice.

"'The captain is afraid?' answered the unknown with a disdainful laugh.

"Franz did not reply. He felt that she was right, and that fear was
gaining him. Not being able to master it, he wished at least to disguise
it, and resolved to remain silent. But at the end of a few moments,
seized with a sort of vertigo, he rose and walked toward the unknown.

"'Sit down!' she cried to him. 'Sit down!' she repeated in a furious
voice; and seeing that he continued to advance, she stamped with so much
violence that the boat trembled as if it would capsize. Franz was thrown
down by the shock, and fell fainting on the bottom of the boat. When he
came to himself he saw the unknown lying weeping at his feet. Touched by
her bitter sorrow, and forgetting all that had just passed, he seized
her in his arms, raised her up and made her sit by him; but she did not
cease to weep.

"'Oh, my love,' cried Franz, pressing her against his heart, 'why these
tears?'

"'The Lion! the Lion!' she answered, raising toward heaven her arm white
as marble.

"Franz raised his eyes to the part of the sky toward which she pointed,
and saw indeed the constellation of the Lion shining solitary amid the
clouds: 'What matters it? The planets have no power over our destinies,
and if they had we would find favorable constellations to struggle
against fatal stars.'

"'Venus is set, alas! and the Lion rises; and yonder, look yonder! Who
can struggle against what comes yonder?' She uttered these words in a
sort of delirium, lowering her arms toward the horizon.

"Franz turned his eyes in the direction she designated, and saw a black
point traced upon the waves in the midst of an aureole of fire. 'What is
that?' he asked with profound astonishment.

"'It is destiny,' she answered, 'who comes to seek its victim. Which of
us? thou wilt ask. Whichever I will. Thou hast heard of the Austrian
nobles who came with me in my gondola, and were never seen again?'

"'Yes, but that story is false.'

"'It is true. I must devour or be devoured. Every man of thy nation who
loves me, and whom I do not love, dies. As long as I do not love one, I
shall live and I shall cause to die; and if I love one, I shall die: it
is my fate.'

"'Oh, my God, who art thou, then?'

"'How it advances! In a minute it will be upon us! Dost thou hear? dost
thou hear?' The black point had approached with inconceivable rapidity,
and had taken the form of an immense bo