y forgot the clock
and the Dom. Not so the Count, he was curiously scanning all the
various parts of the complicated machinery which were lying round him.
He waited until Marguerite should retire before he judged it right
to commence speaking to Dumiger on the subject that was next his
heart, but Marguerite did not seem at all disposed to give him the
opportunity.

Woman's prescience of danger for those she loves is wonderful. Without
being able to assign any definite reason, Marguerite felt that the
man's presence boded her no good; and it was therefore with a troubled
spirit that she heard the Count, after looking several times at his
watch, suggest that he wished to speak to Dumiger alone.

Dumiger looked at Marguerite, who thought it wiser at once to take the
hint than to allow the Count to suppose that she at all questioned the
sincerity of the kind interest which he affected to take in her. He
waited until the door was fairly closed, and then drew his chair near
to Dumiger's. The latter, quite unaccustomed to the neighborhood of
so great a man, immediately withdrew his seat to a more deferential
distance; but the dimensions of the room speedily put a stop to the
retrogression and his modesty by arresting his chair.

"Don't be afraid," said the Count to Dumiger, in a somewhat harsher
tone than he had yet used, for he was an impatient and testy old
man. "Don't draw your chair back in that way. I wish to speak to you
privately and confidentially."

Dumiger held his breath. What could the Grand Master of the Teutonic
Knights have to say to him? for, whatever might be his future
greatness, at all events its promise could be known but to few others.

"You were out last night," continued the Count. "You went to a
wine-shop--you spoke loudly--you drank deeply."

As the Count continued Dumiger's cheeks glowed. The Count must have
heard all that he said. His heart sank within him as he recalled his
weakness; but his mind was soon settled on that point by the Count.

"And when you spoke," continued he, you talked very wildly of becoming
a great man; of obtaining more enduring fame than any of our noblest
citizens. By the bye, you did me the honor to class me amongst those
you were destined to triumph over."

"It was a wild, idle thought," said Dumiger, faltering forth a
thousand apologies. "I did not know what I said. Two friends led me
into this error. I am sure you will forgive me, sir: I was excited;
my brain wa