ared, and a body of smoke and flame whirled out of
the narrow aperture. Antonio rushed to the portal, and knocked at it
with vehemence. He was only answered by loud shrieks, and found that
the females were already in helpless consternation. With an exertion
of desperate strength he forced the wicket from its hinges, and rushed
into the house.

He found himself in a small vaulted hall, and, by the light of the
moon which entered at the door, he saw a staircase to the left. He
hurried up it to a narrow corridor, through which was rolling a volume
of smoke. He found here the two females in a frantic state of alarm;
one of them clasped her hands, and implored him to save her father.

The corridor terminated in a spiral flight of steps, leading up to the
tower. He sprang up it to a small door, through the chinks of which
came a glow of light, and smoke was spuming out. He burst it open, and
found himself in an antique vaulted chamber, furnished with a furnace
and various chemical apparatus. A shattered retort lay on the stone
floor; a quantity of combustibles, nearly consumed, with various
half-burnt books and papers, were sending up an expiring flame, and
filling the chamber with stifling smoke. Just within the threshold lay
the reputed conjurer. He was bleeding, his clothes were scorched, and
he appeared lifeless. Antonio caught him up, and bore him down the
stairs to a chamber, in which there was a light, and laid him on a
bed. The female domestic was despatched for such appliances as the
house afforded; but the daughter threw herself frantically beside her
parent, and could not be reasoned out of her alarm. Her dress was all
in disorder; her dishevelled hair hung in rich confusion about her
neck and bosom, and never was there beheld a lovelier picture of
terror and affliction.

The skilful assiduities of the scholar soon produced signs of
returning animation in his patient. The old man's wounds, though
severe, were not dangerous. They had evidently been produced by the
bursting of the retort; in his bewilderment he had been enveloped in
the stifling metallic vapours, which had overpowered his feeble frame,
and had not Antonio arrived to his assistance, it is possible he might
never have recovered.

By slow degrees' he came to his senses. He looked about with a
bewildered air at the chamber, the agitated group around, and the
student who was leaning over him.

"Where am I?" said he wildly.

At the sound of his voi