f
weapons: the crowd made way for them as they fought, and closed again,
so as to hide them from the view of Inez. All was tumult and confusion
for a moment; when there was a kind of shout from the spectators, and
the mob again opening, she beheld, as she thought, Antonio weltering
in his blood.

This new shock was too great for her already overstrained intellect. A
giddiness seized upon her; every thing seemed to whirl before her
eyes; she gasped some incoherent words, and sunk senseless upon the
ground.

Days--weeks elapsed, before Inez returned to consciousness. At length
she opened her eyes, as if out of a troubled sleep. She was lying upon
a magnificent bed, in a chamber richly furnished with pier-glasses,
and massive tables inlaid with silver, of exquisite workmanship. The
walls were covered with tapestry; the cornices richly gilded; through
the door, which stood open, she perceived a superb saloon, with
statues and crystal lustres, and a magnificent suite of apartments
beyond. The casements of the room were open to admit the soft breath
of summer, which stole in, laden with perfumes from a neighbouring
garden; from whence, also, the refreshing sound of fountains and the
sweet notes of birds came in mingled music to her ear.

Female attendants were moving, with noiseless step, about the chamber;
but she feared to address them. She doubted whether this was not all
delusion, or whether she was not still in the palace of Don Ambrosio,
and that her escape, and all its circumstances, had not been but a
feverish dream. She closed her eyes again, endeavouring to recall the
past, and to separate the real from the imaginary. The last scenes of
consciousness, however, rushed too forcibly, with all their horrors,
to her mind to be doubted, and she turned shuddering from the
recollection, to gaze once more on the quiet and serene magnificence
around her. As she again opened her eyes, they rested on an object
that at once dispelled every alarm. At the head of her bed sat a
venerable form, watching over her with a look of fond anxiety--it was
her father!

I will not attempt to describe the scene that ensued; nor the moments
of rapture which more than repaid all the sufferings that her
affectionate heart had undergone. As soon as their feelings had become
more calm, the alchymist stepped out of the room to introduce a
stranger, to whom he was indebted for his life and liberty. He
returned, leading in Antonio, no longer in