a troubled voice.

Ursula had refused to receive letters by the post. But that afternoon,
without being able even to guess at the nature of the trick, she had
found, a few moments before Savinien's arrival, a letter tossed on her
sofa which contained the words: "Tremble! a rejected lover can become a
tiger."

Withstanding Savinien's entreaties, she refused to tell him, out of
prudence, the secret of her fears. The delight of seeing him again,
after she had thought him lost to her, could alone have made her recover
from the mortal chill of terror. The expectation of indefinite evil is
torture to every one; suffering assumes the proportions of the unknown,
and the unknown is the infinite of the soul. To Ursula the pain was
exquisite. Something without her bounded at the slightest noise; yet she
was afraid of silence, and suspected even the walls of collusion. Even
her sleep was restless. Goupil, who knew nothing of her nature, delicate
as that of a flower, had found, with the instinct of evil, the poison
that could wither and destroy her.

The next day passed without a shock. Ursula sat playing on her piano
till very late; and went to bed easier in mind and very sleepy. About
midnight she was awakened by the music of a band composed of a clarinet,
hautboy, flute, cornet a piston, trombone, bassoon, flageolet, and
triangle. All the neighbours were at their windows. The poor girl,
already frightened at seeing the people in the street, received a
dreadful shock as she heard the coarse, rough voice of a man proclaiming
in loud tones: "For the beautiful Ursula Mirouet, from her lover."

The next day, Sunday, the whole town had heard of it; and as Ursula
entered and left the church she saw the groups of people who stood
gossiping about her, and felt herself the object of their terrible
curiosity. The serenade set all tongues wagging, and conjectures were
rife on all sides. Ursula reached home more dead than alive, determined
not to leave the house again,--the abbe having advised her to say
vespers in her own room. As she entered the house she saw lying in the
passage, which was floored with brick, a letter which had evidently been
slipped under the door. She picked it up and read it, under the idea
that it would obtain an explanation. It was as follows:--

"Resign yourself to becoming my wife, rich and idolized. I am resolved.
If you are not mine living you shall be mine dead. To your refusal you
may attribute not only y