of Natalie; should her
face prove as hideous as that of Medusa. You will perceive from
this that I have not yet seen it, nor, truth to tell, am I now so
anxious to do so. She has been tormenting herself with the fear
that I should cease to love her when I once saw her unmasked, and
has reproached herself innumerable times for having encouraged my
passion. She has decided what to do. On her marriage-day, before
I lead her to the altar, I am to see her without her mask.
To-morrow is that day; and although I am prepared for the very
worst, yet my uneasiness increases with every hour that brings me
nearer to the decisive moment. My regrets are infinite that she
has persisted so long in her disguise. If at the commencement of
our attachment she had had the courage to remove that fatal mask,
I must still have loved her; no deformity of feature would have
been sufficient to neutralize the effect of her other charms and
accomplishments. But now, at the moment that I have been looking
forward to as the happiest of my life, to have my bliss disturbed
by such a revelation--it is cruel! Yet how can I blame her for
conduct so natural in a woman who loves? She feared to see my
growing affection turned into aversion, and delayed to the utmost
the much dreaded disclosure. Enough for to-day. I send off this
letter. After my marriage you shall hear from me again. Ever
yours,

Paul S----.

What a ray of light thrown upon my dark uncertainties! "To St
Petersburg, instantly! The trace is found!"

Such was my exclamation after reading the above letter, which was
communicated to me at Vienna by an old and tried friend. In an
incredibly short time I had reached the Russian capital. What I there
learned was as follows:--

On the day appointed for the marriage of Natalie d'Emiliano and the
young Swedish count, Paul S----, when all were in readiness to proceed
to the church, and the guests were only waiting the appearance of the
bride and bridegroom, a piercing cry was suddenly heard in a room
adjoining that in which the bridal party was assembled. The company
hurried, in the direction of the sound, and there found the Count
lying apparently lifeless on the floor, while the bride was hastily
securing the fastenings of her mask. The guests thronged round the
former, and tried