e chateau was full of
self-invited guests, attracted thither by the rumours which had reached
their ears concerning the events of the day, and all sorts of surmises
and suggestions were made as to the probable perpetrators of the
outrage. The doctor, too, as well as the friends of the murdered man,
was there, and the former had on seeing his patient lost no time in
administering a powerful opiate with the object of procuring for the
unfortunate Isabel a temporary relief from the unnatural excitement of
her overtaxed brain.

"When at length the drug had done its work, and the poor girl lay
stretched upon her bed in a state of unconsciousness, a general
consultation was held, at which it was resolved to spare no pains to
discover and punish the authors of so atrocious a crime, and with this
understanding the visitors on the following morning departed on their
several ways.

"For days the efforts put forth to discover the offenders resulted in a
complete failure, and in the meantime poor Isabel lay tossing restlessly
with brain-fever. At length one night an intoxicated French soldier
blurted out the secret in the hearing of every one of the occupants of
the tavern, and a little judicious questioning, mingled with occasional
expressions of incredulity, extracted from the fellow the full details
of the crime. These were promptly communicated to Count di Solzi, who
immediately called upon the officer who had been named as the chief
culprit, and taxed him with it.

"The wretch scornfully admitted his share in the outrage, and scoffed at
the agonising grief of the poor old man. A challenge followed, as a
matter of course, and a meeting was arranged for the following morning;
but when that morning dawned, the French officer was found dead in bed,
stabbed to the heart. The count was immediately arrested on suspicion
of being the assassin, and though all the neighbouring nobility knew the
charge to be as monstrous and ill-founded as ever was brought against
mortal man, and did all that lay in our power to have the matter
properly investigated--and though soon after his arrest one of his own
servants came voluntarily forward and confessed that it was he, and not
his master, who had done the deed--poor Isabel's father was summarily
tried, sentenced, and hanged over the gate of his own chateau.

"This act of base and cruel injustice, coupled with the previous
outrage, caused the smouldering spark of discontent and disaffecti