on experienced by Franz was evidently not
peculiar to himself; another, and wholly uninterested person, felt the
same unaccountable awe and misgiving. "Well." inquired Franz, after the
countess had a second time directed her lorgnette at the box, "what do
you think of our opposite neighbor?"

"Why, that he is no other than Lord Ruthven himself in a living form."
This fresh allusion to Byron [*] drew a smile to Franz's countenance;
although he could but allow that if anything was likely to induce belief
in the existence of vampires, it would be the presence of such a man as
the mysterious personage before him.

"I must positively find out who and what he is," said Franz, rising from
his seat.

"No, no," cried the countess; "you must not leave me. I depend upon you
to escort me home. Oh, indeed, I cannot permit you to go."

* Scott, of course: "The son of an ill-fated sire, and the
father of a yet more unfortunate family, bore in his looks
that cast of inauspicious melancholy by which the
physiognomists of that time pretended to distinguish those
who were predestined to a violent and unhappy death."--The
Abbot, ch. xxii.

"Is it possible," whispered Franz, "that you entertain any fear?"

"I'll tell you," answered the countess. "Byron had the most perfect
belief in the existence of vampires, and even assured me that he had
seen them. The description he gave me perfectly corresponds with
the features and character of the man before us. Oh, he is the exact
personification of what I have been led to expect! The coal-black hair,
large bright, glittering eyes, in which a wild, unearthly fire seems
burning,--the same ghastly paleness. Then observe, too, that the
woman with him is altogether unlike all others of her sex. She is a
foreigner--a stranger. Nobody knows who she is, or where she comes from.
No doubt she belongs to the same horrible race he does, and is, like
himself, a dealer in magical arts. I entreat of you not to go near
him--at least to-night; and if to-morrow your curiosity still continues
as great, pursue your researches if you will; but to-night you neither
can nor shall. For that purpose I mean to keep you all to myself." Franz
protested he could not defer his pursuit till the following day, for
many reasons. "Listen to me," said the countess, "and do not be so very
headstrong. I am going home. I have a party at my house to-night, and
therefore cannot possibly remain till th