discovered
absolutely nothing, and returned to our headquarters at Fondi so
completely baffled that we did not know whither to turn our steps next.

I was made much more uneasy by the effect of our failure on Monkton than
by the failure itself. His resolution appeared to break down altogether
as soon as we began to retrace our steps.

He became first fretful and capricious, then silent and desponding.
Finally, he sank into a lethargy of body and mind that seriously
alarmed me. On the morning after our return to Fondi he showed a strange
tendency to sleep incessantly, which made me suspect the existence of
some physical malady in his brain. The whole day he hardly exchanged
a word with me, and seemed to be never fairly awake. Early the next
morning I went into his room, and found him as silent and lethargic as
ever. His servant, who was with us, informed me that Alfred had once or
twice before exhibited such physical symptoms of mental exhaustion as
we were now observing during his father's lifetime at Wincot Abbey.
This piece of information made me feel easier, and left my mind free to
return to the consideration of the errand which had brought us to Fondi.

I resolved to occupy the time until my companion got better in
prosecuting our search by myself. That path to the right hand which led
to the convent had not yet been explored. If I set off to trace it, I
need not be away from Monkton more than one night, and I should at least
be able, on my return, to give him the satisfaction of knowing that one
more uncertainty regarding the place of the duel had been cleared up.
These considerations decided me. I left a message for my friend in case
he asked where I had gone, and set out once more for the village at
which we had halted when starting on our first expedition.

Intending to walk to the convent, I parted company with the guide and
the mules where the track branched off, leaving them to go back to the
village and await my return.

For the first four miles the path gently ascended through an open
country, then became abruptly much steeper, and led me deeper and deeper
among thickets and endless woods. By the time my watch informed me that
I must have nearly walked my appointed distance, the view was bounded on
all sides and the sky was shut out overhead by an impervious screen of
leaves and branches. I still followed my only guide, the steep path; and
in ten minutes, emerging suddenly on a plot of tolerably clear