cast in the very mould of strength and
grace, and measuring his six feet, if an inch. The features were
singularly handsome; the brow open and resolute; the hair dark, and
crisp with curls. Looking more closely, I saw that a lock had been
lately cut from the right temple, and found one of the severed hairs
upon the cheek, where it had fallen. The dress was that of a jester of
the middle ages, half scarlet and half white, with a rich belt round the
waist. In this belt, as if in horrible mockery of the dead, was stuck a
tiny baton surmounted by a fool's cap, and hung with silver bells.
Looking down thus upon the body--so young, so beautiful, so evidently
unprepared for death--a conviction of foul play flashed upon me with all
the suddenness and certainty of revelation. Here were no appearances of
disease and no signs of strife. The expression was not that of a man who
had fallen weapon in hand. Neither, however, was it that of one who had
died in the agony of poison. The longer I looked, the more mysterious it
seemed; yet the more I felt assured that there was guilt at the bottom
of the mystery.

"While I was yet under the first confused and shuddering impression of
this doubt, my guide came back with a powerful solar lamp, and, seeing
me stand beside the body, said sharply:--

"'Well, Signore, you look as if you had never seen a dead man before in
all your life!'

"'I have seen plenty,' I replied, 'but never one so young, and so
handsome.'

"'He dropped down quite suddenly,' said he, volunteering the
information, 'and died in a few minutes. 'Then finding that I remained
silent, added:--

"'But I am told that it is always so in cases of heart-disease.'

"'I turned away without replying, and, having placed the lamp to my
satisfaction, began rapidly sketching in my subject. My instructions
were simple. I was to give the head only; to produce as rapid an effect
with as little labor as possible; to alter nothing; to add nothing; and,
above all, to be ready to leave the house before daybreak. So I set
steadily to work, and my conductor, establishing himself in an
easy-chair by the fire, watched my progress for some time, and then, as
the night advanced, fell profoundly asleep. Thus, hour after hour went
by, and, absorbed in my work, I painted on, unconscious of fatigue--
might almost say with something of a morbid pleasure in the task before
me. The silence within; the raving of the wind and rain without; the
solemn m