iously as she had
opened it, and, with the faltering, uncertain steps of one just risen
from a sick-bed, came over to where I had been sitting, and leaned for
support against my chair. She was very pale, very calm, very young and
beautiful, with just that look of passive despair in her face that one
sees in Guido's portrait of Beatrice Cenci. Standing thus, I observed
that she kept her eyes turned from the corpse, and her attention
concentrated on the portrait. So several minutes passed, and neither of
us spoke nor stirred. Then, slowly, shudderingly, she turned, grasped me
by the arm, pointed to the dead form stretched upon the table, and less
with her breath than by the motion of her lips, shaped out the one
word:--'_Murdered_!'

"Stunned by this confirmation of my doubts, I could only clasp my hands
in mute horror, and stare helplessly from the lady to the corpse, from
the corpse to the sleeper. Wildly, feverishly, with all her calmness
turned to eager haste, she then bent over the body, tore open the rich
doublet, turned back the shirt, and, without uttering one syllable,
pointed to a tiny puncture just above the region of the heart--a spot so
small, so insignificant, such a mere speck upon the marble, that but for
the pale violet discoloration which spread round it like a halo, I could
scarcely have believed it to be the cause of death. The wound had
evidently bled inwardly, and, being inflicted with some singularly
slender weapon, had closed again so completely as to leave an aperture
no larger than might have been caused by the prick of a needle. While I
was yet examining it, the fire fell together, and my conductor stirred
uneasily in his sleep. To cover the body hastily with the cloth and
resume my seat, was, with me, the instinctive work of a moment; but he
was quiet again the next instant, and breathing heavily. With trembling
hands, my visitor next re-closed the shirt and doublet, replaced the
outer covering, and bending down till her lips almost touched my ear,
whispered:--

"'You have seen it. If called upon to do so, will you swear it?'

"I promised.

"'You will not let yourself be intimidated by threats? nor bribed by
gold? nor lured by promises?

"'Never, so help me Heaven!'

"She looked into my eyes, as if she would read my very soul; then,
before I knew what she was about to do, seized my hand, and pressed it
to her lip.

"'I believe you,' she said. 'I believe, and I thank you. Not a word to