from the lower mountain-path. In an access
of mad wrath he vengefully snatched it from
the ground and hurled it before him. It passed
through the abbey window, breaking the glass
and striking down the captain of the robbers,
while the crash which it produced so greatly
alarmed the maniac that he at once fled from
the spot. It is scarcely necessary to state that
the missile which had struck Ruggiero was the
round body on which Bandelora had heedlessly
set her foot.

Return we to Astolfo and the hermit, whom
we left at sunset conversing in the Ruined
Chapel. The holy man, freed from the presence
of the offending skull, had gradually resumed
his composure, and thus recommenced his
narrative:

"Being a native of Andalusia——-"

"Exactly. You took interest in the Greek
empire," said Astolfo, with some impatience.

"True," returned the hermit. " Another
prevailing sentiment I had inherited from my noble
ancestors was hatred of the Moors, who, infidel
dogs as they were, oppressed my suffering land."

"But that was a long time ago," interposed
Astolfo.

"Young man," said the hermit, mournfully,
"when the number of thy years is as that of
mine, thou wilt know that hatred is not
measured by lapse of time. Still I must confess
that in the case of my ancestors the tyranny of
the Moors was not altogether intolerable. For
an estate that covered many fair acres they
were merely required to pay to the Moorish
king of Cordova the annual tribute of an ivory
bandelore for the amusement of the royal
children. But night is approaching—nay,
already begins to enfold us—so let me
illumine my humble dwelling by lighting this
candle end, and placing it in the neck of this
bottle of stone."

Having performed this act, and reduced the
wick to its proper dimensions by a dexterous
application of his thumb and middle finger, the
hermit continued, not discovering the increased
mournfulness that had overspread the already
melancholy face of Astolfo:

"The bandelore, as perchance thou art not
aware, is an ingenious toy, which derives its
origin from the East. It is composed of two
small discs, connected by an axle, to which a
cord is attached."

"Like this?" inquired Astolfo, drawing from
his bosom a bandelore of exquisite
workmanship.

"That! That!" ejaculated the recluse.
"Thou must have obtained that from the fiend
himself."

"Nay, calm thyself, holy man," said Astolfo.
"Seeing that thou leadest so strict a life, I
marvel that thou art so quick in temper. This
toy belonged to the being whom I love more
than anything on earth."

"The young and inexperienced often love
that which is evil," said the hermit, with a
sneer.

"But this belonged to an innocent child."

"Whose name was———-"

* "Nay, her true name I know not, as I am
ignorant of her parentage. She was found in
infancy with this toy suspended round her
neck, and has in consequence been called
Bandelora."

"Let me look at it more closely," cried the
hermit, snatching the toy from the hand of his
guest. " Yes—true—the crest of the griffin!
Ha, ha! the fates pursue me; but I, will escape
them yet!"

So saying, he rushed out of the chapel and
hurried down the mountain-path, approaching
a point where in its descent it joined the lower
path, whence the maniac had fallen. Climbing
from the plain beneath after his hurried flight
from the abbey, the maniac from below reached
this point at the same time with the hermit.
Involuntarily they were locked in each other's
arms, and then rolled together down the slope
into the plain until they passed through the
aperture in the strange-looking mound to which
we have already referred.

Astolfo, grieved as he was at the loss of the
precious toy, felt rather gratified than otherwise
by the sudden departure of the hermit, of
whose unaccountable ebullitions of temper he
had become somewhat weary. Still he wished
to know something more about him, and to that
end picked up the scroll that had been thrown
on the ground, on the occasion of the apparent
discovery that the skull ought properly to be
called " Comnenus." Reducing the candle's
wick by the process already employed by the
hermit, and moving the stone bottle to a
position which rendered study as easy as possible,
he read as follows:

"Gomez del Valparaiso, born on the banks of
the Guadalquiver, held a high office at the
Byzantine Court."

His further progress was checked by the
sudden pressure of his hat over his eyes,
apparently by the action of a human hand, while
a breath, apparently from a human mouth,
extinguished the light. Almost immediately
afterwards his hands were seized and bound
behind the back of his chair, and a voice
whispered:

"Fear not; this is all for thy good. The
Mysterious is thy friend."

The hermit on recovering his senses, after
his involuntary passage with the maniac through
the aperture, found himself in a spacious hall lit
by coloured lamps, placed at distant intervals
from each other, and inferred from the
architectural ornaments which he saw around him
that the building had originally been the work
of the Saracens. He could the more readily
devote his attention to these details, as he had
frequently beheld his strange companion
performing frantic feats on the mountain path, and
therefore felt no curiosity concerning him.
As for the maniac himself, as he had not any
senses to recover, he drew no inference
whatever.