arranged in which the great majority of the
persons in the ball-room took part; the
figures resembling the old English country
dances in this respect, that the ladies and
gentlemen were placed in long rows opposite
to each other. The sets consisted of about
twenty couples each, placed sometimes across,
and sometimes along the apartment; and the
spectators were all required to move away on
either side, and range themselves close to the
walls. As Fabio among others complied with
this necessity, he looked down a row of
dancers waiting during the performance of
the orchestral prelude; and there, watching
him again, from the opposite end of the lane
formed by the gentlemen on one side and the
ladies on the other, he saw the Yellow
Mask.

He moved abruptly back towards another
row of dancers, placed at right angles to the
first row; and there again, at the opposite
end of the gay lane of brightly-dressed figures,
was the Yellow Mask. He slipped into the
middle of the room; but it was only to find
her occupying his former position near the
wall, and still, in spite of his disguise, watching
him through row after row of dancers.
The persecution began to grow intolerable;
he felt a kind of angry curiosity mingling
now with the vague dread that had hitherto
oppressed him. Finello's advice recurred to
his memory; and he determined to make the
woman unmask at all hazards. With this
intention he returned to the supper-room in
which he had left his friends.

They were gone, probably to the ball-room
to look for him. Plenty of wine was still left
on the side-board; and he poured himself
out a glass. Finding that his hand trembled
as he did so, he drank several more glasses in
quick succession, to nerve himself for the
approaching encounter with the Yellow Mask.
While he was drinking, he expected every
moment to see her in the looking-glass again;
but she never appeared—and yet he felt
almost certain that he had detected her gliding
out after him when he left the
ball-room.

He thought it possible that she might be
waiting for him in one of the smaller
apartments; and taking off his mask walked
through several of them, without meeting her,
until he came to the door of the refreshment
room in which Nanina and he had recognised
each other. The waiting-woman behind the
table, who had first spoken to him, caught
sight of him now, and ran round to the
door.

"Don't come in and speak to Nanina
again," she said, mistaking the purpose which
had brought him to the door. " What with
frightening her first and making her cry
afterwards, you have rendered her quite unfit
for her work. The steward is in there at this
moment; very good-natured, but not very
sober. He says she is pale and red-eyed and
not fit to be a shepherdess any longer, and
that, as she will not be missed now, she may
go home if she likes. We have got her an
old cloak, and she is going to try and slip
through the rooms unobserved, to get down
stairs and change her dress. Don't speak to
her, pray—or you will only make her cry
again, and what is worse, make the steward
fancy—"

She stopped at that last word, and pointed
suddenly over Fabio's shoulder.

"The Yellow Mask! " she exclaimed, " Oh,
sir! draw her away into the ball-room, and
give Nanina a chance of getting out!"

Fabio turned directly, and approached the
Mask, who, as they looked at each other,
slowly retreated before him. The
waiting-woman, seeing the yellow figure retire,
hastened back to Nanina in the refreshment-
room.

Slowly the masked woman retreated from
one apartment to another till she entered a
corridor, brilliantly lit up and beautifully
ornamented with flowers. On the right hand,
this corridor led to the ball-room: on the left,
to an ante-chamber at the head of the palace
staircase. The Yellow Mask went on a few
paces towards the left; then stopped. The
bright eyes fixed themselves as before on
Fabio's face, but only for a moment. He
heard a light step behind him, and then he
saw the eyes move. Following the direction
they took he turned round, and discovered
Nanina, wrapped up in the old cloak which
was to enable her to get down stairs
unobserved.

"Oh, how can I get out! how can I get
out! " cried the girl shrinking back affrightedly,
as she saw the Yellow Mask.

"That way," said Fabio, pointing in the
direction of the ball-room. " Nobody will
notice you in the cloak: it will only be
thought some new disguise." He took her
arm, as he spoke, to reassure her; and
continued in a whisper, " Don't forget
to-morrow."

At the same moment he felt a hand laid
on him. It was the hand of the masked
woman, and it put him back from Nanina.
In spite of himself, he trembled at her touch,
but still retained presence of mind enough to
sign to the girl to make her escape. With a
look of eager inquiry in the direction of the
Mask, and a half-suppressed exclamation of
terror, she obeyed him, and hastened away
towards the ball-room.

"We are alone," said Fabio, confronting
the gleaming black eyes, and reaching out
his hand resolutely towards the Yellow
Mask. " Tell me who you are, and why you
follow me, or I will uncover your face, and
solve the mystery for myself."

The woman pushed his hand aside, and
drew back a few paces, but never spoke a
word. He followed her. There was not an
instant to be lost, for just then the sound of
footsteps hastily approaching the corridor
became audible.