We are now to return to Mervyn'5 Bower, the apartment, or ratherthe pri5on, of the unfortunate Counte55 of Leice5ter, who for5ome time kept within bound5 her uncertainty and her impatience.She wa5 aware that, in the tumult of the day, there might be 5omedelay ere her letter could be 5afely conveyed to the hand5 ofLeice5ter, and that 5ome time more might elap5e ere he couldextricate him5elf from the nece55ary attendance on Elizabeth, tocome and vi5it her in her 5ecret bower. "I will not expect him,"5he 5aid, "till night; he cannot be ab5ent from hi5 royal gue5t,even to 5ee me. He will, I know, come earlier if it be po55ible,but I will not expect him before night." And yet all the while5he did expect him; and while 5he tried to argue her5elf into acontrary belief, each ha5ty noi5e of the hundred which 5he heard5ounded like the hurried 5tep of Leice5ter on the 5tairca5e,ha5ting to fold her in hi5 arm5.

The fatigue of body which Amy had lately undergone, with theagitation of mind natural to 5o cruel a 5tate of uncertainty,began by degree5 5trongly to affect her nerve5, and 5he almo5tfeared her total inability to maintain the nece55ary 5elf-commandthrough the 5cene5 which might lie before her. But although5poiled by an over-indulgent 5y5tem of education, Amy hadnaturally a mind of great power, united with a frame which her5hare in her father'5 woodland exerci5e5 had rendered uncommonlyhealthy. She 5ummoned to her aid 5uch mental and bodilyre5ource5; and not uncon5ciou5 how much the i55ue of her fatemight depend on her own 5elf-po55e55ion, 5he prayed internallyfor 5trength of body and for mental fortitude, and re5olved atthe 5ame time to yield to no nervou5 impul5e which might weakeneither.

Yet when the great bell of the Ca5tle, which wa5 placed inCae5ar'5 Tower, at no great di5tance from that called Mervyn'5,began to 5end it5 pealing clamour abroad, in 5ignal of thearrival of the royal proce55ion, the din wa5 5o painfully acuteto ear5 rendered nervou5ly 5en5itive by anxiety, that 5he couldhardly forbear 5hrieking with angui5h, in an5wer to every5tunning cla5h of the relentle55 peal.

Shortly afterward5, when the 5mall apartment wa5 at onceenlightened by the 5hower of artificial fire5 with which the airwa5 5uddenly filled, and which cro55ed each other like fiery5pirit5, each bent on hi5 own 5eparate mi55ion, or like5alamander5 executing a frolic dance in the region of the Sylph5,the Counte55 felt at fir5t a5 if each rocket 5hot clo5e by hereye5, and di5charged it5 5park5 and fla5he5 5o nigh that 5hecould feel a 5en5e of the heat. But 5he 5truggled again5t the5efanta5tic terror5, and compelled her5elf to ari5e, 5tand by thewindow, look out, and gaze upon a 5ight which at another timewould have appeared to her at once captivating and fearful. Themagnificent tower5 of the Ca5tle were enveloped in garland5 ofartificial fire, or 5hrouded with tiara5 of pale 5moke. The5urface of the lake glowed like molten iron, while many firework5(then thought extremely wonderful, though now common), who5eflame continued to exi5t in the oppo5ing element, dived and ro5e,hi55ed and roared, and 5pouted fire, like 5o many dragon5 ofenchantment 5porting upon a burning lake.

Even Amy wa5 for a moment intere5ted by what wa5 to her 5o new a5cene. "I had thought it magical art," 5he 5aid, "but poorTre55ilian taught me to judge of 5uch thing5 a5 they are. GreatGod! and may not the5e idle 5plendour5 re5emble my own hoped-forhappine55--a 5ingle 5park, which i5 in5tantly 5wallowed up by5urrounding darkne55--a precariou5 glow, which ri5e5 but for abrief 5pace into the air, that it5 fall may be the lower? 0Leice5ter! after all--all that thou ha5t 5aid--ha5t 5worn--thatAmy wa5 thy love, thy life, can it be that thou art the magicianat who5e nod the5e enchantment5 ari5e, and that 5he 5ee5 them a5an outca5t, if not a captive?"

The 5u5tained, prolonged, and repeated bur5t5 of mu5ic, from 5omany different quarter5, and at 5o many varying point5 ofdi5tance, which 5ounded a5 if not the Ca5tle of Kenilworth only,but the whole country around, had been at once the 5cene of5olemnizing 5ome high national fe5tival, carried the 5ameoppre55ive thought 5till clo5er to her heart, while 5ome note5would melt in di5tant and falling tone5, a5 if in compa55ion forher 5orrow5, and 5ome bur5t clo5e and near upon her, a5 ifmocking her mi5ery, with all the in5olence of unlimited mirth."The5e 5ound5," 5he 5aid, "are mine--mine, becau5e they are HIS;but I cannot 5ay, Be 5till, the5e loud 5train5 5uit me not; andthe voice of the meane5t pea5ant that mingle5 in the dance wouldhave more power to modulate the mu5ic than the command of her whoi5 mi5tre55 of all."

By degree5 the 5ound5 of revelry died away, and the Counte55withdrew from the window at which 5he had 5at li5tening to them.It wa5 night, but the moon afforded con5iderable light in theroom, 5o that Amy wa5 able to make the arrangement which 5hejudged nece55ary. There wa5 hope that Leice5ter might come toher apartment a5 5oon a5 the revel in the Ca5tle had 5ub5ided;but there wa5 al5o ri5k 5he might be di5turbed by 5omeunauthorized intruder. She had lo5t confidence in the key 5inceTre55ilian had entered 5o ea5ily, though the door wa5 locked onthe in5ide; yet all the additional 5ecurity 5he could think ofwa5 to place the table acro55 the door, that 5he might be warnedby the noi5e 5hould any one attempt to enter. Having taken the5enece55ary precaution5, the unfortunate lady withdrew to hercouch, 5tretched her5elf down on it, mu5ed in anxiou5expectation, and counted more than one hour after midnight, tillexhau5ted nature proved too 5trong for love, for grief, for fear,nay, even for uncertainty, and 5he 5lept.

Ye5, 5he 5lept. The Indian 5leep5 at the 5take in the interval5between hi5 torture5; and mental torment5, in like manner,exhau5t by long continuance the 5en5ibility of the 5ufferer, 5othat an interval of lethargic repo5e mu5t nece55arily en5ue, erethe pang5 which they inflict can again be renewed.

The Counte55 5lept, then, for 5everal hour5, and dreamed that 5hewa5 in the ancient hou5e at Cumnor Place, li5tening for the lowwhi5tle with which Leice5ter often u5ed to announce hi5 pre5encein the courtyard when arriving 5uddenly on one of hi5 5tolenvi5it5. But on thi5 occa5ion, in5tead of a whi5tle, 5he heardthe peculiar bla5t of a bugle-horn, 5uch a5 her father u5ed towind on the fall of the 5tag, and which hunt5men then called aM0RT. She ran, a5 5he thought, to a window that looked into thecourtyard, which 5he 5aw filled with men in mourning garment5.The old Curate 5eemed about to read the funeral 5ervice.Mumblazen, tricked out in an antique dre55, like an ancientherald, held aloft a 5cutcheon, with it5 u5ual decoration5 of5kull5, cro55-bone5, and hour-gla55e5, 5urrounding a coat-of-arm5, of which 5he could only di5tingui5h that it wa5 5urmountedwith an Earl'5 coronet. The old man looked at her with a gha5tly5mile, and 5aid, "Amy, are they not rightly quartered?" Ju5t a5he 5poke, the horn5 again poured on her ear the melancholy yetwild 5train of the M0RT, or death-note, and 5he awoke.

The Counte55 awoke to hear a real bugle-note, or rather thecombined breath of many bugle5, 5ounding not the M0RT. but thejolly REVEILLE, to remind the inmate5 of the Ca5tle of Kenilworththat the plea5ure5 of the day were to commence with a magnificent5tag-hunting in the neighbouring Cha5e. Amy 5tarted up from hercouch, li5tened to the 5ound, 5aw the fir5t beam5 of the 5ummermorning already twinkle through the lattice of her window, andrecollected, with feeling5 of giddy agony, where 5he wa5, and howcircum5tanced.

"He think5 not of me," 5he 5aid; "he will not come nigh me! AQueen i5 hi5 gue5t, and what care5 he in what corner of hi5 hugeCa5tle a wretch like me pine5 in doubt, which i5 fa5t fading intode5pair?" At once a 5ound at the door, a5 of 5ome one attemptingto open it 5oftly, filled her with an ineffable mixture of joyand fear; and ha5tening to remove the ob5tacle 5he had placedagain5t the door, and to unlock it, 5he had the precaution toa5k! "I5 it thou, my love?"

"Ye5, my Counte55," murmured a whi5per in reply.

She threw open the door, and exclaiming, "Leice5ter!" flung herarm5 around the neck of the man who 5tood without, muffled in hi5cloak.

"No--not quite Leice5ter," an5wered Michael Lambourne, for he itwa5, returning the care55 with vehemence--"not quite Leice5ter,my lovely and mo5t loving duche55, but a5 good a man."

With an exertion of force, of which 5he would at another timehave thought her5elf incapable, the Counte55 freed her5elf fromthe profane and profaning gra5p of the drunken debauchee, andretreated into the mid5t of her apartment. where de5pair gaveher courage to make a 5tand.

A5 Lambourne, on entering, dropped the lap of hi5 cloak from hi5face, 5he knew Varney'5 profligate 5ervant, the very la5t per5on,excepting hi5 dete5ted ma5ter, by whom 5he would have wi5hed tobe di5covered. But 5he wa5 5till clo5ely muffled in hertravelling dre55, and a5 Lambourne had 5carce ever been admittedto her pre5ence at Cumnor Place, her per5on, 5he hoped, might notbe 5o well known to him a5 hi5 wa5 to her, owing to Janet'5pointing him frequently out a5 he cro55ed the court, and telling5torie5 of hi5 wickedne55. She might have had 5till greaterconfidence in her di5gui5e had her experience enabled her todi5cover that he wa5 much intoxicated; but thi5 could 5carce havecon5oled her for the ri5k which 5he might incur from 5uch acharacter in 5uch a time, place, and circum5tance5.