“Sick as he was, exhausted, and almost on his deathbed, it was very imprudent in him, and might easily have cost him his life.  I ventured to speak to him; but he swore at me, and told me to hush, and to do what he ordered me to do.

“The count—­God be merciful to his soul!—­was a very good man, certainly; but he was a terrible man also, and when he got angry, and talked in a certain way, everybody in the house began to tremble, even mistress.

“I obeyed, therefore, and did what he wanted.  Poor man!  He was so weak he could hardly stand up, and had to hold on to a chair while I helped him just to hang his dressing-gown over his shoulders.

“Then I asked him if he would not let me help him down.  But looking at me with awful eyes, he said, ’You will do me the favor to stay here, and, whatever may happen, if you dare so much as open the door while I am away, you shall not stay another hour in my service.’

“Then he went out, holding on to the wall; and I remained alone in the chamber, all trembling, and feeling as sick as if I had known that a great misfortune was coming upon us.

“However, I heard nothing more for a time; and as the minutes passed away, I was just beginning to reproach myself for having been so foolishly alarmed, when I heard two cries; but, O sir! two such fearful, sharp cries, that I felt cold shivers running all over me.

“As I did not dare leave the room, I put my ear to the door, and I heard distinctly the count’s voice, as he was quarrelling with another gentleman.  But I could not catch a single word, and only made out that they were angry about a very serious matter.

“All of a sudden, a great but dull noise, like that of the fall of a heavy body, then another awful cry, I had not a drop of blood left in my veins at that moment.

“Fortunately, the other servants, who had gone to bed, had heard something.  They had gotten up, and were now coming down the passage.

“I left the room at all hazards, and went down stairs with the others, and there we found my mistress fainting in an armchair, and my master stretched out at full-length, lying on the floor like a dead man.”

“What did I say?” cried Trumence.

But the commonwealth attorney made him a sign to keep quiet; and, turning again to the girl, he asked,—­

“And the visitor?”

“He was gone, sir.  He had vanished.”

“What did you do then?”

“We raised up the count:  we carried him up stairs and laid him on his bed.  Then we brought mistress round again; and the valet went in haste to fetch Dr. Seignebos.”

“What said the countess when she recovered her consciousness?”

“Nothing.  Mistress looked like a person who has been knocked in the head.”

“Was there any thing else?”

“Oh, yes, sir!”

“What?”

“The oldest of the young ladies, Miss Martha, was seized with terrible convulsions.”