“I see!” I said, curtly, cutting her explanations short.

Within myself I thought how much more sweet and valuable was the dog’s life than hers.  Brave Wyvis—­good Wyvis!  He had done his best--he had tried to tear her dainty flesh; his honest instincts had led him to attempt rough vengeance on the woman he had felt was his master’s foe.  And he had met his fate, and died in the performance of duty.  But I said no more on the subject.  The dog’s death was not alluded to again by either Nina or myself.  He lay in his mossy grave under the cypress boughs—­his memory untainted by any lie, and his fidelity enshrined in my heart as a thing good and gracious, far exceeding the self-interested friendship of so-called Christian humanity.

The days passed slowly on.  To the revelers who chased the flying steps of carnival with shouting and laughter, no doubt the hours were brief, being so brimful of merriment; but to me, who heard nothing save the measured ticking of my own timepiece of revenge, and who saw naught save its hands, that every second drew nearer to the last and fatal figure on the dial, the very moments seemed long and laden with weariness.  I roamed the streets of the city aimlessly, feeling more like a deserted stranger than a well-known envied nobleman, whose wealth made him the cynosure of all eyes.  The riotous glee, the music, the color that whirled and reeled through the great street of Toledo at this season bewildered and pained me.  Though I knew and was accustomed to the wild vagaries of carnival, yet this year they seemed to be out of place, distracting, senseless, and all unfamiliar.

Sometimes I escaped from the city tumult and wandered out to the cemetery.  There I would stand, dreamily looking at the freshly turned sods above Guido Ferrari’s grave.  No stone marked the spot as yet, but it was close to the Romani vault—­not more than a couple of yards away from the iron grating that barred the entrance to that dim and fatal charnel-house.  I had a drear fascination for the place, and more than once I went to the opening of that secret passage made by the brigands to ascertain if all was safe and undisturbed.  Everything was as I had left it, save that the tangle of brush-wood had become thicker, and weeds and brambles had sprung up, making it less visible than before, and probably rendering it more impassable.  By a fortunate accident I had secured the key of the vault.  I knew that for family burial-places of this kind there are always two keys—­one left in charge of the keeper of the cemetery, the other possessed by the person or persons to whom the mausoleum belongs, and this other I managed to obtain.