Valerian did not hear through the wall his last faint gasping cry,
but I heard it, and its exceeding bitterness would have made mortals
weep.

"Gertrude!" he sobbed. "Gertrude!"

And with that his head sank on his breast, and the life, which but
for me might have been so happy and prosperous, was ended.


Prompted by curiosity, I instantly returned to Muddleton and sought
out Gertrude Morley. I stole into her room. She lay asleep, but
her dreams were troubled, and her face, once so fresh and bright,
was worn with pain and anxiety.

Scarcely had I entered the room when, to my amazement, I saw the
spirit of Sigismund Zaluski.

I saw him bend down and kiss the sleeping girl, and for a moment her
sad face lighted up with a radiant smile.

I looked again; he was gone. Then Gertrude threw up both her arms
and with a bitter cry awoke from her dream.

"Sigismund!" she cried. "Oh, Sigismund! Now I know that you are
dead indeed."

For a long, long time she lay in a sort of trance of misery. It
seemed as if the life had been almost crushed out of her, and it was