The woman, evidently seeing it was useless, stopped beseeching the young man, upon which he picked up his dagger, and throwing the fold of his cloak over his right shoulder, advanced towards the door without saying good-bye to the lady. I withdrew quickly, fearful of discovery, when, just as his hand was on the curtains, her voice sounded once more slow and deliberate, so that I was able to understand what she said:-- "So you leave me for ever?" "Yes!" he replied with the same deliberation, "for ever." "Then before you go, let me drink to your future happiness." "With pleasure, madame." He appeared to hesitate at first, but after saying these words I heard him move away from the curtain, upon which I looked again and saw him standing by the chair, while the woman, with her face turned away, was filling a goblet with wine. Her back was towards him, so that he could not see what she was doing, but I could perceive her least action. She filled two goblets with wine, then taking something from her breast, dropped it into one of them, and, turning round with a smile, presented the cup to him. It flashed across me that she was trying to poison her lover, and I would have called out to warn him, but the extreme peril of my position, the terrible appearance of this woman, and the uselessness of interference kept me silent during this supreme moment. The young man took the cup she gave him, and drained it with a bow, while she simply touched her lips with the other goblet, and smiled again. "To your future happiness," she said in a significant voice, and set the goblet down on the table. They talked together after this reconciliation for some time and seemed better friends than before, but I saw that the woman kept furtively glancing at his face with a wicked smile on her lips. At length he handed her the mask, which evidently did not belong to him, and, after kissing her hand, was about to turn in the direction of the archway, when suddenly he grew pale, put his hand to his head quickly, and grasped the chair near which he stood to keep himself from falling. "Why, what is this?" he cried in a hoarse, strained voice. "Gran Dio! what does it mean?" She bent forward with a wicked laugh, and the rubies flashed forth venomous red flame in the soft light. "It means that you have betrayed me and I have revenged myself!" He looked at her with a dazed expression, made a step forward as if to kill this terrible woman, who, dangling the mask in her hand, stood mocking at his agony with a cruel smile, then suddenly flung up his hands with a wild cry of despair and fell at her feet--dead. "Fool!" she said, without displaying the least sign of emotion. "Fool!"