"She inquired what I meant by these words, and then recovering myself, instead of explaining, I but reiterated more passionate protestations. Alas! very soon the slight affection I had obtained by so many cares, with so much trouble, gave way to a fresh coldness. She sometimes looked at me with an unquiet, frightened air--her fits of melancholy increased, and then the suspicions I had at first so energetically repulsed returned to my mind; then I drove them away again. Sometimes in spite of myself, I examined distrustfully the meat that was placed before me, and then, blushing with fear at this fresh insult to Paula, I left the table suddenly. "In this trying and painful struggle my health became weaker, my temper soured, whilst Paula became more and more reserved towards me." "Oh! what a life! what a life!" exclaimed Bertha, as she wiped away her tears. "Alas!" said M. de Hansfeld, "that was nothing. We quitted Trieste at the end of autumn; my wife wished to pass the winter at Geneva, and then come to France. Surprised by a violent storm, we stopped a few leagues from Trieste in a wretched road-side inn at nightfall. The tempest redoubled its fury, and a torrent we had to cross had overflowed its banks; we were therefore compelled to pass the night at this _auberge_. The place was lonely, and the master of the hovel was an ill-looking fellow. I proposed to my wife that we should watch as late as possible and then sleep in a chair, that we might set out again before daybreak, as soon as the road was practicable. Our suite consisted of my two servants and the young girl who accompanied Paula. I had always been exceedingly kind to this girl, because I knew that it would please my wife; besides Iris (that was the Bohemian girl's name) was almost as much devoted to me as to her mistress. We occupied on that fatal night--ah! how fatal!--a small apartment, of which the only door opened into a closet in which was Frantz, my old servant. Paula could not conceal her fears; the wind seemed to shake the house to its very foundations, and we both watched very late. Alone in this chamber, I seated myself on a miserable truckle-bed, whilst my wife reposed in an arm-chair. Sleep overpowered me in spite of all my efforts. "I am ignorant how long I slept, when I was suddenly awakened by a sharp pain inside my left arm. The room was completely dark. My first impulse was to seize the hand I felt pressing upon me--this thin and delicate hand grasped a sharp-pointed stiletto." "Heavens!" exclaimed Bertha, alarmed and clasping her hands. "What! another attempt? that is, indeed, frightful!" said Pierre Raimond. Arnold continued,--