“It is hard to say, Baron! _You_ should know the lady’s constitution better than I can. She appears to have a powerful frame, if her physical strength corresponds with it, I should think it probable that she will regain her consciousness by and by--but as to recovery, I really should not like to express an opinion. You see for yourself the maimed condition she is in--all I can say is, that a cure is possible, but not at all probable. How did this sad event occur?” “We were laughing and playing together on the landing,” replied Von Steinberg, unwilling to disclose the real cause of the accident to a stranger, “and the Marchesa went back towards the staircase and overbalanced herself. I made a rush, with the hope of catching her, but I was too late to prevent her falling. It is a terrible height, and she lighted on the marble floor at the bottom, with her head under her. I made sure at first, that she had broken her neck. I was going to add, ‘Thank God, it is not so,’ but I really do not know which would be worse!” “No! no! you must not be so despairing as all that!” replied the other, “your wife may recover sufficiently to enjoy her life yet, and if not--at all events you would like to say a few words to her before she leaves you! Now, I will send you a good hospital nurse at once--one quite experienced in these cases--and I shall look in again before nightfall. You are, of course, perfectly competent to look after the case yourself, but we all like to take counsel with our friends on such occasions. For the present then, good-bye!” He left Von Steinberg sitting by the side of their patient, and he did not stir thence until the nurse arrived. What strange thoughts coursed through his mind, as he held that silent, solitary vigil! He looked at poor Hannah, bandaged from head to foot, with the deepest compassion. Was this to be the end of it? Was she to pay for the indulgence of other people’s curiosity, with her life? The poor girl looked twice as distasteful in her mutilated condition than heretofore. Her dull, flat face had resumed its normal vacuous expression, whilst the rosy colour had fled from her cheeks, to be replaced by a livid, purplish hue. Her large, coarse hands lay outside the coverlet, and were discoloured and bruised, whilst her beautiful eyes--her sole point of attraction--were closed, and left her rugged features without expression.