CHAPTER X. A SECOND MURDER. CHAPTER XI. MARION AND HERMAN BARNHURST. CHAPTER XII. MARION AND FANNY. CHAPTER XIII. AN UNUTTERABLE CRIME. CHAPTER XIV. SUICIDE. CHAPTER XV. AFTER THE DEATH OF MARION. Part Sixth. DAY, SUNSET, NIGHT. DECEMBER 24, 1844. CHAPTER I. ARRAYED FOR THE BRIDAL. CHAPTER II. HERMAN AND GODIVA. CHAPTER III. THE DREAM ELIXIR. CHAPTER IV. THE BRIDAL OF JOANNA AND BEVERLY. CHAPTER V. AN EPISODE. Part Seventh. THE DAY OF TWENTY-ONE YEARS. DEC. 25, 1844. CHAPTER I. MARTIN FULMER APPEARS. CHAPTER II. "THE SEVEN" ARE SUMMONED. CHAPTER III. "SAY, BETWEEN US THREE!" CHAPTER IV. THE LEGATE OF HIS HOLINESS. CHAPTER V. THE SON, AT LAST! CHAPTER VI. A LONG ACCOUNT SETTLED. CHAPTER VII. THE BANQUET ROOM ONCE MORE. Epilogue. ON THE OCEAN--BY THE RIVER SHORE--IN THE VATICAN--ON THE PRAIRIE. PRELIMINARY SKETCH. CHRISTMAS EVE, 1823, was a memorable night in the history of a certain wealthy family in New York. The night was dark and stormy, but the tempest which swept over the bay, and whitened the city's roofs with snow, was but a faint symbol of the tempest of human passion--jealousy, covetousness, despair--then at work, in the breasts of a group of individuals, connected with the old and distinguished family of VAN HUYDEN. On that night, GULIAN VAN HUYDEN, the representative of the family, and owner of its immense wealth--a young man in the prime of early manhood, who had been happily married a year before--gave a great banquet to his male friends, in his city mansion. By his side was seated his younger brother, CHARLES VAN HUYDEN, whom the will of their father had confined to a limited income, while GULIAN, as the elder son, had become the possessor of nearly all of the immense wealth of the family. The banquet was prolonged from about nine o'clock until near dawn, and during its progress, Gulian and his brother had been alternately absent, for the space of an hour, or a half hour at a time. The city mansion of Gulian, situated not far from Trinity Church, flung the blaze of its festival lights out upon the stormy night. That light was not sufficient to light up the details of two widely different edifices, which, located within a hundred yards of Gulian's mansion, had much to do with his fortunes, and the fortunes of his family. The nearest of these edifices, an antique, high-roofed house, which stood in a desolate garden, was (unknown to Gulian) the home of his brother, and of that brother's mistress--a woman whom Charles did not wish to marry, until by some chance or other, he became the possessor of the Van Huyden estate. The other edifice, a one-storied hovel, was the home of a mechanic and his young wife. His name was JOHN HOFFMAN, his trade that of a stone mason, and at the period of this narrative, he was miserably poor.