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Or of a muffed drum They paused

and faced each other silently

"Quick, madame!" cried Ormiston, hoarsely, his whole face flushed

wildly

His strange companion lifted her hand as if to remove the mask, and he

saw that it shook like an aspen She h about to

lift it, and then recoiled, as if from herself, in a sort of horror

"My God! What is thisme to do? How can I ever fulfill that

fatal promise?"

"Madame, you torture me!" said Ormiston, whose face shohat he felt

"YouLet me--"

He took a step toward her, as if to lift the mask himself, but she held

out both arms to keep him off

"No, no, no! Come not near me, Malcolm Ormiston! Fated ht blast you, if it will!"

She unfastened herblack hair

Ormiston did look--in much the same way, perhaps, that Zulinka looked

at the Veiled Prophet The nextwith a crash, as if a bullet had whined through his hart