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 against the Hlohovskys was avenged that night. A sentence as severe as the one Skalnicky had procured for his former friend was declared against the assassin’s granddaughter by the grandson of the beheaded. He swore that her proud soul must bear the burden of the family crimes until death; that atonement for them was not possible; that, abounding in wealth stolen from him, she should suffer the stings of remorse until death. He declared that her beauty was nothing to him; that life by her side would be like infernal tortures.

When, the next day, after waiting long for her visitor, the stewardess, trembling in every limb with fear that she would find him slain by some night monster, ventured into the Castle in search of the harper, she found that the ancient chamber in which the lamp placed by him was still glimmering was empty; nor could any traces of the young man be found. Thinking that he had gone into the woods for a stroll she waited for him the whole day, but in vain; he had disappeared from the Castle like a shadow.