The Amulet

He uncorked one of the bottles and half emptied it; then muttering a few

words as to the strength and energy imparted by the liquor, he took the

lamp, and fixing his eye on the bottle, said: "It will take me only a few minutes to throw the body into the grave and

fill it up; but the rest of the work will require more than an hour. That

is a long time to be separated from you, is it not? To keep me company, I

will take the half-empty bottle; that will not hinder me from doing my

duty properly; on the contrary, it will give me courage and strength. Now

to work!"

He re-corked the bottle, put it inside of his doublet, took the lamp, and

slowly descended the staircase.

The passage leading to the cellar in which Julio had thrown Geronimo's

body was rather long, and he had time to feel the effect of the wine, and

it so raised his spirits that he commenced jesting about hid past anxiety,

and on nearing the cellar he sang the first notes of a joyful song.

But the words expired upon his lips, he trembled in every limb, and turned

ashy pale.

A voice answered him from the cellar.

Immovable from terror, Julio fixed his eyes upon the door, and strove to

comprehend the words which fell indistinctly upon his ear.

"Heavens!" he exclaimed, "it is Geronimo; he lives!"

Shuddering, he withdrew a short distance down the passage, and was for a

time as motionless as a statue. At last, with deep emotion, he said: "What can this mean? The signor said at the first thrust his dagger met

metal, but that the wound in his neck was deep. Suppose it were merely a

flesh-wound? What shall I do? Shall I let him live?"

He was painfully undecided.

"Impossible!" he said. "It would be the death-warrant of both my master

and myself. I must choose between his death and ours. Implacable fatality

urges me on--in truth, I have no choice. One blow, and all is over! I must

not hesitate; my knife is sharp."

He drew his dagger from its scabbard, examined the blade, tried it with

his finger. He shuddered, and a cry of horror escaped him.

"Fatal position!" he exclaimed. "To kill a man in cold blood! an innocent

man! What harm has poor Geronimo ever done me? Stab him! My heart fails

me--I cannot perpetrate such a cruelty. And yet, and yet I must! The crime

horrifies me, but I have no alternative. Only by the sacrifice of his life

can my master escape the scaffold, and I the gallows. Fate irresistibly

pursues me; I am the slave of necessity--I must follow whither it leads!"