be so securely seated on a throne as not to find sufficient employment for his time and thoughts in his own immediate affairs. We are in all probability forgotten amid higher cares." "Thou too then," said Carloman, "art a sufferer from this bold abandoned man ?" "His ward," replied the hermit; "her trusting father left her an orphan to his care he abused the trust, and would have forced her to wed a menial whilst he secured her wealth. Though young and almost friendless, she disdained the sacrifice. Resentment at her disobedience to his commands determined him to effect her ruin; and, to rob her of her life, he preferred a malicious charge against her, absurdly accusing her of a design to poison him: though it would have been easy, before an unprejudiced tribunal, to vindicate her innocence, yet, surrounded by creatures devoted to her guardian's will, her only chance of safety rested in immediate flight. An old, an humble, yet a faithful servant of her father, I became the happy instrument to effect her deliverance from persecution. The jewels which decorated her person sufficed to purchase the comforts as well as the necessaries of life, and here we hope to remain unmolested until the fall of the villain Lodowic shall enable the heiress of Count Falkenstein to assert and recover her rights."

It was many days ere the inclemency of the season would permit the knight to depart. Deeply interested in the fate of the charming Adelheid, he entreated to be allowed to wear her colours; and never had the hours speeded so rapidly with the fair exile, as when Carloman, seated by her side, related the dangers he had passed, the scenes he had witnessed, and the deeds of martial valour which he had seen accomplished. He sang to her the songs of Italy; in that chill region of eternal frost she felt the influence of its sunny skies and laughing vallies; and, though her lips refused to give utterance to the wish, her heart whispered the exquisite felicity which might be found in some vine-sheltered cottage, deeply embowered 'mid the clustering Appe

nines, where, remote from grandeur and from wealth, love should rear an altar and a throne. She knew not, she inquired not the prospects of Carloman; but her own inheritance, the wide and rich domain of Falkenstein, she would, gladly relinquish for so sweet a home, if his bright smile and tender glance were beaming there. At length came the hour of parting: a thousand promises of a quick return were breathed by the stranger knight, a thousand vows of eternal constancy were returned by the weeping maiden. Carloman pursued his journey, and Adelheid was left to experience all the miseries of solitude. For the first month she was absorbed in pleas ing recollections of past delights, every word that he had spoken was treasured in her memory, and fancy brought him again to her side: the next was filled with joyful expecta tions of his speedy arrival; but as week after week wore away, and he came not, the sickening pang of hope deferred subdued the buoyancy of her spirits, and she became a prey to gnawing grief. No longer able to divert her mind by her wonted occupa tions, she wandered about like a spirit of the mountains, as fair and as fragile as the frozen mist which a breath might dissolve. The agonies of disregarded and unrequited love were not, however, the only miseries she was destined to endure. The hermitage was invaded by a hostile crew; her faithful attendant, Michael, was slain at her fect; and the shrinking and defenceless victim was borne by armed men from her Alpine retreat, and hurried to the banks of the Rhine, where a vessel was stationed, destined for the city of Worms, in which she was compelled to embark. It was here that the usurper, Lodowic, held his court; and within its gloomy towers the hapless orphan committed to his care anticipated perpetual imprisonment. She had, however, too highly exasperated the savage heart of the tyrant by her flight, for him to rest satisfied with what he deemed so light a punishment. Without cemprehending the extent of his designs, she had evaded

them by withdrawing from his castle: his brutal soul had felt the power of her charms, and the possession of her lands contented him not. Unskilled in the softer arts, he resolved to force her to purchase her forfeited life by compliance with his wishes; and to apprize her of the extent of his power and the extremity of her danger, he determined to convict her in an open

court.

The great hall of the palace, misnamed of justice, was thronged when the gentle Adelheid was led to the judgment-seat of Lodowic of Bavaria. Friendless and forlorn, her fair hair hanging dishevelled over her shoulders, and mingling its silken tresses with the white folds of her flowing veil, she stood alone in the midst of a crowd of armed men, and listened in fearful amazement to the charges which were brought against her. The mockery of a trial was soon concluded. Accused of a conspiracy and attempt to murder, of leaguing with traitors and rebels, the imputation was sufficient when the sovereign will was known. Adelheid was found guilty, but, ere the passing of her sentence, her judges inquired of her whether she had aught to say in her defence. Adelheid looked anxiously round the assembly; the love of life, the apprehension of personal violence, swelled her heart with an earnest desire of preservation; her eyes glanced wildly from stranger to stranger, and just as she was withdrawing them in despair from that cold and heartless multitude, they caught the azuretinted scarf which she had wound round the arm of Carloman. It streamed from the shoulder of a knight, and, clasping her hands, she advanced a step, exclaiming, "I demand a champion!" In an instant the armed warrior who bore the silken token darted into the centre of the floor, and, flinging his gauntlet on the ground, offered battle in the cause of Adelheid de Falkenstein, to any and to all who dared accept his gage. Lodowic gazed upon this unexpected defender with a gloomy eye, and giving a sign to one of his hardiest retainers, Philip Swartzburg, of the

crimson plume, commanded his es quire to take up the glove. The heralds prepared the lists for the encounter, and, hushed into deep silence, the numerous spectators awaited the termination. The struggle was deadly, and its event for some time doubtful. The most intense and eager interest prevailed, for many were touched by the youth and beauty of the fair Adelheid, whilst Lodowic and his infuriated partisan were devoured by inward rage, since they had deemed not that any present would venture to espouse the quarrel of one who, it was evident, had incurred the resentment of the powerful. Alarmed lest this bold example should be followed by others, in defi ance of his acknowledged will, Lodowic resolved at any risque to crush the unknown champion. He watched for some manifest advantage on the part of Philip to put an end to the battle; but the knight of the blue amulet allowed not his adversary to gain the ascendant; and at the moment that he himself had nearly wrested the sword from the hand of his antagonist, the tyrant suddenly commanded the heralds to interfere and adjudge the victory to the crimson warrior.

A low murmur of indignation ran through the hall at this infringement of the laws of chivalry. "Treason!" cried Lodowic; "What, ho! my guards! secure the leader of yon factious crew." The ready instruments of the usurper's will advanced, but the knight, planting himself in an attitude of defence, and raising the vizor of his helmet so that the noble lineaments of his countenance were exposed to view, exclaimed, "On your allegiance, hold! My friends! my subjects! 'tis Wenceslaus, your sovereign, commands. Now, now is the fitting time to drag the enslaver of Germany from his ensanguined throne, and wrest the sceptre of its ancient kings from his unrighteous hand. He tramples on your rights, wreaks his accursed will on helpless woman, and denies the warrior the privileges of knighthood. Come on, all ye who love your suffering country, and I will break its

chain!" The cries of "Long live the rightful emperor! the elected of the nobles!" resounded through the hall. Swords were drawn and weapons clashed; a brief and murderous combat ensued; the blood of Lodowic dyed the floor, and his ermined mantle was soiled by the trampling feet of an exasperated multitude; but Adelheid heard not the shouts or the loud acclaims of victory; she saw not the fall of her prostrate foe, and the triumph of virtue and Wenceslaus; for the moment that her listening ear drank in the fatal words which, in her lover, had revealed the emperor of princely Germany, her heart sank; she saw at one glance the immeasurable distance which had suddenly arisen between them; and, unable to bear the idea of losing the beloved object who even now had testified the purity and the fidelity of his affection, she fell insensible to the ground. The newly-restored monarch pursued his triumphant course to Ratisbon. Adelheid, by his tender assiduities, recovered her health, and to all appearance her happiness. She made one of the brilliant procession which ushered in the sovereign to this renowned city, and conducted by her royal lover to a mimic Eden, she lived surrounded by all the luxuries which wealth could purchase or fancy invent. Smiles sat on her lips, but weight oppressed her soul. She could not but feel and express joy at the happy fortune of one so dear, and who so well deserved the throne which he had reascended; yet anxiety concerning her own fate destroyed her heart's repose-for, what was she to hope? and could she dare aspire to share the crown of an anointed king? Thoughts and anxieties of a similar nature frequently passed across the mind of Wenceslaus. The time had been when perchance he might have bound the fair brow of the woman of his choice with an imperial diadem; but now that his authority was not firmly established, even if he should refuse to be guided by the advice of his counsellors, who urged him to strengthen his power by a foreign alliance, ought he to hazard the effu

sion of blood for the gratification of his own wishes, offend his people, and raise up enemies by a match unequal and perilous in the present situation of affairs? He knew the disinterestedness of Adelheid's attachment, and he hoped that she would be satisfied with the impassioned devotion of his heart, nor wish to involve him in the horrors and the crimes of a civil war occasioned by a selfish determination to consult private feelings rather than the welfare of the state committed to his care.

Adelheid's suspense was not of long continuance. Depending upon a woman's weakness and a woman's love, Wenceslaus ventured to propose a union sanctioned only by the heart. More grieved than offended, she could not but see the impossibility of surmounting the obstacles which opposed her lover's wish to share his empire with her, yet was she not for one instant tempted to accept the offered alternative. The mildness of her rejection inspired him with hope that time and assiduity would overcome her scruples, whilst the generosity and fervour of his affection might have given an ambitious mind a strong expectation of securing its object. Adelheid was not quite proof against this feeling, but she too soon became aware of the inevitable ruin she should heap upon one so fondly beloved should she succeed in persuading him to adopt a measure that would irritate the whole of Germany against him, and she ceased even to wish to become his wife. Seated in the marble halls of the palace, where ten thousand perfumed tapers poured their blazing effulgence upon richlywrought tapestry and columns of burnished gold; listening to the choral swells and dying falls of instruments and voices exquisitely mingled and harmonized, the thrilling harpings of the silver-stringed lute, and the winding melody of the oboe; surrounded by glittering cavaliers and lovely ladies moving lightly and gracefully in the dance, herself the object of an emperor's warm devotion, Adelheid felt the difficulty of denial and the danger of her situation. But, if amid

the splendours of a brilliant and crowded court the task were hard, how much more fortitude did it require to resist the pleadings of Wenceslaus, when, wandering together through the pleached alleys of her stately garden, where the moonbeams played coldly over the flushing blossoms, and only the murmur of a distant waterfall broke the delicious stillness of the night, he besought her to sacrifice the opinion of a rigid world to one who was ready to hazard his throne if she required so dangerous a proof of his affection? She wanted strength to resist the temptation, and she determined to fly from it for ever. Adelheid quitted the enchantments which threatened to enslave her, and sought an asylum in a convent.

This precipitate step deeply offended her lover. Stung with resentment, yet convinced that the tender creature, whose whole soul was centred in him alone, would soon repent her abandonment of his society, and pine for a renewal of that sweet intercourse which had formed their mutual happiness, he resolved to leave her to the solitude she had chosen until her own weariness should induce her to comply with his solicitations. Neither was he alarmed at the intention she expressed to take the veil, though his anger was kindled by what he deemed to be a threat, and with the pride of man he trusted to the year's probation. Adelheid was not unconscious of the danger of delay. Her struggles had been painful, threatening even the destruction of a life so little adapted to the endurance of tumultuous conflicts; and lest she should have striven in vain to obtain the victory over the secret wishes of her soul, she privately solicited a dispensation from the Pope. There were many of the princes of the empire, who, dreading the power of her charms upon their sovereign, encouraged her in her determination, and aided her in her plans; and so well were their measures taken, that the awful ceremony which was to separ

ate her for ever from the world commenced ere Wenceslaus was apprized of the intended sacrifice. Crowned with flowers, decorated with jewels, and clad in a glittering robe, the selfimmolated victim appeared before an admiring yet pitying multitude. Nothing of external pomp was omitted by the members of the church to give effect to the scene. Long processions of veiled nuns trod the vaulted aisles; the officiating priests were decked in splendid vestments; clouds of incense were wafted from golden censers; and the solemn peal of the organ came mixed with seraphic voices hymning songs of praise. Yet, though the influence of these powerful stimulants was felt, the votary alone enchained the attention of the gazing crowd. She was pale even to the paleness of Parian marble, but the tint of the rose was not required to perfect beauty so dazzling and so delicate. Her eyes had lost their radiance; yet in their melting loveliness they seemed softer, sweeter far, than when they darted beams like the stars of heaven.

Firmly adhering to her high-wrought purpose, though her quivering lip betrayed the emotions of her heart, she performed her allotted part with dignity, until the sudden arrival of the emperor disturbed the serenity of her brow. He had hastened to the church, and, forcing his eager way to the steps of the altar, he stood aghast at the near completion of her vows to heaven. Shorn of her bright tresses, her costly ornaments and roseate wreaths scattered beneath her feet, she gave to him and to the world a last fond look, then raised her eyes to heaven, and, falling prostrate on the floor, the attendant priests spread a pall upon her recumbent form. After the lapse of a few minutes they removed the sable and ominous covering; but Adelheid stirred not, breathed not, and a wild cry from the surrounding ecclesiastics announced to the gasping multitude-that she was dead.