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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The dead tryst - -Author: James Grant - -Release Date: August 19, 2022 [eBook #68789] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Al Haines - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD TRYST *** - - - - - - - - THE DEAD TRYST - - - BY - - JAMES GRANT - - AUTHOR OF 'THE ROMANCE OF WAR' - - - LONDON - GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS - BROADWAY, LUDGATE HILL - NEW YORK: 9, LAFAYETTE PLACE - - 1883 - - - - - JAMES GRANT'S NOVELS, - - _Price 2s. each, Fancy Boards._ - - The Romance of War - The Aide-de-Camp - The Scottish Cavalier - Bothwell - Jane Seton: or, the Queen's Advocate - Philip Rollo - The Black Watch - Mary of Lorraine - Oliver Ellis: or, the Fusileers - Lucy Arden: or, Hollywood Hall - Frank Hilton: or, the Queen's Own - The Yellow Frigate - Harry Ogilvie: or, the Black Dragoons - Arthur Blane - Laura Everingham: or, the Highlanders of Glenora - The Captain of the Guard - Letty Hyde's Lovers - Cavaliers of Fortune - Second to None - The Constable of France - The Phantom Regiment - The King's Own Borderers - The White Cockade - First Love and Last Love - Dick Rooney - The Girl he Married - Lady Wedderburn's Wish - Jack Manly - Only an Ensign - Adventures of Rob Roy - Under the Red Dragon - The Queen's Cadet - Shall I Win Her? - Fairer than a Fairy - One of the Six Hundred - Morley Ashton - Did She Love Him? - The Ross-shire Buffs - Six Years Ago - Vere of Ours - The Lord Hermitage - The Royal Regiment - Duke of Albany's Own Highlanders - The Cameronians - The Scots Brigade - Violet Jermyn - Jack Chaloner - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER - - I. TWO COUSINS - II. CHARLIE PIERREPONT - III. THE DREADED MEETING - IV. CHARLIE IN LOVE - V. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DOM KIRCHE - VI. AN ALARM - VII. AMONG THE BREAKERS - VIII. CHARLIE'S VISITOR - IX. FOR LIFE AND DEATH - X. TO THE RHINE! - XI. SEPARATED - XII. THE BAPTISM OF FIRE - XIII. THE DREAM IN THE BIVOUAC - XIV. THE LETTER OF ERNESTINE - XV. WHAT THE 'EXTRA BLATT' TOLD - XVI. IN FRONT OF METZ - XVII. FACING A BATTERY OF MITRAILLEUSES - XVIII. IN THE ENEMY'S HANDS - XIX. THE CHATEAU DE CAILLÉ - XX. ERNESTINE - XXI. AT AIX ONCE MORE - XXII. AT BURTSCHEID - CONCLUSION - - - - -THE DEAD TRYST. - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE COUSINS. - -On an evening in summer before the late siege of Paris, three -ladies--one a matron of mature years, the other two both young and -handsome girls, a brunette and a blonde--were seated in one of the -lofty windows of a stately room on the first _étage_ of the Grand -Hotel Royal, which immediately overlooks the Rhine at Cologne. - -The senior of these--Adelaide, Countess of Frankenburg, a woman -grey-haired now, and with features somewhat of the heavy German -type--had just received a letter, and was intent upon it, while her -daughter Ernestine, and her orphan niece Herminia, watched her face -with interest, and forgot the little Tauchnitz editions over which -they had been idling. - -'What does my brother Heinrich say?' asked Ernestine. - -'That he has got extended leave of absence from Potsdam, and next -week will arrive at Frankenburg, to spend some time with us. He -brings with him a young English friend, Carl Pierrepont, an officer -of his regiment. I trust, Herminia, you will receive my dear boy -with all the affection he so justly merits.' - -But Herminia made no reply, so the Countess repeated what she had -said, and fixed her eyes steadily and inquiringly upon her. She only -sighed, opened, and then tossed aside her Tauchnitz edition of an -English novel. The Countess's ideas of propriety would not permit -her to allow her girls to peruse any other light literature; but -having an idea that a married woman might read works of a -higher-flavoured nature, she sometimes read the works of MM. Dumas -and De Kock, to 'keep up her French,' as she phrased it - -The cousins--known as 'the Belles of Frankenburg'--were alike in -stature and delicacy, but very dissimilar in style of beauty and in -complexion. Herminia was dazzlingly fair, of a pure Saxon type, with -hair of that lovely brown tint which seems shot with gold in the -sunshine, and soft eyes of violet-blue, that seemed almost black at -night, and though brown her tresses, and wondrously fair her skin, -her eyelashes and eyebrows were dark, almost black; but her pretty -little nose bordered rather on the _retroussé_. - -Ernestine was a dark beauty, with black hair and clear, but -thoughtful and dreamy hazel eyes, which she inherited with the blood -of some Hungarian ancestor; her whole style was more classic than -that of her cousin. Her nose was slightly aquiline, with dark -straight eyebrows that nearly met over it, imparting a great degree -of character to her face, which was suggestive of decision of mind -and firmness of purpose--a little self-willed and opinionated, -perhaps; for Ernestine was not without her faults. She was fond of -admiration; but what pretty girl is not? She liked dress and gaiety, -and would dance all night if her partners pleased her. - -The Countess carefully folded her son's letter, and fixing her keen -grey eyes on Herminia, said, somewhat sententiously: - -'Though an old man now, the father of my Heinrich was as brave a -soldier as ever trod the soil of Germany, and his name is yet -venerated among the Uhlans of the Archduke; and I am proud to say, -Herminia, that his son is worthy of such a father.' - -'Were my cousin the Archduke himself,' said Herminia, wearily, for -she was pretty well used to hear these encomiums, 'he would be -totally indifferent to me.' - -'Herminia!' - -'Totally, I repeat. Pardon me, dear Aunt Adelaide; but he has no -particular claim on my regard.' - -'He is your cousin, your own blood relation--near almost as a -brother!' said the Countess, impatiently. - -'But still, mamma, as I have said a hundred times before, he can have -no claim upon her hand,' urged Ernestine, who had not yet spoken on -the subject. - -'Do you, Grafine, wish to abet Herminia in her strange contumacy?' -asked the Countess, severely. - -'I speak but my thoughts, dearest mamma.' - -'Her father, the Staats Rath, gave her away to him as a child; but -you, as well as I do, know the arrangement made by our family; they -were betrothed when she was in her cradle, and he a schoolboy at -Bonn; and now he comes to claim her hand, in virtue of that -betrothal,' added the Countess, who, though a German, had -considerable nobility and dignity in her bearing and aspect. - -'Such foolish arrangements may have been made long ago, Aunt -Adelaide, when robber-barons lived in those ruined castles which look -down from every rock upon the Rhine; but such would be absurd in -these days of ours, when its waters are ploughed up by steamers, and -the lurlies and elves have all been put to flight.' - -'Herminia,' said the Countess, with increasing severity, 'do you -revere the memory of the Baron and Privy Councillor your father?' - -'I do, indeed, Aunt Adelaide; my father's memory is very dear to me, -even as that of my dead mother, whom I never saw,' replied the girl, -with her eyes growing moist; 'but I decline to admit the right of -either to give me, while yet a helpless child, away to anyone in -marriage. The idea is eccentric; it is more, it is odious and -preposterous!' - -'You use somewhat strong language, Grafine.' - -'Surely not stronger than the situation merits?' replied Herminia, -her soft voice trembling with agitation and annoyance. 'If my cousin -Heinrich is unmanly enough to insist upon the fulfilment of this most -absurd family compact, I shall ever deem him most unworthy of my -regard, or, indeed, that of any woman!' added Herminia, whose tears -now began to fall. - -'Then it is your resolution to violate, to trample upon, to utterly -disregard the affectionate contract made by your parents and by his?' - -'But I have never seen this--this most tiresome cousin, Aunt -Adelaide!' - -'That has been a misfortune caused by your being educated in England, -while he was at the university, and then with the army.' - -'Hence he is to me a stranger, and must be greeted and received as -such.' - -'I think my brother Heinrich is acting foolishly in bringing the -English friend (of whom he writes so frequently) to Frankenburg,' -said Ernestine. - -'Why?' asked the Countess. - -'Because Herminia, in the very spirit of opposition, may fall in love -with _him_.' - -'My father could not have taken a surer way to make me shun and -loathe my cousin, and even do something more dreadful still, than by -forming this arrangement.' - -'Something more dreadful still!' repeated the Countess, raising her -voice, and surveying her niece through her gold eyeglass. 'In -Heaven's name, what _do_ you mean, Herminia?' - -'By compelling me to marry a man I don't love; for what happiness -could follow a union with a total stranger? Besides, I don't want to -marry.' - -'Your own cousin a stranger?' persisted the Countess. 'But though we -have discussed this subject a thousand times before, there is one -feature in it to which I have never referred, and which, -consequently, will be _new_ to you.' - -'I am glad to hear _that_,' replied the contumacious little beauty, -shrugging her pretty shoulders and almost yawning. - -'I mean a clause in your father's will, by which, if you do not marry -our Heinrich, your fortune will be divided between him and your -cousin Ernestine,--leaving you, in fact, without a silver groschen.' - -'I would not have a kreutzer of it--neither, I am sure, would -Heinrich!' exclaimed Ernestine, emphatically. - -'Neither of you would be consulted in the matter. But now, Herminia, -will you brave the prospect of poverty--a life of utter -dependence--go back to England as a governess, perhaps?' - -'Yes,' said the girl proudly; 'I would brave anything.' - -'You love some one else!' exclaimed her aunt. - -'I have never said so,' replied Herminia, with a perceptible tremor -in her sweet voice; 'but no doubt it is this fortune of which you -speak that Heinrich wants.' - -'Did he want it when you were in your cradle, and he was carrying his -satchel at Bonn?' - -'I should think not; but he may want it now, after some years spent -in the army.' - -'Shame! you forget yourself, Herminia--forget that you speak of your -own cousin--of _my_ son. It is much more likely that some -adventurous friend, some acquaintance, whom you have picked up here -is thinking of your fortune, than my dear Heinrich.' - -The old lady's eyes were actually filled with tears, and after a -pause she said: - -'I regret, Herminia, that I ever sent you to England.' - -'Why, dearest aunt?' - -'Because those English girls, your school companions there, have -indoctrinated you with preposterous ideas of female -independence--right of choice, and so forth; and now that I think of -it, _who_ is that gentleman with whom you waltz so frequently?' - -'Waltz, aunt?' said the girl, in a low voice. - -'And who gave you, last night, that rose which you now wear in your -breast?' - -'Last night, aunt?' faltered Herminia, now blushing deeply, while -Ernestine laughed mischievously. - -'Don't repeat my words, please. Yes, last night, when the band of -the Uhlans was playing in the garden of the Prinz Carl?' - -'Herr Ludwig Mansfeld.' - -'And how came you to know him?' asked the Countess, severely, adding, -'I hope he is not an officer from the barracks?' - -(Such dreadful fellows 'those officers from the barracks' seem to be -all the world over, from Canterbury to Cabul!) - -'I met him first at a ball in the Kaiserlicher Hof, where the Master -of the Ceremonies introduced him to me when you were playing cards in -the ante-room. We dance frequently; and the introduction was -unnecessary, according to our German ideas.' - -'In--deed!' - -'Is there any harm in all that when he dances so delightfully? - -'And oh, how handsome he is!' exclaimed Ernestine. - -'I fear some harm has been done already; and I do not think that any -gentleman should dance with a young lady before he has obtained the -permission of her chaperone.' - -There was now a pause, after which the Countess said: - -'The Count urges our return before Heinrich arrives; so we shall take -the train to Aix-la-Chapelle to-morrow.' - -'So very soon, aunt?' said Herminia, growing pale. - -'My dear, I am sorry to spoil your pleasure here; but to-morrow -morning _we go_,' said the Countess, rising haughtily; 'come with me, -Ernestine. I need your assistance with my correspondence.' - -The mother and daughter swept out of the room, their dresses--the -rustling moiré of the Countess and the maize-coloured silk of -Ernestine--gliding noiselessly over the varnished floor, and Herminia -was left to her own sad reflections. - -'Ich bin sehr böse!' (I am very angry) she heard the Countess -exclaim, as the door closed, and then she heard her cousin make some -laughing response. - -'How can Ernestine be so heartless?' thought the girl; 'but, alas! -she knows not what love is! To-morrow,' she exclaimed -aloud--'to-morrow, I shall lose him, and perhaps for ever, my dear, -dear Ludwig!' - -Her handsome eyes were now welling over with hot, salt tears. She -had her arms above her head, with her white slender fingers -interlaced amid the coils of her beautiful brown hair; her eyes were -cast mournfully upward; then she tore her fairy fingers asunder with -a sob in her throat and let her hands drop by her side as she sank -back in her chair. - -'Would to Heaven that I had never known him--that we had never, never -come to Cologne,' she exclaimed. - -She felt that she must see Ludwig once again; but this dreadful -cousin, how was he to be avoided? - -These two ideas filled her whole soul as she sat, silent and -motionless, looking out on the view that lay before the hotel -windows: the broad waters of the famous Rhine, shining redly in the -light of the setting sun, covered with sailing vessels and steamers -shooting to and fro, its great pontoon bridge, through which the -current surged, the wilderness of roofs that formed the city--that -Rome of the north which Petrarch apostrophized to Colonna--stretching -far away, with the great masses of the unfinished cathedral, the dome -of St. Gereon, with its three galleries, and the stately tower of St. -Cunibert rising high in the air and casting mighty shadows eastward. -But Herminia surveyed them all as one who was in a dream, and kept -repeating to herself, as she drew the rose from her breast and -pressed it to her trembling lips with all a young girl's fervour: - -'Yes--yes--I must see him once again, and then all will be over--over -for ever!' - -She glanced at her watch, took her hat and gloves from a console -table close by, and hastily and noiselessly quitted the room. -Descending the great staircase of the hotel, she issued into the -beautiful garden attached to it, and proceeded at once to a certain -fountain, near which a gentleman was lingering. He hurried towards -her, and took both her tremulous little hands within his own. He -gazed tenderly into her eyes, and then scanned the windows of the -hotel. Alas! too many overlooked them, so the longed-for kiss was -neither given nor taken; and neither knew that at this very time, -they were both seen by the Countess and the laughing Ernestine. - -Though in plain clothes, attired as a civilian, the soldier-like air -of Ludwig Mansfeld would not conceal. He was dark-complexioned, -especially for a German, with straight handsome features. He was -closely shaven, all save a thick moustache, and he had tender brown -eyes--tender, at least, when they looked into those of Herminia, who -was now weeping freely. - -'Tears?' said he, inquiringly. - -'Yes, Ludwig, tears; I have much reason for them.' - -'How, darling? - -'We leave Cologne to-morrow.' - -'Ah! why so soon?' - -'It is the resolve of my aunt.' - -'And for where, darling?' - -'Aix-la-Chapelle.' - -Her lover's features brightened as she said this. - -'Well, my own one, I shall be there in a few days,' he whispered -cheerfully; 'and if we are prudent, and watch well our opportunities, -it will indeed be a very remarkable thing if we don't meet as often -as we may desire.' - -'But my cousin--this most odious _fiancé_--Heinrich von Frankenburg, -joins us in a week from Potsdam, where, I understand, his regiment is -stationed.' - -'I have seen Frankenburg, and know that he has the reputation of -being dangerously handsome; but I thought he was on leave of absence?' - -'So he has been. As for Aunt Adelaide, she is a tyrant, and I do -believe would keep me in pinafores, if she could!' said Herminia -bitterly. - -'Herminia, dearest,' said the young man, while gazing at her -lovingly, earnestly, and very keenly, 'you have never seen this -wondrous cousin, to whom your family wish to assign you like a bale -of goods?' - -'Oh, never even once, Ludwig; and to me he is an object of -abhorrence!' she exclaimed passionately. - -'Excuse me, my love,' said Ludwig sadly; 'but I have a strange -foreboding--a presentiment which comes to me unbidden, and seems to -say that when you _do_ see him, your present abhorrence may pass -away, and--and a tender emotion take its place. The propinquity and -charms given to a cousin are perilous for a secret lover like me.' - -Herminia now wept bitterly. - -'Ludwig, I could quarrel with you for such a cruel suspicion,' she -sobbed out, 'but that we are, I fear me, now speaking together for -the--the--the last time,' and, heedless of who might see the action, -in the abandonment of her great grief, her head sank on his shoulder, -and she nestled her sweet face in his neck. - -'Your tears, my own darling,' said he, 'are a rebuke, and more than a -sufficient rebuke, for my suspicion; and bitter, indeed, would this -parting-time have been to me, but for the knowledge--the sure -conviction--that, even if a thousand cousins came, still we shall -meet at Aix.' - -Herminia shook her head mournfully, and said, 'I pray to Heaven that -it may be so, and with the hope these words inspire, I must now, -dear, dear Ludwig, say--farewell!' - -And so they parted, with hearts that doubtless were aching sorely, -for their future seemed dark and dubious. Yet he seemed more hopeful -than her. He kissed her very tenderly, and, though his naturally -brown cheek looked pale, she thought he smiled at their temporary -separation--if temporary it was to be--more than she could account -for. - -But doubtless, lover-like, he had some bold plan in view. - -'Yet it was a sad, sad smile my darling gave me,' thought the girl, -as, with her veil closely drawn, she slowly and wearily ascended the -great oak staircase to the _étage_ off which her bed-room opened; -'but no doubt he only thought of cheering me.' - -Next morning the Countess's carriage took the trio to the -Eisenbahnhof for Aix-la-Chapelle; and as Herminia from the -swift-speeding train looked back to the sinking spires of Cologne, a -curtain seemed to have fallen between her past and present existence. - -And oh! how weary was the night that followed, when tossing -restlessly, defiantly, and petulantly on her laced pillow, she lay in -broken slumber, with tears matting her long and lovely eyelashes. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -CHARLIE PIERREPONT. - -A week after this, a drochski deposited a smart-looking young -officer, in the uniform of the 95th Thuringian regiment--blue with -red facings and silver epaulettes, spike-helmet and black belt--at -the entrance of the Pariser Hof of Cologne, a comfortable and -moderate hotel, suitable to that style of economy continental -military men are usually constrained to practise. - -Though wearing the well-known uniform of the Prussian army, it was -impossible not to recognize in the new arrival, as he sprang lightly -up the steps of the hotel, that he was an Englishman, a genuine -Briton, for he was the Carl Pierrepont mentioned by young Frankenburg -in his letter to the Countess. Carl--or Charlie, as he was known -when he was wont to hold his wicket in the playing-grounds of Rugby -against the best bowler in the three hundred, and to con his studies -in the white brick Tudor school-house, or in the long avenue called -Addison's Walk--was a great favourite with all his regiment, and -already had the honour of being specially noticed on parade by our -Princess Royal when her husband was reviewing the Prussian troops, -and of receiving from his hand the much-coveted Iron Cross when -almost in his boyhood. - -One great cause, perhaps, of Charlie's popularity among the -Thuringians was, that as an Englishman he was destitute of that -aristocratic hauteur which causes the well-born German officer to -regard all under his command as an inferior order of beings, a style -of bearing and sentiment unknown alike in the armies of Britain and -France. - -His face was fair, his features handsome, and he was verging on -thirty years of age. His character, like his figure, was fully -developed and formed; the expression of his eyes betokened -intelligence and promise; while his lithe and manly form had all that -muscular strength and activity that women often prefer to intellect -in men, and which is frequently the result of the out-door sports in -the playgrounds of Rugby, Eton, and Harrow, a portion of our English -system of education. - -Though the son of a fox-hunting Warwickshire squire, who knew every -cover in Stoneleigh, the Brailes, and the Edgehills, the head of an -old but certainly embarrassed family, so far as mortgages and so -forth went, he was barely deemed among the wohlgeborn, according to -the Prussian standard; and poor Charlie had nothing as yet but his -epaulettes and sword, his pay as a soldier of Fortune, with the -privileges usually accorded to Continental officers, such as going -everywhere at half-price in virtue of their being in -uniform--privileges which ours would decline 'with thanks.' - -Charlie Pierrepont was everywhere a great favourite with the other -sex; and perhaps there was no species of flirtation in which he was -not a skilled hand, and he had carefully studied the whole 'scale of -familiarities, the gamut of love,' as he was wont to call it, from a -touch of the hand or the elevation of an eyebrow, upward, to the -extremity of tenderness; and thus much of his time had been passed -pleasantly for some ten years in every garrison town between the Elbe -and the Vistula; but he had always come off scot-free, for he was -possessed, as we have said, of but his epaulettes and sword, while -many of the girls he met were as finished flirts as himself; and -some, after a short acquaintance, would show their hands with a -laugh, and, as it were, throw up their cards. - -'Kellner! let me have a room on the lowest _étage_ that is -unoccupied,' said he, as his portmanteaus were carried in by the -hausknecht. - -'Yes, mein Herr,' replied the oberkellner, or head-waiter. - -'Is the young Count Von Frankenburg here--an officer of the -Thuringians?' - -'Yes; he is now at the _table d'hôte_. The bell has just rung, so -mein Herr is exactly in time for dinner.' - -'Very good.' - -'This way, mein Herr,' said the waiter, bowing; 'but, though in the -Prussian uniform, I think the Herr is an Englishman.' - -'How do you know that I am so?' - -'Because I myself am one, and I recognized you by your voice.' - -And, sooth to say, Charlie was very unlike a German in that respect, -and had the pleasantly modulated voice of a well-trained English -gentleman, and few voices are more agreeable to listen to. - -He entered the stately speise-saal, or dining-hall of the hotel, -where the landlord, in the kindly German fashion, sat at the head of -the table, presiding over all his guests, more than a hundred in -number, and already the waiters were busy. A single glance showed -Pierrepont where his comrade sat--a smart and handsome young officer -in undress uniform, who was caressing a dark moustache, and making -himself agreeable to a lady beside him. He rose and beckoned to the -new arrival. - -'Welcome to Cologne, Carl!' - -'Thanks, Heinrich. How are you?' - -They shook hands simply, as Charlie had a genuine English repugnance -to salute a man in the German fashion on the cheek. He then took the -chair which his friend, the Count, had reversed and placed against -the table, for service beside his own. - -'Kellner! die speise-karte!' The wine card was called for next, and -the serious business of the meal began, amid all that noise and -hubbub peculiar to a German _table d'hôte_, where Counts and Barons, -with ribbons and orders, may be seen handling their knives and forks -like English ploughmen, and pretty frauleins tugging away at chicken -bones with the whitest of teeth, and the most perfect air of -self-possession. The first conversation was, of course, about the -expected war concerning the Spanish succession, the political -sketches in the _Kladderadatch_, the official accounts in the _Staats -Anzeiger_; how all Paris was brimming over with enthusiasm, rage, and -vengeance; that crowds were always in the streets shouting, 'Down -with Prussia!' 'To the Rhine! to the Rhine!' 'To Berlin!' How the -'Marseillaise' was being sung, and the hotel of the Prussian -ambassador was only saved from total destruction by the intervention -of the gendarmerie; for the time had now come when the Prussians -spoke exultingly of Leipzig, even as the French did of Jena, and also -raised the cry of 'To the Rhine!' while the national songs of the -Fatherland were constantly sung in hoarse but martial chorus. - -Dinner over, the lighted candles came, as a hint for the ladies to -retire, and rising like a covey of partridges they withdrew. The -cloth was removed, and fresh bottles of wine, or lager-beer, with -tobacco and cigars, were provided on all hands, and the conversation -became more general, and, if possible, more noisy than before. - -As the subject of the coming war was discussed, many eyes were turned -to the two friends in the uniform of the 95th Thuringians, for both -seemed gentlemen and soldiers, and no troops in the world look more -like our own in bearing, and in firm, manly physique, than the -Prussians. Charlie Pierrepont had acquired many of the ways of the -latter, and would join, when on the march, 'Was is des Deutschen -Vaterland,' as lustily as if his father had been some Rhenish Baron, -and not a hearty Warwickshire squire. - -'I am already sick of this subject of the war,' said Charlie, as he -lingered over a cigar; 'one hears so much of it everywhere. By the -way, have you yet seen your fair cousin, Heinrich?' - -'Yes.' - -'And found her charming?' - -'Beyond my fondest hopes; but she knew not that I had seen her, nor, -in truth, did I care much to intrude upon her.' - -'Intrude!--upon your intended?' - -'That is the word,' said the Count, with a strange smile. - -'Why, Herr Graf?' - -'Don't "Herr Graf" me. Call me Heinrich.' - -'Well?' - -'A deuced fellow, named Ludwig Mansfeld (I found it so in the -_Fremden Buch_, at the Grand Hotel), has cut me out--quite.' - -'Have him out in another fashion, and I am the man to measure the -ground for you.' - -'Thanks, Carl, but I would rather fire at my own figure in a mirror,' -said Frankenburg, laughing. - -'You are sure your friends expect me at the Schloss?' - -'Yes, at Frankenburg; they are familiar with your name there. I have -written so often of you to Ernestine, my sister.' - -'She was educated in England, I believe?' - -'With Herminia at the west end of London; so you and she will get on -famously together. As you are a musician, you will like her -immensely, Carl.' - -'I have no doubt of that.' - -Little indeed could poor Charlie Pierrepont foresee all Ernestine was -yet to be to him. - -'I am a bad fellow, I fear,' said the Count reflectively; 'I have -trifled with too many women in my time, and fear that I am not worthy -of this sweet cousin of mine, even if she would have me.' - -'Nay, nay, Heinrich----' - -'Somebody writes, that "if we were all judged by our deservings, -there is scarcely a man on earth would find a woman _bad_ enough for -him."' - -'That is taking a low estimate of mankind in general.' - -'And of the 95th Thuringians in particular,' added the young Count, -laughing; 'to-morrow we shall start for Frankenburg in an open -britzka--it is only twenty-five miles from this; and now, one bottle -more of St. Julian, and then we shall go and see the girls at the -gardens of the Prinz Carl.' - -'Half German and half French--some of them are, no doubt, very -pretty.' - -'Nay, I hope they are wholly German now. It was in those gardens I -first met my beautiful cousin, with that devil of a fellow, who, -somehow, got introduced to her. Let us go then; the band of the 76th -Hanoverians plays there every evening. This time to-morrow will find -us at dear old Frankenburg, where, as I shall have the girl all to -myself, I hope to turn the flank of this Herr Mansfeld. I am in love -with my cousin--actually in love with her at last.' - -'My simple comrade, of what are you talking? Is this any age of the -world in which to wear your heart upon your sleeve? Is this fellow -Mansfeld good-looking?' - -'Rather,' said the Count, twirling the points of his moustaches, and -eyeing himself complacently in the depths of a great mirror opposite; -'but I wish I had your general success, Carl.' - -'In what--I took honours in nothing at dear old Rugby.' - -'Indeed--not even in flirtation?' - -'In that I might have had the golden medal, had golden medals been -given for such excellence.' - -They assumed their spike helmets and swords, which the Prussian -officers wear through a perforation in the left skirt, as their belt -is worn under the coat, and thus bantering each other, cigar in mouth -and arm-in-arm, they proceeded laughingly towards the crowded gardens -of the Prinz Carl Hotel. - -Next day saw them off for Frankenburg in an open britzka. The day -was a lovely one in summer, and the scenery around them grand. -Charlie, of course, apostrophized the Rhine, and quoted Byron. They -passed Düren and the valley of the Ruhr, with the picturesque hamlet -of Riedeggen perched on its lofty rock; Merodé, the cradle of the -Merodeur; industrious Stolberg, with its château crowning a hill, and -the beautiful wood named the Reichswald. - -Young Frankenburg was in excellent spirits, and bantered the driver, -calling him schwager (brother-in-law), a singular title for -post-boys, and so forth, the origin of which is unknown. He was -rather too liberal to him in the matter of trinkgeld (drink money); -thus the britzka was driven at a thundering rate down that basin of -beautiful hills which surround Aix, while Heinrich waved his -forage-cap, and sung verses from the war-song of Arndt: - - 'My own Fatherland, my brave Germany on! - We'll sing them a terrible strain. - For what ages ago, their vile policy won-- - Of Strasburg, of Metz, and Lorraine. - They shall hand it all back to the uttermost mite, - Since for life or for death they compel us to fight. - To shout, "To the Rhine, to the Rhine, and advance! - All Germany onward, and march into France!"' - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE DREADED MEETING. - -A week had passed away at Frankenburg, and the subject of the young -Count's return--that event so dreaded by poor Herminia, from motives -of delicacy, perhaps--had not been resumed, till the evening which -saw him and his comrade driving through the beautiful scenery just -referred to. - -Dinner had been delayed, as the Count had telegraphed from the -Pariser Hof that he was coming, and both the young ladies had made -most careful toilettes, and perhaps sorely tried the temper of their -attendants--Herminia, to please her watchful and somewhat suspicious -aunt; Ernestine to please herself, and perhaps with a secret desire -to please her brother's boasted friend, who, being an Englishman, -would, she feared, be rather critical and fastidious. - -And still further to achieve the laudable end of subduing him, she -was now at her piano, practising sundry vapid fashionable songs which -she had learned in England, just as our English girls strum German -and Italian, learned, perhaps, at second hand from some poor needy -governess. Most warmly had Heinrich written to her again and again -about his English comrade, who had once actually fought a duel for -him at Altona, when he was too ill to fight for himself, so Ernestine -was all anxiety to know, receive, and thank him; for she doted on -Heinrich, her only brother, as a loving, tender, and devoted sister -alone can dote. - -During all the past week, Herminia had but one thought, especially -when riding, driving, or walking abroad. Her lover had confidently -promised to see her again, and to follow her to Frankenburg; but she -had seen nothing of him, and no letter or note, however brief, had -reached her. - -Why was this? She could find no answer in her heart, and doubt and -anxiety cost her many tears in secret. - -There had been great bustle and anticipation all day long in the -somewhat secluded mansion in consequence of the expected arrival of -the young Herr Graf and his friend. The family were to be 'not at -home' to any visitors. Already Grunthal, Rheinburg, and sundry other -Grafs had called in their ramshackle old-fashioned coaches and -droschkies, covered with coats-of-arms exhibiting the usual German -infinity of quarterings; and certain officials of Aix-la-Chapelle, -with their wives, who, like other wives all over Germany, insisted -upon taking the titles of their husbands' occupation, had been day -after day leaving their cards, having heard that 'the Belles of -Frankenburg had returned;' but now all were to be denied, and this -afternoon was to be devoted to the only son of the house. - -The Countess, who, though a modern lady of fashion, requiring her -novels, cushions, Spitz lap-dog in a basket, and the _Kladderadatch_ -to get through the day, was nevertheless, on the other hand, as -thrifty a German housewife as any of the old school, had bustled -about overseeing the culinary preparations, while her husband, Count -Ulrich, who was passionately addicted to the pleasures of the chase, -spent only half that day in the woods, and was now, with a huge pipe -(having a china bowl and tassel) in his mouth, watching, like a -sentinel, from a terrace before the drawing-room windows, the road -that wound away towards Aix-la-Chapelle. - -The once smart officer of Uhlans, who had ridden on old Blucher's -staff at Waterloo, on that eventful day when the 'Iron Duke' wept -with joy to hear the boom of the Prussian cannon--the smart Lancer, -of whom the Countess had boasted at the Grand Hotel, was somewhat -obese now. He was, in fact, a very stout, bald-headed, and rather -coarsely featured old Teuton, with a red ribbon (of course) at his -button-hole, and a thick plain hoop on his marital finger, as all -married men wear one in Germany. - -He had been kept uninformed, so far as Herminia knew, of her aversion -to his son, and her very decided preference for a certain obscure -Herr Mansfeld, whose image was rising painfully before her, as she, -too, from time to time, looked down on the distant view, to where the -spires of the Dom Kirche of Aix rose darkly up amid the ruddy haze of -evening. - -The Countess could detect in the face and deportment of her niece -that which the preoccupied or uninformed Count did not. It was but -too evident that Herminia had passed a disturbed night, a restless -and feverish day. Indeed, Ernestine admitted that she had heard her -sighing and moaning in her sleep, and Herminia had quitted her couch -that morning resolving to appeal to the chivalry, the manhood, the -charity, and honour of her cousin to release her from the yoke, the -thraldom his family had placed upon her, even with the loss of her -fortune. - -Ignorant of this resolution, the Countess took her niece's passive -hand--and a lovely little hand it was--in hers, and said kindly but -firmly-- - -'Meine liebe, I trust that when our dear Heinrich arrives, you will -not exhibit any unpleasant coldness towards him.' - -'Can you expect me to exhibit warmth? Is he not an utter stranger -save by name? Would warmth in me be modest or becoming, aunt? -Besides----' she paused, for tears choked her utterance. - -'Do not be alarmed, mamma,' said Ernestine, as she looked laughingly -back from her seat at the piano; 'I know our Heinrich to be so -handsome and winning, that he will soon obliterate all recollection -of our friend at the Grand Hotel.' - -'Ernestine,' said Herminia reproachfully, while she glanced nervously -at the portly figure of her uncle, who was still watching the Aix -road from the lofty terrace, where the box-trees were cut into -strange and fantastic shapes, like lions and egg-cups, and where some -stately peacocks strutted to and fro. - -Frankenburg is situated on the summit of a tall rock that towers -above the line of the Antwerp railway. The actual castle is a ruined -and ivy-mantled tower of unknown, but fabulous, antiquity, as it is -actually averred to have been a hunting seat of Charlemagne. A more -modern edifice has been engrafted on it, and this formed at the time -the residence of the Count's family. It had all the usual comforts -of a fashionable German household; but there was still attached to it -a banqueting-hall of the seventeenth century--the pride of Count -Ulrich's heart--with its black oak roof, its rows of deer skulls and -antlers, with all the implements for fishing, shooting, and hunting, -hung upon the walls, pell-mell with fragments of armour and weapons -of every kind, from the great glaives of the middle ages to muskets -and sabres gleaned up by the Count at Ligny and Waterloo. - -And there, at Christmas time, a tall fir-tree from the Reichswald; -covered with toys and cakes, grotesque masks, _papier-maché_ dolls, -candles and shining lights, gladdened the hearts of the little -tenantry, who were cuddled and kissed up and down by the hearty old -Baron acting Father Christmas, with a mighty white beard, a cowl, and -long wand; while Ernestine and Herminia glided about like good -fairies, dispensing viands and wine to the sturdy Teutons and their -blooming fraus, when the trees of the Reichswald were leafless and -bare, and the branches glittered like silver and crystal in the -frostwork, and the first snowdrops of the season were peeping up in -sheltered spots, and the brown stacks of the last harvest were -mantled with snow. - -And on these annual festive occasions there was seen the Countess -Adelaide, as lively and jovial at fifty, if not so pretty, as she was -at fifteen. There, too, were the grim ancestry, the men and women of -other days and years, looking down from their garlanded frames, in -ruffs and stomachers, in breastplates or fardingales, just as Hans -Holbein, Rubens, and others had depicted them, and looking as demure -as if they had never flirted, squeezed hands under the tablecloth, -known the use of the mistletoe, or been like other folks 'world -without end.' - -'Hoch! hoch! Gott in Himmel! here they come--here is our dear boy at -last!' exclaimed the Count, clapping his fat pudgy hands, as the open -britzka, drawn by a pair of sparkling bays, came suddenly in sight, -with two officers in blue uniforms occupying the back seat. One of -these--Heinrich, no doubt--was waving his forage-cap, and the vehicle -was driven straight to the grand approach. The enthusiasm of the old -veteran of Waterloo swelling up in his breast when he saw the uniform -of the 95th, for - - 'He thought of the days that had long since gone by, - When his spirit was bold and his courage was high.' - - -Herminia grew deadly pale, and took advantage of the Countess -hurrying out upon the terrace to retire to her own room, whither, -however, her watchful aunt almost immediately followed her. - -'Dearest Aunt Adelaide, oh! spare me this great mortification!' -intreated the trembling girl. - -'Spare you?' repeated her aunt, now seriously angry, in expectation -of a public scene before Charlie Pierrepont, a stranger. - -'Yes, I implore you to spare me the horror of this meeting. Oh, -Ludwig!' she moaned in her heart, 'my own Ludwig!' - -'I do not know whether you are most weak or defiant,' replied her -aunt. 'I give you a quarter of an hour to recover your composure and -to make your appearance properly in the drawing-room, with such a -bearing as will not be an insult to my son, to the memory of your -father, and our whole family.' - -And with these words the Countess swept haughtily away. - -Herminia bathed her face and hands with eau-de-cologne and water, -gave a finishing touch to her hair, kissed the envelope which -contained the now dry and faded leaves of Ludwig's rose, placed it in -her soft white bosom as a charm to strengthen her for the purpose she -had in hand, and descended noiselessly to the drawing-room, when the -sound of several voices, laughing loudly, jarred sorely on her ears -and excited nerves. - -She entered with her heavy eyelids drooping, and advanced with her -gaze bent on the oak planks of the polished floor; then she shuddered -as some one approached and took her unresisting hand. - -'Herminia, dearest, look up! look upon _me_!' said a familiar voice. - -'Ludwig! my own Ludwig!' she exclaimed in astonishment--almost -terror, to see him there, and in the uniform of the Thuringians, as -he said-- - -'And now, cousin, let me introduce you to my dear friend, Herr Carl -Pierrepont of ours.' - -'Ludwig?' said the thoroughly bewildered girl. - -'No Ludwig at all,' he replied, laughing, and embracing her; 'but -your own cousin, my belle--Heinrich of Frankenburg.' - -'Aunt Adelaide!--Ernestine!--what _does_ all this mean?' - -'It means, my dear child,' said the Countess, laughing heartily at -her niece's perplexity; 'it means that it was all a plot of -Ernestine's and Heinrich's, too. They had early learned your -repugnance to the plan of betrothal, when you were too young to -consent or refuse, and we all saw the folly of a constraint that -seemed so heart-sickening to you. Thus we arranged that you should -meet him as a stranger under an assumed name. You have met, and know -and love each other, so the tie of that love alone binds you now.' - -'Oh, Ernestine, my sweet cousin, forgive and forget my reproaches!' -exclaimed the blushing and trembling, but happy girl, as she laid her -head on the bosom of the beautiful brunette, who laughed and kissed -her, fondling her as if she were a child. - -'Well, Carl,' said Heinrich, 'what do _you_ think of all this?' - -'That I wish you every joy; but I must own, that when proposing to -"have out" this Herr Mansfeld, your reply about shooting at -_yourself_ in a mirror puzzled me,' said Pierrepont, laughing -heartily at the whole situation, and enchanted with the happy scene -amid which he was introduced to two such beautiful girls as the -famous Belles of Frankenburg. - -But now the bell clanged for dinner. The Countess took his arm, the -Count leading with his niece, Heinrich and his sister following, all -laughter and smiles. - -The only silent one there was the radiant Herminia, who had been, as -her affianced said, 'so pleasantly tricked.' - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -CHARLIE IN LOVE. - -That night, at the very time the three gentlemen were in the -smoking-room busy with their china-bowled pipes, and with silver -tankards of beer before them--Heinrich full of happy dreams about his -fair-haired cousin and the trick they had played her; the old Count -full of memories of Waterloo and the coming war, French insolence, -the Vaterland, and all the rest of it; Charlie thinking how divinely -Ernestine sang and played, how sweet her downcast lashes looked, how -bright her upward glances, how lovely were the white hands that -wandered over the ivory keys, and made the said keys look very dark -and yellow by comparison, and while to him and Heinrich it seemed -that life at Frankenburg would be almost insupportable without the -two 'belles' thereof. While all this was being thought of in the -smoking-room, we say, the two young ladies were comparing their notes -in their mutual dressing-room before retiring for the night to their -beds--those most uncomfortable couches which, in 'the Vaterland,' are -mere wooden boxes with pillows half-way down, and so arranged that -one can neither sit nor lie at full length therein. - -That Charlie was handsome, agreeable, pleasant, and so forth, was -voted and carried _nem. con._, and Ernestine was full of fun and -pleasure at the success of her scheme--for with her it -originated--for luring Herminia into love with her brother by having -him introduced to her as a stranger. - -'But oh, Herminia!' she exclaimed, 'to think of you getting the start -of me!' - -'In what way?' asked Herminia, putting the whitest of feet into the -daintiest of slippers. - -'In getting engaged _first_; it is most unkind!' continued Ernestine, -laughing, as she let down the masses of her dark silky hair. - -'You forget, dear cousin, that I was engaged when in my cradle or -berceaunette.' - -Then the two girls, now nearly half-undressed, laughed as only young -and happy girls can laugh, and with two snowy arms upheld, and -dimpled elbows shown, Ernestine went on brushing out that thick, dark -silky hair of hers. - -'I declare, Herminia, I _do_ think I am pretty,' said she, suddenly -pausing and surveying herself in her laced night-robe in the long -cheval glass. - -'You are too beautiful not to be quite aware of it,' replied Herminia. - -'I wonder if Carl Pierrepont admired me?' - -'Why?' - -'Because--I should like him to do so.' - -'Who could fail to admire you?' responded the happy Herminia. - -'How sweetly he sang that song with me.' - -'Heinrich tells me he is poor,' was the suggestive remark of Herminia. - -'Alas!' after a pause, the former said, smiling. - -'Herr Pierrepont scarcely took his gaze off you all the night; when -you sang alone he seemed entranced, and when with you, in those -duets, his voice became tender and tremulous.' - -'Herminia, do you really think so, or do you jest?' - -'I do not jest; hence my suggestion about his being poor, for that -man is loving you at first sight.' - -'Your own sudden happiness, and the revulsion of feeling consequent -to the great _dénouement_ of to-day, lead you to think so,' replied -Ernestine, her smile brightening nevertheless, for she liked the idea. - -'Nay, nay, his visit is to last some time; and time will prove that I -am right,' persisted Herminia, twisting up her coils of golden brown -hair. - -Ernestine sat for a time toying with a velvet slipper half on and -half off her pretty foot, and then suddenly she said-- - -'Oh, Herminia, how can such a man care for me?' - -'Why not, cousin dear? who would not, or could not, fail to care for -you?' - -'But he seems so proud and cold, and so very English.' - -'You quite mistake, and only wish to hear me contradict you. He is -much less so than your special admirer, Baron Grünthal, the Director -of the Upper Consistorial Court.' - -'A hideous old frump!' said Ernestine, tossing her head. - -'Old! He is only forty.' - -'But that is more than twice my age. My husband must be young and -handsome.' - -'Like Carl Pierrepont?' - -'Yes, like Carl Pierrepont.' - -'He certainly seems to have impressed you,' said Herminia. - -'You forget how often and how much Heinrich has written of him in his -letters to me. He seems quite like an old friend. How strange it -would be,' continued the girl, while a dreamy expression stole into -her beautiful dark eyes, as she sat with her slender fingers -interlaced over her knees, 'how very strange it would, if in him I -should have met--met----' - -'What, cousin? - -'My fate.' - -'Let him take heed, that, in meeting you, he has not met with his -own,' said Herminia merrily. - -'I have been longing to go to a wedding, and yours more than all, -dear Herminia; for being aware of your betrothal, it was one to which -I always looked forward. I shall be one of the bridesmaids, of -course; and the two daughters of the Justiz-rath, and the two girls -from Rheinberg, though their toilettes are odious, and Hermangilda's -hair is always muffled up like a mop.' - -'A golden mop, though; but, dearest cousin, how your tongue does run -on! Does it never occur to you that no marriage can take place with -this French war--oh, meine Gott!--before us?' - -And her eyes of violet blue suddenly filled with tears as she spoke, -as vague images of death and battle rose before her. - -'Forgive me, Herminia. Yet I was not jesting.' - -'Forgive you, dear? Yes. I may as well do so,' replied the other -girl, kissing her cousin on both cheeks; 'for to you and aunt I owe -the love that Heinrich bears me--the love that I bear him.' - -'And which Herr Mansfeld so nearly carried off!' - -'And now, as we have our prayer's to say, good-night.' - - -Herminia was right; the girl, indeed, a close observer, was seldom -wrong in her deductions, for 'Herr Carl Pierrepont' was hopelessly -smitten at last by Ernestine, who, like the lively blonde, her -cousin, was rich in those charms, and mere than all, those pretty -mannerisms, or tricks of women, that win and secure a man's love for -ever. - -Charlie was neither proud nor reserved--only a little shy at first; -he had been engaged in many _affaires du coeur_, but a genuine attack -of the tender passion was new to him. He soon found himself -regularly installed and adopted, an _ami du maison_, with this -delightful family at Frankenburg. As an Englishman, his natural love -of hunting, shooting, and fishing won him the friendship of the old -Count, with whom he drank as many flasks of Rhine wine and jugs of -beer as he wished; but he had one blot in the eyes of the latter--he -could never take cordially to _saur kraut_. - -He was a prime favourite with the Countess from his general -_bonhommie_ of manner; and with Ernestine--ah! well, with -Ernestine--he speedily became more of a favourite than the girl would -have dared to acknowledge even to herself. - -Society at Frankenburg was narrow and monotonous; most of the -visitors who came, especially Baron Grünthal and the Justiz-rath, -spoke only of politics, of Bismarck's plans, and the coming war, -which did not interest the ladies, save in so far as the 95th -Thuringians were concerned. - -The days were devoted to rides and rambles amid the beautiful scenery -around the old Schloss; the evenings to music, to singing, and -frequently to dancing when the daughters of the Justiz-rath, or those -of Baron Rhineberg, were present; and then our two 95th men were -always in full uniform, _à la Prussien_; and the ladies were all -unanimous that Charlie looked _so_ handsome. - -Those epaulettes! those epaulettes! To many a young English officer -the pride and glory of wearing them was only secondary to the kiss of -the first girl he loved; and where are they _now_? - -So Charlie was proud of his epaulettes. - -Heinrich had fairly won his lovely cousin--under 'false colours,' -certainly; but, nevertheless, he _had_ won her; perhaps, from the -girl's peculiar temperament and pride, he might never have done so -otherwise; but having so won her, he was compelled to be thankful, -for with this odious French war on the _tapis_--a war which, but for -his love, he would have hailed with genuine German ardour, and the -95th under 'orders of readiness' for the Rhine--marriage, as Herminia -herself had said, was not to be thought of: so they had but to trust -to time and wait. - -The Countess being always busy about the management of her household, -the Count having frequently to visit Aix about a lawsuit in one of -the courts there, and Heinrich being usually much with his _fiancée_, -threw Charlie and the young Grafine so much together that their -hearts were hopelessly entangled; yet no word of love escaped the -latter: he knew too well his lack of civil rank, and how many, or -rather how _few_, kreutzers he had per diem as a Prussian lieutenant -of infantry. He could but abandon himself to the witchery of her -society, to dream of the joy of loving and being loved by her, and -drift away on the tide, too well aware that the charm of such a life -and the tender influences of such society could not last for ever. - -With all their exalted and somewhat absurd ideas of their own family, -their rank and antiquity, the household of the Count and Countess Von -Frankenburg was a homely and kindly one; and, after his garrison -life, there was, to Charlie, a wonderful charm in accompanying the -cousins, Ernestine especially, to see the plough and carriage horses -taken to water at a certain pond below the old Schloss, to feed the -peacocks on the terrace, to throw corn to the hens, and watch them -picking and pecking between the stones in the yard at the home farm. - -And Ernestine was to him the Eve of this Eden! - -But for the soft and gentle influences under which Charlie and his -friend were at Frankenburg, they would certainly, like Prussian -officers in general (though gaming is strictly forbidden in the -army), have spent many an hour at the New Redoute, or Gaming House, -in the Comphausbad-Strasse, where games of hazard, rouge-et-noir, -roulette, and so forth, are played from morning till midnight. - -In lieu of this dissipation, they had quiet walks in the woods or -visits to old ruins in the neighbourhood; and Ernestine, who was -German enough to have a strong love of the mystic, the ethereal, and -the romantic, and a desire to dabble with the unseen world, told -Charlie many a strange weird story; and though with all an -Englishman's mistrust of such things, it was impossible not to be -charmed by her earnestness, the modulation of her voice, the bright -expression of the dilated hazel eye, and the occasional but perfectly -innocent pressure of her pretty hand upon his arm, when she sought to -impress him by some remarkable episode. - -In the old ivied tower at Frankenburg she showed him the window of -the room in which the third wife of Charlemagne, Fastrada, daughter -of Count Raoul, died, while the Emperor was absent at Frankfort; and -told how he caused her body, which was so fair and beautiful, to the -end that it might never decay, to be enclosed in a coffin of the -purest crystal, which he kept in that chamber, and he never quitted -it by day or by night, neglecting his empire and government, and -forgetting all the concerns of war or peace, till Turpin the Wise -resolved to cure him. - -Watching his opportunity, while the Emperor slept, he opened the -coffin, and took the golden wedding-ring from the finger of Fastrada, -and cast it into the lake below the castle, and thus broke Charles' -spell of sorrow. From that day the great lake into which the magic -ring was cast, and which quite surrounded the Schloss, began to -shrink, and nothing of it remained but the tiny horse-pond already -mentioned. - -And while she was telling this legend, a little grey owl sat in the -window of the ruin, winking and blinking in the sunshine, as if he -was weary of having heard the story so often. - -The ruin, too, was haunted by the spectre of a former Count of -Frankenburg, who, resolving to get rid of his Countess, to the end -that he might marry again, invited her to share a dish of love-apples -with him. These he divided with a silver-knife poisoned on one side; -but by some mistake, he ate all the poisoned halves himself, and so -fell dead at the table; and there in the upper story of the tower, -his cries of pain and despair were sometimes heard on the wind in the -stormy nights of winter. - -So, amid this sweet intercourse--like one gathering beautiful flowers -on the brink of a giddy precipice--did Charlie Pierrepont drift into -a deep and hopeless passion. - -He never spoke of it, but surely his eyes must have told, and his -manner too, that he loved her. Oh yes, how he loved her, this -earnest and warm-hearted young Englishman, yet was silent. He dared -not seek to lead her into a promise to wait till the sun of Fortune -shone on him, to waste her young and happy life till slow promotion -came: and even were he a colonel, the Count might--nay, would--look -for wealth or rank, or both; and while he--Charlie--was thus waiting, -could he ask a girl so lovely to trust to the doctrine of chances, -for a lucky spoke in the wheel of the blind goddess, and to grow -_fade_ and withered with the sickness of hope deferred? - -Yet the sweet face, the dark shining hair, the tender, bright eyes, -the pretty winning ways--oh, those pretty winning ways, that twine so -round the heart of a man!--haunted him in the waking hours of the -night, and in his tormenting, yet delicious, dreams by day. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -WHAT HAPPENED IN THE DOM KIRCHE. - -Strong though the sentiment of friendship that existed between him -and Heinrich, Charlie shrunk from making a confidant of him, as he -knew but too well that his aristocratic prejudices and native -ambition would preclude him from having any sympathy with such a -secret love, or giving it the least encouragement. - -So the days of joy stole away at Frankenburg, till Charlie began to -reckon sadly the few that yet remained, when time would inexorably -separate him from Ernestine, and, too probably, for ever. - -Did she suspect that he loved her? - -A hundred times had Charlie asked this question of himself in doubt: -he was not an egotist; but every glance of her soft hazel eyes--that -seemed, he knew not why, something between a caress and a compliment, -together with a dash of entreaty--might have told him that he was -far, far indeed from being indifferent to her. - -In the spirit of the old song, he often thought, - - 'He either fears his fate too much, - Or his desert is small, - Who dare not put it to the touch - To win or lose it all.' - - -If 'things did not turn,' in time--and for him how could they turn? -it was torment to think of losing her by his own silence and -diffidence; of seeing her, perhaps, won by another, far his inferior -in bearing and spirit, while he hungered for her smile, doted on her -shadow, and alternately blessed and _banned_ the hour that brought -him to the Castle of Frankenburg. - -He thanked Heaven that there was this impending war with France -before them. On the banks of the Rhine, or before the walls of -Paris, if he ever reached it, a French bullet might end it all for -him, and he would never have the horror and sorrow of knowing that -she was the bride of another; and so on, and on, day by day, when by -her side, talking with her and enjoying all the sweet charms of her -society, did this honest fellow torment himself, for we may, in the -matters of love and jealousy, torment ourselves far more than others -can. - -Of this, a terror of every possible _parti_ who approached her was -one element, especially if rich or titled. - -There was Baron Grünthal, who came about Ernestine more than Charlie -relished. He was a man of great influence, and Oberconsistorial -Director of the Court at Aix, not over forty, and rather -good-looking. Even the daughter of a Count might be pleased to -become Baroness Grünthal. - -Then one or two young Counts, friends of Heinrich, were among the -frequent visitors, and Charlie gnawed his moustache viciously, as he -pictured to himself, perhaps meeting her years hence, as the wife of -one of these, when he was getting grey, weary of waiting for the -promotion that never came; or if it did, he would value so little -then: for with her, the glory of life would depart. - -Getting grey? But she would be a matron then in years; and does not -Jean Jacques Rousseau tell us that a pair of grey-haired lovers were -never known to sigh for each other? But Charlie thrust that thought -aside; he preferred to live in the pleasant present than to picture -the gloomy future. No romantic incident, no runaway horse, no death -averted from accident, or other melodramatic episode to draw largely -on the young lady's gratitude, as in novels, led to Charlie's avowal -of his love. - -It all came about suddenly, in the most unromantic way, a quick -outpouring of passion, a rush, as it were, of the heart to the lips, -through the influence of which he told her that he loved her, her -only, and craved her love in return; and it all came to pass in this -fashion. - -One day--Charlie Pierrepont never forgot it--they had contrived to -get away alone, to visit the great Dom Kirche at Aix, the shady -aisles and vast depths of which, with all its sequestered chapels, -were as well calculated to lure them into sweet and earnest converse -as the leafy alleys of a forest. - -They had visited the tomb of Charlemagne, where, as Ernestine, while -leaning on Charlie's arm, and looking up in his face, from under one -of the prettiest of hats, told him with bated breath, that when it -was opened in the tenth century, the Emperor was not found in the -usual fashion of the dead, reclining in his coffin, but seated on a -throne as if alive, clothed in imperial robes, a sceptre in his hand, -and the gospels on his knee. On his fleshless brow was a crown, and -by his side his famous sword, Joyeuse. - -'And now,' added his charming guide, 'I shall show you the throne on -which he was seated; it stands in the Hoch Munster.' - -Now the said Hoch Munster is a gallery running round the octagon, -facing the choir, and to reach it a narrow stair had to be traversed. -Charlie, who, strange to say, had drawn off his gloves, held out a -hand to guide Ernestine, who, by another coincidence, had drawn off -one of hers, and when Charlie's fingers closed on her soft and -velvet-like little hand, the desire to press it naturally occurred to -him, but a thrill, as if of electricity, went to his heart, when he -felt--with the gentlest assurance in the world--the pressure returned! - -The stair to the Hoch Munster was surely steeper than usual, they -ascended it so slowly. Amid its obscurity, Charlie pressed to his -lips twice the accorded hand, which was not withdrawn, and ere they -gained the upper step that led to the gallery, the great secret of -Charlie's heart had escaped him, and flushed and palpitating; -Ernestine heard him with downcast eyes. - -The vehemence with which the avowal was made, though his voice was -low and earnest, and the tender expression with which he regarded -her, when they did emerge into daylight, bewildered her a little, -which, perhaps, was the reason that she permitted Charlie to take -prisoner her other hand; but after a time she regained her composure, -and, looking up at him with a most bewitching expression in her -tender brown eyes and pouting lip, said, as if she had doubted her -ears, in a whispered voice, - -'You--you love me?' - -'Yes--oh yes! Dearest Ernestine, you must have known from the -first--from the very first hour I saw you, that I loved you.' - -'I always thought,' she continued, in the same low and certainly -agitated voice, 'that you preferred my society to that of Herminia or -the Rhineberg girls.' - -'Preferred your society--oh, Ernestine!' - -'I did think that you were very fond of me--yes, very fond of me; but -that you actually loved me, I could not conceive.' - -So the lovely little gipsy pretended, and cast her eyelids down, -while her soft bosom heaved so much with emotion that her diamond -brooch sparkled like prisms. After a pause, the tender eyes were -again uplifted to Charlie, and as if she rather liked the sound of -the avowal, she said timidly, - -'And so you love me--love me, Carl?' - -How Charlie's heart now leaped to hear his Christian name uttered by -her lips for the first time! - -'Ernestine, my own darling!' (et cetera, and so forth). - -They remained--as the sacristan who was patiently waiting for his -fees said--quite long enough to have made an acute archaeological -investigation of the whole place; but somehow their minds were -otherwise occupied. - -Singularly enough, they had forgotten all about the throne of -Charlemagne, and actually descended--slower than they had -ascended--the stairs of the Hoch Munster without having seen it. - -They were both very silent on the drive homeward, but their young -hearts were brimming over with joy, and deep blushes suffused the -face of Ernestine, and her lips were trembling; and as if her -mother's eye might read how they had been occupied in the Dom Kirche, -she hurried upstairs to her own room, to seek in solitude the power -of reflecting over all that had passed, and her new position, for -within an hour she had passed a certain rubicon in life. - -Charlie, too, desired to be alone, and ascended into the recess of -the ruined Schloss, where, among the owls and the ivy, he slowly -lighted a cigar, and while his heart was full of love and happiness, -and of gratitude to Ernestine for returning his passion, he began to -consider what was to be done next. - -He first abandoned himself to a dream of joy. In imagination -Ernestine was with him still; her hands so soft and small yet -lingered in his; her lips were still before him, and the perfume of -her dark hair came back to him, as he rehearsed, over and over again, -all that episode in the Dom Kirche. - -The secret that had trembled so long on his tongue--the secret that -cold prudence and dread of German pride withheld so long, had escaped -him at last. His love had been avowed; that love was accepted and -reciprocated. - -But now, alas! there came home to Charlie's heart those thoughts that -had occurred to him before--thoughts that had not, as yet, entered -the mind of Ernestine. The future--how and what was it to be? How -cold and miserable was reflection--miserable, but for a time only. -Was not the fact of mutual love and perfect trust existing between -them enough to make all seem glorious, and the path of life most -flowery? - -She loved him--that bright and beautiful girl! Beyond that love she -might never be his; but with that love for him, she would never be -the wife of another. Yet, as he before asked himself, was it just or -generous that her young life should be wasted, and for him? - -If he suggested an elopement, in what light would such an episode -place him with his friend Heinrich, with her whole family, with his -regiment, and society, even, which was very, very doubtful, if she -would accede to such a measure. - -So long as he had not spoken of love to Ernestine, but lingered on -the pleasant borderland that adjoins the realms of Cupid, Charlie -felt that he was guilty of no breach of faith with her family, and no -violation of the hearty hospitality extended to him. But _now_ his -position seemed entirely altered. Their love was a fact; he had won -her heart without the consent of her parents, and that consent, in -his subaltern rank in social and military life, he knew but too well -would never be accorded to him. - -'Well, well,' thought he, with something of grim joy, 'the war is -before me, and who can foresee what honours I may win in defending -Germany, or on the soil of France!' - -When the party in the Schloss met at dinner that evening, there was a -conscious expression in the faces of Charlie and Ernestine that they -alone could read, and to which their hearts had alone the key; and to -both there was something novel, joyous, and inexpressibly sweet in -this secret understanding between them. Each felt a delicious -interest and right of proprietary in the other. - -Among the visitors was Baron Grünthal, the Oberdirector of the -Consistory Court at Aix, a stout and florid, but rather handsome man, -in the prime of life, with an ill-trimmed moustache hiding his whole -mouth, and the inevitable red ribbon at his button-hole, who -mentioned incidentally that he had seen the Grafine and Herr -Pierrepont leaving the Dom Kirche by the great door, on either side -of which are a she-wolf and a fir apple in bronze. Ernestine stooped -over her bouquet to hide her conscious blush. - -'You know, mamma,' said she, in a tone of explanation, though none -was required, 'we drove into town, Herr Pierrepont and I, that I -might show him the tomb and throne of Charlemagne.' - -'Ah! yes,' said the Baron, making his champagne effervesce with a -piece of biscuit; 'did you think the marble slabs of a good colour, -Herr Pierrepont?' - -'Beautiful!' said Charlie. 'The finest black I ever saw,' he -desperately added, at a venture. - -'Black?' said two or three voices. 'Why, they are of the purest -_white_!' - -'Exactly; that was what I meant to say. My German is not perfect, -Herr Baron,' said Charlie. - -And Ernestine, who had grown pale, now laughed and glanced furtively -at her lover. - -Dinner over, the Count and Baron retired to smoke and talk politics; -but the latter, whose suspicions had been roused by the confused -manner of Charlie, and the evident absorption of him and his fair -companion when quitting the Dom Kirche, began to talk of something -that might seriously affect their happiness. - -Charlie and Ernestine betook themselves to the piano, where eye could -look into eye, and finger touch finger occasionally in the duet, or -soft whispers be exchanged amid a sonata of Beethoven; the Countess -retired to doze in the boudoir, with her Spitz pug on her knee; while -Herminia and her betrothed found sufficient attraction in each other; -so the evening of this eventful day passed off peacefully and -happily, as many others had done. - -During the protracted progress of the sonata, the two antiquarians -from the Dom Kirche agreed that their engagement--for such they fully -considered it now--should, as yet, not be divulged to anyone, not -even to Herminia, from whom Ernestine had never before had a secret -to withhold. - -Outwardly, our hero and heroine seemed merely intimate friends who -were soon to part; inwardly, they had their own happy thoughts, while -the family had not the slightest suspicion of how matters stood, -though that night all was on the very verge of discovery! - -In the recess of a window, whither they had gone to study the stars, -Charlie suddenly pressed Ernestine to his breast. - -'Oh, dearest, don't do that again!' she exclaimed. 'Aunt Adelaide -may see us; and she has the eyes of a lynx!' - -After this night, matters progressed fast with the lovers. In the -same house, they had a hundred means of meeting each other, were it -but for five minutes at a time. Rings and locks of hair, of course, -with coloured photos--the best that could be got in -Aix-la-Chapelle--had been exchanged; promises were made and vows -exchanged again and again, with other delicious tokens equally -intangible. - -In the flush of his love, Charlie forgot for a time the cruel doubts -that had at first oppressed him. Ernestine should be his wife at all -risks, even if he carried her off to England; and, in the ardour of -his imagination, he began to marvel whether his father's old place in -Warwickshire would ever be free from those debts which drove him to -become a wanderer, a soldier of fortune, and to feed himself by his -sword in the ranks of the Prussian army. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -AN ALARM. - -Amid the pure satisfaction arising from the knowledge that Ernestine -loved him, and the natural anxiety to discover how she was ever to be -his wife, there was fated to come to Charlie Pierrepont the fear of -greater opposition to his--as yet--secret hopes and wishes, in the -person of a formidable rival, who, in a few weeks after the visit to -the Dom Kirche, came suddenly into the field. - -One evening, when the Count, his son, and Charlie were seated cosily -in a place which the former called his study (but which more -resembled a harness and gun room, and littered with pipes of all -kinds, as the literature there consisted of a few volumes on hunting, -shooting, farriery), with their pipes and flasks of Rhine wine, which -they drank from silver tankards, the Count startled our hero by a -revelation which he made to him as a friend of the family. - -A wealthy and great man--an intimate friend of the house of -Frankenburg, who, though not noble, was nevertheless Hochwohlgeboren, -had made proposals for the hand of Ernestine. - -The cloud of smoke in which the trio had enveloped themselves perhaps -prevented the father and son from seeing the sudden contraction of -Charlie's brow on getting this unpleasant information. - -'Does it meet with your approval, Count?' he asked, with a violent -effort to appear calm. - -'In every respect.' - -'And yours, Heinrich?' - -'No, Carl.' - -'Why?' - -'Because the man is more than double her age,' replied the young -Count. - -'That is----' Charlie was about to say 'unfortunate;' but the fib -remained unuttered. Then after a pause he asked, 'And what says the -Grafine?' - -'She dismissed him with kind words, certainly,' replied the Count, -'and well-bred wishes for his happiness. He then came to me, begging -me to use my authority over her as a parent, which I shall certainly -do.' - -'Herr Graf!' exclaimed Charlie, who felt a keener interest in all -this than his hearers imagined; for even Heinrich, in the absorption -of his passion for his cousin, had not the faintest suspicion that -his friend did more than admire his sister; 'Herr Graf, would you -actually attempt to control your daughter's affections?' - -'Der Teufel! attempt it? I shall do it!' replied the Count angrily, -as he laid his hand emphatically on the arm of his chair. - -So this was the first intimation Charlie had of the coming storm. A -rival in the field, and his leave of absence on the verge of expiry! -The situation--with all his trust in Ernestine--was, to say the least -of it, alarming. Would she actually be torn from him after all? -Fearing to speak, he remained perfectly silent; but, as his curiosity -was irrepressible, he asked after a time-- - -'May I ask, Herr Graf, who this suitor is?' - -'The Baron Grünthal, Oberdirector of the Consistory Court in -Aix-la-Chapelle.' - -Then Charlie remembered that the Baron had been at the Schloss that -morning, and been long in the Graf's 'study' in consultation, and -that he failed to see Ernestine as usual, save at dinner, after which -she had hastily left the table. It occurred now to Charlie, too, -that she had seemed both disturbed and taciturn during the progress -of the meal. - -Such an offer was deemed flattering, even for a daughter of the house -of Frankenburg. Ernestine had dismissed the Baron; but, backed by -her father's authority, he returned to the charge, and came the -following day to dinner; and until the bell rang for that meal, -Charlie, to his perplexity and annoyance, could see nothing of -Ernestine, who remained sequestered in her room. Had her mother any -suspicions? thought he; but as yet the Countess had none. - -On this day, in honour of the suitor, whose aspirations met with her -full approval, her white hair was done over a _toupée_ that was -higher than usual, her train was longer than ever, and she wore the -best of the family diamonds. - -This was the most miserable meal ever made by Charlie Pierrepont. -The Count was rubicund, smiling, and conscious. He had smoked many -pipes and imbibed much beer over the idea of having such a -son-in-law. The Baron had made a careful study of his costume, and -was most gracious to the ladies, but more especially to the Countess, -who addressed nearly all her conversation to him--the winner of one -of 'the Belles of Frankenburg.' Herminia looked waggish, Heinrich -somewhat provoked, as he deemed the suitor too old, and that his -sister's wishes should be consulted; while Ernestine--whose toilette -(a golden-coloured silk, trimmed with black lace), a most becoming -one for a brunette, had been made under the critical eye of her -mother--looked pale, 'worried,' and worn, and, like Heinrich, -provoked too, for, as we have said elsewhere, she was a self-willed -little beauty, and somewhat opinionated. - -In spite of the desire of all to appear at their perfect ease, the -meal passed off awkwardly; the conversation flagged, and was unequal; -and if the eyes of Ernestine met those of Charlie, he would read in -them an imploring and sad expression, and when they looked down, they -seemed to sparkle with anger. - -At last the meal passed over--and it proved the last that Charlie -Pierrepont was to consume in Frankenburg; the ladies rose from the -table to retire. - -As Charlie opened the dining-room door for them, Ernestine contrived -to be the last who passed out, and swiftly and unseen, she slipped -into Charlie's hand a tiny scrap of folded paper. This he hastened -to open and read covertly, on resuming his place at table. It -contained but one pencilled line-- - -'Be in mamma's boudoir to-night at eleven, when all are in bed.' - -He would have pressed it to his lips, but for the presence of those -who were with him. Eleven o'clock? The hour was then eight, as a -great ormolu clock on the side buffet informed him, and so he had -three long hours to wait for this most coveted interview! And for -two of those hours he would have to endure the society--or rather the -presence--of this most obnoxious rival who had so suddenly started up -in his path, and with whom he felt a violent desire to quarrel, but -that such an episode would have been alike unseemly, unwise, and -calculated to excite suspicion. - -They could meet in conversation on the neutral ground of the French -war; but in everything he stated, Charlie could not suppress a keen -desire to contradict the Baron. The latter asserted that King -William would lead the Prussian army in person. To this Charlie gave -a contradiction as flat as if he had it from the royal lips. Metz -would be, undoubtedly, the chief base of the French operations. This -idea he utterly scouted! England would take part in the war, through -the influence of the Crown Princess. England would do nothing of the -kind, said Charlie--what was the Rhine to her? - -The Baron began to elevate his eyebrows, and became silent. The -Count looked uneasy; one glass more, he suggested, and then they -would join the ladies. They did so; but on entering the drawing-room -found the Countess asleep as usual, with the Spitz pug in her lap; -Herminia idling over the piano, while longing for Heinrich; and that -Ernestine was--which was never her wont--absent. - -She had pleaded a headache, and retired to her own room. The Baron -looked glum and disconcerted. He had been framing many fine speeches -to make to his intended; but now they were no longer required. He -should see her no more for that night. - -Charlie fingered the little note in his waistcoat-pocket, and felt -defiant and jubilant. - -The truth was that the Countess and her daughter had almost had high -words on the subject of the Baron. - -'Mamma,' the latter had said, 'the idea of such a thing is -intolerable and absurd!' - -'Why absurd, Grafine?' asked her mother, with asperity. - -'A man of forty or more, getting bald already,' said Ernestine -mockingly; 'a stout man in a blue coat and brass buttons, with a red -ribbon, of course, at his lapelle; a man who, for twenty years, has -never made up his august mind to marry, comes now to make a -matrimonial victim of me. Thanks--no. I am the Grafine Ernestine of -Frankenburg, and such I shall remain.' - -'Do you prefer anyone else?' asked the Countess, her eyes glittering -with sudden suspicion. - -'No--none,' she falteringly said, with her cheeks aflame. - -'Is there not _one_?' - -'What do you mean, mamma?' - -'I mean this,' said the Countess, with grim asperity, hiding her -suspicions, if she had any, 'my dear child, the regiment of Heinrich -is under orders for foreign service! his leave is conditional, and -may be cancelled by telegraph at any moment; so that if we wish his -presence at the marriage, the ceremony must be performed without much -delay.' - -'It shall never take place with me,' replied Ernestine resolutely. - -'To your room, Grafine,' said the Countess with hauteur; so her -daughter gladly withdrew, leaving her to make excuses for her absence -as she pleased, so the usual female ailment of a headache came at -once into play. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -AMONG THE BREAKERS. - -The Baron had been driven home to Aix in his britzka, promising to -return for some final arrangements on the morrow, when he hoped to -find the health of the Grafine restored; prayers were over; the -household were all a-bed, or supposed to be so, and Charlie sat in -his own room, looking sadly out upon the distant lights of Aix, which -seemed to twinkle like the stars above them. - -He had ample food for reflection. Fear of the Baron's influence on -Ernestine he had none; but he had real fear of the influence her -family, and long-trained habits of implicit obedience, might have on -her, and genuine love and truth are commodities too scarce and -valuable in this world to be wasted. - -How much, thought Charlie, were Herminia and her cousin to be envied; -they had been, and were, so successful in their love, and all through -the fortunate little scheme of the Countess and Ernestine. - -How he longed to show the latter to his sisters; for Charlie had -three, in that dear old home in Warwickshire, all softly featured and -gently mannered girls, such as England excels in, more than all the -world besides. Would they love her? But could they fail to do so? -Well, his father might, perhaps, oh, no! he could not look coldly on -her, because she was a foreigner. Pure innocence and beauty belong -to no country in particular; and Ernestine looked more thoroughly -English than many an English lady Charlie had seen in Regent Street -and the Row. - -What was to be the end of all this? - -In spite of all his prudence and the suggestions of reason, Charlie -had fallen madly in love, without considering what a costly whim a -high-born wife would prove to a Prussian subaltern; or how the prize -was to be obtained, the whim gratified. - -Eleven was struck by the great old clock in the hall of the Schloss, -and Charlie, who had been awaiting it, watch in hand, took his wax -taper, and softly and swiftly descended the great staircase to the -boudoir of the Countess, a small octagonal apartment that opened off -the drawing-room. - -It was, of course, without a fireplace; but, in lieu thereof, in one -corner stood the prettiest of little German stoves, a black iron -cylinder, or column, surmounted by a large coronet of ornamental -brass, and set on a block of white marble. Numerous statuettes under -glass shades, and pretty bijou articles, littered all the marble and -marqueterie tables, with Dresden china vases of flowers, gathered -fresh that morning by Ernestine and Herminia in the garden at the -foot of the castle rock. The furniture and hangings were all pale -blue silk, trimmed with white lace or silver; water-colours decorated -the wall, and, in a place of honour, hung a Berlin engraving -representing the meeting of Wellington and Blucher at La Belle -Alliance. - -A moderator lamp, upheld by a bronze Atlas, was suddenly flashed up, -and Ernestine stood before Charlie Pierrepont. She had let all her -hair down, probably previous to coiling it up for the night, and now -its silky masses floated over her shoulders far below her waist, and -out of their darkness, her pale, minute, and delicately cut face came -with strong distinctness in the subdued light of the lamp. How -lovely she looked just then; her form, though _mignonne_, round and -full. She threw her arms round Charlie, and putting her head on his -shoulder, in a way she had like a petted love-bird, placed her sweet -face amid the masses of her hair on his neck, and her lover gazed at -her for some seconds ere he seated her by his side, with a kind of -adoration, for she was in all the pride of her beauty and purity; -and, as a writer says, with truth, 'There is nothing in the universe -so exquisite, so fascinating, so irresistibly alluring, as a young -girl! A girl in the first dawn of earliest womanhood, fresh and -fragrant as a flower, and, alas! as fragile, for that bloom of youth -is as evanescent as it is lovely, and its loss is never, to my mind, -compensated by any maturer charm. Let who will inhale the perfume of -the opening rose, but the sweet shy mystery of the folded bud for me!' - -And some such thoughts ran through the mind of Charlie as he gazed -upon her. - -In the perfect confidence of this love, they did not at first speak -of this sudden suitor (who had come like a thunder-cloud into their -sunny summer sky), for rival he could scarcely be deemed by Charlie; -but they referred to the last time they had been happy together in -each other's society. Oh, _so_ happy! and but two days ago! - -They had ridden to Stolberg, after losing Heinrich and Herminia -together in the wood (rather a common occurrence, by the way, when -these four went out on excursions), and had taken shelter from a -storm of rain in a village church, where a marriage ceremony had been -performed before them, and they now recurred to this little episode. - -'How sweetly pretty the bride looked!' said Charlie, playing with her -rippling hair. - -'And how happy the bridegroom!' she added, pulling Charlie's -moustache, in her momentary joy, forgetful of the tears she had been -shedding. - -'How I envied them, Ernestine! Will our day ever come?' - -'We can but hope.' - -'And if it never comes?' - -'I shall die--I shall die faithful to you, Carl. Faithful in life -and in death!' said Ernestine, with passionate energy. - -'You say this so often that you alarm me,' said Charlie, with great -tenderness of tone. - -'How can my promises of faith alarm you?' - -'Nay. It is these references to death.' - -Her eyes were tender, dreamy, and sad, yet full of love, as they -looked into his. After a pause, he said, - -'I, Ernestine, am more in danger of death and peril than you, -dearest.' - -'Oh, say not so! And yet, of course, it must be, Carl, my darling -Carl!' she exclaimed, throwing herself upon his breast, in a passion -of tears and affection. - -'Heaven and earth! So _these_ are the terms on which you two are!' -exclaimed a shrill, stern voice behind them, and a low wail of terror -escaped from Ernestine, on perceiving the Countess, her mother, -standing there in her _robe-de-chambre_, a wax taper in her hand, and -her usually pale cheeks and cold grey eyes inflamed with indignation. -On this night she had, unfortunately, forgotten her unlucky Spitz cur -(who was quietly looking on the scene from his basket of -mother-of-pearl) and had descended from her room in search of him. - -'So! so!' she exclaimed again, 'these are the terms on which you are; -and such are the hopes in which you dare to indulge!' - -How long she had been there, or how much she had heard or seen, they -knew not. They had but one common thought--that they had been -discovered, and all was over! This _dénouement_, occurring -immediately after the proposal of the Baron, was too much for the -patience or equanimity of the irate Countess. Even Charlie's -friendship for her son Heinrich, and the duel he had fought in -defence of his honour, were forgotten now. - -There was a pause, during which they all surveyed each other with -undisguised signs of discomposure. At last Charlie spoke, while -Ernestine withdrew a little way from him. - -'Gnädige Frau' (gracious madame), he began, 'blame not your daughter, -but me, for all this; and pardon me for having so far forgotten my -position in this house as to love her without your permission; but -could I resist doing so--even without the hope of obtaining it? What -can I say to mitigate your probable severity to her--your resentment -to me? What am I to do?' - -'Much!' - -'Oh, say it!' - -'Leave my roof at once!' - -'Mamma, it is close on midnight,' urged Ernestine piteously. - -'Silence, minx!' - -Charlie's face had flushed to the temples at a tone and command so -unusual and so humiliating. - -'Oh, mamma,' urged Ernestine, attempting, but in vain, to catch her -mother's hand, 'spare me and pardon him!' - -'Him? Who!' - -'Carl.' - -'You call him Carl already--and this to my face! This intruder, who, -though in the king's uniform, is little better in the scale of -society than a poor Handwerks-Burschen!' - -Charlie now grew deadly pale at this insulting comparison, but -restrained his rising anger for the sake of Ernestine, who said, -piteously: - -'Dearest mamma, I implore you not to adopt this tone to Heinrich's -firm and tried friend. It is inhospitable! It is rude! It is -cruel!' she added, amid a torrent of tears. - -'You are no judge, _now_, of what is rude or not rude--proper or -improper--to a violator of our hospitality. Oh, Herr Pierrepont, how -little could I have foreseen all this!' - -Unless the old lady had been as blind as a mole, she might, or ought, -very well to have foreseen it. - -'You know my views of all this matter, and I am certain they will be -fully shared by the Count,' said the old lady, with intense hauteur. -'You also know the measures we expect you to take with as little -delay as possible.' - -She made a brief and haughty half-contemptuous bow, and taking her -daughter by the hand, and, without permitting her to give even one -farewell glance, led her away. - -Charlie stood for a moment as if rooted to the spot. He then very -quietly extinguished the moderator lamp, in a mechanical kind of way, -and, taking his taper, ascended the great gaunt staircase to his -room, where, with his heart torn by the contending emotions of love -and sorrow, rage and mortification--for the insult to which he, an -English gentleman, had been subjected by that intolerant and -insufferable old German woman--he sat for a time without thinking of -undressing. - -Were she not the mother of Ernestine, he would have scattered a few -pretty hard adjectives with reference to her. He then suddenly began -to pack his portmanteau. He had but one desire and craving--to get -as far away from Frankenburg as possible, though it was the cage that -held his love-bird! And as if his wish had been anticipated, just as -twelve o'clock was struck by the sonorous timepiece in the echoing -hall, a knock came to his door. - -'It is Heinrich,' thought he; 'come in!' - -The visitor was not Heinrich, but the old family butler, who entered, -bowing low, and looking very sleepy, cross, and very much surprised. - -'The Herr Graf's compliments to the Herr Lieutenant. At what time -would he require the carriage to take him to Aix?' (He called it -Aachen.) - -'Now!' - -'Now--at this hour, mein Herr?' - -'Now, I repeat--instantly--thanks; you may go.' - -The old butler, who had served as man and boy in the Frankenburg -family from shortly after the days of Waterloo and Ligny, who had -attended Marshal Blucher when on a visit, and had made the fortunes -and honour of the denizens of the Schloss his own, as hereditary -retainers of the Caleb Balderstone type occasionally do, even in this -age of iron, opened his grey eyes very wide, alike at the fierce -energy and the order of Charlie Pierrepont, but vanished at once to -rouse the grooms and comply. - -So he was actually turned out of the house, however politely, at -last; thrust out from _her home_ as if his presence there degraded -it. He thought of the old arms of the Pierreponts carved about his -father's gate--the lion rampant _sable_, between two wings, the -mullets _semée_, and the motto '_Pie repone te_,' though he had never -valued such things much; and his anger boiled up--nor did it cool -down till he found himself on the eve of departure. - -Why did Heinrich not appear? for good or for evil? Had he also been -informed, and, like his father, mounted a high horse? It seemed so. -The carriage was duly announced, at last. - -As Charlie descended to it, the silver-haired butler appeared again -with a salver, on which were a decanter and glass, saying: - -'The Herr Graf requests that mein Herr will take a little glass of -cognac, before leaving the Schloss; the night is cold.' - -To have declined to accept this last act of old German hospitality -would have been churlish, and the cause of comment among the -domestics; so Charlie, with the name of her he loved on his lips, -drained a _petit verre_, and sprang into the carriage. - -'Aachen,' said the butler to the driver, as he closed the door, and -bowing, said-- - -'Gute nacht--leben sie wohl, mein Herr.' - -And Charlie, as he thought, turned his back on Frankenburg for ever. - -Ernestine was as much, if not more, than any _only_ daughter could be -to Count Ulrich. He was selfish enough to have looked with stern, -black, and utter discouragement on any swain who had no high rank; -then how much more with anger on a penniless soldier of Fortune--a -sub. of the Thuringians, like Charlie Pierrepont. - -'All is at an end between the Frankenburgs and me,' thought the -latter, as the carriage bowled on in the dark; 'but the war once -over, if I escape it, I shall carry her off at all hazards--by -Heaven, I shall.' - -As a soldier accustomed to change of quarters, billets, camps, and -barracks, Charlie could make himself at home anywhere; but nowhere -(save his father's house) had he found himself so much at home as in -that old German castle: a shrine he deemed it--a shrine of which -Ernestine was the idol; and now he was exiled from it. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -CHARLIE'S VISITOR. - -The carriage deposited Charlie Pierrepont at an hotel in -Aix-la-Chapelle, where he meant to remain for a little to make some -attempt to see Ernestine once more--to arrange, if possible, about -their future correspondence, and then to rejoin the Thuringians. - -The dawn stole in over the city, and the Rhine began to glitter in -light--the dawn of that day on which the Baron Grünthal was to return -to Frankenburg, and 'the final arrangements' were to be made. What -would they be? - -Five o'clock tolled from the great bell of the Dom Kirche. But five -hours since she had been in his arms, with her head resting on his -breast; how long it seemed ago; what storm of alarm, bitterness, and -mortification had agitated his heart since then! The bell of the Dom -Kirche brought instantly back to memory that day in the stair of the -Hoch Munster, when the returned pressure of her little hand, though -ever so lightly, nearly put him beside himself with joy, and lured -him to divulge the great secret of his heart. - -So all their stolen glances and sweet daily intercourse were at an -end now; all the quaint weird stories that she had been wont to tell -him in their rides and rambles, of sprites and elves, of lurlies and -knights, who had loved and been drawn thus into peril, all their -mutual songs and music, would never come again! - -Too probably their paths on earth might lie for ever apart. A chasm -separated the past from the present; still more did it seem to yawn -between the present and the future; so Charlie could but wring his -hands, and wish, at times, that Heinrich had never brought him to -Frankenburg. - -Ah, those lovely eyes that were ever varying in expression, now -dreamy and tender, and anon bright with mischief, or soft with -inexpressible love; the pouting rosebud lips, that were so firm and -delicately cut; the skin, smooth as satin; the hands, of velvet: the -pinky tint on the rounded cheek; the winning ways and the quaint -sayings of Ernestine--were they all, indeed, to be as things of the -past to him? It was intolerable! - -They would be all as air-drawn pictures--nothing more. To -Pierrepont, it seemed as if all the brightness had gone out of his -life; or, as if half that life had left him. Would time ever cure -this, or must it be war or death? God alone knew! In his sorrow for -the loss he had sustained, and for the terrible emotions which he -knew she would be feeling--torn from him on one hand, and menaced by -a hateful marriage on the other--he could almost have wept, and -perhaps would have done so, but for a glow of wrath and indignation, -at the manner in which the imperious Countess had treated him. - -He had been bluntly turned out of the house! That was what the -termination of his visit plainly amounted to. Charlie felt that his -epaulettes had been insulted, and his native English pride revolted -at the idea. He felt his blood boiling at times, but against whom? -It could not be against the father or the mother of her he loved so -tenderly. Oh no! for surely they would relent in time, on seeing how -deep and tender was his passion for their daughter. - -'_How_ would it all end?' he asked of himself a hundred times. - -The day without was bright and sunny, but to Charlie Pierrepont it -seemed as if the hours stole dully, darkly, and drearily on. The -guests in the Speise-saal were numerous and noisy. Their voices -irritated him; and often he started to his feet with the intention of -vaguely proceeding to the vicinity of Frankenburg, and as frequently -relinquished the idea; for he dreaded lest he should meet the Baron, -and be tempted into the commission of some wild outrage. - -With much of the same gloom that Herminia had in her mind, when, from -the windows of the Grand Hotel, on the evening our story opens, she -looked dreamily down on Cologne, on city, church, and river, did -Charlie, from a balcony of his hotel, opposite the new theatre, look -down upon the strasse that leads to Borcette, and the crowded -boulevard that now occupies the place of a levelled ditch and -rampart, and is prettily laid out with pine trees, and many tiny -sheets of water. - -Dinner was set before him under the awning which shaded the balcony, -and there was a bottle of hock. Yes; he had ordered the kellner, -mechanically, to serve it up; but the dinner remained untasted, -though the hock was drained in draughts, as if to drown the -ever-recurring thoughts--would he never again see that sweet girl -whose witcheries were entwined around his heart? should he never more -look into her eyes, whose tender glances were magnetic; never feel on -his lips those clinging kisses, while he pressed her hand to his -breast? - -Near him, under an awning in front of the hotel, seated on hard -wooden stools, at a bare deal table, were some poor -Handwerks-Burschen, or travelling workmen, in blue blouses and wooden -sabots, smoking, drinking beer, and making merry with their wives or -sweethearts, and singing-- - - 'Draw the social chair yet closer; - Vow by this full draught of mirth, - That all evil is forgiven, - Hell is banished from our earth.' - -It was Schiller's beautiful 'Song of Joy' they were singing to the -clanking accompaniment of their cans and wooden shoes. How happy -those humble fellows seemed; and how much he envied them! - -But Charlie was roused from his reverie by the Oberkellner -announcing-- - -'Der Graf von Frankenburg.' - -'Which?' asked Charlie, starting; 'Count Ulrich?' - -'No, mein Herr--Count Heinrich.' - -'Very good--show him up.' - -Charlie would rather that the old father of Ernestine had come than -her brother, whose errand would no doubt be a hostile one. That -Heinrich, his friend and comrade, came on such an errand seemed -horrible and unnatural. The wild justice of the pistol, as some one -has named it, was ceasing to be appreciated even in Germany. The -time had gone past when the pistols of skilled homicides were notched -as registers of the lives they had taken, or had cards attached to -them, with the names of the slain, the date and the place of meeting, -and the distance of fighting, all neatly written thereon. - -Let Heinrich taunt him how he would, a duel must not take place. 'In -the battle-field,' thought Charlie, 'I shall cheerfully meet death, -front to front and face to face; but I shall not carry there the mark -of Cain, by perhaps shooting the brother of her I love--my brother in -the spirit.' - -Charlie forgot that in the Heilinghaist-feld at Altona he had fought -a duel for that brother, and winged an officer of the King's -Grenadiers; and he was just remembering that if hostilities were -contemplated, a messenger would have been sent by Heinrich, when the -latter entered the room, and coming quickly forward to Charlie, -grasped both his hands with his usual frankness. - -'Well, Sir Knight of the Rueful Countenance--' he was beginning, when -Charlie said-- - -'How can you jest, Heinrich, at a time like this?' - -'I do not jest; but have come, in defiance of all family views and -prejudices, to cheer you, and have some conversation over this -wretched affair. Poor Ernestine! I wish you and she had taken me -into your confidence. By our past and present friendship, I surely -merited that from you, at least.' - -'A bottle of wine, Heinrich? - -'Thanks--I have just galloped in from the Schloss, and had some -difficulty in finding your quarters.' - -'There are cigars, and here is an easy-chair. I am thankful you did -not come on a hostile visit. To decline would have been disgraceful, -to accept might have been fratricide; but I should have fired in the -air.' - -'What stuff you are talking!' said Heinrich, as he manipulated and -lit a cigar, while the waiter was pouring out the wine. - -'Now let us talk,' said he, when the latter had withdrawn. - -'And how are the ladies this evening?' asked Charlie, trying, with a -swelling heart, to talk common sense. - -'As you may suppose, the Grafine, my mother, is in a furious pet; and -I knew nothing about your sudden departure till I found your place -vacant at the breakfast table.' - -'And--and your sister, Heinrich?' - -'Has been all day fretting in her room.' - -'And the Grafine Herminia?' - -'With her. I saw Herminia for a little time to-day, and she desired -me to assure you of her fullest sympathy.' - -'God bless her!' exclaimed he, whilst his eyes became moist. - -'The poor little thing endured too much, when she believed me to be -Herr Mansfeld, and knew me not in my proper person, to be without due -sympathy for all afflicted lovers.' - -'You do not speak of the Herr Graf.' - -'Oh, he is inexorable!' - -'And our infernal Baron--no doubt he was at Frankenburg to-day, -hoping to play the lover,' said Charlie viciously. - -'He was not.' - -'How so?' - -'His Excellency has a violent fit of the gout!' - -'Long may it continue!' said Charlie fervently. - -'Amen!' added Heinrich, lying back in his chair and laughing -heartily; 'the idea of an adoring swain having an ailment so -unromantic! And now for the object of my visit. I have simply come -to apologize for all that has occurred at the Schloss; but I might -have foreseen it, had my own affairs not occupied too much of my -attention. Ernestine is too enchanting a girl to have failed to -attract. What is done cannot be undone. I do love you, Carl, and -deplore all that has taken place.' - -The two friends shook hands warmly. With Charlie, his comrade, -brother officer, and most particular 'chum,' was now the link between -him and Ernestine--between him and Frankenburg--the Eden from which -he had been banished, and without his Eve. How he loved the generous -fellow! How gladly he would lay down his life for him; but in doing -so, he would leave Ernestine, and, perhaps, to another. Another? -Oh! that was not to be thought of! Heinrich began again-- - -'Herminia says that Ernestine has never closed an eye since last -night, which I am sorry to say, because if troubles can be slept upon -they are curable. However, don't be alarmed about Ernestine,' he -added, laughing, 'she's very low and sad, no doubt; but there is no -chance of her drowning herself in Fastrada's pool below the -Schloss--that odious pond where I used to puddle for many a day with -a crooked pin and a string, catching many a cold, but never a fish.' - -'Why, Heinrich?' - -'For a very sufficient reason. There was none in it.' - -'Do you think your mother will ever forgive me? - -'Heaven alone knows. Time will show. She has the most absurd ideas -concerning alliances and family rank. As for my father, he storms -and gets into rages that I call apoplectic ones; but he'll sit in his -study among the saddles, dogs' collars, and so forth, and smoke -himself into quietude ere long. He is a wonderful hale and hearty -old fellow for his great age; but he married late in life, and has -only had a silver wedding, when his comrade, old Field-Marshal -Wrangel, has had a golden one. And, then, you are a soldier, -Carl--and to be a soldier is always a trump card with him. You have -heard how he saved Blucher's life at Ligny?' - -'Only vaguely.' - -'It is a matter of history: Prussian history, at least; and was one -of those impulses, or inspirations, which, if not acted on instantly, -may never come again. It was at Ligny where the Prussians and French -were engaged on the 16th of June, on that dreadful day of tempest; -rain, and wind, when the British were retreating from Quatre Bras to -their position at Waterloo. Victory was evidently declaring for the -Emperor, when Blucher strove to arrest his success by consecutive -charges of cavalry. In person he led on a regiment of Hussars, who -were repulsed; his horse fell beneath him wounded, and the great -Marshal could not be extricated, and the enemy were pressing on! The -last of his flying Hussars had left the brave old man, who lay -helpless on the ground; but his aide-de-camp, the Count, my father, -resolving to share his fate, flung himself by Blucher's side, and -covered him with his horse-cloak that he might not be recognised. -Over them swept a brigade of Brass Cuirassiers, so named from the -metal of their helmets and corslets. The routed Hussars rallied -suddenly, wheeled about, and attacked their pursuers, and again -passed their fallen leader, and the old Graf--a young Graf, then--in -their pursuit of the French, whom they routed. My father instantly -seized the opportunity. He dragged Blucher from under the fallen -charger, mounted him on a dragoon horse, and thus saved his life!' - -While Heinrich, with something of exultation, was detailing this -episode of the Count's early life, the thoughts of Carl were very far -away from the events of Ligny and Waterloo. - -'Next week will see us on the march for France,' said he, 'and I may -cross the purposes of your family and the path of Ernestine no more! -You, Heinrich, who are so successful and so happy in your love, might -surely pity us.' - -'I do, Carl. A fellow feeling makes us wondrous kind.' - -'Arrange for me,' continued Charlie, with great earnestness, 'that -Ernestine and I may have one more interview. Our last farewell--our -separation, was so cruelly abrupt.' - -'A meeting! When and where?' - -'When and where you choose. See her once again, I must at all -hazards; and you alone can arrange this for me. Dear friend, don't -deny us this last melancholy pleasure!' - -'Where, then, think you?' - -'Settle that with my darling; and may God bless you, Heinrich!' said -Charlie, in a choking voice, as he patted his friend on the epaulette. - -'I shall write you to-night, to-morrow at the latest; for we must not -lose time while the Baron's gout lasts.' - -And Heinrich ordered his horse and departed, leaving Charlie -Pierrepont in a more contented mood of mind than he had been in since -he left the boudoir of the Countess. - -So he should _see_ her once again! - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -FOR LIFE AND DEATH. - -Eagerly did Charlie Pierrepont await the arrival of the Brieftrager, -or letter-carrier, who brought him a brief note from Heinrich, saying -that he meant to take his sister for a drive that evening, and that -Charlie would find her in the little church at Burtscheid at the hour -of seven. The note was signed, as usual, '_Ihr treuer Freund_, -HEINRICH.' After all that had occurred, how delightful and -encouraging it was to find her brother signing himself 'Your devoted -friend,' as of old! - -'The little church of Burtscheid?' said Charlie, after perusing the -note for the third or fourth time; 'it is a strange place to choose.' - -But Ernestine was a strange girl, and, with regard to this farewell -meeting, had that in view which Charlie could not foresee. Ten hours -had to elapse before the appointed one came; and to Charlie, who -passed the day almost watch in hand, the time seemed interminable. -Evening came, however, at last; and the shadows of the church spires -were falling eastward when Charlie set out for the trysting-place, -which is a mile and a half from the gates of Aix, and connected -therewith by a handsome avenue of trees. The village is now chiefly -celebrated for its mineral waters; but 'the abbey of Burtscheid,' -says Forster, a writer at the close of the last century, 'is -beautifully situated, and finished with all ecclesiastical splendour. -Close by, a small wood runs towards a large reservoir, and as you -advance you come to a narrow valley enclosed by woody hills, where -several warm springs are soon discovered by the vapour that rises -from them, and the large reservoir is quite filled with hot water. -As you walk along a series of beautifully shaded reservoirs you see -the romantic ruins of the old castle of Frankenburg.' - -Thus the trysting-place selected by Ernestine was quite near her -home. The church was an appendage of the abbey mentioned by Forster. -It was a lonely place, surrounded by a burial-ground, where, as usual -in German cemeteries, the inventions of the mason and carpenter -rarely go beyond an urn, a cross, or a broken pillar in fashioning a -tombstone, and where, for reasons to be afterwards mentioned, few -came to promenade, as the public usually do in public burying-grounds. - -At the gate stood a handsome britzka, with a pair of horses, the -reins of which were held by Heinrich, who was without groom or other -attendant. - -'Ernestine?' said Charlie, grasping the hand of his friend. - -'She is in the church. We have not been here three minutes. Do not -detain her long, Carl, as I would not have suspicion excited. -Meantime, I shall smoke a cigar.' - -Charlie hastened into the edifice, for the Herr Pastor of which, in -happier times, Ernestine and Herminia had worked many altar-cloths, -pen-wipers, slippers, and smoking-caps. It was a plain, whitewashed -edifice, ancient Gothic in some parts, patched with modern brickwork -elsewhere; and a subdued light stole through the windows on the -portraits of certain defunct Herr Pastors hung upon the pillars, the -oaken pews, and the rows of black iron spittoons in some, with -kneeling hassocks in others. Before the rail of the altar, Ernestine -was kneeling, in prayer apparently. - -There was no one else in the church, and on hearing Charlie approach, -she threw herself into his arms, and for some time could but sob -passionately and utter his name in a choking voice, while he patted -her cheek and kissed away her tears. Then she became more composed, -and taking Charlie's face between her soft and ungloved hands, gazed -into his eyes with a tender smile. - -'You will yet love me, Carl, in spite of all that mamma has said?' -she whispered. - -'Love you!' he exclaimed, 'what on earth could make me cease to love -you?' - -'How enchanting it is to be with you again, my own Carl! You will -write to me from--from France, when Heinrich writes to me or -Herminia, and I can reply in the same manner.' - -'Thank you, darling, for the delightful promise.' - -'No power on earth must separate us, Carl. I have resolved that such -cannot, shall not be.' - -'The Baron----' - -'Ah, don't speak of him at this precious time,' said she, -contemptuously; 'that odious Grünthal--such a mouth he has! When he -laughs you can almost see it behind him.' - -'Behind him, darling--how?' - -'The corners of his mouth might meet behind his head.' - -This was somewhat of an exaggeration, but as it was like some of -Ernestine's speeches in merrier times, she made Charlie laugh. - -'Yet, to such a man _they_ would assign you!' said he. - -'If they dare!' she replied, with a little gesture, peculiarly her -own, as it was partly imperious and partly child-like. - -Her tears began to flow again, and she said: - -'It is in vain that the Graf storms, and that mamma tells me every -vow that has passed between us must be forgotten, that when you left -Frankenburg you lost all claim on me, and I was, and am, perfectly -free. I am not free, Carl; I have promised to become your wedded -wife, and no other shall have my heart or hand while I live!' - -She spoke with strong passion, and as she lay in the arms of her -lover, her whole delicate form was trembling violently. - -'But for this war, I would implore you to take me away with you, and -make me your wife in spite of them all--your dear little wife, Carl. -Wherever you went, there Ernestine would be with you, and we should -live but for each other, and love each other as we have always done.' - -'And this war once over, if God spares me, I shall come, at every -risk, at every hazard, and take you away--on this I had already -resolved, darling.' - -'When that time comes, dearest Carl, I will live on your smiles by -day, and rest my head on your bosom at night.' - -There was a smile on the eyes and on the lips of the girl as she -spoke, though her heart was torn by the misery of the coming -separation. Suddenly she said: - -'Kneel with me before this altar, ere some one interrupts us. Let us -make a promise to be true to each other in life and in death----' - -'Death, darling?' - -'In sorrow and joy, peril and safety; sickness and health, in death -and in life! Repeat after me, what I say.' - -Clasped hand in hand, and kneeling face to face, they each promised -to be faithful, loving and true to the other, under all -circumstances, exactly as if they had been wedded, till death parted -them. The words she dictated were strangely nervous and -solemn--solemn even to being fantastic--chilling, yet somehow -charming, and they were never forgotten by Charlie, who repeated them -after her as one in a dream. - -In the usually tender eyes and soft face of Ernestine there was, for -a time, a sad yet stern expression of resolution and self-mastery, -which Charlie failed to analyze, though the memory of it long haunted -him. - -'We have forged our spiritual chain, beloved Carl,' said she, 'and -cannot break it now.' - -'Nor shall it ever be broken!' he replied, caressing her tenderly. - -'_For life and death_ our bond be recorded in Heaven!' said the -strange romantic girl; 'kiss me, Carl, kiss me--I feel much happier -now.' - -'Surely Heaven will spare me for your sake, my love.' - -'If not, we shall meet there, Carl--for I should not be long behind -you, there, where there are no harsh parents, "where there is neither -marriage, nor giving in marriage,"--then we shall be re-united, Carl, -and live our dreams of love over again.' - -The girl's manner was exquisitely tender, yet sad, and so earnest -that there came a time when Charlie remembered it, occasionally with -terror. The voice of her brother was now heard. - -'Heinrich is very impatient,' said Charlie. - -'One moment, Carl. If I were to come to you when dead, would you -fear me?' - -'When dead?' said Charlie, looking down on the sweet upturned face -that lay on his shoulder; 'what _do_ you mean, Ernestine?' - -'I scarcely know; but I should not fear _you_, love. I have some -strange emotions in my heart this evening. I do not think even the -grave would keep me from you; but would it keep you from me?' - -'I fear it would, darling,' said he, with a half smile, though rather -bewildered by all this; 'battle trenches are often pretty deep and -full.' - -'Oh, horror, Carl; don't talk of such an end as that!' - -He regarded her anxiously, fearing that sudden sorrow was affecting -her mind. Again the voice of Heinrich was heard. She drew down the -veil of her hat to conceal the redness of her eyes, and Charlie led -her out to the britzka. All was over now, and they were separated -till Fate or Chance should enable them to meet again. - -Those who saw Ernestine looking back from the britzka, and Charlie -lift his hat more than once, as he walked slowly down the avenue that -led to Aix, could little have imagined the strangely solemn betrothal -that had just taken place between these two, in the little church of -Burtscheid. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - -TO THE RHINE! - -'To Paris! To Paris! Hoch Germania!' - -Such were the cries that rang along the line of march, when on the -1st of August the various columns of the German army began to meet -those which left Paris shouting 'To Berlin!' - -After detailing much that savours of what may seem romance, we have -now to borrow a paragraph or two from the history of Europe. - -Perfect in organization, the forces which the Prussian Government -were able to bring to the frontier a few days after the declaration -of war against France were divided into three great armies, making a -grand total of four hundred and twelve thousand infantry, and -forty-seven thousand eight hundred cavalry, with one thousand four -hundred and forty pieces of cannon. - -The first of these three armies was commanded by Major General -Steinmetz, the second by Prince Frederick Charles, and the third by -the Crown Prince--the whole being under the orders of the King of -Prussia, assisted by General Count Von Moltke, a distinguished Dane, -as chief of his staff. - -Strong reserves were posted at Hainau, Frankfort, at the old -electoral city of Mayence, and amidst the vast defences of Coblentz -between the Rhine and the Moselle. Another army defended the north, -under Von Falkenstein; so taken altogether, including the Landwehr, -Prussia, with her million and a quarter of well-drilled soldiery, -seemed impregnable. - -Charlie Pierrepont's regiment was formed in brigade with the 7th, or -King's Grenadiers, and the 37th, or Westphalians. The war -establishment of a Prussian regiment is never less than 3,006 men, -with 69 officers. His brigade was among the first troops actively -employed, with orders to occupy the line of the Saar, resting its -right on Saarbrück, with advanced posts at that place and in the -schloss of the Princes of Nassau, at Saarlouis, which had been -fortified by Vauban, at Bliescastle, where the Prussians and French -fought a great battle in 1793, and at Merzig. - -The second army, with the royal headquarters, crossed the Rhine at -Mayence, and took a position on the left of General Steinmetz, -occupied Zweibrucken (which the French had named Deux Ponts), and -Pirmasens, with its main body echeloned along the line of railway -from the ruined castle of the Counts of Sickingen at Landstuhl to the -strong fortress of Landau. - -The third army came on by the way of Mannheim and Germesheim, and -formed to the left of the second, at the latter place, Speirs, -Neustadt, and Landau. All these formidable columns could communicate -with each other by railway, and were well secured in the rear in case -of having to retreat. But no thought of retreating was in the -Prussian ranks. - -From the suddenness and efficiency of these arrangements, it was -clear 'that Count Bismarck and his master had been long and actively -preparing for war, and had not been entirely absorbed in peaceful and -innocent designs, as we were constantly assured by certain writers in -this country, who desired to present France to the world as a crafty -and ravening wolf, and Prussia a meek and inoffensive lamb.' - -Something of this kind was said by Heinrich to Charlie, as their -brigade approached Saarbrück. But the latter would scarcely admit -it, as his love for Ernestine, and his high military enthusiasm, made -him, for the time, 'German all over--German at fever-heat,' as he -said. - -And splendid was the aspect of the strong brigade, with the King's -Grenadiers in front, the Westphalians in the centre, and the 95th -Thuringians in the rear, as it defiled across the bridge that led to -the suburb of St. Johann, each battalion with its carts of reserve -ammunition, drawn by six horses. After each battalion, also, came -thirteen baggage and one canteen waggon, all the brass drums beating -smartly to make the men step quick. The colours of the King's -Grenadiers, black and white; of the other corps, black, white, and -red--the standard of the North German Confederation--were floating in -the wind, above the long lines of spiked helmets, and of bright -bayonets and brighter musket barrels sloped in the sunshine, for the -Prussian arms are not browned as ours are now, but pure, white steel. -Hence the glitter over all the column was great, though the uniforms -were sombre and blue. - -Anon the brass bands struck up between the echoing streets of -Saarbrück; but amid all the enthusiasm of the time, the crash of the -martial music, the measured tramping of thousands of marching feet, -Charlie's mind could not help reverting to those happy moments in the -stair of the Hoch Munster, and the sadder ones in the quiet little -church of Burtscheid, and, in memory, he still saw the rosy, -trembling lips of the girl he loved, and the full bosom that rose and -fell with sobs and sighs. - -When would he be marching home, and what might happen then? Would it -come to pass that he might never return, but find a grave in the soil -of France? They were now within thirty miles of Metz. He cast a -backward glance to where the rearguard was descending a slope, and, -as if to reply to his surmises, there came marching with it a corps -of grave-diggers, for a force of this kind was attached to every -column, while 'by an arrangement characterised by a grim horror, yet -unquestionably useful,' every Prussian officer and soldier was -ordered to wear round his neck a label, to establish his identity in -case of his being killed. - -These reflections were but momentary, so Charlie's spirit rose again, -and his heart beat responsive to the sharp and regulated crash of the -drums; for there is much elasticity of mind in healthy twenty-eight -or thirty years, and Charlie's were no more. - -The enthusiasm all over Germany was unquestionably great at this -time, and as a specimen of it, Heinrich told Charlie, exultingly, how -his father's old comrade and brother officer, Field Marshal the Count -Von Wrangel, then in the eighty-fourth year of his age, on seeing his -old regiment, the 3rd Cuirassiers, marching through Berlin, had -petitioned the king for leave to join them as a private, as he was -now too aged to lead; but the king declined the offer of the brave -old man, and requested him to remain in Berlin, and make himself -useful in a more peaceable way. - -On the early morning of the 2nd of August, Charlie Pierrepont was -subaltern of the out-picket posted on the road that leads direct from -the open town of Saarbrück towards Metz, where then the Emperor -Napoleon III. commanded in person. He had returned from visiting his -line of advanced sentinels, all of whom stood motionless, with musket -ordered and bayonet fixed, with their faces turned in the direction -of Metz, each longing, no doubt, for the relief and a pipe. Stiff, -and chilled with the rain and dew of the summer night, Charlie shook -himself, as a dog might do, and proceeded to light a cigar and look -around him, as the dawn brightened, little foreseeing that this would -be one of the most important days in the new current of events. - -He could see the Saar winding in and out at the foot of a chain of -hills, covered to their summits by beautiful oaks and beeches. Here -and there the red precipices started up from the bed of the stream; -for the rocks and the soil were red, and even the river was red, too, -for rain had fallen overnight. - -The scene looked lovely and peaceful. Red stones, spotted with -orange-coloured lichens, lay plentifully in the bed of the Saar, -where a solitary kingfisher wound about among the water-weeds. Here -and there at the narrower parts of the stream, an occasional peasant -was fishing with a tub and sink-net, and beyond lay the plain, where -Saarlouis' ramparts rose above the swampy fields, where herds of -cattle plashed disconsolately about. - -'Guten morgen, Carl!' cried a familiar voice, and on looking up, he -saw Heinrich hurrying towards him. 'I have news for you.' - -'Are the enemy in motion? - -'As your post is an advanced one, you should be the first to know of -that. My news is from the rear.' - -'From the rear!' - -'How dull you are, Carl--from Frankenburg! Here, take a pull at my -bottle; your own is, no doubt, empty by this time.' - -'Thanks!' - -Charlie took a few mouthfuls from the metal flask of brandy-and-water -that Heinrich wore slung over his shoulder in a belt, and said-- - -'Now for your news, friend; it is not pleasant, I fear, when you -fortify me thus.' - -'Anything must be pleasant that comes to us from the girls we love. -The field-post has just come. I have a letter from Herminia, Carl, -with a little enclosure for you.' - -It was a note--merely a note, on scented and tinted paper, for -Ernestine was not above these feminine prettinesses, written in her -graceful style and lady-like hand--to say that he was never absent -from her thoughts, and how she and Herminia had wept and prayed in -secret on the night the army crossed the Rhine. - -'I fear, Carl, that I am looking ill and pale,' she continued, 'but -sunny-haired Herminia seems to thrive on her grief; but you know she -is ever all dimples--dimples on her white elbows and chin, cheeks, -and hands--soft jolly dimples. Mamma, tired of knitting--she always -knits as if her livelihood depended upon it--has dozed off to sleep, -with her Spitz pug under her lace shawl in the boudoir. (The -boudoir! Do you ever think of it, and that horrible night when she -surprised us while searching for that miserable little cur?) Papa, -as dinner is over, is smoking in his study, among his fishing and -shooting gear, pistols, guns, whips, collars, and whistles, no doubt -drinking to the health of the Kaiser and studying the _Staats -Anzeiger_. All is unchanged since you left Frankenburg, from whence -my heart goes with this to you, my dearest Betrothed of Burtscheid.' - -Charlie was perusing this for the third time, Heinrich was lolling -beside him on the grass, humming '_Du du_,' and idly playing with his -silver sword-knot, while watching the bright morning sunshine -stealing along the wooded hills and winding river, when suddenly -there was the report of a needle-gun in front. Another, another, and -a third followed, as the whole line of advanced sentinels opened -fire, and the out-picket rushed to their arms and fell in their ranks. - -'Sapperment!' exclaimed young Frankenburg, springing to his feet; 'it -has come at last! This is war! The French are in motion in front; -there will soon be work for the grave-digger corps!' - -So opened the day on which the young Napoleon was to receive his -'baptism of fire.' - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - -SEPARATED. - -For a time the preparations for her marriage had gone on -openly--though Ernestine, in her tenderness of heart and reluctance -to wound one she loved so well, made no reference to this in her -short letter--so openly that there were times when she contemplated -flight; but whither could she fly? and then she shrunk from the -dreadful _esclandre_ of such a proceeding; so settlements were made -and deeds signed, and from time to time she found beautiful ornaments -and jewels, the gifts of the Baron, on her toilette tables; but she -never wore them, and the morocco cases remained unopened; till at -last a serious illness, or sickness of the heart, in fact, -supervened, and the espousals were delayed, and the Count cursed the -hour that his thoughtless son had brought his troublesome English -comrade to Frankenburg. - -She was no longer _espiègle_, as of old; the piano remained unopened -now, and no entreaties on the part of her father could lure her into -playing 'Die Wacht am Rhein,' the war-song of Arndt, or any of those -stirring and patriotic airs with which all Germany was resounding -now. The very sound of the instrument fretted her. - -Times there had been when she had tried over some of those songs she -had loved to sing to Charlie Pierrepont--the same that she had been -rehearsing on the evening of his arrival (how much had happened since -then!)--but she fairly broke down and made the attempt no more. - -A summons from Prince Bismarck, for the Baron Grünthal to attend at -Berlin, in consequence of some affairs connected with the -Oberconsistory Court at Aix, gave poor Ernestine a temporary respite -from the annoyance of his presence and clumsy attentions; and as she -was at times easier in mind, and more content to wait the issue of -events, after that remarkable and somewhat solemn interchange of -promises at Burtscheid Church, her parents began to hope that all was -at an end between her and the Herr Lieutenant of Infantry, and that -she would be content to receive the Baron as her husband in time, -perhaps when Heinrich returned, if God spared him ever to return. - -This was satisfactory to her on one hand, while on the other she had -the pleasure of sharing her secret sorrows and hopes of future joy -with Herminia, with whom she had now a double link and bond of -sympathy. - -They led but a dull life now in the old Schloss. - -Baron Rhineberg, 'a beer-bloated Teuton' of the first class, came -occasionally to talk politics with the Count, over a pipe and flask -of Rhine wine; the two daughters of the Justiz-rath, and a few other -visitors, dropped in, but Ernestine found it weary work to talk -commonplaces with these people, not one of whom had any vital or -particular interest, beyond a national one, in the army now in the -field; and to chat of music and books, of Berlin wools and soup for -the poor, when, perhaps, _at that very moment of time_, the bullets -might be whistling about him she loved; or when he might be stretched -wounded, dying or dead, upon the bloody sod--to talk, we say, of -aught that was frivolous, with such fears in her heart, was -impossible. - -Strong, yet tender, was thus the bond of sympathy between the -cousins; for those whom they loved--the one openly, the other -secretly--and to whom they were affianced, were facing side by side -the foes of Germany, and risking the same perils and toils. - -Once only did she rouse herself thoroughly and feel startled when the -portly Baron Rhineberg, taking his vast pipe out from his bushy -moustaches, asked her abruptly if she 'ever visited the church of -Burtscheid.' - -'Sometimes,' said she, colouring deeply for a moment, and then -becoming pale as before; 'but why do you ask, Herr Baron?' - -'Because Herr Pastor Puffenvortz is preaching a series of stirring -sermons there just now.' - -Poor Ernestine, who had begun to fear that her interview there with -Charlie had been overheard or overseen by some eavesdropper unknown, -felt greatly relieved by the Baron's simple reply; but her sudden -change of colour was not unnoticed by the Countess, who drew certain -conclusions therefrom, though she could scarcely give them any form. - -The sudden and blunt reference to the church at Burtscheid, the scene -of her last and farewell interview with Charlie, gave her so sudden a -shock--her sensibility had become so delicate now--that she had to -retire to her room. - -Burtscheid! All the scene then came again before her--when words -were spoken that were known to Heaven and themselves alone! He was -gone--torn from her, the first and only man she had ever loved, so -the girl pined in her heart. So now she sat, as she had been wont to -sit for hours, listlessly, as if without consciousness of thought; -yet her mind was keenly active and full of images of the absent one. - -To the latter, variety of occupation, change of scene in a foreign -land, the activity of a military life, the incessant stir and alarms -of war, would, in spite of love, separation, and fear of rivalry and -of her family, draw in fresh moods of thought and afford thereby a -certain healthy relief; but she was left amid the scenes of her -departed joy, with the additional affliction before her of domestic -persecution and the odious addresses of a would-be lover! - -How eagerly she hoped that he would be detained for months at Berlin! - -'Oh, Herminia!' she would sometimes say to her cousin; 'I was so -happy--so happy, that it is a sin to make me so miserable!' - -'Be calm, darling, be calm; Heinrich will bring him to you once -again,' replied the girl, embracing her. - -'It will be miraculous if they _both_ escape the dangers of this -mighty war.' - -'Do not speak thus, I implore you,' said Herminia, passionately, and -somewhat scared by her cousin's tone of voice and expression of eye. - -'My sufferings are indeed great, Herminia. Do you remember,' she -asked, with a sad smile, 'all you endured at Cologne, when you only -knew Heinrich as Herr Mansfeld?' - -'Never, never shall I forget them, and the agony that I suffered on -one particular evening, when I heard you laughing, and deemed you -heartless, dear cousin. How I then loathed the name of Heinrich--it -seems wonderful now!' - -'So now do I loathe that of the Baron. Oh, Herminia, few like me -have to endure misery without the prospect of relief!' - -In the evening after Rhineberg had withdrawn, the Countess, whose -mind was still running on her daughter's evident emotion at the name -of Burtscheid, gave vent to the anger and suspicion that excited her. - -'Did you ever _go_ to Burtscheid with Herr Pierrepont?' she asked -abruptly. - -'Never, mamma,' replied Ernestine, blushing again, but at her own -quibble rather than the question of her mother, who, after eyeing her -narrowly, almost sternly for a minute, said-- - -'You still pine for that insolent young man. I can see it in your -face, Ernestine!' - -'Oh, mamma!' said the girl, with a wonderful tenderness of tone, 'is -it a crime to love?' - -'Not if it is a proper love.' - -'Then why, mamma darling, are you so severe on _me_?' asked -Ernestine, nestling in her mother's neck in the most endearing manner. - -'I wish to protect and guide you, and to teach you that you must not -love one who is beneath you.' - -'But, dear Carl----' (The adjective escaped her unconsciously.) - -'Grafine!' exclaimed the astonished Countess. - -'Well, mamma, Carl Pierrepont is not beneath me.' - -'This is new to me--how?' - -'Because, even if he were so, love makes all equal.' - -By kisses and caresses she strove to win over her mother; but the -latter almost thrust her back, saying: - -'This is folly--worse than folly; crush, forget, dismiss such -thoughts. They are unworthy of you, Ernestine--unworthy of _my_ -daughter!' - -'And of mine, too,' added the Count, who had come unnoticed upon the -scene. 'Der Teufel! much as I liked that English lad, I hope some -French bullet may rid us of him for ever.' - -'Oh, father,' implored Ernestine, 'spare me such terrible remarks. -Think of his old father and his three sisters in England. Think that -our Heinrich shares his dangers.' - -'True--true; God forgive me the thought; but go to your room, child, -and let us have no more scenes like this,' replied the old Count, who -had long outlived the memory of what a young love was, and Ernestine -gladly obeyed. - -The expression of her face changed at times; its softness seemed to -pass away, and then contempt and anger mingled with sorrow on her -white lips. She was a spirited yet a gentle girl; she felt that she -had been insulted, and treated like a child; that her natural freedom -had been trampled on, her wishes ignored, and in the long waking -hours of the silent night, when no sound was heard but the hooting of -the owls in the ruined tower close by, she brooded, almost -revengefully, upon the pride and tyranny of her parents, and the -gross insolence--for such she justly deemed it--of the Baron -Grünthal, seeking her hand without her affection--her hand in -defiance of herself and her avowed love for another! - -Then it was, in times such as these, that wild and impotent schemes -of flight and freedom occurred--schemes from which she shrank when -daylight came. - -Ernestine looked ere long careworn and became ill; her physician -recommended the baths at different places, and the mineral waters -elsewhere; but they were resorted to in vain. One little enclosure -from Carl, received secretly in the letters of Herminia, was worth -all the baths and wells in Germany to Ernestine. - -One evening Baron Rhineberg came galloping to the Schloss, and from -his vast rotundity was ushered into the drawing-room when on the -verge of an apoplectic fit. His features were purple, his eyes -rolled wildly in their sockets, and from mingled excitement and -enthusiasm, the burly old Teuton could only splutter and utter some -incoherent sounds, while the Spitz pug barked furiously. - -'Ach Gott!' exclaimed the Count; 'what is the matter?' - -'Have you not heard the news, Herr Count?' he gasped. - -'News!' repeated Frankenburg, changing colour, and mechanically, or -by use and wont, playing with the pipe that dangled at his button, -for even he did not smoke in the drawing-room, though a thorough -German. - -'But of course you could not, for I have just come from the city,' -said Rhineberg. - -'Der Teufel!' said Frankenburg, angrily, 'and what may the news be?' - -'The advanced column of the German army has come to blows with the -French at last.' - -'At last!' said the Count, with something of pride mingling in his -irritation; 'I don't think the Kaiser has lost much time.' - -'Our troops were attacked, at least so the telegram says, by the -French, led by the Emperor Napoleon in person.' - -'Where--where?' asked all his listeners, while the three ladies grew -very pale indeed. - -'At Saarbrück.' - -'The devil!' exclaimed the Count; 'that is actually on our Prussian -ground.' - -'Saarbrück?' re-echoed the Countess and Herminia, in faint voices, -for they both knew that Heinrich was with the advanced column there. - -Ernestine knew that her Carl was there too; but no sound left her -white and quivering lips. - -'And what were the results of the conflict--the casualties, and so -forth?' asked the old Count, his mind flashing back to the days of -Ligny, Wavre, and Waterloo. - -'Unknown as yet. The first man killed is said to be an _Englishman_.' - -'Gott in Himmel!' cried the Count, 'my girl has fainted!' - -So at Frankenburg, as at many other places, where the hearts of the -people were with the flower of Germany, they could but wait and -pray--pray and be patient till true tidings came. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - -THE BAPTISM OF FIRE. - -It was no false alarm that, as related in a preceding chapter, made -the advanced sentinels of the 95th, all hardy fellows from the -Thuringerwald, open fire in quick succession. - -The Emperor Napoleon, who had recently arrived at Metz, looking old -and ill, with his head sunk on his breast, and who, on the 28th of -July, had issued that famous bulletin, 'Soldiers, the eyes of the -world are upon you! The fate of civilization depends upon our -success. Soldiers, let each one do his duty, and the God of armies -will be with us!'--the Emperor, we say, finding that the time had -come when something must be done to stimulate the spirit of those -troops whom he had massed in and about Metz, as well as to appease -the fiery impatience of the French people, being aware that Saarbrück -was of importance to the Prussians, who there had command of three -lines of railway for the conveyance of troops and stores, resolved to -carry the place by storm. - -Hence, about nine o'clock on the morning of the 2nd of August, the -gleam of bayonets was seen on some heights that overlook the town, -and the dark columns of the French, in their long blue coats, and red -or madder-coloured breeches, became visible, and by that time the -whole Prussian force in and about Saarbrück was under arms, and their -cannon went thundering to the front. - -Over the brass-spiked helmets, the brass-pointed pickel-haubes, with -the spread eagle, rose forests of bayonets, a steelly sea flashing in -the sunshine, the Uhlans riding with pennons furled and lances down -on the flanks of the massed close columns. Anon the drums beat -sharply, then the hoarse German words of command rang out on the -clear air, the colours rustled on the morning breeze, and rays of -light seemed to pass over all the force as the columns deployed into -line, elbow touching elbow, loosely, and the order was given to -load--to load those terrible needle-guns which carried death and -destruction into the Austrian ranks in the war of 1866. They are -simply breech-loading rifles, in which the charge is exploded by the -projection of a piece of steel, called 'the needle,' on the -detonating powder. The Prussians, whenever they encountered the -French, allowed them to exhaust the fire of their chassepots at long -range; then they poured in their own with deadly accuracy; and next -came the bayonet charge--and those who have seen the Prussians charge -will never forget the impression conveyed by their levelled ridge of -steel, the shining helmets, the hoarse hurrahs, the flushed, yet -resolute faces, the whole physique of the rushing infantry, and the -roar of the trumpets as the Uhlans went thundering on their flanks, -whirling their tremendous spears, as if impatient to close with the -foe. - -All this did Charlie Pierrepont see on this eventful day at Saarbrück. - -Ere the Prussians formed line, the booming of their artillery was -heard in front; a great deal of wood surrounded the town, and from -this, as from an ambuscade, their cannon were fired, and high in the -air rose the white smoke above the green foliage* With shouts of '_A -bas la Prusse!_' the 2nd French corps, under General Bataille, came -rushing on, only to be checked and decimated by the biting cannonade; -the grassy slope that led to the heights was soon dotted by killed -and wounded, and the stretchers and ambulance waggons made their -appearance along the whole line of route. - -'What is the meaning of those cheers on the right?' asked Captain -Schönforst, a tall soldier-like fellow of the 95th, of Charlie, who -was busy scanning the enemy through his field-glass; 'are those -dragoons coming in from Forbach?' - -'By Heaven, I think it is the Emperor in person, surrounded by a -brilliant staff, with a little boy riding by his side!' was the -excited response of Pierrepont. - -And the Emperor it was, accompanied by the Prince Imperial, then in -his fourteenth year. - -'Tell the officer commanding that gun near us who these new arrivals -are,' said Schönforst, a veteran of the Austro-Prussian war,' and -desire him to send a few doses of grape in their direction.' - -Charlie promptly delivered the order; the direction of the gun was -altered, and thus it was that the young prince received what was -popularly known as his 'baptism of fire.' - -'He was admirably cool,' wrote the Emperor to the Empress; 'we were -in front of the line, and the bullets fell at our feet. Louis has -kept one which fell close to him. Some of the soldiers shed tears on -seeing him so calm.' - -Filled with enthusiasm by all this, General Froissard despatched two -battalions of the 67th regiment, under Colonel Theobaudin, to attack -the hamlet of St. Arnaul, which was occupied by our friends the -Thuringians, and was further defended by batteries of guns on the -right flank of the Saar. The 15th French regiment made a rush at -those batteries, and captured them with great bravery. Theobaudin's -battalion, supported now by the 40th and 66th regiments, and some -mitrailleuses--those horrible weapons, now for the first time tried -in active warfare--made a furious attack on the village of St. Arnaul. - -Shoulder to shoulder stood the resolute Thuringians--the lineal -descendants of the ancient Hyrcinian foresters--volleying over wall -and bank and hedge with their deadly needle-guns; but the French came -rushing up the slope with glorious _élan_, though hundreds went -rolling down, dead or dying, and choking in blood. - -With those dreadful showers of balls, the mitrailleuses, 'those -master-pieces for death and carnage,' were heard amid the roar of the -musketry by the strange noise of their discharge, which was dry, -shrieking, and terrible! - -Their balls in continuous streams tore thtough the Prussian ranks, -mowing them down as scythes mow a field of corn. Everywhere the -smoke was dense. Heinrich had an epaulette torn off by one bullet, -and the spike of his helmet by another, while Charlie was twice on -the point of being taken prisoner, when his company was skirmishing -in front, at the time when the 8th and 23rd French regiments were -also in skirmishing order through some thickly wooded ravines. Two -powerful soldiers attacked him--in fact, he had run against them in -the smoke--and he must inevitably have been killed or taken had he -not rid himself of one with his revolver, while Captain Schönforst -passed his long straight sword through the body of the other. - -But the Prussian drums were now beating a retreat. It was impossible -for the small force in Saarbrück--a mere weak advanced guard--to -withstand the many battalions sent against it by the Emperor, -especially as the attacking force was supported by an entire battery -of mitrailleuses. - -The affair was a skirmish rather than a battle, and ended by the town -being set on fire, and the thick columns of smoke from the burning -houses rose from amid the trees, rolled along the railway -embankments, and added to the obscurity and confusion. Amid this -rang the roar of the red flashing musketry, and the horrible -shrieking of the mitrailleuse. The latter we may describe for the -information of the reader is a four-pound gun, divided into -twenty-five compartments by as many rifle barrels, all loaded at the -breech by cartridges, and all discharged at once, the loading only -requiring five actions, by which seven thousand eight hundred balls -can be discharged in one hour into a circle of twelve feet in -diameter. - -It was by the fire of one of these that Charlie saw an event which -was one of the most touching scenes in the war. His skirmishers had -been driven by the French 23rd close to the railway bank, and near -them lay a Zouave, terribly wounded in the lungs apparently. The -poor man's agony was frightful. He was past speech, and could only -clasp his hands in prayer, cross himself, and point imploringly to -his mouth. - -A kindly sergeant of the 95th uncorked his water-bottle, and raising -the Frenchman's head, was about to slake his thirst, when the -shrieking sound was heard amid the smoke close by. Out of that smoke -came the leaden storm of the mitrailleuse, and the Prussian and the -Zouave were literally blown to fragments. - -Over the railway bank the Thuringians were now driven, and everywhere -the whole Prussian line was giving way! The moment the Emperor -became aware of this, with generous humanity he ordered the -mitrailleuses to cease firing, and thus arrested the useless carnage. - -As yet Charlie Pierrepont had escaped without a scratch, though -frequently the very sod beneath his feet was torn and sowed by balls. -Though the French obtained possession of Saarbrück--the last troops -out of which were the Thuringians--the Prussians still continued to -lurk in the village of St. Johann, on the further side of the Saar, -and in the thick woods beyond it, from whence the white smoke spirted -out in incessant puffs as their well-concealed skirmishers kept up a -galling fire on the enemy. - -This gradually ceased, and the shadows of evening began to deepen -over Saarbrück, and on the faces of the dead and dying who lay by the -sedgy banks of the once peaceful river. The fishers had fled, -abandoning their tubs and baskets; no figures were seen moving on -either side now save those of men in various uniforms; and terrified -by the unnatural din that then had seemed to rend the sky, the little -birds were seen to grovel amid the reeds and grass, as if too scared -to seek their nests in those thickets around which the tide of -carnage rolled. - -The advanced sentinels were posted for the night, and under the -shelter of a shattered cottage wall. Charlie Pierrepont, Heinrich, -and Captain Schönforst congratulated each other that they all escaped -untouched, and sat down amid the _debris_ of what had once been a -cabbage-garden, to enjoy an humble repast, some German sausage, a few -slices of bread, and the contents of their water-bottles, dashed with -cognac. - -The telegram which, on that same evening, the Baron Rhineberg so duly -reported at Frankenburg, thereby piercing, as with a poniard, the -heart of Ernestine, was correct in some of its details, as the -_first_ man killed in the Franco-Prussian war was an Englishman--but -not Charlie. - -Prior to the affair at Saarbrück, twenty Baden troopers, led by a Mr. -Winslow, made a dash into France at Lauterburg, and galloping on as -far as Niederbronn, in open daylight, cut all the telegraph wires -along the line of railway there. They halted next morning to -breakfast at a French farmhouse, when they were surprised, and, in -the combat that ensued, Winslow was cut down and slain. - -The terror and anxiety of Ernestine were, however, short-lived, as -Heinrich's letter, written next morning, contained an enclosure for -her that gave her a blessed relief. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - -THE DREAM IN THE BIVOUAC. - -In talking over the stirring events of the past day, Captain -Schönforst sat drawing out his fair fly-away whiskers to their full -length, and then stuffing them into his mouth, as if to stifle his -indignation at the Emperor Napoleon, for, like many other German -officers at this time, he was loud in condemning him for bringing the -Prince Imperial, a mere boy, under fire. - -'You forget, Herr Captain,' said Charlie, 'that princes have a great -political game to play in this world, and that the heir of a throne -should always be a soldier.' - -'But a boy--a mere boy--to be brought into action!' persisted the -Captain. - -'Well. The sooner his nerves are strung, the better, I think; and we -must remember that boys are employed in navies as well as in armies, -and it is no more inhuman to have a prince under fire than a -midshipman or drummer boy.' - -So the worthy captain was convinced, though much against his will. - -We have no intention of afflicting the reader with a history of the -terrible Franco-Prussian war; but we cannot omit the details of some -of those events in which Charlie Pierrepont and his comrades, the -Thuringians, bore a share. - -Serious disasters followed the slight success won by the French at -Saarbrück, when the Crown Prince of Prussia, two days after, made a -furious attack on their right flank, which rested on a high hill -called the Geisberg, just within the frontier of France and a little -south-east of Saarbrück. All round the Geisberg the country is hilly -and woody, with cultivated fields, detached cottages nestling among -vines and flowers, and here and there pretty little hamlets. - -Just as grey dawn stole in on the morning of the 4th of August, and -when the French troops on the Geisberg were cooking their breakfasts -and drinking their coffee quietly between their piles of arms, and -looking from time to time into the beautiful pastoral valley, -suddenly a storm of shells burst over them. The air seemed alive -with fire and falling bombs, while, at the same moment, the whole -town of Weissenburg, close by, burst into flames. - -Unseen by, and unknown to the French, the Crown Prince of Prussia had -established a terrible battery of guns on the heights of Schweigen, a -village on the other side of the river, and these guns were supported -by a vast force, variously estimated from 50,000 to 100,000 men. - -On and about the Geisberg were only 10,000 French troops. - -The country on the Bavarian side of the Lauter is so thickly wooded, -that the approach of the Crown Prince's army was quite concealed; not -a bayonet flashed out from amid the foliage; not a standard was seen -to waver; hence the men on the Geisberg suddenly found themselves -confronted by a vast host that crossed the river at various points, -the first to plunge in being the Thuringians, with stentorian shouts -of - -'Vorwarts! Vorwarts! Hoch Germania!' - -A young fähnrich (or ensign), a mere boy, carrying the King's colour, -was shot through the head, and was being swept down the stream with -the pole in his grasp, when Schönforst wrenched it away; and the -standard, all bloody and dripping, was shouldered by another -subaltern. - -Pierrepont could see nothing of what was being done at any other -point than where his regiment crossed; but in a few minutes he found -himself out of the water, and into clouds of smoke, through gaps in -which, when made by the morning breeze, he could see the dusky -columns of the enemy--the red-breeched Zouaves in their variegated -Oriental costume, their necks bare, and their bearded faces dark and -brown, and a corps of Voltigeurs in blue faced with white. - -Up the Geisberg went the Prussian troops, cheering, and with a -rush--up so fast that the mounted officers were cantering their -horses--and with a rush the hill was carried, after a short, sharp -hand-to-hand conflict, though here the dark, savage Turcos fought -with desperation and incredible bravery, charging many times with the -bayonet, though their ranks were torn to pieces by grape-shot. - -General Douay, commanding the French, was here killed by a shell. -His fate was a very melancholy one, and a noble instance of -self-sacrifice. - -On seeing the battle hopelessly lost, he stood sadly apart on a -little mound, watching the last desperate struggles of his -fast-falling infantry. He then issued some final orders to the -officers of his staff, and began to descend the slope of the mound -alone. At its base he dismounted, and slaying his horse, as Roland -did at the battle of Roncesvalles (but with a pistol), he drew his -sword, and began to ascend the opposite slope of the Geisberg. - -'Where are you going, Monsieur le General?' cried some of his -soldiers, in astonishment. - -'To meet the enemy,' he replied, through his clenched teeth. - -They continued to dissuade him, but in vain. Sword in hand he -continued to advance, calmly and alone, till a passing shell struck -him dead. - -General Montmarie, and many other brave officers, fell at the head of -their men; and, on this day, was inaugurated that series of rapid -disasters to France that never ended till the Prussian drums woke the -echoes of the Arc de Triomphe at Paris. - -The troops were considerably broken as they fought their way up the -hill, and some of the King's Grenadiers got mingled among the 95th. -Carl missed Heinrich from his place on the left of the company. -'Heavens!' thought he, 'has he fallen?' - -Looking round, even at the risk of being struck by a bullet from -behind, he saw him about fifty yards in the rear, in the grasp of a -savage-looking and powerfully built Turco, whose left hand was on -Heinrich's throat, while, with his unfixed bayonet, the socket of -which he grasped dagger-fashion in his right, he was making vain -efforts to stab and thrust--we say vain efforts, for, though Heinrich -had lost his sword in the fray, he had firm possession of the Turco's -right wrist. - -While the two were wrenching and swaying to and fro, the black eyes -of the swarthy Turco flashing fire, and his teeth glistening white as -he hissed and muttered curses through them, a second Turco, not far -off, took aim at Heinrich with his chassepot, and fired, but missed. -He threw open the breech of the weapon to insert another cartridge; -but ere he could close it, Pierrepont, quick as thought, snatched a -needle-gun from the nearest soldier, took steady aim at him, and -fired. The ball pierced the left side of the Turco, who bounded -three feet from the ground, made a kind of half-turn in the air, and -then fell flat on his face motionless. - -When the smoke cleared away, Charlie saw his friend with a breathless -and half-strangled expression hurrying towards him, having been freed -from the Turco by the bayonet of a Westphalian. He had saved her -brother; and from that gory field, his heart--his thoughts--flashed -home to Ernestine. - -It was now two o'clock p.m.; by this time the French were in full and -rapid retreat, followed by the Prussian flying artillery, as they -fell back upon the line of Bitsch. The Geisberg was won, but the -slaughter on both sides was terrible. The French fought nobly. -Fourteen men of the 24th regiment were all that were left _alive_ of -that corps at the close of the day; and even those refused to -surrender, but kept fighting on at the point of the bayonet until the -Prussians, not liking to kill them, rushed upon them in a body and -threw them down by wrestling. - -On the corpse-encumbered Geisberg the glorious old valour of France -was conspicuous as ever; but her troops were badly officered and -badly led. - -Night came down on the field; the quiet stars were reflected in the -placid bosom of the river, and heavy were the moans, and loud -sometimes the screams of anguish from the wounded. The sisters of -charity began to flit about like good angels, and the bells were rung -in Weissenberg to muster the firemen for the burial of the dead. - -To follow the 96th in detail through all the subsequent operations -would be foreign to our story; suffice it that after the attack by -the Crown Prince on the 6th of August, and the outflanking of Marshal -MacMahon, after the desperate battle at Worth, Charlie Pierrepont and -young Frankenburg found themselves still without a wound, hurrying in -pursuit of the fugitive French, who were in full retreat towards -Strasburg. - -Their brigade halted for the night, and bivouacked among some -vineyards near a little village. - -Now that he had been so often under fire, Charlie Pierrepont looked -back with surprise to the days when, in Frankenburg, he had hoped -that a French bullet might kill him! But that was before he had told -his love and had been accepted; before that happy day in the Dom -Kirche. - -Life seemed very different now; it was both precious and valuable! - -The staff officers occupied all the cottages in the village, so -Charlie, like other regimental officers, had to sleep among his men; -and thus, weary and worn, Charlie muffled himself in his ample blue -cloak, and with his sword and revolver beside him, went to roost -under the shelter of a haystack. Undisturbed by the falling dew, by -the occasional beat of a drum or sound of a trumpet, as the -field-officers of the night paraded and inspected the out-pickets, -the hoarse challenges of the German sentinels, and the clatter of -ambulance waggons carrying wounded to the rear, he slept soundly, yet -not so soundly as not to have after some strange rambling flights -about old Rugby, and a delicious dream of Ernestine, which from its -vividity made a great impression on him then, and was to make a still -greater, when a future episode came to pass. - -In the visions of the night she came to him as distinctly as she had -ever appeared to him in reality, and bent over him tenderly and -pityingly, as he lay there in that miserable bivouac, with a bundle -of hay under his head, and he heard her murmuring softly--oh, so -softly, in his ear-- - - 'My darling, my own darling!' - - -Then, as a gush of her nature, which was ever passionate, deep, and -earnest, came over her, she knelt by his side ere he could rise, and -drew his head lovingly and caressingly on her soft breast, with her -hands clasped under his chin-- - -'Oh, my Carl, how weary and how worn you look!' she continued, -kissing his cheek, on which her tears were falling, while the light -of love, triumph, and joy shone in her beautiful eyes. - -'I think of you by day and night, my love, my wife, my own wife that -is to be,' murmured Carl in his sleep; 'you are indeed my guardian -angel.' - -He pressed her to his breast, and starting, awoke, to find it all but -a _dream_; that the clock of the French village was striking the hour -of _three_, and that around him were the weary Thuringians, sleeping -in their blue greatcoats and spiked helmets, between their piles of -loaded muskets, but to his half-awakened senses her voice seemed to -linger in his ear, and he still felt her soft warm kiss on his lips. - -He closed his eyes and strove to sleep, in the hope of that dear -vision coming back again; but he strove in vain: he was thoroughly -awakened now; so dreams or slumber come no more to Charlie Pierrepont. - -The dawn of the 7th August came in, and the Prussian troops began -their march on Forbach. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - -THE LETTER OF ERNESTINE. - -The events of the war succeeded each other with frightful speed. -Marshal MacMahon's spirited address to the army and his promise, -'with God's help, soon to take a brilliant revenge,' failed to -inspire with courage the troops of France, whose military prowess -seemed gone. The excitement in the army and at Paris grew terrible. -Saarbrück was retaken by the Prussians; the French were again -defeated at Forbach; vast bodies of prisoners taken in battle or by -capitulation began to pour through the towns of Germany, where they -were kindly received; the once great Empire of France seemed -tottering to its fall, and on the 13th of August the Prussian scouts -were at Pont-à-Mousson, on the Moselle. - -Then, more fully to cut off MacMahon's communications with Metz, the -95th Thuringians, now greatly reduced in strength by fighting, and -other troops, took post in the pleasant valley where the river -divides the town in two parts. The town was soon filled by Prussian -troops, but the hardy Thuringians pitched their tents near a village -on the bank of the river, on a pretty wooded slope; and there on the -first evening of the halt, Charlie received some intelligence from -Frankenburg, which caused him much perplexity and thought. - -Most of the furniture from the village had been brought into camp; -before the tent of Captain Schönforst stood a table and chairs, and -there he, with Charlie, Heinrich, and two other officers, sat smoking -and drinking, and making merry, while their servants prepared a -repast for them. - -The aspect of the camp was very picturesque; it was now the beginning -of evening, the August sun was sinking behind a wooded mountain -range, the 'blue Moselle' looked bluer than ever between its green -and fertile banks, and the rooks were cawing noisily overhead in the -stately old beeches, amid which the tents of the 95th were pitched. - -A single day's halt had enabled the officers to remove all the mud of -the march; parade suits of uniform with fresh lace had been donned in -lieu of old 'fighting jackets;' boots were polished and spurs -burnished, and Schönforst wore a sword of which he was justly vain, -as he had received it from the hands of King William after a battle -in the campaign of 1866, when he was but a feldwebel, but won his -silver shoulder-straps by bravery. - -On all sides the men were cleaning their muskets, cutting wood, -lighting fires, carrying water from the stream, singing merrily, and -many of them in chorus. - -'Well, Schönforst,' said one of his guests, Herr Donnersberg, a -thoughtless young fähnrich, 'I feel that I have an appetite--what is -your speise-karte for to-day?' - -'The bill of fare shows rather an omnium gatherum,' replied the -Captain, thrusting nearly half a pound of tobacco into the bowl of -his pipe; 'but the chief feature in it is a goose, now broiling on -ramrods. One of our foragers gave it to me this morning for a couple -of kreutzers and a bottle of cognac.' - -'Excellent!' replied the other, 'though it is a bird, which an -English gourmand said "was too much for one, but not quite enough for -two." - -'Here is my contribution to the repast,' said Heinrich, producing -from his tent a square case bottle of prime Geneva 'per Johann de -Kuy, Rotterdam,' which he had picked up somewhere on the march. - -'So, as we have nothing better than Geneva and beer,' said the -Captain, 'it will be useless to discuss the question as to the aroma -of Veuve Clicquot, as compared with that of sparkling hock or -Sillery.' - -'Hock!' cried the other; 'wait till our drums are ringing among the -vineyards of Champagne!' - -The goose was pronounced excellent, and soon disappeared with all -Schönforst's own viands; the bowled pipes were again resorted to, and -when Charlie produced a bottle of cognac from his tent, the serious -business of the evening began, with the usual amount of rough -military joking; and Schönforst was making them all laugh noisily and -heartily, with an account of how Herr Major Rumpenfalz, just before -the Westphalians marched, had married the frolicsome widow of a -Hofrath, and on waking in the morning found his bride's golden hair -on the toilette table, and her pearly teeth in the tumbler out of -which the Herr Major was about to take his matutinal draught of cold -water. While they were still laughing at this, or rather at the -manner in which Schönforst related it, an officer who was passing -suddenly paused, and-- - -'A glass with you, gentlemen!' - -'With pleasure,' replied Schönforst, handing him a bumper of brandy -and water. - -'The Kaiser!' said the stranger, on which all started to their feet -and drank the toast, standing with their caps off. Though wearing -the usual spike-helmet, a plain blue surtout, with silver -shoulder-straps, and a little eight-pointed cross at his neck, in the -closely shaven face, the resolute mouth and square jaws, the stern -grey eyes and aquiline nose of their visitor, they all recognised the -Count Von Moltke--the spirit of the war, 'that embodied fate who -prepared in mystery and gloom the blows that were to fall on mighty -armaments, and in a few weeks to reduce great military powers to ruin -and humiliation.' - -'I have news for you, gentlemen,' said he. 'The Emperor has resigned -the command of the French army to Marshal Bazaine, so he will have to -make the great stand at Metz, where he has one hundred and forty -thousand men, with two hundred and eighty pieces of cannon.' - -He then put two fingers to the peak of his helmet, and walked slowly -away, leaving them to discuss the probable turn events might take -now; but jollity was soon resumed. - -Charlie was rather silent and thoughtful; for sooth to say, the vivid -nature of his dream still haunted him; and Heinrich, who knew well -where his thoughts were, gave him a clap on the epaulette, and began -to sing a verse of an old love song: - - THE CARRIER PIGEON. - - 'They that behold me little dream - How wide my spirit soars from them, - And, borne on fancy's pinions, roves - To seek the glorious form it loves. - - 'Know that a faithful herald flies - To bear her image to my eyes, - My constant thought for ever telling - How fair she is, all else excelling!' - - -'Pass the bottle, Carl,' he added; 'let us be merry; weep when you -must, but laugh when you can. Vive la bagatelle! as these Frenchmen -have it.' - -At that moment a Uhlan came spurring into camp with letters for the -brigade from the field post; those for the 95th were soon -distributed: there was one for Heinrich from Herminia, with another -for Charlie enclosed, and both became at once deep in their contents -by the last light of the sun. Ernestine's letter was very long, and -so crossed and recrossed that the perusal of it occupied a long time. -Ere he had read a few lines, Heinrich said: - -'I do not know whether I should show you this, Carl.' - -'What?' - -'A passage in Herminia's letter.' - -'About whom?' asked Charlie anxiously. - -'Ernestine--my sister.' - -'Read it, pray; anything is better than suspense.' - -'Herminia writes, "Poor Ernestine seems to fret fearfully. There is -a flush on her cheeks such as often precedes but more often follows -pallor; and all her actions, figure, and manner are indicative of -listlessness and ill-health."' - -'My poor darling!' said Charlie, in a low agitated voice. - -'"Surely her mamma will have some pity upon her," continued Herminia; -"the Baron Grünthal has returned to Aix, and though his gout still -continues----"' - -'Praised be Plutus!' commented Charlie; 'I wish the nasty old beast -was at the bottom of the Red Sea.' - -'"And though it does not improve his temper, he has become very -anxious and importunate."' - -'Curse him! I hope the gout may get into his Excellency's stomach.' - -'"The Count and Countess begin to hint now that as the war will too -probably be a protracted one, it was unwise to wait for Heinrich's -presence at this odious marriage. How Aunt Adelaide pores over the -_Gazettes_--those dreadful _Gazettes_!" And now, Herr Carl, all that -follows are little _bon-bons_ for my own perusal.' - -Innocent Herminia little knew that her aunt watched the war -_Gazettes_ with the double hope that Heinrich's name was not in them, -and that Charlie's _was_--or might be. - -Poor Charlie! Her ladyship was to be gratified one day, however. - -'What news from Ernestine?' asked Heinrich, when Charlie had finished -the perusal of _his_ letter; 'I feel as anxious about these girls at -Frankenburg, as if I was Rip Van Winkle after his long snooze in the -Sleepy Hollow.' - -But Charlie made no reply; he sat with the letter in his hand, and -lost in thought. - -'What is the matter, my friend?' asked Heinrich. 'There is something -more in your letter than there is in mine?' - -'There is, indeed!' replied Charlie, in a strange voice, as he -drained his glass. - -'Good news?' - -'No, Heinrich.' - -'Bad news, then?' - -'No, thank Heaven!' replied Charlie fervently. - -'What, then, agitates you?' - -'That which I cannot tell you. That which you cannot understand.' - -'Carl!' exclaimed Heinrich. - -'Pardon me--another time, and I may tell you. Oh, Heinrich, your -sister, Ernestine, is indeed the world's one woman to me!' he -exclaimed, with deep emotion; and, heedless of Schönforst and the -rest, he rose from the table, walked into his tent, and threw himself -on the pallet which was his couch, to re-peruse the letter of his -betrothed. - -The following was the passage at the end of her letter which caused -him so much thought and bewilderment: - -'Oh, Carl! Carl! what is separation but a living death--a blank in -life--a place vacant?' ('How prone the girl is to speak of death!' -thought Charlie.) 'But I am ever and always with you in spirit, my -love. Do you ever dream of me, Carl? I ask this because last night -I had such a delicious dream of _you_.' - -'_Last_ night,' thought Charlie, glancing again at the date of her -letter--'7th' August; 'last night must have been the 6th, when we -bivouacked in the stackyard, and I had such a vivid dream of her.' - -'I imagined, love, Carl,' continued the letter, 'that I came upon you -suddenly, when you were lying on the cold earth in your cloak, as I -fear you too often are compelled to do. A great horror seized me! I -thought you were dead, you looked so white and wasted; but a sudden -joy came into my poor heart when I found you were but asleep. I drew -your dear head upon my bosom, as a mother might do her baby's, and -caressed you, calling you "My darling!" "My very own darling!" so -distinctly that Herminia heard me speaking in my sleep. - -'And then you kissed me, Carl, with such tender and passionate kisses -as you gave me on that dear day in the Hoch Munster, and called me -your little wife and your guardian angel. I was then startled by the -great hall clock striking three in the morning, and awoke to weep on -finding that it was all a dream, but a dear, dear dream to me.' - -These were the actions and words of Charlie's dream, and he -remembered that when he awoke the hour of _three_ was tolled in the -village spire! - -'What can it mean?' he exclaimed, tossing his thick curly hair back -from his forehead, impatiently--a way he had; 'the mystery of dreams -is unfathomable; they are, indeed, "strange--passing strange!" The -same dream, yet we are miles upon miles apart! The same words spoken -and heard!--the same night!--the same hour and moment of time!' - -Was there some magnetic influence at work? Some spiritual affinity, -born of this great love, between these two? It almost seemed so. - -Charlie Pierrepont, a matter-of-fact young officer, knew as little of -the famous Dr. Emmerson's theories of polarity and odic force, as he -did of the Philosophy of the Infinite, or any other abstruse -speculation of the present day. - -Though bewildered and perplexed, as we have said, it gave him a -thrill of strange delight to think how strong, and yet how tender, -must be the tie of love between him and Ernestine to produce a -spiritual intercourse like this; and lest they might be laughed at by -the heedless Heinrich, it was not until some days subsequent to the -arrival of her letter that he revealed its contents to her brother, -to whom, fortunately for the corroboration of the story, he had told -of his vivid dream on the morning it occurred, before the regiment -marched from the village. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - -WHAT THE 'EXTRA BLATT' TOLD. - -A few days after the Thuringians and others advanced from the -Moselle, the quiet family in the old Schloss of Frankenburg assembled -as usual at breakfast. The old butler had cut and aired the morning -papers--the _Staats Anzeiger_, the _Cologne Gazette_, the _Extra -Blatt_, and so forth, and laid them beside the Count. The two young -ladies were there in most becoming morning toilets, and there, too, -was the Herr Baron Grünthal. The hour was an unusual one for his -Excellency to be at Frankenburg, but he had been dining there the -evening before; a storm had come on, and, to the infinite annoyance -of Ernestine, he had accepted the Count's invitation to remain all -night. - -With the single exception of absurd family pride and the consequent -tyranny over Ernestine, the general tenor of the Count's household -presented a fair example of German domestic life. - -'The serious character of a people,' says the translator of -Schiller's poem 'The Glocke,' 'who begin the common business of -everyday life with prayer, who attach importance as well to the -manner of performing an action as to the action itself, the custom of -travelling, either in their own or in foreign countries, in the -interval between the completion of their education and their -settlement in life, the domestic manners, where great attention is -paid to the minutiæ of domestic economy,' are all, he maintains, -peculiar to the German people. - -As southerns, the family of Frankenburg were more gay and lively in -manner than Germans usually are, for being nearer the Rhine they had -been for generations insensibly under French influences; yet they -were all German, to the heart's core. - -Ernestine was looking crushed and pale. The self-conscious air that -a really beautiful girl usually possesses had nearly left her now; -while Herminia, happy in her love, and having but one anxiety--the -safety of Heinrich--looked bright and radiant as ever. - -In a letter from Heinrich to her, Ernestine had been told the story -of the strangely coincident dreams; and to a romantic and -enthusiastic girl like her--one deeply imbued, too, with German -mysticism--the idea that she had thus communed and met, and might -again commune with and meet her lover in the spirit, was a source of -the purest joy. Every night she laid her head on the pillow in the -hope that her soul might fly to him; but as yet no more such visions -had come. - -And this brave-hearted and handsome young Englishman--Carl, her own -Carl--he was risking wounds and death, enduring toil and suffering -for the Kaiser, for Germany, and for _her_; for well she knew that -Charlie Pierrepont identified her image with the Fatherland. Then -how cruel it was of the Countess to view him so, and to treat him as -she did; and again and again she asked in her heart-- - -'Is it a crime to love?' - -But rank was the _joss_, the idol that was worshipped in Frankenburg. - -However, she had Charlie's ring on her finger, and a curly lock of -his hair in a gold locket, reposing in the cleft of her white bosom, -all unknown to the Herr Baron, and to all, save Herminia, who could -now see the blue ribbon at which it hung encircling her slender neck; -and in her bosom, too, she had his last letter, a mere scrap, but -full of love and truth and great tenderness; and yet he wrote of pay -and poverty. Ob, how hard it was when youth alone should be money, -beauty, wealth, and everything. - -'Ernestine, meine liebe,' the Countess would say from time to time, -'attend to the Herr Baron--assist him with your own pretty hands. -Dear girl! she is always so bright when you are here, Grünthal. She -must be doubly happy to see you this morning, after only leaving you -last night.' - -But poor Ernestine looked anything but happy or bright either, and -the Baron, though a lover, was middle-aged; hence his raptures did -not spoil his appetite, and he made genuine German breakfast, -demolishing steaks, potatoes, rolls, eggs, and coffee, in the most -unromantic way in the world. - -His hair was turning iron-grey, and on his pericranium was a bald -spot the size of a Prussian dollar. He limped a little in his -gait--there was no concealing that devilish gout--yet he looked -surprisingly young. He was attired in an elegant morning-coat with -pale-coloured trousers, a scarlet flower as well as a red ribbon at -his button-hole. His hair was brushed up into a stiff bristly -pyramid in front; but his face looked flabby now, and his coarse -moustache, like that of a walrus, overhung his mouth. - -Though suspicious, as we have said elsewhere, concerning that visit -to the Dom Kirche, and the mistake about the colour of the marble of -Charlemagne's throne, he had not the slightest idea that he had a -rival so formidable as Charlie Pierrepont, or that he, Herr Baron -Grünthal, Oberdirector of the Consistory Court, could have any rival -at all! - -Yet there was one thing he could not help remarking--that of all the -many handsome presents he had sent Ernestine, from Berlin and -elsewhere, not one was ever to be seen on her slender wrists, her -fairy-like hand, or round her delicate throat. - -This surely boded ill for him as a lover! He found himself, however, -highly acceptable to her family, and the marriage once over, all that -was necessary would be sure to come after. Whenever he was present -or expected, the Countess always seemed, somehow, unusually large and -rustling, and on this morning was especially so, in white lace over -back moiré, with her high _toupée_--it was quite an evening costume -she had donned. - -The meal was taken somewhat silently, for at times: - - 'When great events were on the gale, - And each hour brought a varying tale;' - -and when newspaper correspondents were often fallacious and fallible, -the gazettes were unfolded with fear and trembling, and the arrival -of a telegram was quite sufficient to terrify the quiet household at -Frankenburg. - -The Count and Baron, with spectacles on nose, had skimmed over the -papers, which contained nothing to alarm them in the way of friends' -names among the lists of killed and wounded in the action of the 14th -of August; but the Baron read aloud, with peculiar unction, some of -those barbarous reports and stories with which the French and German -papers then teemed of cruelties perpetrated on both sides. No one -knew then whether they were false or true; but they served to fan and -inflame the hatred of the adverse parties to fever heat. - -The Baron read that many of the dead Arabs and Turcos at Freshweiler -were found with fragments of human flesh--torn from the German -wounded--between their jaws; that a Saxon officer, who had been -struck by a bullet, and taken shelter in the house of a peasant, -where he fainted from loss of blood, had his eyes torn out by a woman -armed with a fork. These and many other details of atrocities, which -actually found their way into the London papers, he read for the -edification of the ladies, while Ernestine and Herminia exchanged -glances of horror and commiseration, as much as to say how awful it -was to think that those they loved so dearly had to run the risk of -perils such as these! - -Even the Countess forgot her Spitz pug, and a piece of mysterious -crochet, that seemed endless as the web of Penelope, while listening -to the news, and far away from her peaceful home her thoughts -followed her son, to where in the fields, the lanes, the valleys, and -pretty hamlets of Alsace and Lorraine, and in places then rendered -deserts, there lay in hundreds--yea, in thousands--the hopes of -families, the heads of homes, the source of many a broken heart! - -Suddenly the Baron raised his voice, and a strange gleam passed over -his face. - -'Der Teufel!' he exclaimed; 'here is the name of a friend of -yours--in the _Extra Blatt_? - -'Of mine--who?' asked the Count. - -'We regret to learn by a recent telegram from the seat of war that a -party of the 95th Thuringian Regiment met with a severe misfortune, -and lost two officers. Herr Lieutenant Pierrepont fell, it is -believed, mortally wounded----' - -The Baron paused and changed colour; the Countess grew pale, but with -a smile of grim satisfaction on her lips; the Count said: - -'Poor fellow--poor fellow!' - -A low cry escaped Ernestine, who fell forward with her face on the -table, and her arms stretched upon it at full length; but this -emotion failed to avert the attention of the Baron, whose eyes, now -dilated, were fixed on the newspaper. He was very pale, and shook -his head slowly, as he said to the Count: - -'Ach Gott--the worst is yet to come. Compose yourself, my dear -friend.' - -'Read--read--it is the name of my son--my Heinrich, that you see,' -said the Countess, in a breathless voice. - -'It is, madam. "Herr Lieutenant Pierrepont fell, it is believed, -mortally wounded----"' - -'You read that already; what matters it to me?' - -'"And the Herr Graf Von Frankenburg was taken prisoner, and _hanged -by the Francs Tireurs_!" Oh, my friends,' added the Baron, 'I -beseech you to suspend your grief for a time; it may all be some -terrible mistake, to be cleared up in the end.' - -'We seem fated to have startling tidings here!' groaned the poor old -Count, as his wife flung herself in a passion of tears upon his -breast. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - -IN FRONT OF METZ. - -And now to relate that catastrophe which caused such grief and horror -to the hearts of all in that hitherto peaceful German home. - -We have said that on the 13th of August the Prussian advanced guard -was at Pont-à-Mousson. The following day saw them defiling, with -drums beating, colours flying, and bayonets flashing in the sun, -across the great bridge which there spans the Moselle, and gives its -name to the town. This was on a Sunday morning, after the Herr -Pastor of the 95th had preached on the text of 'Peace on earth and -goodwill to all men'--French excepted, apparently--as the Colonel, -while the regiment was yet in a hollow square, issued special orders -as to the cleaning of the needle-guns and mode of carrying the -ammunition in the pouches. - -General Steinmetz having orders to make a demonstration against the -French troops lying between him and the great fortress of Metz, at -two o'clock on the afternoon of Sunday ordered his seventh corps, -including the Thuringians and Westphalians, under General Von -Zastrow, to proceed to the attack. - -As if inspired by one of those presentiments of coming evil that come -unbidden to many, and at times to the bravest of soldiers, on this -day Charlie Pierrepont was unusually taciturn, thoughtful, and sunk -in reverie. 'Rouse yourself, Carl, rouse!' Heinrich said to him, -cheerfully; 'you have had a little romance that is not yet ended. -The enemy is before us, and war brings promotion and glory.' - -'To some.' - -'And to others, Carl?' - -'Death, perhaps.' - -'Why so gloomy in an hour like this?' asked his friend. - -'Life, Heinrich, is, alas! so full of the unforeseen!' - -'Of course; but life has pleasant things in store for you yet. You -have been having some gloomy dream of our Ernestine again.' - -'I have not,' replied Charlie, with a sad smile. - -'All will yet be well and happy for you both. _My_ sister does not -require to look for wealth or position. These she had already, and -the Baron of Grünthal is lower in rank than a Grafine of the family -of Frankenburg,' he added so proudly, that there was much in his tone -and bearing which reminded Charlie of the Countess, his mother. - -'This brigade will deploy into line, and throw forward skirmishers -from the flank of each regiment,' were now the orders of General Von -Zastrow; 'the other brigades will deploy in succession.' - -And, on the spur, his aides-de-camp went skurrying hither and thither -to the commanders of battalions to have the requisite formation -completed with as little delay as possible. - -'Take courage, Carl,' said Heinrich; 'my dear sister shall yet be -your wife--or the wife of no one else.' - -'You forget that, save my pay, I am all but penniless. A terrible -crime in the eyes of the Grafine Adelaide.' - -'Penniless girls are often married for their beauty,' said young -Frankenburg, laughing; 'why should not a penniless man be married for -his talents or bravery?' - -And, as the subdivisions were somewhat apart, those two brothers in -heart shook hands, saluted each other with their swords, and took -their places in the new _alignement_. - -The day was a bright and beautiful one. Over all Lorraine the green -woods and vineyards seemed to be sleeping in the glowing summer -sunshine, and the scared peasant near Courcelles Chaussy paused in -his work with the sweat on his brow, and spoke with bated breath, as -the marching troops went past to death and slaughter, and his honest -sunburnt face grew pale, perhaps at the thought of what might be. - -Around Ars and Grigy, Borny and Colombey, and many other hamlets and -picturesque chateaux, the cattle, rich in colour and sleek in hide, -were chewing the cud among the knee-deep pastures; the fresh blue -streams ran on their course as if rejoicing to escape the scenes of -blood that were about to ensue; the blue kingfishers flitted about, -and the sparrows twittered in the green hedge-rows, the branches of -which were matted and intertwined with gorgeous wild flowers. The -corn was waving in the ripening fields, the swallows skimmed in the -air, and from their cottage doors the buxom peasant girls, their -cheeks dusky with southern blood and their black eyes sparkling with -tears and terror, stood by their mother's side and watched in sorrow -and terror the forward march of the Prussian troops to conquest and -carnage, and the village bells, from more than one Gothic spire, rang -out the hour that was to be the death-knell of thousands closing in -the shock of steel. - -The moment the formation of the infantry in line was complete, the -cavalry scouts went galloping to the front, and in a few minutes a -green ridge in front of the Prussian infantry was studded by Uhlans, -with their figures and tall lances clearly defined against the pure -blue of the sky. Anon, these weapons were slung, and pistols were -resorted to, and a sharp cracking of these announced that the enemy -was in sight. - -In a cloud of dust, a body of dragoons in close column of troops now -poured along the broad highway, with swords and helmets flashing in -the sun. There were the escort of the artillery, which came rumbling -along, with rammers and sponges ready for use, the limber-boxes -unlocked, the gunners ready to leap down, and wheel their muzzles to -the enemy. - -When deploying from close column into line, the companies marched -over everything, treading to mud and mire the golden grain--the hope -of the husbandman and farmer; while the horses of the cavalry ate it -standing in their ranks. - -Resolutely marched on the Prussian infantry, each man with his blue -greatcoat rolled over his right shoulder, the deadly zundnadelgewehr -with bayonet fixed, sloped on his left shoulder, the chain of his -helmet down, lest it should fall off in the mêlée. The Uhlans fell -back round the flanks, and then the French were seen lurking in -rifle-pits, which on one hand afforded them protection, and, on the -other, enabled them over the little earthen banks to take sure aim at -the invaders. - -These rifle-pits and other defences extended over a considerable -space of ground, from Colombey, with its fields of scarlet poppies, -to Ars-sur-Moselle (so famous for its red wines), including -Laguenxey, Grigy, and Borny, all pretty little hamlets. The firing -first began at the village of Ste. Barbe, within seven miles from the -walls of Metz, in front of which were the principal corps of the -French army under Marshal Bazaine, according to the Prussian account. - -The fire from the chassepots was deadly, and in their eagerness to -come to close quarters, the Prussian officers were seen brandishing -their straight-cutting swords and heard crying-- - -'Vorwarts! vorwarts! Hoch Germania!' - -On the other hand the French were not slow in crying-- - -'En avant! en avant! à bas la Prusse, et vive la France.' For they -were ceasing to shout the Emperor's name now. - -The whole of the villages had to be stormed by the Prussians in -succession. The French resisted nobly; hence the slaughter was -terrible. In one rifle-pit alone there lay seven hundred and -eighty-one corpses; the chateau of Colombey was taken and recaptured -three times at the point of the bayonet. - -The livelong day the battle lasted over all the ground before Metz, -seven and a half miles in length. The air was loaded with the smoke -of cannon and musketry, enveloping alike the dead and wounded, who -lay everywhere, in fields and gardens, under hedgerows and hayricks, -in vineyards and rifle-pits. - -The Prussians were every moment receiving fresh reinforcements, and -the troops of Bazaine, unable to check their advance, fell slowly -back upon Metz, but fighting every foot of the way. - -The 95th were at the third capture of the Chateau of Colombey, out of -which the French Voltigeurs were driven in a fair hand-to-hand -conflict, leaving behind them a vast number of wounded and slain. -Among the former, supporting himself against a fragment of the -shot-shattered wall, was a French captain bleeding profusely from a -wound in the breast. - -The fähnrich of Charlie's company, young Donnersberg, approached and -offered him his handkerchief to staunch the bleeding, when the -Frenchman, inspired by some sudden gust of national hate and rancour, -uttered 'a good garrison oath,' and with all the strength that yet -remained in his arm, ran his sword through the body of the German, -and killed him on the spot. - -Both fell nearly at the same time, as two or three bayonets clashed -in the body of the Frenchman, who lay over a pile of dead, bleeding -from several wounds. A few minutes after, Charlie chanced to pass -where he still lay in the courtyard of the chateau, to all appearance -dead. On his breast was the handsome white enamelled Grand Cross of -the Legion of Honour, conspicuous among his Crimean medals. - -'A present for my Ernestine!' thought he; 'and it is no use now to -this treacherous fellow.' - -'Not yet, not yet,' muttered the Frenchman, while his white lips -quivered and his blood-shot glazing eyes turned slowly on Charlie; -'accursed Prussian, I am not yet done with it.' - -Charlie drew back. He would have taken it from the dead man without -compunction, but shrank from touching the living. - -'A little time--a little time,' moaned the Frenchman, 'and I shall -indeed be done with it, and all--earthly things.' - -'Pardon me,' said Charlie, and was about to pass on, when the -Frenchman spoke again. - -'Water,' said he, in a low piteous voice, like a sigh; 'one drop of -water on my lips, for the love of God!' - -Charlie glanced for a moment at the body of young Donnersberg that -lay close by, with the Voltigeur's sword nearly up to the hilt in his -breast; and then, inspired by pity, placed his water-bottle to the -lips of his slayer, whose face was ghastly now and covered with the -dew of death. - -'_Merci! Merci!_ I am dying!' said he. 'Take my cross, or less -worthy hands will soon do so,' he added, trying with a feeble and -fatuous hand to detach the ornament from his breast; 'but what will -you do with it?' - -'Hang it round the neck of her I love,' replied Charlie, who spoke -French fluently, and hoping its destination might please a -Frenchman's love of gallantry. - -'Take it, then. Take it,' replied the latter, as he rent the cross -from his breast by a last effort; 'take it, accursed Prussian!' he -hissed, through his clenched teeth, 'and when you hang it round the -neck of her you love, may she be like--like me!' - -'What mean you?' - -'_A corpse!_' - -With this dreadful and inhuman wish, the vindictive Gaul sank back; a -deadlier pallor overspread his features--there was a terrible sound -in his throat, and all was over. For a moment Charlie stood -bewildered, with the cross in his hand, and half-tempted to cast it -from him. But he changed his mind, and carefully placed it in his -breast-pocket as a _souvenir_ for Ernestine of the battles before -Metz, and hurried to join the shattered remnant of his regiment, now -hurrying with others, double-quick, to take part in the attack of the -orchards of the farm of Bellecroix, where two batteries of -mitrailleuses made dreadful havoc among the assailants, sweeping -whole ranks away. - -By the time the batteries were taken, the French, after losing -_nineteen_ thousand men (and the Prussians fully an equal number), -were in rapid retreat for Metz. Charlie Pierrepont's work was over -for the day, and like his friend Heinrich, he still found himself -untouched. - -The sun was setting, and the shadows were darkening in the orchards -of Bellecroix, when the 95th were ordered to pile arms and take a -little rest; and a singular scene--singular by way of contrast, and -yet terrible--did these orchards present. The trees were still in -full foliage and bearing, and thickly among the green leaves the -apples, golden and red, the yellow pears, the downy peaches, and the -purple plums were all mingling on the branches above; below lay the -dead and the dying, some of whom in their agony had burrowed their -faces into the very earth; others had torn it up in handfuls. A few, -who had been wounded early in the day, lay dead now, with their hairy -knapsacks under their heads, and many with sweet smiles on their -waxen faces, as if their last thoughts had been of home, and those -who loved them there. - -Some had died with their fingers clasped in prayer, others with their -hands clenched, as if in rage or pain, and with their faces terribly -contorted. Everywhere lay knapsacks, shakos, kepis, helmets, arms, -and water-bottles. Pierrepont gladly quitted these dreadful orchards -of Bellecroix, and retired to a grassy bank by the side of the -highway to Metz, where a few of his brother officers, apart from the -rest, were sharing the contents of their havresacks and comparing -notes on the dire events of the day. - -There he found young Frankenburg mounted on the horse of the -adjutant, who had fallen in the attack on Bellecroix, and whose duty -he had been ordered to take in the interim, an office that was nearly -costing him very dear soon after. - -As the troops were to halt on the field pending those operations -which led to the battle of Gravelotte, a chain of out-pickets was -detailed for the night, and Charlie Pierrepont, as many of his -seniors had been killed off or wounded in that day's strife, had -command of one of these, consisting of two non-commissioned officers -and thirty men, with whom he was ordered to take possession of a -little chateau nearer Metz than Bellecroix, to use it as his -picket-house, and post his sentinels as to him seemed best. - -He accordingly marched for this place, the Chateau de Caillé, -belonging to a French gentleman of that name. It was a -quaint-looking little place, with latticed windows of iron, two or -three little stone _tourelles_, with conical roofs and vanes, and it -was quite buried among masses of ivy, jasmine, and clematis, and -embosomed, among rich fruit-trees. - -Having posted ten sentinels, equidistant and in communication with -those of the adjacent pickets, with orders to stand on their posts -and keep their faces steadily turned in the direction of Metz, the -dark mass of the citadel which, together with the spires of the -churches, could be traced against the now moonlit sky, he approached -the chateau with the main body of his picket, never doubting that -they would find it deserted, and that the family of M. de Caillé had -fled. - -Passing down the little avenue which led to the front door, brilliant -lights were visible in the lower rooms; loud and noisy voices were -heard. Charlie ordered his men to look to their cartridges. As for -the bayonets, they were never unfixed now; but a loud, hoarse German -chorus that rang out upon the night showed that the place was already -in possession of friends, and on entering the dining-room of the -chateau, a curious scene presented itself. - -It was a handsome apartment, with an elaborately polished floor, and -modern furniture in the fashion of the time of Louis XIV. Wax -candles in great profusion were burning on the elaborately inlaid -table, on which were spread in great confusion dishes, plates, -glasses, and bottles with viands and fruit of every kind. M. de -Caillé, as he proved to be, a fine-looking old French gentleman, with -hair and moustache white as the thistle-down, was there tied hand and -foot with a rope, the end of which was secured to the knob of a -shutter, compelling him to look helplessly on at the desolation of -his dwelling, into which a dozen or so of stragglers from some -Bavarian regiment, as they appeared to be, as their helmets were -crested with black bearskin and not spikes, had broken, and were now -making merry, eating, drinking, singing, and roughly pulling about -Mademoiselle de Caillé, her terrified _bonne_, and other female -servants; and it was only too evident that but for the timely arrival -of Charlie and his picket, something very disastrous must have -ensued, as these fellows were fast maddening themselves by drinking -all kinds of wines and spirits in succession. - -On Charlie's entrance, sword in hand, such is the influence of the -epaulette, that they all started to their feet; their noise died away -instantly, and every man raised his right hand to the peak of his -helmet. Believing they were utterly lost now on the appearance of -this fresh arrival, the young lady uttered a cry of despair, and -shrank to the side of her father, who was unable to put forth even a -hand to shield her, and who eyed Charlie Pierrepont with a -half-piteous, half-defiant expression. - -He was considerably reassured, however, when he heard the latter -announce the duty which brought him there, and ordered the Bavarians, -on pain of being treated as mutineers or deserters, at once to return -to their quarters. They hurried to obey with more alacrity than -goodwill, one alone venturing to explain that they had been fighting -all day without food or drink, and were in an enemy's country. By a -wave of his sword, Charlie cut him short, and ere he had shot it into -the sheath, the chateau was empty of all but his own men, who crowded -into the kitchen, and there certainly made free with all that the -cook's pantry contained. - -Charlie now apologized to M. de Caillé for the conduct of the -Bavarians, and hastened to cut the cord that bound him. He was so -weak and faint from all he had undergone, that he could only stagger -into an arm-chair, when his daughter caressed him and chafed his -hands, and while the _bonne_ poured out some wine for him and -Charlie, to whom she curtseyed, and tendered her thanks again and -again. - -After a time all became more composed, and the conversation naturally -ran on the events of the day, and the dreadful din of cannon and -musketry which had been ringing for miles around the little chateau; -and somehow, while chatting over their wine, and Charlie received -again and again the heartfelt thanks of the old Frenchman, the -latter, by some word or exclamation that escaped him, discovered the -nationality of the former. - -'Thank God, monsieur is an Englishman!' he exclaimed. - -'Yes,' said Charlie, with one of his pleasant smiles. - -'And yet you fight for those horrible barbarians, the Prussians?' -exclaimed the young lady. - -'I am a soldier of fortune, my dear child,' said Charlie, laughing, -for the girl was only in her fifteenth year, apparently, and he could -not but remember that Ernestine was one of those 'horrible -barbarians.' - -'I could have guessed as much,' said the girl. - -'How, Mademoiselle? - -'By a certain boldness in your bearing, and by something in your eyes -that tells of----' she paused shyly and coloured at her own -impetuosity. - -'An expression that tells of what?' asked Charlie. - -'I don't know, unless it is of--sorrow.' - -'You are an acute observer, Mademoiselle,' said Charlie, bowing. 'I -have indeed undergone much sorrow but lately.' - -The girl had a pretty, innocent, and most lovable little face. She -was, probably, half German in blood; her eyes were bright blue; her -cheeks delicate and peach-like; her lips a ruddy red, though cheek -and lips were ashy white with terror when Charlie first saw her, -being pulled about roughly by the Bavarians, who had boisterously -dragged her from one another, under the eyes of her helpless and -agonized father. - -She nestled up to Charlie's side, and shaking the masses of her rich -brown hair--hair that in its tint reminded him of Herminia--she put a -pretty hand on each of his epaulettes, and looking into his face with -pure childish confidence, said-- - -'I shall like you. I am sure I shall. I am so happy you are not one -of those barbarians, though you do wear a spike-helmet!' - -'Why? How should you like me?' - -'Can you ask me _why_, Monsieur, after saving our lives? In -gratitude, I can love you and pray for you.' - -Charlie laughed, and said-- - -'_Ma belle_, I am, indeed, thankful that we were in time to turn -these marauders out of doors.' - -And then he thought of his three sisters at home, and what his -emotions would be if such a scene, as he had just interrupted, had -taken place in his father's quiet house in Warwickshire. - -'What is your name, Monsieur?' she asked, 'as I must never forget it.' - -'Carl--Charles Pierrepont.' - -She repeated it two or three times, and laughing, said: - -'It sounds very droll!' - -Charlie could not help laughing at the girl's _naïve_ manner, and -thought that the old Warwickshire squire, who was fond of deducing -his descent from Robert, who received the manor of Hurstpierpoint, in -Sussex, from the Conqueror, would have found nothing 'droll' in it. - -'And what is yours, Mademoiselle?' - -'Célandine--Célandine de Caillé.' - -'Well, I cannot say it is _droll_. I think it very pretty.' - -'Your little rebuke is a just one, Monsieur,' said the smiling old -gentleman, who, had Charlie been a genuine Prussian, would little -have relished all this conversation between him and his daughter. - -'We shall be very good friends, I doubt not, for to-night, at least, -Monsieur.' - -'Only for to-night?' - -'To-morrow shall relieve you of our hateful presence, as we shall -probably move against Metz.' - -'Don't say "hateful," Monsieur, when we owe you so much, and esteem -you so much,' urged Célandine. - -'Ernestine will never have a rival, even here,' thought Charlie, as -he begged them to excuse him, as he had to go his rounds, and, with -his sergeant, post fresh sentinels. - -That duty done, he undid his belt, but without undressing, threw -himself on a sofa, and, utterly exhausted and worn out by the whole -events of the day, oblivious of the presence of Mademoiselle de -Caillé and her father in the dining-room, he slept as soundly as -Hood's old woman, - - 'Who might have worn a percussion cap, - And been knocked on the head without hearing it snap.' - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - -FACING A BATTERY OF MITRAILLEUSES. - -The night passed over quietly, and without alarm; but with dawn of -day came an officer of Uhlans, attended by a trumpeter, flying at -full speed along the line of advanced posts, calling in all the -out-pickets, while the King was probably already telegraphing to -Berlin as usual:-- - -'Another new victory! Thank God for His mercy!' - -Referring to the official pietism of the Prussian monarch at this -crisis, a very impartial historian of the war says thus:--'How little -his armies were controlled by regard for humanity--the most essential -element of any religion--will appear in lurid colours. Abu Bekr, the -successor of Mohammed, enjoined his soldiers not to kill old people, -women, or children; to cut down no palm-trees, nor burn any fields of -corn; to spare all fruit-trees; and slay no cattle but such as they -could take for their own use. But the Prussians made a desert of -France, burned villages and small towns, and treated old people and -women with horrible barbarity. But they were prodigal of religious -words, and words with many have too often a greater weight than -facts.' - -But with all this, it should be borne in mind, from past experience -of French invading armies, how would those of the Emperor have -behaved had they reached Berlin? - -One of a thousand of such episodes, as were daily occurring along the -frontiers of Alsace and Lorraine, would no doubt have desolated for -ever the household of M. de Caillé but for the timely arrival of -Pierrepont and his twenty Thuringians. - -Aware of this, when the Uhlan trumpet sounded, Célandine de Caillé, -like most young girls, a light sleeper, heard it before the war-worn -Charlie, and pale and startled, came forth in the prettiest of -morning robes to bid him farewell, and to stuff his havresack, and -the havresacks of his men (though they were Prussians), with all that -the Bavarians had not consumed last night. - -Charlie thought how fresh and radiant the young girl looked in her -white morning dress, with blue breastknots, and a ribbon of the same -colour in her hair, a soft light shining in her blue eyes, and a -little colour in her peach-like cheek, that reminded him of -Ernestine; but, ah! who was like Ernestine? - -A soldier fresh from one battle and going forth to fight another is -an object of interest to all; but a handsome, frank, and free-hearted -young fellow, like Charlie Pierrepont, was doubly so to an -impassionable girl like Mademoiselle de Caillé; thus her blue eyes -filled with tears as he kissed her tremulous little hand, which, like -her taper arm, came so delicately forth from the wide-laced sleeves -of her dress. - -'Why are there tears in your eyes, Mademoiselle?' asked Charlie, with -a kind smile. - -'Because, Monsieur, I pity you.' - -'Pity me!' - -'Indeed I do, Monsieur. Most earnestly.' - -'And why?' - -'Because you are too young, and too good and kind, to be killed. -Oh!' continued the girl, looking up in his face, 'I implore you to go -home--home to your own England--home to your mother, if you have one, -and leave these odious Prussians to fight their own battles.' - -'It is too late, my pretty friend.' - -'How so?' - -'The die is cast that makes me--Prussian.' - -'Will another horrible battle be fought to-day?' asked Monsieur de -Caillé, who now made his appearance. - -'I am sure of it, Monsieur,' replied Charlie. - -'_Mon Dieu! Mon Dieu!_' exclaimed Célandine, clasping her hands, and -looking upwards; 'and you will be in it?' - -'Undoubtedly, Mademoiselle.' - -She drew very close to Charlie, and said, in a low voice, - -'Pardon me, _mon ami_--but--but when were you last at mass or -confession?' - -'We don't attend to either much in the 95th,' was Charlie's evasive -reply; 'besides, our Herr Pastor is a Lutheran.' - -The sweet French girl eyed him wistfully. - -'You are too good and humane thus to die like a heathen!' said she, -'and many more will die to-day. Promise me, Monsieur, that you will -wear this.' - -And from her white neck she took a little holy cross and medal, -suspended by a blue ribbon, which she passed over Charlie's head. - -'For your sake, then,' said Charlie gallantly. - -'For your own, rather. Whether you believe in such things or not, it -will do you no harm to wear it.' - -'_Très bon_, my child!' said the old gentleman; 'but Monsieur has a -cross already,' he added, patting the iron one at the breast of -Charlie's blue tunic. - -'And now I must go,' said he, putting on his helmet; 'there sounds -the trumpet again.' - -As he bade them adieu and left them, the French girl, with a quick -pretty action, flicked some holy water in his face from a Dresden -china font that hung inside the door of the dining-room, and the -glittering drops fell on his moustache and silver gorget, which the -Prussians still wear, or at least wore then; and father and daughter -stood sadly in the porch, looking after their protector as he marched -off at the head of his men, for Charlie, though a thorough English -gentleman, was, as some say, 'the soldier all over, but the soldier -adventurer--the soldier of fortune, rather than the soldier of -routine.' - -Charlie, we fear, and are ashamed to admit it, did not pray often. -'It wasn't much in his line; besides, what was the Herr Pastor paid -for?' but as he marched back to headquarters on the Bellecroix road, -at the head of his picket, he prayed in his heart that no harm--no -perils, such as those of last night--might ever again menace that -frank, engaging, and innocent young girl at the Chateau de Caillé. - -But he had not seen the last of that old mansion. - -By this time, a considerable portion of the German army had -penetrated so far to the west and north-west of Metz, as to be almost -already between Marshal Bazaine and Paris! The line of the invading -forces was thus so greatly extended that the French generalissimo -dared not make any offensive movement against them, but was compelled -to retreat along the highways that led from Gravelotte to Verdun. - -Charlie had barely rejoined his regiment, and exchanged a few words -with Heinrich, Schönforst, and other friends, when the order came for -the line to advance, as the French were in position at Vionville, -covering the whole southern road to Verdun, with a front extending to -the village of Gorz, eight miles south-west of Metz; and in their -martial ardour to meet the enemy, many of the Thuringians, as the -march forward began, struck up the fine war-song of Arndt. - -In the ranks of this regiment, as in others of the Prussian army, -were many well-born and gently nurtured young men, bred to -professions or businesses, and who could speak several languages, and -take their place in good society, but were dragged away from their -avocation, hearth, and home, by the Prussian military system. There -were others, again, grey, brown, and hardy men, who could digest -sutler's beef and eat such ammunition bread as the Kaiser's -commissariat supplied, sleep in their spike-helmets as soundly as in -a velvet night-cap, feel, by a bivouac fire, as comfortable as if in -the Grand Hotel at Cologne, and march to be maimed or massacred, to -wound and to slay, with genuine Teutonic taciturnity and phlegm. - - -The battle of the day began on some wooded hills above the pretty -red-tiled village of Gorz, near a pleasant stream that meanders -between fields and beautiful coppices from Mars-la-Tour to the -Moselle. - -By sheer force of numbers, the Prussians, while giving and receiving -a storm of musketry, pushed into the woods, driving the French -skirmishers before them. Those who were spectators saw the little -scarlet kepis of the latter dispersing in succession amid the white -smoke and green foliage; then the dark-coated Prussians, with their -spike-helmets and goat-skin packs, disappeared also in pursuit. What -happened in this part of the battle no one knows, or ever will know, -as it was entirely in the dense woods and deep valleys, and thus no -general view could be obtained; yet it is to this part of the field -we have to refer, for there fought the 95th regiment. - -From one wooded slope to another the French fell back, fighting -desperately. In the valleys, the din of war rang with a hundred -reverberations. Shrieks, cries, and hoarse cheering shook the very -woodlands, and the smoke curled up from the latter as if they were on -fire. White puffs and red flashes seemed to burst from every bush -and tree. Now and then the bayonets flashed, or a tricolour appeared -amid the foliage; but on, almost without check, went the Prussians, -over ground strewn with the terrible _debris_ of men, gun-carriages, -limbers, and horses, in many instances blown literally to pieces, for -the whole ground was ploughed by shot and shell, and sown with rifle -bullets. - -Charlie's regiment, with the 40th, 67th, and 69th, was ordered to -surround and storm a cottage mid-way on the Gorze road. The reason -of four battalions being sent to storm a mere cottage was that it was -held by a half-battery of French mitrailleuses, which did frightful -execution in their ranks as they advanced. - -Forward they went at a rush, the living tumbling over the -fast-falling dead, these dreadful cannon belching death and -destruction from amid the foliage in front, with that horrible -shrieking sound peculiar to their discharge, and Charlie felt the -_streams_ of shot as they passed him. - -A wild cry of agony, amid many others, made him look to his right. -There lay Schönforst and half his company writhing or dead in one -bloody heap; and the next moment it was Charlie's turn. - -He felt as if a hot sword-blade had entered his breast--there was a -heavy blow, a sharp tearing of the body, an emotion of rage or -anger--a loud cry escaped him, and he fell on his face, enduring -terrible agony. He staggered up, just as the attacking force swept -over him to assault the battery, but fell over on his side, and lay -with the blood pouring from his chest. - -Wounded at last--perhaps mortally! was his first reflection; for he -could feel that the bullet was in his body still. Life, death--the -past, the future--'the possible heaven, the impending hell'--all -flashed upon him, with thoughts of his own misery in lying there -dying, helpless, and so far from Ernestine! - -A faintness came over him, from which he was roused by feeling some -one opening his tunic. - -'Where are you wounded?' asked a familiar voice, and Charlie found -the doctor of the regiment--with all of whom, we have said, he was a -great favourite--bending over him kindly, with the hospital attendant -of his company. - -'In the breast,' he gasped. - -The doctor had but little time to lose, and the bullets were -_pinging_ past him and his patient in every direction. - -'The bullet is lodged near the spine,' said the doctor, 'and it must -be cut out, but not here.' - -'Is--is the wound dangerous?' he faltered. - -'Not very; but great care will be requisite.' - -Whether on the part of himself or his medical attendant Charlie did -not inquire; the tone in Which the doctor said 'very' lessened his -hopes. - -'God's will be done,' said he; and there flashed on his memory all -that little Célandine de Caillé had said to him that morning about -religion; while the doctor put a pad on the wound, bandaged it, and -hastened to look at Schönforst, but he was long since past all aid, -and stone-dead. - -Save the moans, cries, and interjections--pious, fierce, or -despairing--of those around him, Charlie heard little more but the -occasional boom of the heavy guns as the tide and din of the battle -rolled away towards Gravelotte; and great faintness, like a kind of -sleep, stole over him. From time to time the acute agony of his -wound roused him, and amid his terrible thoughts, ever present were -the images of Ernestine and his family. - -The emotion of faintness increased as the day wore on and evening -came. He saw many around him die, and thinking that his own time -would soon come too, he thought once more of the French girl's words, -and strove to fashion a prayer or two, but they were little else than -pious invocations. - -Dying, as he certainly deemed himself to be, his thoughts flashed -incessantly to her he loved; her whose soft hand might too probably -never be in his again; anon to his boyhood's home in Warwickshire; -the voices of his father and of his dead mother came drowsily to his -ear; the soft English faces of his sisters floated before him. Oh, -how hard it was to lie there bleeding, and too probably dying, when -they were all making merry, perhaps, in that drawing-room which he -remembered so well, and many of the pettiest details of which, even -to a crack in the ceiling, came strangely back to memory now, with -scraps of songs and forgotten airs. - -Would the Krankentrager never come to take him away? Had the doctor -and hospital attendant both forgotten him, or had been killed? The -latter, too probably. - -So the long, long day of anxiety, thirst, and agony passed away, and -sunset came on. Charlie watched it fading on the distant woods and -green slopes of those lovely Lorraine valleys, till the mellowing -haze of twilight blurred all the landscape into gloom, and the -silvery moon and the evening star came forth in their beauty to light -up the carnage of the past day. - -Neither the doctor nor the hospital attendant of his company had -forgotten poor Charlie; but strange to say, when they came to look -for him with a party about midnight, no trace could be found of him -save a pool of blood on the grass where he had lain. - -So the Countess, perhaps, had her wicked wish fulfilled at last, and -fate had removed 'the intruder,' as she named him, for ever from the -path of Baron Grünthal! - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -IN THE ENEMY'S HANDS. - -We must now devote a short chapter to the fate of young Frankenburg. - -Ignorant that his friend Pierrepont had fallen--and a knowledge -thereof would have served the latter but little--Heinrich, in his -present capacity of adjutant, had to keep at his post and go on with -the regiment, which, like the others, carried all before it. - -The French, aware of the vital importance of keeping possession of a -hill on their right, as soon as their troops began to fall back -before those battalions sent forward by General Steinmetz, threw up -some earthen works, in rear of which their 62nd regiment of the line -lay down, while several batteries of artillery fired over their -heads, raining grape and shell upon the fast-advancing Prussians. - -For three hours the fighting was desperate there--the slaughter on -both sides woeful! Again the French fell back, and the Prussians -brought up battery after battery of Krupp guns to the summit of the -abandoned height, the gunners using their whips and spurs, the -officers brandishing their swords and shouting, 'Vorwarts! vorwarts!' -with their horses at a gallop. - -In the ardour of the pursuit, or in terror of the dreadful sounds -which shook the air, the horse ridden by Heinrich, having got the bit -of the bridle firmly wedged between his teeth for a time, darted with -his rider to the front at racing speed, and fairly carried him -through the line of the retreating French! - -Shot after shot was fired after him, but he escaped them all, and ere -long found himself in a village, the main street of which was crowded -by Francs-Tireurs, who seemed to have expended all their ammunition, -as they pursued him simply with fixed bayonets, yells, and ferocious -maledictions; for, as the Prussians gave no quarter to this species -of volunteer force, they were not disposed to give any in return, so -Heinrich began to give himself up for lost. - -An alley opened on his right, and by it he hoped to gain the open -country. He spurred his horse and shouted; he urged it with leg and -hand and voice, and forced it to the right down the alley, followed -by a shout of fierce derisive laughter, the source of which he soon -discovered to be the fact that the alley had no outlet, and that he -was fairly entrapped in a narrow _cul-de-sac_! - -To take a pistol from the holsters, to leap from his horse, make a -dash into the nearest house, was to Heinrich but the work of an -instant; but he had barely closed and secured the door, ere the human -tide of the Francs-Tireurs, intent on revenge and bloodshed, came -surging wildly down the alley against it. - -The house had been abandoned by its owners. He sought for the -back-door, but there was none. He could only drop from an upper -window into a garden; but his uniform would cause him at once to be -recognised, and instant death was sure to follow. Not a moment was -to be lost! He looked wildly round him. On a peg there hung a -loose, coarse peasant blouse of blue cloth. He tore off his uniform, -threw it and his helmet aside with his weapons, donned the blouse, -and was just in the act of dropping from the window, when his -exulting pursuers, who had soon forced the door, burst into the room, -with cries of: - -'Tué, tué!--justice, revenge!--revenge for the Francs-Tireurs!' - -The garden-wall was uncommonly high, the gate securely locked; outlet -there was none; and in another minute Frankenburg found himself in -the hands of a score of these French volunteers, so many of whose -comrades had been--no doubt, barbarously--put to death by the -Prussians, simply for being found with arms in their hands, so that -to look for mercy was vain. Their grasp was upon him; and in their -desire to destroy him, they actually impeded each other, and for a -second or two it seemed doubtful whether he was to perish by the -charged bayonet or the whirled butt-end of the chassepot, as he was -hustled and dragged hither and thither from hand to hand. - -'Checkmated--cornered!' thought he, as the faces of Herminia and all -at home came before him; 'to die thus--and at the hands of these -rascally French peasantry.' Suddenly one exclaimed: - -'Un espion--un mouchard! A Prussian disguised in a blouse--he was -about to become a spy!' - -'L'espion, l'espion!--a rope, a rope!' cried the rest, catching at -the new idea with extreme fervour. 'No, no--bayonet him!' cried one. - -'They hanged my brother at Borny,' said another;' so, by Baalzebub, -let us hang him--hang him, Etienne!' - -Heinrich's blood ran cold at this horrible suggestion. - -'I did but seek to escape, messieurs, in exchanging my uniform for -this dress,' said he. - -'Oh, of course--of course!' they cried, with fierce mockery and -cruelty flashing in their eyes. - -'I did it but to save my life,' he urged. 'Diable--of course!' - -'I am but one man among hundreds,' he continued. - -'And so shall die--tué! tué!' cried they altogether. - -'You are a band of cowards!' exclaimed Heinrich, defiantly; 'I do not -fear to die. Hurrah for Germany!' - -'Hah, ha! hah, ha!--à bas le Prussien!' they chorused. - -One now appeared with a rope, which he had procured somewhere, and a -cold perspiration burst over the brows of Heinrich. - -'I am the Graf Von Frankenburg,' he urged, almost, but not quite, -piteously. 'I am an officer of the Thuringians--let me die the death -of a soldier, not that of a felon.' - -'You are the Graf Von Frankenburg?' said one; 'be it so. The higher -the rank the greater the disgrace in dying the death of a spy; so, -coquin, hang you shall.' - -Resistance was vain; the iron grasp of many was on each of his arms, -and he was as helpless in their hands as an infant. His father, his -mother, his love--the bright-haired Herminia!--what horror would the -story of his fate cost them! It was too dreadful to think of; it was -madness! - -'Oh,' thought he, 'that I had but died on yonder field, and not -thus--not _thus_--in the hands of wretches such as these!' - -He disdained to ask for mercy, and resolved to die with dignity even -the horrid death to which they had doomed him. But little time was -given him for reflection, and none for prayer; yet a cry certainly -escaped him, and a nervous shudder, when he found a corporal actually -adjusting the hastily constructed halter about his neck. An -involuntary effort he made for resistance or escape, and then stood -still and passive. - -'Throw the end of the rope over that apple-tree,' was the command of -the corporal; and after one or two efforts it was thrown over a -suitable branch, 'Stand aside, comrades,' was the next command; 'whip -him up now, and make fast the rope to the branch below.' - -While a mocking shout burst from the band, and many brutal and -irreligious speeches were made, some crying piteously, 'Bon voyage, -Monsieur le Comte--bon voyage, mon Prussien,' the noose closed and -tightened round the neck of Heinrich. His eyeballs seemed to start -from their sockets, dark purple overspread his face, and he was swung -up to the branch, where he dangled in convulsive agony, swinging and -swaying to and fro, with a hoarse, rattling, gulping sound in his -throat, and with his feet about eight feet from the ground. - -The other end of the fatal rope was made fast to a lower branch, and -then the Francs-Tireurs rushed away, with mocking shouts, to join -their comrades, and left the unhappy Heinrich--the 'Prussian spy,' as -they falsely affected to call him--to his miserable fate. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - -THE CHATEAU DE CAILLE. - -And now to account for the mysterious disappearance of Charlie -Pierrepont, which the Herr Doctor could only account for by supposing -that in the restlessness of his agony, or desire to procure water, he -had crawled away into some obscure corner to die. But such was not -the case. - -It was still dusky night, or lighted only by the moon, when Charlie, -lying where we left him, began to surmise whether the morning sun -would evermore gladden his eyes, that were staring upward at the -stars, as they twinkled through the branches of those trees amid -which the battle had been partly fought, and the stems of which, in -places, were barked and whitened by the passing whirlwinds of shot -from the mitrailleuses. - -'If I die,' thought he, 'the label at my neck will tell the burial -party who I am--or was.' - -And as the slow hours of the night stole on, he thought of the -ghastly face of the French captain who killed the young ensign -Donnersberg, and the peculiar hatred and inhumanity expressed by his -dying wish. The sound of wheels coming slowly along now roused him. -A party of the Krankentrager, picking up the wounded, were passing -near. He tried to call aloud, but his voice had failed him. - -'How high the moon is to-night,' said one. - -'How bright, you mean; for I don't suppose she is higher up than -usual,' replied another. - -'But it would be a lovely night for having another turn with the -French schelms, in their long blue coats and red kepis.' - -'There has been slaughter enough, for one day, Rudiger; ugh!--how -thick the corpses lie here, where the horrible mitrailleuses have -been playing.' - -The waggon was stopped, and the soldiers looked about them. - -Suddenly one said-- - -'There is young Herr Pierrepont, the Englander of the 95th. How in -his heart he loved the crack of the zundnadelgewehr, or the click of -steel on steel! So he is gone, too!' - -'He is worth a dozen dead men yet!' exclaimed one of the -Krankentrager, leaping off the seat of the ambulance waggon, on -seeing Charlie's eyes and hand move. - -Some brandy-and-water was given him as a reviver, and he was lifted -into the waggon, which was already full, and was hence driven from -the field; and here we may mention that the Krankentrager is one of -the best-organized corps in the Prussian army, and its special duty -is to carry the sick and wounded. - -In this Franco-Prussian war, it is to be recorded that to their -immortal honour, the Sisters of Mercy were always on every field of -battle _before the firing ceased_, and they went on foot, each little -company preceded by a Catholic priest or Lutheran pastor. - -Luckily, as it proved in the end for Charlie, he had fallen into the -hands of Landwehr men alone, for ere long, conceiving him to be dead, -they took him out of the waggon and left him at the door of a -mansion, which proved to be the Chateau de Caillé. - -Prior to this, as the waggon was driven slowly and tortuously, to -avoid mutilating the killed and wounded, who lay thickly everywhere, -in literal heaps in some places, in ranks in others, the moon went -down, clouds overspread the sky, and, to add to the miseries of the -helpless, rain began to fall. In the action of the previous day, the -canopy of the waggon in which Charlie Pierrepont lay had been -destroyed by a passing shot. No other had been substituted, so there -he Jay, with seven others, packed closely side by side, some dying, -some actually dead, with the rain of heaven pouring into their open -months and eyes. - -Some there were who stirred restlessly from side to side, constantly -requesting their position to be shifted, as the agonies of death came -on; and when they died they were lifted from the waggon and laid by -the side of the way. - -To the grim corps of grave-diggers was assigned the duty of noting -the neck-labels, and doing what was necessary then! - -As Charlie lay very still and motionless with eyes closed, sunk -indeed into a species of stupor, the unskilled men of the Landwehr -concluded that he was dead, and lifting him from the waggon, laid him -near the gate of the chateau, and drove off, just as grey dawn began -to brighten on the wooded hills that look down, the Moselle, and the -great spire of the distant cathedral of Metz. - -So there he was left to be killed, perhaps outright, by the first -vindictive peasant of Lorraine who might be going a-field to his -work; but there was too much gunpowder in the air about Metz just -then to permit other work to be done than 'the harvest of death.' - -Now, before those terrible fellows in spike-helmets came into that -peaceful part of pleasant Lorraine, where the old chateau lies -embosomed among vineyards and apple-bowers--the Lorraine that whilom -belonged to the mother of Mary Queen of Scots--it had been the wont -and custom of Célandine de Caillé, at the hour of seven every -morning, to go to early mass in a little chapel near the highway that -leads to Metz. She dared not venture so far now; but by mere force -of habit, she was saying the prayers for mass among the dew-drops in -the flower-garden, when something caused her to peep out of the front -gate, and then she saw---- What? Oh, it could not be! - -Was this pale, ghastly, sodden, and blood-stained creature the -handsome young soldier who, but yesterday morning about the same -hour, after being startled by the Uhlan trumpet, had marched away so -proudly at the head of his Thuringians, with his silver epaulettes -glittering in the sun, and had yet in his havresack--soaked with his -own gore--the food so kindly placed there by Célandine? - -It seemed incredible, yet so it was! - -A shriek escaped the startled girl, and she rushed indoors for her -father, her _bonne_, and everybody else; assistance was soon -procured, the sufferer carried indoors, placed in bed, his uniform -hidden, for the Francs-Tireurs were hovering about, and medical aid -was procured from the nearest village, in the person of a young -doctor, Adolphe Guerrand, on whom, as an admirer of Célandine, they -could rely for silence and secrecy. - -The thunder of war was an awful event to the inmates of that little -secluded chateau, to none more than to Monsieur de Caillé, whose days -were usually spent in dozing about his flower-garden, plucking off a -faded leaf here and there, or training vines and sprays, and whose -evenings were passed over a bottle of vin ordinaire with the Curé, or -listening to Célandine's performances on a--well, it was _not_ a -grand trichord piano, because it had been her grandmother's. - -Some days and nights elapsed--strange, drearily days and nights to -Charlie Pierrepont, who only knew at times where, by a strange -coincidence, he was. They were passed by him in a chaos or confusion -of thought, in dreams of Ernestine, of the day in the Hoch Munster, -and the evening in the church at Burtscheid, of battle-fields, with -lines of red kepis, fierce bearded faces, and hedges of bristling -bayonets looming through the smoke, of the roaring shriek of those -dreadful mitrailleuses--the veritable invention of Satan; yea, even -the scowl and curse of the French captain were not forgotten; but -after a time Charlie's thoughts became coherent; he knew fully where -he was; that a conical rifle bullet had been cut out of his back, -near the spine, by the skilful hands of Adolphe Guerrand; that he had -a narrow escape from death; that he was recovering, and had, as -nurses, Célandine de Caillé and her kind old _bonne_. - -'Ah! Célandine--Mademoiselle Célandine,' said he, taking the girl's -tiny hand within his own, and just touching it with his lips, -'neither your holy water, nor the consecrated medal, acted as a -charm. In what a condition have I come back to you!' - -'But for my medal and the holy water, perhaps a cannon-ball might -have taken off your head,' retorted little Mademoiselle de Caillé. - -'True,' replied Charlie, as he kissed her hand again. - -Three weeks had elapsed since the battle in which Charlie had fallen -wounded; two days after, as Célandine told him, Gravelotte had been -fought, and then the French had been defeated after a dreadful -struggle, and driven back to Metz. Strasbourg was besieged, -Phalsburg bombarded, the Prussians were daily everywhere victorious. - -'And, alas! monsieur,' said the little maid, clasping her pretty -hands, and lifting upward eyes that were suffused with tears, 'France -is lost! The glory of my France is gone! And surely now the cries -of Melusine will be heard!' - -'Melusine?' asked Charlie, with surprise. 'Who is she?' - -'Don't you know, monsieur? Have you never heard of the "_Cris de -Melusine_?"' - -'Never.' - -'It is an old legend believed in by most of our peasantry. Brantôme -says she is a spirit that haunts the old castle of Lusignan, where, -by loud shrieks, she announces any disasters that are to befall -France.' - -'She must have been shrieking pretty loud and long of late,' said -Charlie, smiling at the earnestness of the girl, who, in her love of -the legendary, reminded him, he thought, of Ernestine, and he liked -her the better for it. - -So Charlie continued to be attended daily by the young Doctor -Guerrand, and nursed by Célandine in secret, as it would have been -perilous for Charlie had the exasperated peasantry learned that a -Prussian officer was concealed in the chateau. The heart of the -young French doctor Guerrand was full of bitterness for the disgrace -that was falling on his country, and, were it not that by his -practice he supported an aged mother, he would have cast aside the -lancet and betaken to the chassepot. - -'_Sacre!_' said he, on one occasion, to Charlie; 'in this war the -French seem to make more use of their feet than their hands; but we -won't talk of politics.' - -'Why, Doctor?' - -'Because I always lose my temper. I am a Republican now. I have -become so in the bitterness of my heart. But, thank Heaven, we shall -soon be rid of our Emperor, as you will, ere long, of your Kaiser; -for what are kings, emperors, and princes, but a crowned confederacy -against the freedom of the world? _Sacre!_' - -And the young Republican ground his teeth in his fierce energy. - -Charlie had Ernestine's photo, done and coloured at Aix-la-Chapelle. -It was one which, so far as these sun pictures go, represented her to -the life, and he had seen her in that particular posé, and with that -expression on her soft face, many, many times. He kept it beneath -his pillow. Never did he tire of gazing on it; thus, more than once, -his active little nurse caught him with the blue velvet case in his -hand. - -'Ah! It is monsieur's mother?' said she, trying to get a peep at it. - -'It is not,' said Charlie, with a fond smile. - -'A sister, then? I have seen that it is a lady!' - -'No, Célandine.' - -'Something as dear as both would be?' - -'I cannot say.' - -'How so, monsieur?' - -'I scarcely ever saw my mother. And when I left home to soldier in -Prussia, my sisters were mere children; but dear she is, indeed.' - -'Ah,--a _fiancée_?' said Célandine, laughing and clapping her hands. - -'Yes, mademoiselle.' - -'Ah, show me the likeness, monsieur,' she entreated; so Charlie gave -her the case. 'How sweet, how lovely she looks! Do let me kiss her! -Monsieur Pierrepont, I congratulate you. And when are you to be -married?' - -'Alas!' muttered Charlie, as his countenance fell. - -'Surely she loves you?' asked Célandine, with her blue eyes dilated. - -'Loves me?--dearly! so each of us has one secret of the heart to -treasure.' - -'What have I?' asked the girl, demurely. - -'You have Adolphe.' - -'Ah!--yes; M. Adolphe loves me, I believe, and--and perhaps I may -learn to love him in time. I am not sure. I may marry some one -else, and learn to love that some one. Mon père will arrange all -that for me, and it will be so kind of him.' - -Charlie looked puzzled; but ere long, in the case of Célandine -herself, he was to see how matrimonial matters are arranged in the -land of the silver lilies. - -Her question, 'When are you to be married?' opened up no new train of -thought to Charlie; that important _when_ had been a source of -frequent and painful surmise; but a new idea was ever before him now. - -What had Ernestine heard of his fate?--that he was killed, wounded, -or missing? He had no means of communicating with her now, and thus -sparing her that which he would gladly have done--a single sigh, a -single throb of pain. - -There was no one at the chateau could tell him where the 95th were, -whether in front of Metz, besieging Strasbourg, or fighting at -Phalsburg. But, oh, how to relieve the grief of his betrothed! He -would not, for worlds, have cost that warm, wilful, and impassioned -heart one pang! - -Yet there he lay on his back, with a closing wound, helpless. - -Like an iron weight it bore on his heart, the remoteness and dubiety -of their meeting again; and when all thought of his personal danger -passed away, this reflection weighed more heavily on him than ever, -while his very career as a soldier made the future more uncertain and -gloomy. - -He had but one fixed, yet vague, idea--that, at the risk of his life, -he would see Ernestine before he returned to the regiment in which he -was, as yet, unfit to serve, and assure her of his all-unaltered -love. Times there were when he thought he would ask Célandine to -write to her, but in turn was afraid to do so--to Herminia, or to -Ernestine, over whose postal correspondence, doubtless, the Countess -kept a strict vigil--or, if she did write, there was no other post -than the field one between France and Prussia now, and that was with -the German army. - -So Charlie could but lie on his bed and writhe, though in the kindly -hands of the sweetest of little nurses. - -Would the Countess Adelaide, he sometimes asked himself, feel any -compunction for her proud severity, any pity for her daughter's -honest lover, on hearing of his probable fate? Alas! it seemed more -likely that she would exult at it as a barrier, a bramble, removed -from her path. The Count was an old soldier; perhaps he might relent -and prove generous; and so, on and on, Charlie hoped, surmised, and -pondered, till his very brain ached. - -Célandine knew that Charlie was English by birth, yet Prussian by -sympathy, which she deplored--they were such barbarians, those men in -the spiked helmets. Thus when she played or sang to him, which she -did with great taste and sweetness, with good taste she only chose -neutral airs and songs, such as those from the Trovatore, etc., and -in these Adolphe Guerrand frequently joined her. - -As she was in her mere girlhood, it appeared that she was too young -to marry, nor had ever thought of it; and more than all, as Adolphe -was poor, having only his practice as a hard-working village -practitioner, Monsieur de Caillé was by no means disposed to look -upon him, even in the future, as an eligible suitor for his daughter, -till a letter reached young Guerrand from Paris by which one morning -he found himself rich by one of the most extraordinary chances in the -world. - -It happened that just a week before the Prussians crossed the Rhine, -Adolphe Guerrand had been at Blankenberg with a patient, to whom he -had prescribed sea-bathing, and, when walking on the beach there, had -found a carefully sealed bottle among some sea-weed. Holding it -between him and the light, he saw that it contained a written -document, and conceiving naturally that it was a message from the -sea--the last farewell from some sinking ship, he drew the cork, and -perused the damp paper, which was properly signed and dated, from on -board a French vessel, which had sprung a leak, and was going down in -the middle of the Atlantic. And thus it ran on, in French: - - -'About to perish by drowning, I commend my soul to God, the Blessed -Virgin, and all the saints. I hereby constitute my sole heir the -finder of this will, which I enclose in a glass bottle. The labour -of years, my fortune amounts to two hundred and twenty thousand -francs, and I am without a relation in the world. I wish the house I -have resided in at Paris to be converted into a chapel of St. -Dominique, my patron saint. The fortune is deposited in the hands of -the notary, M. Vantin, in the Rue St. Honoré. _Ora pro me_. - -'DOMINIQUE SOURDEVAL.' - - -The letter was from Vantin, the notary, to the young doctor, who thus -found himself suddenly rich, so all obstacles were removed to a union -with Célandine, when she was a few years older, though the family of -Adolphe was of humble origin and that of De Caillé ancient, and shone -at the court of Louis XIII. It was of a Madame de Caillé that we are -told, how when that monarch was once playing at shuttlecock with her -at Versailles, it fell into her bosom, on which she desired his -majesty to take it; but such was his royal delicacy that, to avoid -the snare laid by the charming Lorrainer, he discreetly extricated -the toy with the aid of the tongs. - -Thus, on the first day of Charlie's convalescence, the formal -betrothal of the daughter of the house took place; and to him it -seemed a very cold-blooded affair to the wild, passionate, and solemn -episode between himself and Ernestine in that lonely church at -Burtscheid. - -Adolphe was in his twenty-fifth year, naturally sanguine and -enthusiastic; his clear-cut features and thoughtful eyes were now -full of light and brightness; there was a greater springiness in his -step, born of the knowledge that he was now rich and the inheritor of -a fortune--the fortune of M. de Sourdeval, so mysteriously cast at -his feet by the waves of the sea. - -A well-bred French girl, of course, expects one day to be wedded, but -chiefly looks forward to the event as an opportunity of displaying -her presents and trousseau, and is supposed to have no preference in -the matter. To Célandine it seemed only natural that she should -accept her father's choice, just as he had done the choice of _his_ -parents in espousing her mother. - -Yet in her heart of hearts, the girl--though very young--had grown -fond of Charlie Pierrepont, her helpless charge, who was always so -gentle and grateful, so sad, too, and who looked, withal, so manly -and soldier-like. And with this sentiment in her heart, the girl was -to contract what we must call a French marriage. So full of -cross-purposes, hidden currents of thought, and secret springs of -action, is this work-a-day world of ours! - -She knew that it is understood and accepted in her native country -that unions cannot, as in England, be contracted on the impulse of -love or romantic notions, but upon principles of cold and practical -utility, as mere transactions between parents; but they are sometimes -equally so on this side of the Straits of Dover. - -So, on the day referred to, M. de Caillé said to his daughter, with -his eyebrows elevated as if he had quite made a discovery, while -kissing her on the forehead, 'I have found you a husband, my love.' - -'Merci, mon père--who is he?' asked Célandine, as if she had not the -slightest guess on the subject. - -'The time will come anon--but here he is,' and he led in Adolphe, who -approached Célandine, whose eyes were fixed on Charlie, pale, wan, -and propping himself on a cane of M. de Caillé's. - -At such a crisis, Adolphe Guerrand had vague ideas--from what he had -read in novels and seen at the theatre of the Porte St. Martin, when -he was a student in Paris, at the Ecole de Medicin--that he should -drop on his knees, or at least on one knee; but the floor was very -slippery, and Célandine not being much in love with him, and very -much inclined to laugh, he didn't attempt a melodramatic posé at this -betrothal, which Charlie saw as in a dream; for his thoughts were at -Burtscheid, and the heart-stirring parting words of Ernestine were -lingering in his ear. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - -ERNESTINE. - -As the reader may suppose, some time elapsed ere the quiet little -household at Frankfort realized--they could not for long recover -from--the catastrophe recorded by the German papers; but when it was -actually stated that a prisoner taken in a skirmish, a captain, was -roasted alive, nothing seemed too horrible to happen now. That -Heinrich might be wounded unto death, or slain outright in battle, -seemed but a too probable contingency; but that he should be taken -prisoner, and suffer an end of such enforced ignominy, was beyond the -category of all their speculations. - -The whole family were utterly prostrated by an event so inexplicable, -and Ernestine felt the shock in her own peculiar way. She loved her -only brother dearly, and all the more dearly that he was the friend -and defender of her lover Carl--her betrothed husband, for as such -she always viewed him. Now that her beloved Heinrich was gone, the -links between her and Carl--the means of communication--were broken, -and she could hear of him no more. - -And, meanwhile, where was Carl? Alive or dead? - -The _Gazette_, so grudging in words, so meagre in detail, had simply -said that he was severely wounded. Where, and in what fashion, was -he wounded? By steel or lead? Was he mutilated, disfigured for -life? Perhaps he had since perished in his agony, or when undergoing -some terrible operation! - -So, for days and nights, the girl tormented herself till she became -seriously ill with agonizing conjectures, over which she was -compelled to brood in silence and tears. - -At last, to the astonishment, to the wild joy of all, there came a -letter from Heinrich himself--a letter dated ten days subsequent to -the catastrophe recorded in the _Extra Blatt_! - -It was dated from a village somewhere near Metz, and briefly -recapitulated what has been detailed in Chapter Eighteen, and added -that a humane peasant woman, who, from a hiding-place, had witnessed -the terrible scene in the garden, the moment the Francs-Tireurs -retired, had rushed forth and cut him down. She had quickly and -adroitly released his neck from the odious cord, chafed it with her -hands, given him water, and thoroughly revived him, though animation -had never been quite suspended. - -Moreover, she had concealed him in her house for two days, and -enabled him to join the regiment before Metz; but the shock to his -system was such that the military surgeons advised his return home -for a time, and that, doubtless, he would spend his Christmas with -them all at Frankenburg. - -They had all mourned so deeply over his supposed terrible fate, that -the account this letter contained--the assurance of his perfect -safety and speedy return in his own handwriting--seemed like a -resurrection from the tomb! All the family embraced each other and -shed tears of joy, and a new and sudden happiness was diffused over -the whole household, even to the grooms in the stable, for all loved -the handsome young Graf. - -An enormous amount of beer was consumed on the occasion, and in 'the -study,' the Count and Baron Grünthal over their pipes, and certainly -more than one bottle of Rhenish wine, grasped each other's hands ever -and anon, and shouted, in the melodious language of the Vaterland, - -'Hoch, Heinrich! Ich habe die Ehre, auf Ihre Gesundheit zu trinken!' -(I have the honour of drinking your good health.) - -In his letter there was no mention of Carl Pierrepont, and no -enclosure for _her_, thought Ernestine; but then, as Heinrich wrote -to the Countess, he could not make a communication concerning him; so -the girl, though her joy for her brother's safety was somewhat -clouded by that circumstance and the wish that Heinrich had written -to Herminia; could but wait and hope--hope and pray. - -'A little time, and my dear brother will tell me all,' she said to -herself; 'but, oh! this suspense--this mystery concerning the fate of -my Carl, is intolerable!' - -And now, in the excess of their happiness, the intended marriage of -her and the Baron was revived in greater force than ever. Heinrich -was returning, and his presence would make the happiness of all -complete. Daily, Ernestine, while scanning the papers with keen and -haggard eyes for intelligence of the lost one, heard the marriage -arrangement schemed out; the projected breakfast; the cake which was -to come from the most celebrated confectioner in Aix; the -_trousseau_, which was to come from the most fashionable Putzmacherin -(or _modiste_) in Berlin; the feast in the hall, and who were to be -invited; whether the honeymoon was to be spent at Wiesbaden, at -Carlsbad, or Bruckenau, and the girl listened to them as if she had -been turned to stone. But there is a writer who says, 'Age -legislates and youth trespasses; but the tide of love no more recedes -at a _bidding_, than King Canute's waves.' - -Only once, however, did the sympathizing Herminia think her pale -cousin was about to yield, when one night she laid her head on her -bosom, and said with a gasping shudder, - -'Oh, how terrible it is to give one's hand to the living when one's -heart has been given to the dead!' - -'But your dear Carl may not be dead. Heinrich is returning.' - -Other times there were when she would not believe that he was dead, -yet how many brave hearts were growing cold in death then all over -Northern France! How many men yet were to perish among the blushing -vineyards of Champagne, and under the beleaguered walls of Paris! - -The cruel _Blatt_ had only said he had been wounded. But how had he -disappeared? - -'He will return--oh, yet he will return! Kind God, you would not -take him from me!' - -And in the fervour of such a moment she would lift her streaming eyes -upward with a trustful and angelic expression. - -Like Charlie, when in many a comfortless bivouac under the sky and -dew of heaven, under canvas when the summer rain pattered on the tent -roof within an inch of his nose, of when in his bed tossing -restlessly at the Chateau de Caillé, how many wild, strange, and -impracticable plans and schemes did the busy mind of Ernestine frame, -to reconstruct and hopelessly destroy again! Time, possibility, and -the usages of life--and especially of her position in life, she -overleaped with wonderful facility, so impulsive was she, but to fall -back panting, as it were, and without one ray of hope, till she -became, as we have said, like a stone, yet love lived on. - -Times there were when she imagined, or strove to imagine, that she -had eloped with Charlie; that he had cast epaulettes, sword, and -military reputation to the winds, and all for her sake; and that she -was rambling with him among those lovely woods and sylvan scenes he -had so often described to her, the scenes of his native home in -Warwick. They did not require a huge schloss; they could be so happy -in a little cottage, and she was certain that she could milk a cow, -if she tried. - -Charlie she must and would see again at all hazards! Were they not -each other's unto death--vowed in life and death? Even now _where_ -he was, she knew not, wist not; but in imagination she felt his arm -pressing her hand to his side; she saw his brave and tender gaze of -love into her eyes till they seemed to droop beneath the magnetism of -it; she felt his kisses on their snowy lids, on her hair and on her -brow, and all his soft uttered whispers come to memory again. And as -she thought over all these things, the girl clasped her hot white -hands in agony by day, and tossed feverishly and restlessly on her -pillow by night. - -At last Heinrich returned, to the increased joy of all and the -thoughts of Ernestine went back to that evening when, from the -terrace, she had watched Carl, driving in the britzka towards the -Schloss--her Carl, then a stranger to her save by name, but who was -now so dear! Heinrich looked well and strong, sun-browned and -bold-eyed, and as the Count said, after kissing him on both cheeks, -and giving him a kindly thwack on the back, 'not a whit the worse for -his hanging!' - -And now utterly regardless of what her parents might think or say, -oblivious alike of their anger and their absurd pride, Ernestine, in -her, usual passionate way, threw herself into her brother's arms, and -cried in a piercing voice: - -'Oh, Heinrich, what news of _him_, of Carl? tell me, my brother--my -brother, lest I die.' - -'I have no news, dear sister; the regiment has heard nothing of him -since the battle of the 14th of August, before Metz,' replied -Heinrich, speaking with great reluctance, being alike loath to wound -his tender sister, or in that moment of their happiness to offend his -parents. But now her father spoke, and calmly too. - -'The _Blatt_ stated that the Herr Lieutenant was wounded?' - -'Yes, when we were storming a mitrailleuse battery.' - -'Did you see him fall?' - -'No, Herr Graf. The smoke was thick, and I was on the left of the -line, he on the right, in Schönforst's company. Poor Schönforst--he -fell there, literally torn to shreds!' - -'What certainty is there that Here Pierrepont was wounded at all?' -asked the Count, very desirous to learn that it was all over with -poor Charlie, while Ernestine hung on her brother's words in agony. - -'His company saw him struck. He was leading them bravely on after -Schönforst's death. Our doctor patched up his wound in some fashion; -but on returning at night, could find no trace of him.' - -'Where was the wound?' asked Ernestine, with quivering lips. - -'In the breast--we shall hear all about it ere long,' continued -Heinrich, putting an arm kindly round his sister. 'He is doubtless -in some of the many hospitals that are near the fields where we have -been fighting.' - -'Bah! the Herr Englander has probably tired of fighting, gone home to -his own country, and will trouble Prussia no more!' said the Countess. - -Heinrich thought it much more probable that he had crawled away -somewhere and died unseen, or, to judge from his own experience, been -murdered by the peasantry; but he kept these ideas to himself. On -the first opportunity when they were alone, Ernestine had a thousand -questions to ask Heinrich; but to the fate--the disappearance of -Pierrepont, he could not give the faintest clue, though to feed her -hopes, when he had none, he drew largely on his imagination; for he -knew that unless Charlie were dead, or most severely wounded indeed, -and quite helpless, which we have shown him to be, he would have put -himself in communication with the nearest Prussian military -authorities. - -So, from the day of Heinrich's return, the health and spirits of -Ernestine sank painfully and visibly. - -Summer had passed away, and the tints of autumn, brown and yellow, -russet and orange, stole over the woodlands around the old Schloss -and the beautiful dingles of the Reichswald. In vain were daily -drives in the open carriage resorted to, and in vain were doctors -consulted; the cheek of Ernestine grew paler and thinner; her -roundness of form was passing away, and the once lovely hand becoming -all but transparent. Had sure tidings come that Charlie had been -killed outright, and, was actually dead, she might have got over the -shock; but the suspense of not knowing where he was, how -circumstanced, how mutilated, whether in his grave or still lingering -in the land of the living, proved too much for a girl so sensitively -organized as Ernestine. - -One fact was certain, as Heinrich's letters from the Thuringians -assured her, that nothing had been heard of him by the regiment as -yet. Owing to her state of health, the Countess's favourite topic -and plan of the marriage was abandoned for the time, and in that -matter she obtained some temporary relief. - -The poor girl really was, to all appearance, in a rapid consumption; -but in all her family, hale, hearty, and strong on both sides, such -an ailment had never been known. The whole tenor of her ways was -changed. Even her pets--and she had many--were forgotten now. - -The winter would come, and with it Christmas, and to that festival -Ernestine looked forward with a kind of horror now. Would it be -jovial as usual in the old ancestral hall of Frankenburg? Doubtless -the glittering Christmas tree--a pine from the Reichswald--would be -there as of old, as it had been for generations; and there would be -the venison pasty, and the brown shining boar's head to be solemnly -cut and jovially eaten; speeches would be made, and toasts drunk with -many a merry 'hoch!' while her heart would be with the German army -before beleaguered Paris, or in the grave, where she feared her Carl -lay; so she hoped as Christmas came that her place in Frankenburg -would be vacant. - -The girl's mind was a prey to suspense and fear, sorrow and -love--love, the strongest of all human passions. - -We have said that her nervous organization was delicate; hence these -mental affections, together with incessant anxiety, threw her into a -species of rapid consumption, which the presence and restoration of -'her Carl,' as she always called him, alone could cure or arrest. -She had a dry cough, a quick small pulse, a burning heat in her -hands, a loss of strength, and sinking of the eyes, and her state -became such at last that the Countess begged the Baron to absent -himself from the Schloss for a time, as his visits there were a -source of perpetual annoyance to Ernestine, though, for some time -past, she secluded herself in her own room. - -Now her mother began to wring her hands, and pray that Heaven would -find for her this Herr Pierrepont, if his presence, even if tolerated -for a time, would restore her sinking child. - -Again and again did Heinrich write and telegraph to the head-quarters -of the Thuringians concerning Charlie; but nothing had been heard of -him there, and all were certain that he must have been killed in the -action on the 14th of the preceding August. - -Poor Ernestine! Her case was soon pronounced hopeless. Her beauty -remained; but it was of a strange and weird kind. On each cheek was -a hectic spot; her eyes, sunken in their sockets, had an unnatural -brightness; she spoke little, and laughed never. - -A little time more, and she was confined to her bed, where she lay -for hours with her hot hand clasped in that of Herminia's, who bathed -her temples with Rimmel and eau de Cologne, and fanned and petted -her, while she tossed on her pillow, and muttered 'Carl! Carl!' - -It was always Carl. - -Often when she spoke, her dark eyes flashed up, like the momentary -flicker of a lamp about to go out for ever--on earth, at least. - -'Oh, Herminia, darling!' she said on one occasion; 'life has no -charms, and death has no terrors for me now.' - -'Carl will return.' - -'Never! Or it may be that he will come _too late_. Yet, even then,' -she added, with a strange bright smile, that terrified her weeping -cousin, 'even then I may see him, for it is among the possibilities -of this world that the dead may return again!' - -'Strange weird words! What does she--what _can_ she mean?' thought -Herminia. - -Some days after this she became almost speechless; yet she was quite -conscious, and looked so lovely with the dishevelled masses of her -dark hair floating over her laced pillow and delicate neck, as she -smiled tenderly on her mother, Herminia, and all who hovered about -her. Yet ever she whispered to herself, 'Carl! Carl!' - -On his last visit the doctor looked very grave as he departed. - -'Can nothing be done to save her?' implored the Countess, in a -tremulous voice. - -'Nothing in my power, Grafine. Her disease is of the mind--the mind -alone. Your daughter--I deplore to say it--is dying!' - -'Of what, Herr Doctor? Of what? - -'To me, it seems--of a broken heart!' - -'Impossible!' replied the Countess; 'people do not die of broken -hearts, and grief does not kill.' - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - -AT AIX ONCE MORE. - -So, like Heinrich, Charlie had fallen into the 'enemy's hands;' but -fortunately for him, they were the soft and gentle ones of little -Célandine de Caillé. - -The passage of the ball had seriously injured him internally; thus he -was long in recovering, and the winter of the year was almost at hand -ere he could venture to travel; but it now seemed imperative to -Charlie that he should trespass on his host and hostess no longer. - -'You would spoil any man with kindness, Mademoiselle de Caillé,' said -he, one day; 'or any dog, too.' - -'Often the most loving animal of the two,' replied the French girl, -laughing. - -During that protracted convalescence how often, in the waking hours -of the night, had he thought of Ernestine, and strove to sleep in the -hope to dream of her; of their moonlight walks in the garden of the -old Schloss, when she had held his arm, with her little hands -interlaced so confidingly on his sleeve, and he used to pet and -caress them as she leant with all her weight upon his wrist; or of -the mad gallops they were wont to have through the glades and dingles -of the lovely Reichswald, when the green woods seemed to sleep under -the dusky purple of the summer sky; but one night he had a dream that -startled, and, like that one in the bivouac, made a deep impression -upon him by its vividness and the sense of pain it left. - -In imagination she bent over him sadly and caressingly; her dark eyes -were tender and beautiful as of old; but the rose-leaf tint had left -her cheeks, as if for ever. Her smile was full of sweetness. Then a -change came suddenly over her; the soft light died out of her eyes; -her cheeks became hollow, her lips pallid; her whole expression and -aspect painful and ghastly; the grasp of her hands became cold and -chilling, and her voice grew faint and husky, as she said, - -'At Burtscheid, dearest Carl; meet me at Burtscheid, where last we -met.' - -Then she seemed to melt away from before him, and Charlie started and -awoke, to find it was happily but a mere dream, born too probably of -his nervous and enfeebled condition, yet one so vivid, we have -said--so terrifically vivid and painful, that he was trembling in -every limb, a cold perspiration covered his whole frame; and by some -strange association of ideas, the dying curse, if curse it was, of -the French captain came rushing on his memory. - -And now the time came when he was to leave the Chateau de Caillé. - -'And you go, you go to her,' said Célandine, making a great effort to -appear calm, on the day of his departure. - -'To her whose miniature I showed you, dear friend yes.' - -'Oh, may you both be happy--very, very happy!' - -'I thank you, dear Célandine; you will ever have her gratitude, as -well as mine; but there are many things to oppose, many interests to -thwart our happiness.' - -'Alas!' said the French girl, sadly; 'but remember that nothing is -_impossible_.' - -And so when Charlie Pierrepont left his kind friends and that -charming part of Lorraine, he little knew that he left behind a warm -girlish heart that yearned for him, and him only, and thought nothing -of Monsieur Adolphe, with all his thousands of francs, her father's -choice; and keenly she envied her--the unknown lady--whose miniature -was in Charlie's heart. - -From the surgeon of a Prussian regiment at Saarbrück, Charlie -Pierrepont got a medical certificate, to the effect that he was -incapable of rejoining the Thuringians, or of serving for some time. -Leave was given him by the general in command, and he took the train -from Saarbrück to Aix, to be near Frankenburg and her, of whom he had -heard nothing for all those months, that seemed like so many ages -now; for Charlie was so much of a lover, that to breathe the same -atmosphere with her was a source of joy. - -Yet it was a cold and frosty atmosphere now, for Christmas was close -at hand, the time when Christmas trees are lighted, when arcades and -toyshops, fruiterers and pastry-cooks drive a roaring trade, when -circles long separated are reunited, and happy parents sit at the -head of happy tables surrounded by shining faces. - -The Reichswald was leafless and bare now, and a mantle of snow -covered all those heights that surround Aix, which seems to lie in 'a -fertile bowl surrounded by bold hills;' and ice lay in masses about -the boats of the pontoon bridge of the Rhine. It was on the evening -of the third Thursday before the great festival of the Christian year -that Charlie found himself in the brilliant speise-saal of the Grand -Monarque. - -He was now within a very short distance of Frankenburg; but how was -he to communicate with Ernestine? See her he must before -Christmas-eve, or she could not meet him then; and the hunger, the -craving of his heart, was too great to be endured long. He feared to -write to Herminia, lest his handwriting might be recognised by the -Countess, and to write to Ernestine would too probably be useless, as -her correspondence was too probably under her mother's supervision. - -What if she should now be the Baroness Grünthal? For months no one -had known anything of his existence. All might have believed him to -be dead, and she, perhaps yielding to the influences around her; but -no, no--he thrust that thought aside, and recalled the solemnity of -their vows interchanged at Burtscheid. - -Had she not then, and on that eventful night in the boudoir, promised -to be faithful to him in life and death? and Charlie smiled at his -momentary doubt. - -How many people there are in this world who treasure up and con over -and over again an impossible day-dream that may never come to pass! -Charlie thought of this as, from the hotel windows, he gazed moodily -into the snow-covered street, with all its bustle and lamps, and -shrank from the passing fear that his aspirations after Ernestine -might only be an impossible and unrealizable longing; but see her -again he must, even if he went to the Schloss--but no, that would -never do after the treatment he had experienced there, and the -epithets applied to him by the Countess. - -Suddenly he observed near him, while lingering over his wine in the -speise-saal, which had emptied of guests, the Baron Rhineberg and, of -all men in the world, Baron Grünthal, busy with their meerschaums and -tankards of beer. Both seemed very quiet and taciturn; they had been -speaking very little, which perhaps was the reason that, in his -abstraction, they had hitherto been unnoticed by Charlie, who now -held up the _Staats Anzeiger_ between them and him, as he had no wish -to be recognised by either. However, they were a link between him -and Frankenburg, so he could not help listening intently to whatever -they said. - -They were talking at slow intervals of some recent sorrow they had -sustained; but so great was the slaughter of the French war, that -everyone in Germany then was wearing crape or mourning for the loss -of some friend. - -'Ach Gott--yes,' said Rhineberg; 'it is certainly a great calamity -even to the city of Aachen.' - -'When I saw the black flag flying on the old Schloss,' responded -Grunthal, 'and the hatchment with its sixteen quarters over the gate, -I--I knew that the dreaded event had taken place at last.' - -'That we had lost a dear friend?' - -'Yes. The poor old Graf!' said Grünthal, with a sigh. - -Charlie felt startled--almost inclined to speak and discover himself, -but restrained the inclination, and listened intently, thinking, -'Well, the poor old veteran of Ligny and Waterloo could not be -expected to live for ever.' - -'He has never suffered more, I think,' said Rhineberg, after taking a -long pull at his pipe, and watching the smoke thoughtfully as it -ascended in concentric rings towards the lofty ceiling of the -speise-saal, 'never, since that morning when the devilish _Extra -Blatt_ had in it the mutilated telegram concerning the capture of -Heinrich by the Francs-Tireurs.' - -'And the severe wounding--was it not mortally?--of the Englander, -Herr Pierrepont,' added Grunthal, with something in his throat that -sounded, as Charlie thought, exceedingly like a chuckle of -satisfaction. - -But Heinrich, his dear friend and comrade, had been taken by the -Francs-Tireurs! Knowing, from experience, how the Francs-Tireurs and -the Prussians were in the habit of handling each other, this was an -event to cause him anxiety, but, as it happened, only for a few -minutes. - -Would the death of the Count in any way release Ernestine from -parental thraldom? Though he felt genuine sympathy for her natural -grief, he could not very much regret the event; 'and yet,' thought -Charlie, 'the poor old fellow was always kind to me.' - -'It is most fortunate,' said Rhineberg, after a little pause, 'that -the young Graf Heinrich is at home during such a terrible crisis.' - -'Most fortunate for his mother, and all.' - -So Heinrich was at Frankenburg, and not with the old 95th before the -walls of Paris! This was indeed most welcome news for Charlie! More -than once he had been on the verge of speaking, as his curiosity had -been keenly excited, but repressed the inclination; he did not wish -that his presence in Aix should be known to the Countess, and to -address Grünthal, his acknowledged rival, or competitor, rather, was -altogether an intolerable idea, so quitting the speise-saal softly, -he hastened to his own room. - -Then he wrote rapidly a long and explanatory letter to Ernestine, -full of all the deepest, most tender, and passionate thoughts of his -heart, telling her of his presence at Aix, and beseeching her to meet -him. He recalled the dream in which she had asked him to meet him at -Burtscheid. - -'At Burtscheid, be it,' he wrote, 'at the same hour, dear, dear -Ernestine, when last we met there; and I shall give you a strange -souvenir of the war--the bullet that pierced my breast, and has been -the means, perhaps, of keeping me so long from you. At Burtscheid, -then, my darling.' - -This letter he despatched under cover to Heinrich, and felt more -happy and composed than he had been since last he saw her. - -He knew that his letter would be delivered by the post at Frankenburg -in the morning. - -Probably Heinrich would visit his hotel during the day, and he knew -that at all risks--unless something most extraordinary -intervened--Ernestine, who had such strength of will, would contrive -to meet him in the old church. - -All the following day Charlie lingered about the Grand Monarque, but -Heinrich never came; doubtless the business or calamity to which the -Barons referred had detained him. - -Then a fear came over Charlie that the same event might prevent -Ernestine meeting him, as she might be deprived of her brother's -escort. - -But if she failed to come, a messenger of some kind might meet him at -Burtscheid. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - -AT BURTSCHEID. - -'In five hours--in four--in two,' and so on he reckoned, 'I shall see -her again--my darling! my darling!' - -At last the wished-for time came when he was to set forth on that -walk which--he fondly, ardently, and tenderly hoped--was to end in -_her_ presence; but, as he walked down the leafless avenue from the -city, he felt his heart become tremulous, almost sick with anxiety -and fear, lest she should be unable to meet him, even after all the -months of separation undergone; yet his was a heart that never -quailed, even when he faced that battery in the wood--a battery that -was not of cannon, but mitrailleuses! - -Anon as he proceeded, something of Ernestine's high and strange -enthusiasm gathered in his breast. - -Even if he were fated never to wed her, he felt that she was the one -great passion of his life, a worship almost spiritualized, and that -beyond the trammels of this material world, he would follow her, -faithful and unchanged, into that to come. - -Then he almost smiled to think how German the tone of his mind was -becoming. - -The evening sky was cloudless, and wore a kind of pale violet tint, -amid which the stars sparkled out brilliantly. - -The trees of the avenue between the city and Burtscheid were covered -with rimy frost, which made their branches seem to coruscate and -glitter in myriad prisms. Frost was on the pathway; it shone on the -stems and twigs, on the stalks and blades of the wayside plants; snow -covered all the district, yet the air was far from being cold. - -At last the old church of Burtscheid rose before him again. In -another minute or two, he would have clasped her to his breast, where -he had clasped her last--at the altar-rail--when those sad and sweet -and solemn vows were interchanged. - -In that moment the campaign in Alsace and Lorraine, danger, duty, -wound, and suffering, were all forgotten; nothing was in his mind but -the intense happiness of the event to come. - -He was conscious enough of the tombs and cypresses, the pillars and -obelisks, standing grimly up from the snow-clad graves; of the dusky -outlines of various distant buildings; of red lights streaming from -windows out upon the gloom; and he could see the pale silver crescent -of the new moon peeping sharply up above the black outline of the -Schloss of Frankenburg. - -He heard the faint whisper of the ivy leaves on the old wall; but all -as one might do in a dream.' - -He threw away the end of his cigar, and thought, - -'I should not have been smoking when coming to meet _her_.' - -No britzka or other carriage stood before the gate. Heinrich was not -there as escort; neither was the old butler or any other servant -there in attendance. - -So, as the evening was clear and fine, she must have come alone to -meet him, that they might have the joy of walking back to the Schloss -together! - -He entered the church. It was gaily decorated for the coming -Christmas-eve. - -No one was in the church, and Charlie's heart began at once to sink, -when there was a sound behind him, and coming down two steps, from a -door that he had not observed before, was his own Ernestine. - -'Carl! Carl! It is thee! Thee, at last!' she exclaimed, in a -piercing voice, and, with innocent self-abandonment and a tenderness -that was irrepressible, but peculiarly her own, she flung herself -into his arms, as on that night in the boudoir. - -She was dressed as if for a ball or some great festival; but Carl -remembered that this was Christmas-time, always a season of gaiety at -Frankenburg as elsewhere. - -Her dress was white silk, covered with waves of the finest white -lace. A great veil of the latter material enveloped her head and -shoulders. - -She wanted but a white wreath to make her look like a lovely bride, -and Charlie's heart throbbed with pride and joy to think that she was -his own. - -He thought she looked pale and tired. It might be--nay, doubtless, -it must be--that the months of past anxiety had told upon her system -as on his own. - -Yet her eyes had all the tender purity of an angel's in them, though -when she became excited there came over them a strange glitter, a -restless flashing, a sparkling animation, that contrasted strongly -with the languor of her form and actions; but happily there was no -fever flush on her cheek, which was pale--paler than of old, as -Charlie thought. - -Long and silent was their embrace ere they spoke in broken accents of -all they had mutually undergone; and, while speaking, her head -nestling as it used to do on Charlie's neck, she shuddered sometimes, -for she seemed to be sorely chilled by the damp cold atmosphere of -the old church. - -'Are all well at the Schloss?' asked Charlie suddenly, after a pause, -as the last evening's conversation recurred to him. - -'All! Thank Heaven!' replied Ernestine. - -'And your father, the Herr Graf?' - -'Well, too.' - -Charlie was puzzled. He must have been in a dream, or have -misunderstood the remarks of the two barons. - -'Is Heinrich with the regiment?' he asked. - -'No,' she replied, 'dear Heinrich is at the Schloss, and this morning -put your letter into my hand; and then, after, to tease or please me, -in my bosom. See, it is there now!' she added, in the most engaging -manner. - -'You found no difficulty in coming to meet me, dearest?' - -'None.' - -'How fortunate--how happy we are!' - -'My poor Carl!' - -'Why poor? I feel to-night the happiest man in Germany.' - -'I was resolved to meet you, at all risks, my darling. A faith -plighted--a promise made is holy, Carl--holy to God and man. I -promised to be here, Carl, in a dream that I had of you; and by a -strange chance I have been permitted to come--to be here, to see you, -feel your strong but tender arm round me once more. Oh, Carl, kiss -me once again, as you did on that day in the Hoch Munster when first -you said you loved me.' - -'Ernestine, what do you mean?' asked Charlie, eyeing her with some -anxiety, and impressed with a strange fear by the solemnity of her -manner. - -'I belong no longer to myself.' - -'To whom, then? Heavens!' he added, starting, 'you have not become -the wife of that man!' - -'Who?' - -'Baron Grünthal.' - -'Oh, no; how could you think of such a thing for a moment, Carl?' she -said, with a bitter smile, while looking down and playing with a ring -he had given her in other days. - -'Then to whom do you belong?' he asked, fondly. - -'My love--to you!' - -She put up her little face tenderly to his, and then looked away, -with the weary, wistful expression of those who have long lived in -some world of their own, and can never seem to see out beyond the -present. - -'We were betrothed together for life and death, Carl.' - -'Were--_are_, you mean, Ernestine.' - -'Yes, beloved Carl; but time presses--alas! I fear that I must leave -you now.' - -'But to meet again----' - -'Very soon.' - -'I have brought these for you from Lorraine. This is the bullet that -struck me down, and this cross is a trophy of the war.' - -'How pretty--nay, it is beautiful and interesting, too,' she -exclaimed, with something of her old gleeful way, as he clasped round -her slender throat a gold necklet he had procured in Aix, and now the -white enamelled cross hung thereat. - -She shuddered when she looked at the chassepot ball and took it in -her hand. - -'And this actually pierced you, my Carl?' - -'Nearly through and through, love. For five days it was in -unpleasant proximity to my lungs.' - -'It is indeed a relic,' said she, while placing it in the bosom of -her dress. - -'So--so,' said she, sadly, disengaging herself from his arms, 'our -love has been sanctified by danger and death.' - -'Great Heavens!' thought Carl, 'sorrow has turned her brain!' - -'It has _not_,' she said; 'do not think so.' - -'What is not? I did not speak,' said Carl. - -'No, but you thought; and I know what you thought, and there is no -living grace or glory like a love so sanctified as ours, Carl.' - -He regarded her with a bewilderment not unmixed with alarm. - -There was a strange wild and weird beauty in her pale face--a -radiance in her eyes, a brightness all over her such as Charlie had -never before witnessed. - -Whence did it come? From the altar-lights? - -They were too dim. - -What did it mean? Was it her natural beauty only, magnified by the -force of his imagination, and enhanced by his great love for her? - -Somehow Charlie was perplexed and startled by her, amid all the -transport and joy of the time. - -Suddenly there was a sound of wheels and horses' hoofs without, then -of several feet ringing on the hard and frozen churchyard path. - -Ernestine started, and exclaimed in a voice husky, as it seemed, with -alarm-- - -'They are coming--my father and that dreadful Baron! I must leave -you, beloved Carl--but only for a time; we shall meet again where -even they can separate us no more!' - -She turned, and flying like a phantom, hurried through the little -door by which she had entered the church; and Charlie Pierrepont, -feeling certain that their interview had been discovered--that they -had come in pursuit of her in ire and indignation, and that there -would be a scene which he was most anxious to avoid--looked hastily -round the little church for a place of concealment. - -There was none; so he resolved to make the best of it, and turned to -the doorway just as the portly old Count of Frankenburg, the Baron -Grünthal, limping as usual with gout, and Heinrich entered the church -together. - - - - -CONCLUSION. - -They were all in evening costume--that sombre attire in which the -modern gentleman may attend a funeral by day, and a ball by night, -without change; and they all looked pale, harassed, and grave. - -'Oh, Herr Graf von Frankenburg, if you have a human heart----' -Charlie was beginning, anxious to propitiate the father of her he -loved so dearly, when the Count, waving his hand, interrupted him, -and said: - -'Herr Lieutenant, I can well afford to forgive the past now, and your -rash love for my daughter.' - -'Herr Graf, I thank you--I thank you!' exclaimed Charlie, with warmth -and gratitude; for he expected high words, anger, and fierce -reproaches. - -'Carl, my dear friend,' said Heinrich, taking his hand kindly in both -of his, while his eyes filled with genuine emotion, 'you here!--you -here after all!' - -'You got my letter and gave it to her--to Ernestine?' - -'To her--yes; but alas! Carl, it came too late.' - -'Too late!--too late! How?' - -'Do you not know? have you not heard? Poor Carl! poor Carl!' said -Heinrich, in a voice full of sympathy. - -'What do you mean?' asked Charlie, in great perplexity. - -'He means, Mein Herr,' said the Count, in a broken voice, 'that our -beloved Ernestine died at noon yesterday.' - -Charlie passed a hand across his brow, and looked wildly in their -faces, as if doubting their sanity or his own. - -'Died!' he repeated mechanically. - -'It is incomprehensible your being here,' said the Count, in a still -more broken voice, and few could have seen that old man weeping -unmoved, 'as her last words were, "Meet me at Burtscheid--at -Burtscheid, dearest Carl."' - -'And I _have_ met her, seen her, spoken with her not two minutes -since.' - -'My poor friend,' said Heinrich, 'grief, or your wound, has turned -your brain.' - -'What madness is this?' asked Charlie, with a kind of bitter laugh in -his voice, as he felt in no humour for jesting. 'Herr Graf, Herr -Baron, Heinrich, my friend, Ernestine has been here with me, in this -lonely church, for fully two hours!' - -'And _spoken_ with you?' said the Count, in an excited tone. 'Oh, if -it should be that she still lives!' - -'Lives!--great Heaven! Herr Graf--she was here with me, and I gave -her a French cross with the bullet that wounded me.' - -'He raves!' said the Baron Grunthal, with anger in his tone. - -'She is there--in that room off the church.' - -'In that room sure enough. It is the Dead Chamber,' said the Count, -approaching the door. - -'She fled there for concealment on hearing your approach.' - -'Man,' said the old Count, pausing, 'are you not mad to tell me that -she is there now, and yet was here but a minute ago?' - -'As I have Heaven to answer to--she was!' - -'Follow me, then.' - -On entering the room, Charlie Pierrepont reeled, and would have -fallen had not Heinrich supported him. - -We scarcely know how to write of the episode that follows, and can -but tell the tale as it was told by those who were cognisant of it. - -In a purple velvet coffin, mounted with silver, and supported on -trestles, the lid being open, lay Ernestine, dressed as we have -described her--dead, stone-dead, cold and pale as marble, her lips a -pale blue streak, her long eyelashes closed for ever. - -Dead, beyond a doubt, was the girl he had clasped in his arms as a -living being, but a few minutes before living and full of volition -and life, love and energy; the lips he had kissed closed thus for -ever; the hands he had caressed, snow-white now, disposed upon her -bosom, the upper one holding the cross he had given her! - -'Dead! What miracle of heaven; what magic of hell is here!' he -exclaimed, as he staggered to the side of the coffin, pale as the -girl who lay in it, the bead-like drops oozing from his temples as he -grasped the locks above them. 'Speak! oh, speak, Heinrich!' - -How terribly now came back to memory some of the strange things -Ernestine had said to him, and more than all, those dying words of -the French captain in the Chateau de Colombey, which sounded like -something between a prophecy and a curse! - -'Compose yourself, Carl,' said Heinrich, full of pity. - -'My letter to her--written after she was dead,' said Charles, in a -voice like a whisper--'she--she----' - -'I placed it in her coffin ere she was brought here from the -Schloss,' said Heinrich, who was now weeping freely; 'it is there -now--and heavens, father! she _has_ round her neck the cross of which -Carl spoke.' - -There are many things but imperfectly known in 'our philosophy,' and -certainly this seemed one of them. - -'She died talking of you--not raving--the poor angel,' said the old -Count, as he bent fondly over the coffined girl, 'but smiling -sweetly, and saying earnestly, again and, again, that she would meet -you at Burtscheid.' - -* * * * * - -The gloomy half-lighted chamber in which this scene took place, and -where the dead girl lay, looking so sweetly placid in her coffin, was -one of those, where, in conformity with the police regulations of -Germany in general, the bodies of persons deceased are placed within -twelve hours after death--there to await interment. - -In many places, more particularly at Frankfort, to guard against the -chances of burial in cases of suspended animation, the fingers of the -dead are placed in the loops of a bell-rope, attached to an alarm -clock, which is fixed in the apartment of the attendant appointed to -be on the watch. - -The least pulsation in the body would give the alarm, when medical -aid would instantly be called in. - -Ernestine had a watcher in an adjoining room! but that worthy was -found in the enjoyment of a profound slumber, and so had neither -heard nor seen anything. - -This strange story found its way into the _Aix Gazette_ and the -_Extra Blatt_. - -Some averred that Charlie Pierrepont, on discovering her body in the -chamber of Death, had gone mad and had imagined the whole interview -in the church; others, that it was really a case of suspended -animation, and that she had recovered for a time, and actually kept -her tryst; but the former idea was the predominant one. - -Certain it is that for many weeks after the event Charlie seemed to -hover between life and death, sanity and insanity, at the Grand -Monarque; and when he rejoined the Thuringianas before the walls of -Paris, he had become so haggard, grey-haired, and old-looking, that -his former comrades scarcely recognised him, so much had he undergone -by a fever of the mind, rather than of the body. - - -When these dreadful events were soothed by time, though not forgotten -at Frankenburg, and when the summer flowers were blooming over -Charlie's grave--a grave which he found under the guns of Mont -Valerien--the young Graf Heinrich was married to his cousin Herminia -by the Herr Pastor Von Puffenvörtz, in the church of Burtscheid, -when, as if no sorrow had preceded the ceremony, all indeed went -merrily as a 'marriage bell.' - - - -THE END. - - - -BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD AND LONDON. - - - - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DEAD TRYST *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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