rte eet ede Itn 8 we Sed eae ne ty ee ices wen aN 4a2 FANT ete _ PRIVATE LIBRARY | OF GEORGE T. FLOM Presented by Professor G. T. Flom The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN MAR 22 1978 MAR 1 0 1978 L161—0-1096 ? | LIBRARY | UNIVERSITY OF ILLING#S URBANA . tf, 7, CAAA igo anion quickly reappeared, dragging a adsman. He epared the latter for some fresh subject of comp A cry from the interior pr Pierre and his to the open air.—The horror, when living man 1n Ly fh MTU hey Sf { } | si aD () R kK Ss , i OF J. FENIMORE COOPER THE HEADSMAN. LIONEL LINCOLN. THE BRAVO. HEIDENMAUER. ILLUSTRATED WITH WOOD-EN GRAVINGS. COMPLETE IN TEN VOLUMES. VOLUME TEN. New York: PETER FENELON COLLIER, PUBLISHER. 1892. — < THE HEADSMAN. INTRODUCTION. KARLY in October, 1832, a travelling-car- riage stopped on the summit of that long descent where the road pitches from the ele- vated plain of Moudon, in Switzerland, to the level of the lake of Geneva, immediately above the little city of Vévey. The postilion had dismounted to chain a wheel, and the halt enabled those he conducted to catch a glimpse of the lovely scenery of that re- markable view. | The travellers were an American family, which had long been wandering about Eu- rope, and which was now destined it knew not whither, having just traversed a thousand miles of Germany in its devious course. Four years before, the same family had halted on the same spot, nearly on the same day of the month of October, aud for precisely the same object. It was then journeying to Italy, and as its members hung over the view of the Leman, with its accessories of Chillon, Chate- lard, Blonay, Meillerie, the peaks of Savoy, and the wild ranges of the Alps, they had felt regret that the fairy scene was so soon to pass away. ‘The case was now different, and yielding to the charm of a nature so noble, and yet so soft, within a few hours the car- riage was in remise, a house was taken, the baggage unpacked, and the household gods of the travellers were erected, for the twen- tieth time, in a strange land. Our American (for the family had its head) was familiar with the ocean, and the sight of water awoke old and pleasant recollections. He was hardly established in Vévey as a housekeeper, before he sought a boat. Chance brought him to a certain Jean Descloux (we give the spelling at hazard), with whom he soon struck up a bargain, and they launched forth in company upon the lake. This casual meeting was the commence- ment, of an agreeable and friendly inter- course. Jean Descloux, besides being a very good boatman, was a respectable philosopher in his way; possessing a tolerable stock of general information. His knowledge of America, in particular, might be deemed a little remarkable. He knew it was a conti- nent, which lay west of his own quarter of the world; that it had a place in it called New Vévey; that all the whites who had gone there were not yet black, and that there were plausible hopes it might one day be civ- ilized. Finding Jean so enlightened on a subject under which most of the eastern sa- vants break down, the American thought it well enough to prick him closely on other matters. The worthy boatman turned out to be a man of singularly just discrimina- tion. He was a reasonably good judge of the weather; had divers marvels to relate con- cerning the doings of the lake; thought the city very wrong for not making a port in the great square; always maintained that the wine of Saint Saphorin was very savory drinking for those who could get no better ; laughed at the idea of there being sufficient cordage in the world to reach to the bottom of the Genfer See ; was of the opinion that the trout was a better fish than the féra; spoke with singular moderation of his an- cient masters, the bourgeoisie of Berne, which, however, he always affirmed kept singularly bad roads in Vaud, while those around its own city were the best in Europe, and other- wise showed himself to be a discreet and ob- servant man. In short, honest Jean Des- cloux was a fair sample of that home-bred, upright common sense, which seems to form the instinct of the mass, and which it is greatly the fashion to deride in those circles in which mystification passes for profound (3) es ny WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. thinking, bold assumption for evidence, a simper for wit, particular personal advan- tages for liberty, and in which it is deemed a mortal offence against good manners to hint that Adam and Eve were the common par- ents of mankind. “ Monsieur has chosen a good time to visit Vévey,” observed Jean Descloux, one even- ing that they were drifting in front of the town, the whole scenery resembling a fairy picture rather than a portion of this much- abused earth; “it blows sometimes at this end of the lake in a way to frighten the gulls out of it. We shall see no more of the steamboat after the last of the month.” The American cast a glance at the moun- tain, drew upon his memory for sundry squalls and gales which he had seen himself, and thought the boatman’s figure of speech less extravagant than it had at first seemed. “Tf your lake craft were better constructed, they would make better weather,” he quietly observed. Monsieur Descloux had no wish to quarrel with a customer who employed him every evening, and who preferred floating with the current to being rowed with a crooked oar. He manifested his prudence, therefore, by making a reserved reply. ‘No doubt, monsieur,” he said, ‘‘ that the people who live on the sea make better ves- sels, and know how to sail them more skil- fully. We had a proof of that here at Vé- vey” (he pronounced the word like v-vais, agreeably to the sounds of the French vow- els), ‘last summer, which you might like to hear. An English gentleman—they say he was a captain in the marine—had a vessel built at Nice, and dragged over the moun- tains to our lake. He took a run across to Meillerie one fine morning, and no duck ever skimmed along lighter or swifter! He was not a man to take advice from a Swiss boat- man, for he had crossed the line and seen waterspouts and whales! Well, he was on his way back in the dark, and it came on to blow here from off the mountains, and he stood on boldly toward our shore, heaving the lead as he drew near the land, as if he had been beating info Spithead in a fog,”—Jean chuckled at the idea of sounding in the Le- man—“ while he flew along like a bold mar- iner, as no doubt he was!” ‘Landing, I suppose,” said the American, ‘“among the lumber in the great square ?” ‘Monsieur is mistaken. He broke his boat’s nose against that wall; and the next day, a piece of her, big enough to make a thole-pin, was not to be found. He mightas well have sounded the heavens! ” “The lake has a bottom, notwithstanding? ” ‘*Your pardon, monsieur. The lake has no bottom. The sea may have a bottom, but we have no bottom here.” There was little use in disputing the point. Monsieur Descloux then spoke of the rey- olutions he had seen. He remembered the time when Vaud was a province of Berne. His observations on this subject were rational, and were well seasoned with common sense. His doctrine was simply this: ‘‘If one man rule, he will rule for his own benefit and that of his parasites; if a minority rule, we have many masters instead of one” (honest Jean had got hold here of a cant saying of the privileged, which he very ingeniously con- verted against themselves), ‘‘all of whom must be fed and served; and if the majority rule, and rule wrongfully, why, the minimum of harm is done.” He admitted that the people might be deceived to their own injury, but then he did not think it was quite as likely to happen, as that they should be op- pressed when they were governed without any agency of their own. On these points the American and the Vaudois were abso- lutely of the same mind. From politics the transition to poetry was natural, for a common ingredient in both ~ would seem to be fiction. On the subject of his mountains, Monsieur Descloux was a thorough Swiss. He expatiated on their grandeur, their storms, their height, and their glaciers, with eloquence. The worthy boatman had some such opinions of the su- periority of his own country as all are apt to form who have never seen any other. He dwelt on the glories of an Abbaye des Vignerons, too, with the gusto of a Vévai- san, and seemed to think it would be a high stroke of state policy, to get up a new féle of this kind as speedily as possible. In short, the world and its interests were pretty generally discussed between these two philos- ophers during an intercourse that extended to a month. THE HEADSMAN. Nitrncted ¢ cee Our American was not a man to let in- struction of this nature easily escape him. He lay hours at a time on the seats of Jean Descloux’s boat, looking up at the mountains, or watching some lazy sail on the lake, and speculating on the wisdom of which he was so accidentally made the repository. His view on one side was limited by the glacier of Mount Vélan, a near neighbor of the cele- brated col of St. Bernard ; and on the other, his eye could range to the smiling fields that surround Geneva. Within this setting is contained one of the most magnificent pict- ures that Nature ever drew, and he bethought him of the human actions, passions, and in- terests, of which it might have been the scene. By a connection that was natural enough to the situation, he imagined a frag- ment of life passed between these grand lim- its, and the manner in which men could listen to the never-wearied promptings of their impulses in the immediate presence of the majesty of the Creator. He bethought him of the analogies that exist between inan- imate nature and our own wayward ine- qualities ; of the fearful admixture of good and evil of which we are composed; of the manner in which the best betray their sub- - mission to the devils, and in which the worst have gleams of that eternal principle of right, by which they have been éndowed by God; of those tempests which sometimes lie dormant in our systems, like the slumbering lake in the calm, but which excited, equal its fury when lashed by the winds; of the strength of prejudices; of the worthlessness and changeable character of the most cher- ished of our opinions, and of that strange, incomprehensible, and yet winning mélange of contradictions, of fallacies, of truths, and of wrongs, which make up the sum of our existence. The following pages are the result of this dreaming. The reader is left to his own in- telligence for the moral. A respectable English writer observed : All pages of human life are worth reading; the wise mstruct ; the gay divert us; the imprudent teach us what to shun; the ab- surd cure the spleen.” CHAPTER I. ‘Day glimmered and I went, a gentle breeze Rufiling the Leman lake.” —RocErs, THE year was in its fall, according to a po- etical expression of our own, and the morn- ing bright, as the® fairest and swiftest bark that navigated the Leman lay at the quay of the ancient and historical town of Geneva, ready to depart for the country of Vaud. This vessel was called the Winkelried, in commemoration of Arnold of that name, who had so generously sacrified life and hopes to the good of his country, and who desery- edly ranks among the truest of those heroes of whom we have well-authenticated legends. She had been launched at the commence- ment of the summer, and still bore at the fore-top-mast-head a bunch of evergreens, profusely ornamented with knots and stream- ers of ribbon, the offerings of the patron’s female friends, and the fancied gage of, suc- cess. The use of steam, and the presence of unemployed seamen of various nations, in this idle season of the warlike, are slowly leading to innovations and improvements in the navigation of the lakes of Italy and Switzerland, it is true; but time, even at this hour, has done little toward changing the habits and opinions of those who ply on these inland waters for a subsistence. The Wink- elried had the two low diverging masts ; the attenuated and picturesquely poised latine yards; the light triangular sails; the sweep- ing and projecting gangways; the receding and falling stern; the high and peaked prow, with, in general, the classical and quaint air of those vessels that are seen in the older paint- ings and engravings. A gilded ball glittered on the summit of each mast, for no canvas was set higher than the slender and well- balanced yards, and it was above one of these that the wilted bush, with its gay appendages, trembled and fluttered in a fresh western wind. The hull was worthy of so much goodly apparel, being spacious, commodious, and, according to the wants of the navigation, of approved mould. The freight, which was sufficiently obvious, much the greatest part being piled on the ample deck, consisted of what our own watermen would term an as- sorted cargo. It was, however, chiefly com- posed of those foreign luxuries, as they were Rae WELLL ; | | i 4 - then ‘called, though use has now rendered them nearly indispensable to domestic econo- my, which were consumed, in singular mod- eration, by the more affluent of those who dwelt deeper among the mountains, and of the two principal products of the dairy; the latter being destined to a market in the less verdant countries of the south. To these must be added the personal effects of an unusual number of passengers, which were stowed on the top of the heavier part of the cargo, with an order and care that their value would scarcely seem to require. The arrange- ment, however, was necessary to the conven- ience, and even to the security of the bark, having been made. by the patron with a view to posting each individual by his particular wallet, in a manner to prevent confusion in the crowd, and to leave the crew space and opportunity to discharge the necessary duties of the navigation. With a vessel stowed, sails ready to drop, the wind fair, and the day drawing on apace, the patron of the Winkelried, who was also her owner, felt a very natural wish to depart. But an unlooked-for obstacle had just pre- sented itself at the water-gate, where the officer charged with the duty of looking into the characters of all who went and came was posted, and around whom some fifty repre- sentatives of half as many nations were now clustered in a clamorous throng, filling the air with a confusion of tongues that had some probable affinity to the noises which deranged the workmen of Babel. It appeared, by parts of sentences and broken remonstrances, equally addressed to the patron, whose name was Baptiste, and to the guardian of the Genevese laws, a rumor was rife among these truculent travellers, that Balthazar, the headsman, or executioner, of the powerful and aristocratical canton of Berne, was about to be smuggled into their company by the cupidity of the former, contrary, not only to what was due to the feelings and rights of men of more creditable callings, but, as it was vehemently and plausibly insisted, to the very safety of those who were about to trust their fortunes to the vicissitudes of the ele- ments. . Chance and the ingenuity of Baptiste had collected, on this occasion, as party-colored and heterogeneous an assemblage of human WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. passions, interests, dialects, wishes, and opin- ions, as any admirer of diversity of character could desire. There were several small traders, some returning from adventures in Germany and France, and some bound south- ward, with their scanty stock of wares; a few poor scholars, bent on a literary pilgrimage to Rome; an artist or two, better provided with enthusiasm than with either knowledge or taste, journeying with poetical longings towards skies and tints of Italy; a troupe of street jugglers, who had been turning their Neapolitan buffoonery to account among the duller and less sophisticated inhabitants of Swabia; divers lackeys out of place; some six or eight capitalists who lived on their wits, and a nameless herd of that set which the French call “ bad subjects;” a title that is just now, oddly enough, disputed between the dregs of society and a class that would fain become its exclusive leaders and lords. These, with some slight qualifications that it is not yet necessary to particularize, com- posed that essential requisite of all fair rep- resentation—the majority. ‘Those who re- mained were of a different caste. Near the noisy crowd of tossing heads and brandished arms, in and around the gate, was a party containing the venerable and still fine figure of a man in the travelling dress of one of superior condition, and who did not need the testimony of the two or three liveried menials that stood near his person, to give an assurance of his belonging to the more fortunate of his fellow creatures, as good and evil are usually estimated in caleulating the chances of life. On his arm leaned a female, so young, and yet so lovely, as to cause regret in all who observed her fading color, the sweet but melancholy smile that occasionally hghted her mild and pleasing features, at some of, the more marked exuberances of folly among the crowd, and a form which, notwithstanding her lessened bloom, was nearly perfect. If these symptoms of deli- cate health did not prevent this fair girl from being amused at the volubility and argu- ments of the different orators, she oftener manifested apprehension at finding herself the companion of creatures so untrained, so violent, so exacting, and so grossly ignorant. A young man, wearing the roquelaure and other similar appendages of a Swiss in for- THE HEADSMAN. 7 eign military service, a character to excite neither observation nor comment in that age, stood at her elbow, answering the questions that from time to time were addressed to him by the others, in a manner to show he was an intimate acquaintance, though there were signs about his travelling equipage to prove he was not exactly of their ordinary society. Of all who were not immediately engaged in the boisterous discussion at the gate, this young soldier, who was commonly addressed by those near him as Monsieur Sigismund, was much the most interested in its progress. Though of herculean frame, and evidently of unusual physical force, he was singularly agitated. His cheek, which had not yet lost the freshness due to the mountain air, would, at times, become pale as that of the wilting flower near him; while at others, the blood rushed across his brow in a torrent that seemed to threaten a rupture of the starting vessels in which it so tumultuously flowed. Unless addressed, however, he said nothing; his distress gradually subsiding, until it was merely betrayed by the convulsive writhings of his fingers, which unconsciously grasped the hilt of his sword. The uproar had now continued for some time; throats were getting sore, tongues clammy, voices hoarse, and words incoherent, when a sudden check was given to the useless clamor by an incident quite in unison with the disturbance itself. Two enormous dogs were in attendance hard by, apparently await- ing the movements of their respective mas- ters, who were lost to view in the mass of heads and bodies that stopped the passage of the gate. One of these animals was covered with a short, thick coating of hair, whose pre- vailing color was a dingy yellow, but whose throat and legs, with most of the inferior parts of the body, were of a dull white. Na- ture, on the other hand, had given a dusky, brownish, shaggy dress to his rival, though his general hue was relieved by a few shades of amore decided black. As respects weight and force of body, the difference between the brutes was not very obvious, though perhaps it slightly inclined in favor of the former, who in length, if not in strength, of limb, however, had more manifestly the advantage. It would much exceed the intelligence we have brought to this task to explain how far the instincts of the dogs sympathized in the savage passions of the human beings around them, or whether they were conscious that their masters had espoused opposite sides in the quarrel, and that it became them, as faithful esquires, to tilt together by way of supporting the honor of those they followed ; but, after measuring each other for the usual period with the eye, they came violently to- gether, body to body, in the manner of their species. The collision was fearful, and the struggle, being between two creatures of so great ‘size and strength, of the fiercest kind. The roar resembled that of lions, effectually drowning the clamor of human voices. Every tongue was mute, and each head was turned in the direction of the combatants. The trembling girl recoiled with averted face, while the young man stepped eagerly forward to protect her, for the conflict was near the place they occupied; but powerful and active as was his frame, he hesitated about mingling in an affray so ferocious. At this critical moment, when it seemed that the furious brutes were on the point of tearing each other in pieces, the -crowd was pushed violently open, ‘and two men burst, side by side, out of the mass. One wore the black robes, the conical, Asiatic looking, tufted cap, and the white belt of an Augustine monk, and the other had the attire of a man addicted to the seas, without, however, being so decidedly maritime as to leave his character a matter that was quite beyond dispute. The former was fair, ruddy, with an oval, happy face, of which internal peace and good-will to his fel- lows were the principal characteristics, while the latter had the swarthy hue, bold linea- ments, and glittering eye, of an Italian. “Uberto! ” said the monk reproachfully, affecting the sort of offended manner that one would be apt to show toa more intelli- gent creature, willing, but at the same time afraid, to trust his person nearer to the furious conflict, ‘‘ shame on thee, old Uberto! Hast forgotten thy schooling—hast no respect for thine own good name? ” On the other hand, the Italian did not stop to expostulate ; but throwing himself with reckless hardihood on the dogs, by dint of kicks and blows, of which much the heaviest portion fell on the follower of Augustine, he succeeded in separating the combatants. 8 WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. “Ha, Nettuno!” he exclaimed, with the severity of one accustomed to exercise a stern and absolute authority, so soon as this daring exploit was achieved, and he had re- covered a little of the breath lost in the violent exertion—‘‘ what dost mean? Canst find no better amusement than quarrelling with a dog of San Bernardo! Fie upon thee, foolish Nettuno! Iam ashamed of thee, dog: thou, that hast discreetly navigated so many seas, to lose thy temper on a bit of fresh water! ” The dog, which was in truth no other than a noble animal of the well-known Newfound- land breed, hung his head, and made signs of contrition, by drawing nearer to his master with a tail that swept the ground, while his late adversary quietly seated himself with a species of monastic dignity, looking from the speaker to his foe, as if endeavoring to com- prehend the rebuke which his powerful and gallant antagonist took so meekly. “Father,” said the Italian, “our dogs are both too useful, in their several ways, and both of too good character to be enemies. I know Uberto of old, for the paths of St. Bernard and I are no strangers, and, if report does the animal no more than justice, he hath not been an idle cur among the snows.” “He hath been the instrument of saving seven Christians from death,” answered the monk, beginning again to regard his mastiff with friendly looks, for at first there had been keen reproach and severe displeasure in his manner—“ not to speak of the bodies that have been found by his activity, after the vital spark had fled.” “As for the latter, father, we can count little more in favor of the dog than a good intention. Valuing services on this scale, I might ere this have been the Holy Father himself, or at least a cardinal; but seven lives saved, for their owners to die quietly in their beds, and with opportunity to make their peace with heaven, is no bad recommendation for adog. Nettuno, here, is every way worthy to be the friend of old Uberto, for thirteen drowning men have I myself seen him draw from the greedy jaws of sharks and other monsters of deep water. What dost thou say, father, shall we make peace between the brutes ?” The Augustine expressed his readiness, as well as his desire, to aid in an effort so laud- able, and by dint of commands and persua- sion, the dogs, who were predisposed to peace from having had a mutual taste of the bitter- ness of war, and who now felt for each other the respect which courage and force are apt to create, were soon on the usual terms of animals of their kind that have no particular grounds for contention. The guardian of the city improved the calm produced by this little incident, to re- gain a portion of his lost authority. Beating back the crowd with his cane, he cleared a space around the gate into which but one of the travellers could enter at a time, while he professed himself not only ready but deter- mined to proceed with his duty, without fur- ther procrastination. Baptiste, the patron, who beheld the precious moments wasting, and who, in the delay, foresaw a loss of wind, which, to one of his pursuits, was loss of money, now earnestly pressed the travellers to comply with the necessary forms, and to take their stations in his bark with all con- venient speed. | ‘*Of what matter is it,’ continued the calculating waterman, who was rather con- spicuously known for the love of thrift that is usually attributed to most of the inhabit- ants of that region, “whether there be one headsman or twenty in the bark, so long as the good vessel can float and steer? Our Leman winds are fickle friends, and the wise take them while in the humor. Give me the breeze at west, and I will load the Winkelried to the water’s edge with executioners, or any other pernicious creatures thou wilt, and thou mayest take the lightest bark that ever swam in the dise, and let us see who will first make the haven of Vévey !” The loudest, and in a sense that is very important in al] such discussions, the prin- cipal speaker in the dispute was the leader of the Neapolitan troupe, who, in virtue of good lungs, an agility that had no competitor in any present, and a certain mixture of super- stition and bravado, that formed nearly equal ingredients in his character, was a man likely to gain great influence with those who, from their ignorance and habits, had an in- herent love of the marvellous, and a profound respect for all who possessed, in acting, more audacity, and, in believing, more credulity THE HEADSMAN. ee than themselves. The vulgar like an excess, even if it be of folly ; for, in their eyes, the abundance of any particular quality is very apt to be taken as the standard of its excel- lence. ‘© This is well for him who receives, but it may be death to him that pays,” cried the son of the south, gaining not a little among his auditors by the distinction, for the argu- ment was sufficiently wily, as between the buyer and the seller. “Thou wilt get thy silver for the risk, and we may get watery graves for our weakness. Naught but mis- haps can come of wicked company, and ac- cursed will they be, in the evil hour, that are found in brotherly communion with one whose trade is hurrying Christians into eter- nity, before the time that has been lent by nature is fairly wp. Santa Madre ! I would not be the fellow-traveller of such a wretch, across this wild and changeable lake, for the honor of leaping and showing my poor powers in the presence of the Holy Father, and the whole of the learned conclave !” This solemn declaration, which was made with suitable gesticulation, and an action of the countenance that was well adapted to prove the speaker’s sincerity, produced a cor- responding effect on most of the listeners, who murmured their applause in a manner sufficiently significant to convince the patron he was not about to dispose of the difficulty simply by virtue of fair words. In this di- lemma, he bethought him of a plan of over- coming the scruples of all present, in which he was warmly seconded by the agent of the police, and to which, after the usual number of cavilling objections that were generated by distrust, heated blood, and the obstinacy of disputation, the other parties were finally in- duced to give their consent. It was agreed that the examination should no longer be delayed, but that a species of deputation from the crowd might take their stand within the gate, where all who passed would neces- sarily be subject to their scrutiny, and, in the event of their vigilance detecting the ab- horred and proscribed Balthazar, that the patron should return his money to the heads- man, and preclude him from forming one of a party that was so scrupulous of its associa- tion, and apparently with so little reason. The Neapolitan, whose name was Pippo ; one of the indigent scholars, for a century since learning was rather an auxiliary than the foe of superstition ; and a certain Nick- laus Wagner, a fat Bernese, who was the owner of most of the cheeses in the bark, were the chosen of the multitude on this oc- casion. The first owed his election to his vehemence and volubility, qualities that the ignoble vulgar are very apt to mistake for conviction and knowledge ; the second to his silence and a demureness of: air which pass with another class for the stillness of deep water ; and the last to his substance, as a man of known wealth, an advantage which, in spite of all that alarmists predict on one side, and enthusiasts affirm on the other, will always carry greater weight with those who are less fortunate in this respect, than is either reasonable or morally healthful, pro- vided it is not abused by arrogance or the as- sumption of very extravagant and oppressive privileges. Asa matter of course, these de- puted guardians of the common rights were first obliged to submit their own papers to the eye of the Genevese.* The Neapolitan, than whom an archer knave, or one that had committed more petty wrongs, did not present himself that day at the water-gate, was regularly fortified by every precaution that the long experience of a vagabond could suggest, and he was per- mitted to pass forthwith. The poor West- phalian student presented an instrument fairly written out in a scholastic Latin, and escaped further trouble by the vanity of the unlettered agent of the police, who hastily affirmed it was a pleasure to encounter docu- ments so perfectly in form. But the Bernese was about to take his station by the side of the other two, appearing to think inquiry in his case unnecessary. While moving through the passage in stately silence, Nicklaus Wag- ner was occupied in securing the strings of a * Ags we have so often alluded to this examination, it may be well to explain that the present system of gendarmerie and passports did not then prevail in Europe ; taking their rise nearly a century later than that in which the events of this tale had place. But Geneva was asmall and exposed state, and the regula- tion to which there is reference here, was one of the provisions which were resorted to from time to time in order to protect those liberties and that indepen- dence, of which its citizens were so unceasingly and | So wisely jealous. 10 well-filled purse, which he had just lightened of a small copper coin to reward the varlet of the hostelry in which he had passed the night, and who had been obliged to follow him. to the port to obtain even this scanty boon; and the Genevese was fain to believe that, in the urgency of this important con- cern, he had overlooked those forms which all were just then obliged to respect, on quitting the town. «©Thou hast a name and character ?” ob- served the latter, with official brevity. ‘¢God help thee, friend! I did not think Geneva had been so particular with a Swiss; —and a Swiss who is so favorably known on the Aar, and indeed over the whole of the great canton! I am Nicklaus Wagner, a name of little account, perhaps, but which is well esteemed among men of substance, and which has a right even to the Birgerschaft —Nicklaus Wagner of Berne—thou wilt scarce need more?” 3 ‘‘Naught but proof of its truth. Thou wilt remember this is Geneva; the laws of a small and exposed state need be particular in affairs of this nature.” «‘T neyer questioned thy state being Gen- eva; I only wonder thou shouldst doubt my being Nicklaus! I can journey the darkest night that ever threw a shadow from the mountains, anywhere between the Jura and the Oberland, and none shall say my word is to be disputed. Look’ee, there is thepatron, Baptiste, who will tell thee, that if he were to land the freight which is shipped in my name, his bark would float greatly the righter.” All this time Nicklaus was loath to show his papers, which were quite in rule. He even held them, with a thumb and finger separating the folds, ready to be presented to his questioner. The hesitation came from a feeling of wounded vanity, which would gladly show that one of his local importance and known substance was to be exempt from the exactions required from men of smaller means. The officer, who had great practice in this species of collision with his fellow creatures, understood the character with which he had to deal, and seeing no good reason for refusing to gratify a feeling which was innocent, though sufficiently silly, he yielded to the Bernese pride. WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. «Thou canst proceed,” he said, turning the indulgence to account, with a ready knowledge of his duty; “and when thou gettest again among thy burghers, do us of Geneva the grace to say, we treat our allies fairly.” | ‘‘T thought thy question hasty!” exclaimed the wealthy peasant, swelling like one who gets justice though tardily. “Now let us to this knotty affair of the headsman.” Taking his place with the Neapolitan and the Westphalian, Nicklaus assumed the grave air of a judge, and an austerity of manner which proved that he entered on his duty with a firm resolution to do justice. | «Thou art well known here, pilgrim,” ob- served the officer, with some severity of tone, to the next that came to the gate. “St. Francis to speed, master, it were else wonderful! I should be so, for the seasons scarce come and go more regularly.” «“There must be a sore conscience some- -where, that Rome and thou should need each other so often?” The pilgrim, who was enveloped in a tat- tered coat, sprinkled with cockle-shells, who wore his beard, and was altogether a disgust- ing picture of human depravity, rendered still more revolting by an ill-concealed hy- pocrisy, langhed openly and recklessly at the remark. ‘‘Thou art a follower of Calvin, master,” he replied, “or thou would’st not have said this. My own failings give me little troubie. I am engaged by certain parishes of Ger- many to take upon my poor person their physical pains, and it is not easy to name another that hath done as many messages of this kind as myself, with better proofs of fidelity. If thou hast any little offering to make, thou shalt see fair papers to prove what I say ;—papers that would pass at St. Peter’s itself!” The officer perceived that he had to do with one of those unequivocal hypocrites—if such a word can properly be applied to him who scarcely thought deception necessary— who then made a traffic of expiations of this nature; a pursuit that was common enough at the close of the seventeenth and in the ‘commencement of the eighteenth century, and which has not even yet entirely disap- peared from Europe. He threw the pass a, = THE HEADSMAN. 11 with unconcealed aversion toward the profli- gate, who, recovering his document, assumed unasked his station by the side of the three who had been selected to decide on the fitness of those who were to be allowed to embark. “(Go to!” cried the officer, as he permitted this ebullition of disgust to escape him ; «thou hast well said that we are followers of Calvin. Geneva has little in common with her of the scarlet mantle, and thou wilt do well to remember this, in thy next pilgrimage, lest the beadle make acquaintance with thy back. Hold! who art thou?” « A heretic, hopelessly damned by antici- pation, if that of yonder travelling prayer- monger be the true faith ;’ answered one who was pressing past, with a quiet. assur- ance that had near carried its point without incurring the risks of the usual investigation into his name and character. It was the owner of Nettuno, whose aquatic air and perfect self-possession now caused the officer to doubt whether he had not stopped a water- man of the lake—a class privileged to come and go at will. « Thou knowest our usages,” said the half- satisfied Genevese. «‘T were a fool else! Even the ass that often travels the same path comes in time to tell its turnsand windings. Art not satisfied with touching the pride of the worthy Nick- laus Wagner, by putting the well-warmed burgher to his proofs, but thou would’st e’en question me! Come hither, Nettuno; thou shalt answer for both, being a dog of discre- tion. We are no go-betweens of heaven and earth, thou knowest, but creatures that come part of the water and part of the land!” The Italian spoke loud and confidently, and in the manner of one who addressed him- self more to the humors of those near than to the understanding of the Genevese. He laughed, and looked about him in a manner to extract an echo from the crowd, though not one among them all could probably have given a sufficient reason why he had so readily taken part with the stranger against the authorities of the town, unless it might have been from the instinct of opposition to the law. ; «Thou hast a name !” continued the half- yielding, half-doubting guardian of the port. ‘Dost take me to be worse off than the bark of Baptiste, there? I have papers, too, if thou wilt that I go to the vessel in order to seek them. ‘This dog is Nettuno, a brute from a far country, where brutes swim like fishes, and my name is Maso, though wicked- minded men call me oftener I] Maledette than by any other title.” All in the throng, who understood the signification of what the Italian said, laughed aloud, and apparently with great glee, for, to the grossly vulgar, extreme audacity has an irresistible charm. The officer felt that the merriment was against him, though he scarce knew why; and ignorant of the language in which the other had given his extraordinary appellation, he yielded to the contagion, and laughed with the others, like one who under- stood the joke to the bottom. The Italian profited by this advantage, nodded familiarly with a good-natured and knowing smile, and proceeded. Whistling the dog to his side, he walked leisurely to the bark, into which he was the first that entered, always preserving the deliberation and calm of a man who felt himself privileged, and safe from further molestation. This cool audacity effected its purpose, though one long and closely hunted by the law evaded the authoiities of the town, when this singular being took his seat by the little package which contained his scanty wardrobe. CHAPTER II. «« My nobiel liege ! all my request Ys fora nobile knyghte, — Who, tho’ mayhap he has done wronge, Hee thoughte ytt stylle was righte.” CHATTERTON. Wuittz this impudent evasion of vigilance was successfully practised by so old an of- fender, the trio of sentinels, with their vol- unteer assistant, the pilgrim, manifested the greatest anxiety to prevent the contamination of admitting the highest executioner of the law to form one of the strangely assorted company. No sooner did the Genevese per- mit a traveller to pass, then they commenced their private and particular examination, which was sufficiently fierce, for more than once had they threatened to turn back ‘the trembling, ignorant-applicant on mere SUs- 12 picion. The cunning Baptiste lent himself to their feelings with the skill of a dema- gogue, affecting a zeal equal to their own, while, at the same time, he took care most to excite their suspicions where there was the smallest danger of their being rewarded with success. Through this fiery ordeal one passed after another, until most of the name- less vagabonds had been found innocent, and the throng around the gate was so far lessened as to allow a freer circulation in the thorough- fare. The opening permitted the venerable noble, who has already been presented to the reader, to advance to the gate, accompanied by the female, and closely followed by the menials. ‘The servitor of the police saluted the stranger with deference, for his calm ex- terior and imposing presence were in singular contrast with the noisy declamation and rude deportment of the rabble that had preceded. “‘T am Melchior de Willading, of Berne,” said the traveller, quietly offering the proofs of what he said, with the ease of one sure of his impunity; “this is my child—my only child; ” the old man repeated the latter words ~with melancholy emphasis ; ‘‘and these, that wear my livery, are old and faithful followers of my house. We go by the St. Bernard, to change the ruder side of our Alps for that which is more grateful to the weak—to see if there be a sun in Italy that hath warmth enough to revive this drooping flower, and to cause it once more to raise its head joyously, as until lately it did ever in its native halls.” The officer smiled and repeated his rever- ences, always declining to receive the offered papers; for the aged father indulged the overflowing of his feelings in a manner that would have awakened even duller sympathies. “The lady has youth and a tender parent on her side,” he said ; ‘* these are much when health fails us.” “She is indeed too young tosink so early!” returned the father, who had apparently for- gotten his immediate business, and was gaz- ing with a tearful eye at the faded but still eminently attractive features of the young female, who rewarded his solicitude with a look of love; ‘‘but thou hast not seen I am the man I represent myself to be.” “It is not necessary, noble Baron; the city knows of your presence, and I have it in es- pecial charge to do all that may be grateful WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. to render the passage through Geneva, of one so honored among our allies, agreeable to his recollections.” ‘‘'Thy city’s courtesy is of known repute,” said the Baron de Willading, replacing his papers in their usual envelope, and receiving the grace like one accustomed to honors of this sort:—‘‘art thou a father?” ‘*‘ Heaven has not been niggardly of gifts of this nature; my table feeds eleven, besides those who gave them being.” ‘* Kleven! The will of God is a fearful mystery! And this thou seest is the full hope of my line ;—the only heir that is left to the name and lands of Willading. Art thou at ease in thy condition ?” | “There are those in our town who are less so, with tsp thanks wi the friendliness of the question.” A slight color suffused the face of Adel- heid de Willading, for so was the daughter of the Bernese called, and she advanced a step | nearer to the officer. ‘* They who have so few at their own board, need think of those who have so many,” she said, dropping a piece of gold into the hand of the Genevese ; then she added, in a voice scarce louder than a whisper—“ If the young and innocent of thy household can offer a prayer in the behalf of a poor girl who has much need of aid, *twill be remembered of God, and it may serve to lighten the grief of one who has the dread of being childless.” “God bless thee, lady!” said the officer, little used to deal with such spirits, and touched by the mild resignation and piety of the speaker, whose simple but winning man- ner moved him nearly to tears ; “all of my family, old as well as young, shall bethink them of thee and thine.” Adelheid’s cheek resumed its paleness, and she quietly accompanied her father, as he slowly proceeded toward the bark. A scene of this nature did not fail to shake the per- tinacity of those who stood at watch near the gate. Of course they had nothing to say to any of the rank of Melcourse de Willading, who went into the bark without a question. The influence of beauty and station, united to so much simple grace as that shown by the fair actor in the little incident we have just related, was much too strong for the ill- trained feelings of the Neapolitan and his THE HEADSMAN. 13 companions. - They not only let all the men- ials pass unquestioned also, but it was some little time before their vigilance resumed its former truculence. The two or three travel- lers that succeeded had the benefit of this fortunate change of disposition. The next who came to the gate was the young soldier, whom the Baron de Willading had so often addressed as Monsieur Sigis- mund. His papers were regular, and no obstacle was offered to his departure. It may be doubted how far this young man would have been disposed to submit to these extra- official inquiries of the three deputies of the crowd, had there been a desire to urge them, for he went toward the quay with an eye that expressed any other sensation than that of amity or compliance. Respect, or a more equivocal feeling, proved his protection; for none but the pilgrim, who displayed ultra geal in the pursuit of his object, ventured so far as to hazard even a smothered remark as he passed. «There goes an arm and a sword that might well shorten a Christian’s days,” said the dissolute and shameless dealer in the Church’s abuses, “and yet no one asks his name or calling!” «Thou hadst better put the question thy- self,” returned the sneering Pippo, ‘‘ since penitence is thy trade. For myself, I am content with whirling round at my own bid-. ding, without taking a hint from that young giant’s arm.” The poor scholar and the Burgher of Berne appeared to acquiesce in this opinion, and no more was said in the matter. In the mean- while there was another at the gate. The new applicant had little in his exterior to renew the vigilance of the superstitious trio. A quiet, meek-looking man, seemingly of middle condition in life, and of an air alto- gether calm and unpretending, had submitted his passport to the faithful guardian of the city. The latter read the document, cast a quick and inquiring glance at its owner, and returned the paper in a way to show haste, and a desire to be rid of him. “Tt is well,” he said; “thou canst go thy way.” “How now!” cried the Neapolitan, to whom buffoonery wasa congenial employment, as much by natural disposition as by practice ; “how now !—have we Balthazar at last in this bloody-minded and fierce-looking traveller ?” As the speaker had expected, this sally was rewarded by a general laugh, and he was ac- cordingly encouraged to proceed. “Thou knowest our office, friend,” added the unfeel- ing mountebank, “and must show us thy hands. None pass who bear the stain of blood!” The traveller appeared staggered, for he was plainly a man of retired and peaceable habits, who had been thrown, by the chances of the road, in contact with one only too practised in this unfeeling species of wit. He showed his open palm, however, with a direct and confiding simplicity that drew a shout of merriment from all the bystanders. i «This will not do; soap, and ashes, and the tears of victims, may have washed out the marks of his work from Balthazar himself. The spots we seek are on the soul, man, and we must look into that, ere thou art permitted to make one in this goodly company.” ‘Thou didst not question yonder young soldier thus,” returned the stranger, whose eye kindled, as even the meek repel unpro- yoked outrage, though his frame trembled violently at being subject to open insults from men so rude and unprincipled ; “thou didst not dare to question yonder young soldier thus !.” “By the prayers of San Gennaro! which are known to stop running and melted lava, I would rather thou shouldst undertake that office than I. Yonder young soldier is an honorable decapitator, and it is a pleasure to be his companion on a journey; for, no doubt, some six or eight of the saints are speaking in his behalf daily. But he we seek is the out- east of all, good or bad, whether in heaven or on earth, or in that other hot abode to which he will surely be sent when his time has come.” «And yet he does no more than execute the law!” “ What is law to opinion, friend? But go thy way; none suspect thee to be the re- doubtable enemy of our heads. Go thy way, for Heaven’s sake, and mutter thy prayers to be delivered from Balthazar’s axe.” The countenance of the stranger worked, as if he would have answered; then suddenly changing his purpose, he passed on, and in- 14 : stantly disappeared in the bark. The monk of St. Bernard came next. Both the Augus- tine and his dog were old acquaintances. of the officer, who did not require any evidence of his character or errand from the former. “We are the protectors of life and not its foes,” observed the monk, as, leaving the more regular watchman of the place, he drew near to those whose claims to the office would have admitted of dispute; “we live among the snows, that Christians may not die without the Church’s comfort.” ‘“‘ Honor, holy Augustine, to thee and thy office!” said the Neapolitan, who, reckless and abandoned as he was, possessed that in- stinct of respect for those who deny their ‘natures for the good of others which is com- mon to all, however tainted by cupidity themselves. ‘“‘Thou and thy dog, old Uberto, can freely pass, with our best good wishes for both.” There no longer remained any to examine, and, after a short consultation among the more superstitious of the travellers, they came to the very natural opinion that, in- timidated by their just remonstrances, the offensive headsman had shrunk, unperceived, from the crowd, and that they were at length haply relieved from his presence. The annunciation of the welcome tidings drew much self-felicitation from the different members of the motley company, and all eagerly embarked, for Baptiste now loudly and vehemently declared that a single mo- ment of further delay was entirely out of the question. “Of what are you thinking, men!” he ex- claimed with well-acted heat; “are the Le- man winds liveried lackeys, to come and go as may suit your fancies; now to blow west, and now east, as shall be most wanted, to help you on your journeys? ‘Take example of the noble Melchior de Willading, who has long been in his place, and pray the saints, if you will, in your several fashions, that this fair western wind do not quit us in punish- ment of our neglect.” ‘* Yonder come others, in haste to be of the party!” interrupted the cunning Italian; *‘loosen thy fasts quickly, Master Baptiste, or, by San Gennaro! we shall still be de- tained!” The patron suddenly checked himself, and WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. hurried back to the gate, in order to ascer- tain what he might expect from this un- looked-for turn of fortune. Two travellers, in the attire of men famil- ‘lar with the road, accompanied by a menial, and followed by a porter staggering under the burden of their luggage, were fast ap- proaching the water-gate, as if conscious the least delay might cause their being left. This party was led by one considerably past the meridian of life, and who evidently was en- abled to maintain his post more by the defer- ence of his companions than by his physical force. A cloak was thrown across one arm, while in the hand of the other he carried the rapier, which all of gentle blood then con- sidered a necessary appendage of their rank. - “You were near losing the last bark that sails for the Abbaye des Vignerons, signori,” said the Genevese, recognizing the country of the strangers at a glance, “if, as I judge from your direction and haste, these festivi- ties are in your minds.” ‘‘Such is our aim,” returned the elder of the travellers, “and, as thou sayest, we are, of a certainty, tardy. A hasty departure and bad roads have been the cause—but as happily we are yet in time to profit by this bark, wilt do us the favor to look into our authority to pass ? ” The officer perused the offered document with the customary care, turning it from side to side, as if all were not right, though © in a way to show that he regretted the in- formality. “Signore, your pass is quite in rule as touches Savoy and the country of Nice, but it wants the city’s forms.” “ By San Francesco! more’s the pity. We are honest gentlemen of Genoa, hurrying to witness the revels at Vévey, of which 1umor gives an enticing report, and our sole desire is to come and go peaceably. As thou seest, we are late; for hearing at the post, on alighting, that a bark was about to spread its sails for the other extremity of the lake, we had no time to consult all the observances that thy city’s rules may deem necessary. So many turn their faces the same way, to wit- ness these ancient games, that we had not thought our quick passage through the town of sufficient importance to give thy author- ities the trouble to look into our proofs.” ¢ <3 oe PY THE HEADSMAN. 15 «Therein, signore, you have judged amiss. It is my sworn duty to stay all who want the republic’s permission to proceed.” “That is unfortunate, to say no more. Art thou the patron of the bark, friend ?” « And her owner, signore,” answered Bap- tiste, who listened to the discourse with long- ings equal to his doubts. ‘‘I should be a great deal too happy to count spch honorable travellers among my passengers.” “Thou wilt then delay thy departure until this gentleman shall see the authorities of the town, and obtain the required permission to quit it? Thy compliance shall not go un- rewarded.” As the Genoese concluded, he dropped into a palm that was well practised in bribes, a sequin of the celebrated republic of which he was a citizen. Baptiste had long culti- vated an apitude to suffer himself to be influ- enced by gold, and it was with unfeigned reluctance that he admitted the necessity of refusing, in this instance, to profit by his own good dispositions. Still retaining the money, however, for he did not well know how to overcome his reluctance to part with it, he answered in a manner sufficiently em- barrassed to show the other that he had at least gained a material advantage by his liberality. “His Excellency knows not what he asks,” said the patron, fumbling the coin between a finger and thumb; ‘‘our Genevese citizens love to keep house till the sun is up, lest they should break their necks by walking about the uneven streets in the dark, and it will be two long hours before a single burean will open its windows in the town. Besides, your man of the police is not like us of the lake, happy to get a morsel when the weather and occasion permit; but he is a regular feeder, that must have his grapes and his wine before he will use his wits for the bene- fit of his employers. The Winkelried would weary of doing nothing, with this fresh western breeze humming between her masts, while the poor gentleman was swearing be- fore the town-house gate at the lazimess of the officers. I know the rogues better than your Excellency, and would advise some other expedient.” Baptiste looked, with a certain expression, at the guardian of the water-gate, and in a manner to make his meaning sufficiently clear to the travellers. The latter studied the countenance of the Genevese a moment, and, better practised than the’ patron, or a more enlightened judge of character, he for- tunately refused to commit himself by offer- ing to purchase the officer’s good-will. If there are too many who love to be tempted to forget their trusts, by a well-managed venality, there are few who find a. greater satisfaction in being thought beyond its in- fluence. T'he watchman of the gate hap- pened to be one of the latter class, and by one of the many unaccountable workings of hu- man feeling, the very vanity which had in- duced him to suffer I] Maledetto to go through unquestioned, rather than expose his own igno- rance, now led him to wish he might make some return for the stranger’s good opinion of his honesty. ‘“Will you let me look agaih at the pass, signor ?” said the Genevese, as if he thought a sufficient legal warranty for that which he now strongly desired to do might yet be found in the instrument itself. The inquiry was useless, unless it was to show that the elder Genoese was called the Signor Grimaldi, and that his companion went by the name of Marcelli. Shaking his head he returned the paper in the manner of a disappointed man. | “Thou canst not have read of what the paper contains,” said Baptiste, peevishly; “your reading and writing are not such easy matters, that a squint of the eye is all-sufii- cient. Look at it again, and thou mayest yet find all in rule. It is unreasonable to suppose signori of their rank would journey like vagabonds, with paper to be suspected.” “Nothing is wanting but our city signa- tures, without which my duty will let none go by, that are truly travellers.” ‘‘This comes, signor, of the accursed art of writing, which is much pushed and greatly abused of late. J have heard the aged water- man of the Leman praise the good old time, when boxes and bales went and came, and no ink touched paper between him that sent and him that carried; and yet it has now reached the pass that a Christian may not ‘ransport himself on his own legs without calling on the scriveners for permission.” ‘‘We lose the moment in words, when if 16 were far better to be doing,” returned the Signor Grimaldi. ‘‘The pass is luckily in the language of the country, and needs but a glance to get the approval of the authori- ties. Thou wilt do well to say thou canst remain the time necessary to see this little done.” ““Were your Excellency to offer me the Doge’s crown as a bribe, this could not be. Our Leman winds will not wait for king or noble, bishop or priest, and duty to those I have in the bark commands me to quit the port as soon as possible.” “Thou art truly well charged with living freight already,” said the Genoese, regarding the deeply loaded bark with a half-distrustful eye. ‘‘I hope thou hast not overdone thy vessel’s powers in receiving so many?” “I could gladly reduce the number alittle, excellent signor, for all that you see piled among the boxes and tubs are no better than so many knaves, fit only to give trouble and raise questions touching the embarkation of those who are willing to pay better than themselves. The noble Swiss whom you see seated near the stern, with his daughter and people, the worthy Melchior de Willading, gives a more liberal reward for his passage to Vévey than all those nameless rogues to- gether.” The Genoese made a hasty movement to- ward the patron, with an earnestness of eye and air that betrayed a sudden and singular interest in what he heard. “‘Didst thou say De Willading ?” he ex- claimed, eager as one of much fewer years would have been at the unexpected announce- ment of some pleasurable event. ‘‘ Melchior, too, of that honorable name ?” ‘Signor, the same. None other bears the title now, for the old line they say is drawing to an end. I remember this same baron, when he was as ready to launch his boat into a troubled lake as any in Switzer- land ie “Fortune hath truly favored me, good Marcelli!” interrupted the other, grasping the hand of his companion with strong feel- ing. ‘‘Go thou to the bark, master patron, and advise thy passenger that—what shall we say to Melchior? Shall we tell him at once who waits him here, or shall we practise a little on his failing memory ? By San WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. Francesco ! we will do this, Enrico, that we may try his powers! ’Twill be pleasant to see him wonder and guess—my life on it, however, that he knows me at a glance. I am truly little changed for one who hath seen so much.” The Signor Marcelli lowered his eyes re- spectfully at this opinion of his friend, but he did not see fit to discourage a belief which was merely a sudden ebullition, produced by the recollection of younger days. Baptiste was instantly despatched with a request that the Baron would doa stranger of rank the favor to come to the water-gate. ‘* Tell him ’tis a traveller disappointed in the wish to be of his company,” repeated the Genoese. ‘‘ That will suffice. I know him courteous, and he is not my Melchior, honest Marcelli, if he delay an instant :—thou seest! he is already quitting the bark, for never did I know him refuse an act of friendliness— dear, dear Melchior—thou art the same at seventy as thou wast at thirty! ” Here the agitation of the Genoese got the better of him, and he walked aside under a sense of shame, lest he might betray unmanly weakness. In the meantime the Baron de Willading advanced from the water-side, without suspecting that his presence was re- quired for more than an act of simple courtesy. ‘Baptiste tells me that gentlemen of Genoa are here who are desirous of hastening to the games of Vévey,” said the latter, rais- ing his beaver, “‘and that my presence may be of use in obtaining the pleasure of their company.” “‘T will not unmask until “we are fairly and decently embarked, Enrico,” whispered Signor Grimaldi ; ‘‘nay—by the mass! not till we are fairly disembarked! The laugh against him will never be forgotten. Sig- nor,” addressing the Bernese with affected composure, endeavoring to assume the man- ner of a stranger, though his voice trembled with eagerness at each syllable, “we are in- deed of Genoa, and most anxious to be of the party in your bark—but—he little suspects who speaks to him, Marcelli !—but, signor, there has been some small oversight touching the city signatures, and we have need of friendly assistance either to pass the gate, or to detain the bark until the forms of the place shall have been respected.” 1 y* - ae eee ee is ay ox. ax. a ee a THE HEADSMAN. «Signor, the city of Geneva hath need to be watchful, for it is an exposed and weak state, and I have little hope that my influ- ence can cause this trusty watchman to dis- pense with his duty. Touching the bark, a small gratuity will do much with honest Baptiste, should there not be a question of the stability of the breeze, in which case he might be somewhat of a loser.” «You say the truth, noble Melchior,” put in the patron, “were the wind ahead, or were it two hours earlier in the morning, the little delay should not cost the strangers a batz—that is to say, nothing unreasonable; but as it is, I have not twenty minutes more to lose, even were all the city magistrates cloaking to be of the party, in their proper and worshipful persons.” “T greatly regret, signor, it should be so,” resumed the Baron, turning to the applicant with the consideration of one accustomed to season his refusals by a gracious manner; ‘but these watermen have their secret signs, by which it would seem they know the latest moment they may with prudence delay.” “By the mass! Marcelli, I will try him a little—I should have known him in a car- nival dress. Signor Barone, we are but poor Italian gentlemen, it is true,of Genoa. You have heard of our Republic, beyond question —the poor state of Genoa?” “ Though of no great pretensions to letters, signor,” answered Melchior, smiling, “I am not quite ignorant that such a state exists. You could not have named a city on the shores of your Mediterranean that would sooner warm my heart than this very town of which you speak. Many of my happiest. hours were passed within its walls, and often, even at this late day, do I live over again my life to recall the pleasures of that merry period. Were there leisure I could repeat a list of honorable and much esteemed names that are familiar to your ears, in proof of what I say.” “Name them, Signor Barone ;—for the love of the saints and the blessed Virgin, name them, I beseech you !” A little amazed at the eagerness of the other, Melchior de Willading earnestly re- garded his furrowed face; and, for an in- stant, an expression like incertitude crossed his own features. | 1% “Nothing would be easier, signor, than toname many. The first In my memory, as he has always been the first in my love, is Gaetano Grimaldi, of whom, I doubt not, both of you have often heard ?” ‘We have, we have! That is—yes, I think we may say, Marcelli, that we have often heard of him, and not unfavorably. Well, what of this Grimaldi?” “Signor, the desire to converse of your noble townsman is natural, but were I to yield to my wishes to speak of Gaetano, I fear the honest Baptiste might have reason to complain.” «To the devil with Baptiste and his bark! Melchior,—my good Melchior!—dearest, dear- est Melchior! hast thou indeed forgotten me?” Here the Genoese opened wide his arms, and stood ready to receive the embrace of his friend. The Baron de Willading was troubled, but he was still so far from suspect- ing the real fact, that he could not have eas- ily told the reason why. He gazed wistfully at the working features of the fine old man who stood before him, and though memory seemed to flit around the truth, it was in gleams so transient as completely to baffle his wishes. ‘‘ Dost thou deny me, De Willading ?—dost thou refuse to own the friend of thy youth— the companion of thy pleasures—the sharer of thy sorrows—thy comrade in the wars— nay, more—thy confidant in a dearer tie hae “ None but Gaetano Grimaldi himself can claim these titles!” burst from the lips of the trembling Baron. «Am I aught else?—am I not this Gae- tano ?—that Gaetano—thy Gaetano,—old and very dear?” ‘» >“ ee ‘Yield thee to the dog, signor,” said | Sigismund, clearing his mouth of water to speak calmly, once assured of his own ~ burden; ‘‘trust to his sagacity, and,—God keep us in mind !—all may yet be well!” The Signor Grimaldi retained sufficient presence of mind to follow this advice, and it was probably quite as fortunate that his friend had so far lost his consciousness as to become an unresisting burden in the hands of Sigismund. ‘* Nettuno !—gallant Nettuno!” swept © past them on the gale for the first time, the partial hushing of the winds permitting the — clear call of Maso to reach so far. The sound dog had swum steadily away the moment he had the Genoese in his grip, and with a cer- tainty of manner that showed he was at no loss for a direction. far. the log-like weight of his burden. and yet each fainting and useless stroke told him to despair. The dog had already the bark. He prayed in agony for a single glimpse of the rocking masts and yards, or to catch one syllable of the cheering voice of Maso. But in both his wishes were vain. In place of the former, he had naught but the veiled misty light, that had come on with the hurricane; and instead of the latter, his ears were filled with the washing of the waves and the roars of the gusts. The blasts now de- scended to the surface of the lake, and now went whirling and swelling upward, in a way to lead the listener to fancy that the viewless winds might for once be seen. disappeared in the darkness, and he was even uncertain again of the true position of For a single directed the efforts of Sigismund, though the ~ But Sigismund had taxed his powers too - He, who could have buffeted an ordi-— nary sea for hours, was now completely ex-— hausted by the unwonted exertions, the deadening influence of the tempest, and— He would not desert the father of Adelheid, — THE HEADSMAN. painful instant, in one of those disheartening moments of despair that will come over the stoutest, his hand was about to relinquish its hold on the Baron, and to make the last natural struggle for life ; but that fair mod- est picture of maiden loveliness and truth, which had so long haunted his waking hours and adorned his night-dreams, interposed to prevent the act. After this brief and fleet- ing weakness, the young man seemed en- dowed with new energy. He swam stronger, and with greater apparent advantage than before. « Nettuno— gallant Nettuno!”— again drove over him, bringing with it the chilling certainty that, turned from his course by the rolling of the water, he had thrown away these desperate efforts by taking a direction which led him from the bark. While there was the smallest appearance of success, no difficulties, of whatever magnitude, could entirely extinguish hope; but when the dire conviction that he had been actually aiding, instead of diminishing, the danger, pressed upon Sigismund, he abandoned his efforts. The most he endeavored or hoped to achieve, was to keep his own head and that of his companion above the fatal element, while he answered the cry of Maso with a shout of despair. ‘«¢ Nettuno !—gallant flew past on the gale. This cry might have been an answer, or it might merely be the Italian encouraging his dog to’ bear on the body with which it was already loaded. Sigismund uttered a shout, which he felt must be the last. He strug- gled desperately, but in vain: the world and its allurements were vanishing from his thoughts, when a dark line whirled over him, and fell thrashing upon the very wave which covered his face. The instinctive grasp caught it, and the young soldier felt himself impelled ahead. He had seized the rope which the mariner had not ceased to throw, as the fisherman casts his line, and he was at the side of the bark before his con- fused faculties enabled him to understand the means employed for his rescue. Maso took a hasty turn with the rope, and stooping forward, favored by the roll of the vessel, he drew the Baron de Willading upon deck. Watching his time, he repeated the Nettuno !”—again unchanging perseverance. 58 experiment, always with admirable coolness and dexterity, placing Sigismund also in safety. The former was immediately dragged senseless to the centre of the bark, where he received those attentions that had just been eagerly offered to the Signor Grimaldi, and with the same happy results. But Sigismund motioned all away from himself, knowing that their cares were needed else- where. He staggered forward a few paces, and then, yielding to a complete exhaustion of his power, he fell at full length on the wet planks. He long lay panting, speech- less, and unable to move, with a sense of death on his frame. ‘Nettuno! gallant Nettuno !’’—shouted the indefatigable Maso, still at his post on the gangway, whence he cast his rope with The fitful winds, which had already played so many fierce antics that eventful night, sensibly lulled, and, giving one or two sighs, as if regretting that they were about to be curbed again by that almighty Master, from whose benevolent hands they had so furtively escaped, as sud- denly ceased blowing. The yards creaked, swinging loosely above the crowded deck, and the dull washing of water filled the ear. To these diminished sounds were to be added the barking of the dog, who was still abroad in the darkness, and a struggling noise like the broken and smothered attempts of human voices. Although the time appeared an age to all who awaited the result, scarcely five minutes had elapsed since the accident oc- curred and the hurricane had reached them. There was still hope, therefore, for those who yet remained in the water. Maso felt the eagerness of one who had already been suc- cessful beyond his hopes, and, in his desire to catch some guiding signal, he leaned for- ward, till the rolling lake washed into his face. ‘Ha! gallant—gallant Nettuno hd Men certainly spoke, and that near hin. But the sounds resembled words uttered beneath a cover. The wind whistled, too, though but for a moment, and then it seemed to sail upward into the dark vault of the ° heavens. Nettuno barked audibly, and his master answered with another shout, for the sympathy of man in his kind is inextinguish- able. “ o4 ‘« My brave, my noble Nettuno!” The stillness was now imposing, and Maso heard the dog growl. ‘This ill-omened signal was undeniably followed by smothered voices. The latter became clearer, as if the mocking winds were willing that a sad exhibition of human frailty should be known, or, what is more probable, violent passion had awakened stronger powers of speech. This much the mariner understood, “ Loosen thy grasp, accursed Baptiste “Wretch, loosen thine own!” “Ts God naught with thee ?” “Why dost throttle so, infernal Nicklaus ?” “Thou wilt die damned!” “Thou chokest—villain—pardon .!—par- don!” He heard no more. The merciful elements interposed to drown the appalling strife. Once or twice the dog howled, but the tem- pest came across the Leman again in its might, as if the short pause had been made merely to take breath. The winds took a new direction; and the bark, still held by its anchors, swung wide off from its former position, tending in toward the mountains of Savoy. During the first burst of this new blast, even Maso was glad to crouch to the deck, for millions of infinitely fine particles were lifted from the lake, and driven on with the atmosphere with a violence to take away his breath. The danger of being swept be- fore the furious tide of the driving element was also an accident not impossible. When the lull returned, no exertion of his faculties could catch a single sound foreign to the proper character of the scene, such as the splash of the water, and the creaking of the long, swinging yards. The mariner now felt a deep concern for his dog. He called to him until he grew hoarse, but fruitlessly. The change of posi- tion, with the constant and varying drift of the vessel, had carried them beyond the reach of the human voice. More time was expended in summoning ‘‘ Nettuno! gallant Nettuno!” than had been consumed in the passage of all the events which it has been necessary to our object to relate so minutely, and always with the same want of success. The mind of Maso was pitched to a degree far above the opinions and habits of those with whom his life brought him ordinarily in 12? WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. contact, but, as even fine gold will become tarnished by exposure to impure air, he had not entirely escaped the habitual weakness of the Italians of his class) When he found that no cry could recall his faithful com- panion, he threw himself upon the deck in a paroxysm of passion, tore his hair, and wept audibly. ‘“ Nettuno! my brave, my faithful Net- tuno!” he said. ‘‘ What are all these to me, without thee! Thou alone lovedst me —thou alone hast passed with me, through fair and foul—through good and evil, with- out change, or wish for another master ! When the pretended friend has been false, thou hast remained faithful! When others were sycophants, thou wert never a flatterer !” Struck with this singular exhibition of sorrow, the good Augustine, who until now, like all the others, had been looking to his own safety, or employed -in restoring the exhausted, took advantage of the favorable change in the weather, and advanced with the language of consolation. ‘“Thou hast saved all our lives, bold mariner,” he said, ‘‘and there are those in the bark who will know how to reward thy courage and skill. Forget then thy dog, and indulge in a grateful heart to Maria and the saints, that they have been our friends and thine in this exceeding jeopardy.” ‘Father, I have eaten with the animal —slept with the animal—fought, swum, and made merry with him, and I could now drown with him! What are thy nobles and their gold to me, without my dog? The gallant brute will die the death of despair, swimming about in search of the bark in the midst of the darkness, until even one of his high breed and courage must suffer his heart to burst.” “Christians have been called into the dread presence, unconfessed and unshrived, to-night; and we should bethink us of their souls, rather than indulge in this grief in behalf of one that, however faithful, ends but an unreasoning and irresponsible exist- ence.” All this was thrown away upon Maso, who crossed himself habitually at the allu- sion to the drowned, but who did not the less bewail the loss of his dog, whom he seemed to love, like the affection that David THE HEADSMAN. bore for Jonathan, with a love surpassing that of awoman. Perceiving that his coun- sel was useless, the good Augustine turned away, to kneel and offer up his own prayers of gratitude, and to bethink him of the dead. ‘Nettuno! povera, carissima bestia!” continued Maso, “‘ whither art thou swim- - ming, in this infernal quarrel between the air and water? Would I were with thee, dog! No mortal shall ever share the love I bore thee, povero Nettwno /—I will never take another to my heart, like thee !” The outbreaking of Maso’s grief was sud- den, and it was brief in its duration. In this respect it might be likened to the hur- ricane that had just passed. Hxcessive violence, in both cases, appeared to bring its own remedy, for the irregular, fitful gusts from the mountains had already ceased, and were succeeded by a strong but steady gale from the north; and the sorrow of Maso soon ended its characteristic plaints, to take a more continued and even character. During the whole of the foregoing scenes, the common passengers had crouched to the deck, partly in stupor, partly in superstitious dread, and much of the time, from a positive inability to move without incurring the risk of being driven from the defenceless vessel into the lake. But, as the wind diminished in force, and the motion of the bark became more regular, they rallied their senses, like men who had been in a trance, and one by one they rose to their feet. About this time Adelheid heard the sound of her father’s voice, blessing her care, and consoling her sorrow. The north wind blew away the canopy of clouds, and the stars shone above the angry Leman, bringing with them some such promise of divine aid as the pillar of fire afforded to the Israelites in their passage of the Red Sea. Such an evidence of re- turning peace brought renewed confidence. All in the bark, passengers as well as crew, took courage at the benignant signs, while Adelheid wept, in gratitude and joy, over the gray hairs of her father. Maso had now obtained complete command of the Winkelried, as much by the necessity of the case, as by the unrivalled skill and courage he had manifested during the fear- ful minutes of their extreme jeopardy. No : 55 sooner did he succeed in staying his own grief, than he called the people about him, and issued his orders for the new measures that had become necessary. All who have ever been subject to their influence know that there is nothing more uncertain than the winds. Their fickleness has passed into a proverb ; but their incon- stancy, as well as their power, from the fan- ning air to the destructive tornado, are to be traced to causes that are sufficiently clear, though hid in their nature from the calcula- tions of our forethought. The tempest of the night was owing to the simple fact that a condensed and chilled column of air from the mountains had pressed upon the heated substratum of the lake, and the latter, after a long resistance, suddenly finding vent for its escape, had been obliged to let in the cataract from above. As in all extraordi- nary efforts, whether physical or moral, reac- tion would seem to be a consequence of excessive action, the currents of air, pushed beyond their proper limits, were now setting back again, like a tide on its reflux. This cause produced the northern gale that suc- ceeded the hurricane. The wind that came from off the shores of Vaud was steady and fresh. The barks of the Leman are not constructed for beat- ing to windward, and it might even have been questioned whether the Winkelried would have borne her canvas against so heavy a breeze. Maso, however, appeared to understand himself thoroughly, and as he had acquired the influence which hardihood and skill are sure to obtain over doubt and timidity in situations of hazard, he was obeyed by all on board with submission, if not with zeal. No more was heard of the headsman or of his supposed agency in the storm ; and, as he prudently kept himself in the background, so as not to endanger a revival of the superstition of his enemies, he seemed entirely forgotten. The business of getting the anchors occu- pied a considerable time, for Maso refused, now there existed no necessity for the sacri- fice, to permit a yarn to be cut; but, re- leased from this hold on the water, the bark whirled away, and was soon drifting before the wind. The mariner was at the helm, and causing the head-sail to be loosened, he 56 WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. steered directly for the rocks of Savoy. This | that they had been snatched from the jaws manceuvre excited disagreeable suspicions in | of death. the minds of several on board, for the law-| Maso shaped his course by the beacon that less character of their pilot had been more | still blazed in the grate of old Roger de than suspected in the course of their short | Blonay. With his eye riveted on the luff of acquaintance, and the coast toward which | his sail, his hip bearing hard against the they were furiously rushing was known to’ tiller, and a heart that relieved itself, from be iron bound, and in such a gale fatal to all | time to time, with bitter sighs, he ruled the who came rudely upon its rocks, Half an| bark like a presiding spirit. 3 hour removed their apprehension. When| At length the black mass of the cétes of near enough to the mountains to feel their | Vaud took more distinct and regular forms. deadening influence on the gale, the natural | Here and there, a tower or a tree betrayed its effect of the eddies formed by their resist- | outlines against the sky, and then the objects ance to the currents, he luffed-to and set his | on the margin of the lake began to stand out main-sail. Relieved by this wise precaution, | in gloomy relief from the land. Lights flared the Winkelried now wore her canvas gal-| along the strand, and cries reached them lantly, and she dashed along the shore of from the shore. A dark shapeless pile stood Savoy with a foaming beak, shooting past | directly athwart their watery path, and at the ravine, valley, glen, and hamlet, as if sailing next moment it took the aspect of a ruined in alr. castle-like edifice. The canvas flapped and In less than an hour, St. Gingoulph, or the | was handed, the Winkelried rose and set more village through which the dividing line be-| slowly and with a gentler movement, and tween the territories of Switzerland and | glided into the little, secure, artificial haven those of the King of Sardinia passes, was | of La Tour de Peil. A forest of latine yards abeam, and the excellent calculations of the | and low masts lay before them, but by giving sagacious Maso became still more apparent. | the bark a rank sheer, Maso brought her to He had foreseen another shift of wind, as| her berth, by the side of another lake craft, the consequence of all this poise and counter- | with a gentleness of collision that, as the poise, and he was here met by the true breeze | mariners have it, would not have broken an of the night. The last current came out of | egg. ; the gorge of the Valais, sullen, strong, and| A hundred voices greeted the travellers; hoarse, bringing him, however, fairly to | for their approach had been seen and watched windward of his port. The Winkelried was | with intense anxiety. Fifty eager Vévaisans cast in season, and when the gale struck her | poured upon her deck in a noisy crowd the anew, her canvas drew fairly, and she walked | instant it was possible. Among others, a dark out from beneath the mountains into the | shaggy object bounded foremost. It leaped broad lake, like a swan obeying its m-| wildly forward, aud Maso found himself in stinct. the embraces of Nettuno. A little later, when The passage across the width of the | delight and more tempered feeling permitted Leman, in that horn of the crescent and | eXamination, a lock of human hair was dis- in such a breeze, required rather more than | covered entangled in the teeth of the dog, half an hour. This time was occupied among | and the following week the bodies of Baptiste the common herd in self-felicitations, and m | and the peasant of Berne were found still those vain boastings that distinguish the | clinched in the desperate death-gripe, washed vulgar who have escaped an imminent danger | upon the shores of Vaud. without any particular merit of their own. Among those whose spirits were better trained and more rebuked, there were attentions to the sufferers and deep thanksgiving, with the touching intercourse of the grateful and happy. The late scenes, and the fearful fate of the patron and Nicklaus Wagner, cast a shade upon their joy, but all inwardly felt | \ { . THE HEADSMAN. CHAPTER VIII. «The moon is up; by Heaven a lovely eve ! Long streams of light over glancing waves expand ; Now lads on shore may sigh and maids believe: Such be our fate when we return to land!” ; —BYRON. THE approach of the Winkelried had been seen from Vévey throughout the afternoon and evening. The arrival of the Baron de Willading and his daughter was expected by many in the town, the rank and influence of the former in the great canton rendering him an object of interest to more than those who felt affection for his person and respect for his upright qualities. Roger de Blonay had not been his only youthful friend, for the place contained another, with whom he was inti- mate by habit, if not from a community of those principles which are the best cement of friendships. The officer charged with the especial super- vision of the districts or circles, into which Berne had caused its dependent territory of Vand to be divided, was termed a bailli, a title that our word bailiff will scarcely render, ex- cept as it may strictly mean a substitute for the exercise of authority that is the property of another, but which, from the want of a better term, we may be compelled occasionally to use. The bailli, or bailiff, of Vévey was Peter Hofmeister, a member of one of those families of the biirgerschaft, or the munici- pal aristocracy of the canton, which found its institutions venerable, just, and, if one might judge from their language, almost sacred, simply because it had been in possession of certain exclusive privileges under their au- thority, that were not only comfortable in their exercise but fecund in other worldly advantages. This Peter Hofmeister was, in the main, a hearty, well-meaning, and some- what beneyolent person, but, living as he did under the secret consciousness that all was not as it should be, he pushed his opinions on the subject of vested interests, and on the stability of temporal matters, a little into ex- tremes, pretty much on the same principle as that on which the engineer expends the largest portion of his art in fortifying the weakest point of a citadel, taking care that there shall be a constant flight of shot, great and small, across the most accessible of its Ag approaches. By one of the exclusive ordi- nances of those times, in which men were glad to get relief from the violence and ra- pacity of the Baron and the satellite of the Prince, ordinances that it was the fashion of the day to term liberty, the family of Hof- meister had come into the exercise of a cer- tain charge, or monopoly, that in truth had always constituted its wealth and importance, but of which it was accustomed to speak as forming its principal claim to the gratitude of the public, for duties that had been per- formed not only so well, but for so long a period, by an unbroken succession of patriots descended from the same stock. They who judged of the value attached to the posses- sion of this charge, by the animation with which all attempts to relieve them of the burden were repelled, must have been in error; for, to hear their friends descant on the difficulties of the duties, on the utter im- possibility that they should be properly dis- charged by any family that had not been in their exercise just one hundred and seventy- two years and a half, the precise period of the hard servitude of the Hofmeisters, and the rare merit of their self-devotion to the common good, it would seem that they were so many medern Curtii, anxious to leap into the chasm of uncertain and endless toil, to save the Republic from the ignorance and peculations of certain interested and selfish knaves, who wished to enjoy the same high trusts, for a motive so unworthy as that of their own particular advantage. This sub- ject apart, however, and with a strong reser- yation in favor of the supremacy of Berne, on whom his importance depended, a better or more philanthropic man than Peter Hot- meister would not have been easily found. He was a hearty laugher, a hard drinker, a common and peculiar failing of the age, a great respecter of the law, as was meet in one so situated, and a bachelor of sixty-eight, a time of life that, by referring his education to a period more remote by half a century, than that in which the incidents of our legend took place, was not at all in favor of any very romantic predilection in behalf of the rest of the human race. In short, the Herr Hof- meister was a bailiff, much as Balthazar was a headsman, on account of some peculiar merit or demerit (it might now be difficult to say 58 WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. which) of one of his ancestors, by the laws of the canton, and by the opinionsofmen. ‘The only material difference between them was in the fact, that the one greatly enjoyed his station, while the other had but an indifferent relish for his trust. When Roger de Blonay, by the aid of a good glass, had assured himself that the bark which lay off St. Saphorin, in the even tide, with yards a-cock-bill, and sails pendent in their picturesque drapery, contained a party of gentle travellers who occupied the stern, and saw by the plumes and robes that a female of condition was among them, he gave an order to prepar? the beacon-fire, and descended to the port, in order to be in readiness to re- ceive his friend. Here he found the bailiff, pacing the public promenade, which is washed by the limpid water of the lake, with the air of a man who had more on his mind than the daily cares of office. Although the Baron de Blonay was a Vaudois, and looked upon all the functionaries of his country’s conquerors with a species of hereditary dislike, he was by nature a man of mild and courteous qualities, and the meeting was, as usual, friendly in the externals, and of seeming cordiality. Great care was had by both to speak in the second person; on the part of the Vaudois, that it might be seen he valued himself as, at least, the equal of the representative of Berne, and, on that of the bailiff, in order to show that | his office made him as good as the head of the oldest house in all that region. “Thou expectest to see friends from Genf in yonder bark ?” said the Herr Hofmeister, abruptly. “And thou?” *‘ A friend, and one more than a friend,” answered the bailiff evasively. “ My advices tell me that Melchior de Willading will sojourn among us during the festival of the Abbaye, and secret notice has been sent that there will be another here who wishes to see our merry- making, without pretension to the honors that he might fairly claim.” | ‘‘It is not rare for nobles of mark, and even princes, to visit us on these occasions, under feigned names and without the éclat of their rank ; for the great, when they descend to follies, seldom like to bring their high con- dition within their influence.” “'The wiser they. I have my own troubles with these accursed fooleries, for—it may be a weakness, but it is one that is official—I can- not help imagining that a bailiff cuts but a shabby figure before the people in the pres- ence of so many gods and goddesses. ‘T'o own to thee the truth, I rejoice that he who cometh, cometh as he doth. Hast letters of late date from Berne ? ” “ None ; though report says there is like to be a change among some of those who fill public trusts.” “So much the worse !” growled the bailiff. ‘“Ts it to be expected that men who never did an hour’s duty in a charge can acquit them- selves like those who have, it might be said, sucked in practice with their mother’s milk?” *‘ Aye; this is well enough for thee ; but others say that even the Erlachs had a be- ginning.” “Himmel! Am I a heathen to deny this? As many beginnings as thou wilt, good Roger, but I like not thy ends. No doubt an Erlach is mortal like all of us, and even a created being ; but a man is not a charge. Let the clay die, if thou wilt, but if thou wouldst have faithful or skilful servants, look to the true successor. But we will have none of this to-day. Hast many guests at Blonay ?” “Not one. I look for the company of Melchior de Willading and his daughter— and yet I like not the time! There are evil signs playing about the high peaks and in the neighborhood of the Dents since the sun has set!” “Thou art ever in a storm up in thy castle there! The Leman was never more peace- able, and I should take it truly in evil part, were the rebellious lake to get into one of its fits of sudden anger with so precious a freight on its bosom.” ‘‘T do not think the Genfer See will regard even a bailiff’s displeasure!” rejoined the Baron de Blonay, laughing. “I repeat it; the signs are suspicious. Let us consult the watermen, for it may be well to send a light- pulling boat to bring the travellers to land.” Roger de Blonay and the bailiff walked to- ward the little earthen mole that partially pro- tects the roadstead of Vévey, and which is forever foaming and forever washing away before the storms of winter, in order to con- sult some of those who were believed to be expert in detecting the symptoms that pre- THE HEADSMAN. ceded any important changes of the atmos- phere. The opinions were various. Most believed there would be a gust; but, as the Winkelried was known to be a new and well- built bark, and none could tell how much beyond her powers she had been loaded by the cupidity of Baptiste, and as it was gen- erally thought the wind would be as likely to bring her up to her haven as be against her, there appeared no sufficient reason for sending off the boat; especialiy as it was be- lieved the bark would be not only drier but safer than a smaller craft, should they be overtaken by the wind. This indecision, so common in cases of uncertainty, was the means of exposing Adelheid and her father to all those fearful risks they had just run. When the night came on, the people of the town began to understand that the tempest would be grave to those who were obliged to eucounter it, even in the best bark, on the Leman. The darkness added to the danger, for vessels had often run against the land by miscalculating their distances; and the lights were shown along the strand, by order of the bailiff, who manifested an interest so unusual in those on board the Winkelried, as to draw about them more than the sympathy that would ordinarily be felt for travellers in dis- tress. Every exertion that the case admitted was made in their behalf, and the moment the state of the lake allowed, boats were sent off, in every possible direction, to their succor. But the Winkelried was running along the coast of Savoy ere any ventured forth, and the search proved fruitless. When the rumor spread, however, that a sail was to be discerned coming out from ander the wide shadow of the opposite mountains, and that it was steering for La Tour de Peil, a village with a far safer harbor than that of Vévey, and but an arrow’s flight from the latter town, crowds rushed to the spot. The instant it was known that the missing party was in her, the travellers were received with cheers of delight and cries of hearty greeting. The bailiff and Roger de Blonay hastened forward to receive the Baron de Willading and his friends, who were carried in a tu- multuous and joyful manner into the old castle that adorns the port, and from which, in truth, the latter derives its name. ‘The Bernois noble was too much affected with 59 the scenes through which he had so lately passed, and with the strong and ungovernable tenderness of Adelheid, who had wept over him as a mother sobs over her recovered child, to exchange greetings with him of Vaud, in the hearty, cordial manner that ordinarily characterized their meetings. Still their peculiar habits shone through the re- straint. ‘Thou seest me just rescued from the fishes of thy Leman, dear De Blonay,” he said, squeezing the other’s hand with emo- tion, as, leaning on his shoulder, they went into the chateau. ‘‘ But for yonder brave youth, and as honest a mariner as ever floated on water, fresh or salt, all that is left of old Melchior de Willading would, at this moment, be of less value than the meanest féra in thy lake.” ‘God be praised that thou art as we see thee! We feared for thee, and boats are out at this moment in search of thy bark: but it has been wiser ordered. ‘This brave young man, who, I see, is both a Swiss and a soldier, is doubly welcome among us—in the two characters just named, and as one that hath done thee and us so great a service.” Sigismund received the compliments which he so well merited with modesty. The bailiff. however, not content with making the usual felicitations, whispered in his ear that a ser- vice like this, rendered to one of its most esteemed nobles, would not be forgotten by the Councils on a proper occasion. “Thou art happily arrived, Herr Melchior,” he then added, aloud; ‘‘come as thou wilt, floating or sailing in air. We have thee among us none the worse for the accident, and we thank God, as Roger de Blonay has just so well observed. Our Abbaye is like to be a gallant ceremony, for divers gentlemen of name are in town, and IJ hear of more that are pricking forward among the mountains from countries beyond the Rhine. Hadst thou no other companions in the bark but these I see around us?” «> ee 30. eos 131 only spectator of this silent but intelligible communion between these two young and pure spirits, and her soul was shaken by the unlooked-for commiseration of one so honored and who was usually esteemed so happy. “Thou hast the consciousness of our wrongs,” she said, when the first burst of emotion had alittle subsided. “ ‘Thou canst then believe that a headsman’s child is like the offspring of another, and is not to be hunted of men lke the young of a wolf.” “ Mother, this is the Baron de Willading’s. heiress,” said Christine; “would she come here, did she not pity us?” “Yes, she can pity us—and yet I find it hard even to be pitied! Sigismund has told us of her goodness, and she may, in truth, feel for the wretched !” The allusion to her son caused the temples of Adelheid to burn like fire, while there was a chill, resembling that of death, at her heart. The first arose from the quick and uncon- trollable alarm of female sensitiveness; the last was owing to the shock inseparable from being presented with this vivid, palpable pict- ure of Sigismund’s close affinity with the family of an executioner. She could have better borne it, had Marguerite spoken of her son less familiarly, or with more of that feigned ignorance of each other, which, with- out stopping to scan its fitness, she had been ‘led to think existed between the young man and his family. “ Mother!” exclaimed Christine reproach- fully, and in surprise, as if a great indiscre- tion had been thoughtlessly committed. <‘It matters not, child; it matters not. I saw by the kindling eye of Sigismund to-day, that our secret will not much longer be kept. The noble boy must show more energy than those who have gone before him; he must quit forever a country in which he was con- demned, even before he was born.” “T shall not deny that your connection with Monsieur Sigismund is known to me,” said Adelheid, summoning all her resolution to make an avowal which put her at once into the confidence of Balthazar’s family. ‘“‘You are acquainted with a heavy debt of gratitude we owe your son, and it will ex- plain the nature of the interest I now feel in your wrongs.” The keen eye of Marguerite studied the 132 crimsoned features of Adelheid till forget- fulness got the better of discretion. The search was anxious, rather than triumphant, the feeling most dreaded by its subject ; and, when her eyes were withdrawn, the mother of the youth became thoughtful and pensive. This expressive communion produced a deep and embarrassing silence, which each would gladly have broken, had they not been irre- sistibly tongue-tied by the rapidity and in- tensity of their thoughts. ‘We know that Sigismund hath been of service to thee,” observed Marguerite, who always addressed her young companion with the familiarity that belonged to her greater age, rather than with the respect which Adelheid had been accustomed to receive from those who were of a rank inferior to her own. “The brave boy hath spoken of it, though he hath spoken of it modestly.” “He had every right to do himself justice in his communications with those of his own family. Without his aid, my father would have been childless; and without his brave support, the child fatherless. ‘I'wice has he stood between us and death.” ‘©T have heard of this,” returned Margue- rite, again fastening her penetrating eye on the tell-tale features of Adelheid, which never failed to brighten and glow, whenever there was allusion to the courage and self-devotion of him she sccretly loved. “ Asto what thou say’st of the intimacy of our poor boy with those of his blood, cruel circumstances stand between us and our wishes. If Sigismund has told thee of whom he comes, he has also most probably told thee of the manner in which he passes, in the world, for that which he is not.” ‘“T believe he has not withheld anything that he knew, and which it was proper to communicate to me,” answered Adelheid, dropping her eyes before the attentive, ex- pectant look of Marguerite. “ He has spoken freely, and——” «Thou wouldst have said fe “Honorably, and as became a soldier,” eontinued Adelheid, firmly. “He has done well! This lightens my heart of one burden at least. No; God has destined us to this fate, and it would have grieved me that a son of mine should have failed of principle in an affair, of all others, WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. in which it is most wanted. You look amazed, lady !” ‘¢ These sentiments, in one so situated, sur- prise as much as they delight me! If any- thing could excuse some looseness in the manner of regarding the usual ties of life, it would surely be to find one’s self so placed, by no misconduct of our own, as to be a butt to the world’s dislike and injustice; and yet, here, where there was reason to expect some resentment against fortune, I meet with sen- timents that would honor a throne! ” “Thou thinkest as one more accustomed to consider thy fellow-creatures through the means of what men fancy, than through things as they are. This is the picture of youth, and inexperience, and innocence; but it is not the picture of life. *Tis misfortune, and not prosperity, that hasteneth by proy- ing our insufficiency for true happiness, and by leading the soul to depend on a power greater than any that is to be found on earth. We fall before the temptation of happiness, when we rise in adversity. If thou thinkest, innocent one, that noble and just sentiments belong to the fortunate, thou trustest to a false guide. There are evils which flesh can- not endure, it is true; but, removed from these overwhelming wants, we are strongest in the right when least tempted by vanity and ambition. More starving beggars abstain from stealing the crust they crave, than pam- pered gluttons deny themselves the luxury that kills them. ‘They that live under the rod, see and dread the hand that holds it; they who riot in earth’s glories, come at last to think they deserve the short-lived distinctions they enjoy. When thou goest down into the depths of misery, thou hast naught to fear except the anger of God! It is when raised above others that thou shouldst tremble most for thine own safety.” | “This is not the manner in which the world is used to reason.” “ Because the world is governed by those whose interest it is to pervert truth to their own objects, and not by those whose duties run hand in hand with the right. But we will say no more of this, lady; there is one that feels too acutely just now to admit truth to be too freely spoken.” “Dost feel thyself better, and more able to listen to thy friends, dear Christine? ” asked THE HEADSMAN. Adelheid, taking the hand of the repudiated and deserted girl with the tenderness of an affectionate sister. Until now the sufferer had only spoken the few words related, in mild reproof of her mother’s indiscretion. ‘That little had been uttered with parched lips anda choked voice, while the hue of her features was deadly pale, and her whole countenance betrayed intense mental anguish. But this display of interest, in one of her own years and sex, of whose ex- cellences she had been accustomed to hear _ such fervid descriptions from the warm- hearted Sigismund, and of whose sincerity she was assured by the subtle and quick in- stinct that unites the innocent and young, caused a quick and extreme change in her sensibilities. The grief which had been struggling and condensed, now flowed more freely from her eyes, and she threw herself sobbing and weeping, ina paroxysm of gentle, but overwhelming, feeling, on the bosom of this new-found friend. The experienced Marguerite smiled at this manifestation of kindness on the part of Adelheid, though even this expression of satisfaction was austere and regulated in one who had so long stood at bay with the world. And, after a short pause, she left the room, under the belief that such a communion with a spirit pure and in- experienced as her own, a communion so un- usual to her daughter, would be more likely to produce a happy effect, if left to them- selves, than when restrained by her presence. The two girls wept in common for a long time after Marguerite had disappeared. The intercourse, chastened as it was by sorrow, and rendered endearing on the one side by a confiding ingenuousness, and on the other by generous pity, caused both to live in that short period, as it were, months together in a near and dear intimacy. Confidence is not always the growth of time. There are minds that meet each other with a species of affinity that resembles the cohesive property of mat- ter, and with a promptitude and faith that only belongs to the purer essence of which they are composed. But when this attraction of the ethereal part of the being is aided by the feelings that have been warmed by an Interest so tender as that which the hearts of both the maidens felt in a common object, its power is not only stronger, but quicker, 133 in'making itself felt. So much was already known by each of the other’s character, for- tunes, and hopes (always with the exception of Adelheid’s most sacred secret, which Sigis- mund cherished as a deposit by far too sacred to be shared even with his sister), that the meeting under no circumstances could have been that of strangers, and their mutual knowledge came to an assistant to break down the barriers of those forms which were so irksome to their longings for a freer inter- change of feeling and thought. Adelheid possessed too much intellectual tact to have recourse to the every-day language of consola- tion. When she did speak, which, as _ be- came her superior rank and less embarrassed situation, she was the first to do, it was in general but friendly allusions. ‘‘Thou wilt go with us to Italy, in the morning,” she said, drying her eyes; “ my father quits Blonay, in company with the Signor Grimaldi, with to-morrow’s sun, and thou wilt be of our company ?” ‘‘ Where thou wilt—anywhere with thee— anywhere to hide my shame !” The blood mounted to the temples of Adelheid, her air even appeared imposing to the eyes of the artless and unpractised Chris- tine, as she answered— ‘‘ Shame is a word that applies to the mean and mercenary, to the vile and unfaithful,” she said, with womanly and virtuous indig- nation; ‘‘ but not to thee, love.” “Qh! do not, do not condemn him,” whispered Christine, covering her face with her hands. ‘‘ He hasfound himself unequal to bear the burden of our degradation, and he should be spoken of in pity rather than with hatred.” Adelheid was silent ; but she regarded the poor trembling girl, whose head now nestled in her bosom, with melancholy concern. ‘¢Didst thou know him well ?” she asked, in a low tone, following rather the chain of her own thoughts, than reflecting on the na- ture of the question she put. ‘I had hoped that this refusal would bring no other pain than the unavoidable mortification which I fear belongs to the weakness of our sex and our habits.” ‘¢Thou knowest not how dear preference is to the despised !—how cherished the thought of being loved becomes to those, 134 who, out of their own narrow limits of nat- ural friends, have been accustomed to meet only with contempt and aversion! ‘Thou hast always been known, and courted, and happy! Thou canst not know how dear it is to the despised to seem even to be pre- ferred !” ‘‘Nay, say not this, I pray thee!” an- swered Adelheid, hurriedly, and with a throb of anguish at her heart ; ‘‘ there is little in this life that speaks fairly for itself. We are not always what we seem ; and if we were, and far more miserable than anything but vice can make us, there is another state of being, in which justice—pure, unalloyed jus- tice—will be done.” ‘‘T will yo with thee to Italy,” answered Christine, looking calm and resolved, while a glow of holy hope bloomed on each cheek ; ‘*‘ when all is over, we will go together to a happier world !” Adelheid folded the stricken and sensitive plant to her bosom. Again they wept to- gether, but it was with a milder and sweeter sorrow than before. . a CHAPTER XX. «‘T’ll show thee the best springs; I’ll pluck thee berries. ”’— Zempest. THE day dawned clear and cloudless on the Leman, the morning that succeeded the Abbaye des Vignerons. Hundreds among the frugal and time-saving Swiss had left the town before the appearance of the light, and many strangers weré crowding into the barks as the sun came bright and cheerfully over the rounded and smiling summits of the neighboring cétes. At this early hour all in and around the rock-seated castle of Blonay were astir and in motion. Menials were running with hurried air, from room to room, from court to terrace, and from lawn to tower. The peasants in the adjoining fields rested on their utensils of husbandry, in gaping, admiring attention to the prepara- tions of their superiors. For though we are not writing of a strictly feudal age, the events it is our business to record took place long before the occurrence of those great WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. political events which have since so materially changed the social state of Hurope. Switzer- land was then a sealed country to most of those who dwelt even in the adjoining nations, and the present advanced condition of roads and inns was quite unknown, not only to these mountaineers, but throughout the rest of what was then much more properly called the exclusively civilized portion of the globe, than it is to-day. Even horses were not often used in the passage of the Alps, but recourse was had to the surer-footed mule by the traveller, and, not unfrequently, by the more practised carrier and smuggler of those rude paths. Roads existed, it is true, as in other parts of Europe, in the countries of the plain, if any portion of the great undulating surface of that region deserve the name; but once within the mountains, with the excep- tion of very inartificial wheel-tracks in the straitened and glen-like valleys, the hoof alone was to be trusted or indeed used. The long train of travellers, then, that left the gates of Blonay, just as the fog began to stir on the wide alluvial meadows of the Rhone, were all in the saddle. A courier, accompanied by a sumpter-mule, had departed over-night to prepare the way for those who were to follow, and active young mountain- eers had succeeded, from time to time, charged with different orders, issued in be~ half of their comforts. As the cavalcade passed beneath the arch of the great gate, the lively, spirit-stirring horn sounded a farewell air, to which custom had attached the signification of good wishes. It took the way toward the level of the Leman by means of a winding and pictu- resque bridle-path that led, among alpine meadows, groves, rocks, and hamlets, fairly to the water-side. Roger de Blonay and his two principal guests rode in front, the former seated on a war-horse that he had ridden years before as a soldier, and the two latter well mounted on, beasts prepared for, and accustomed to, the mountains. Adelheid and Christine came next, riding by them- selves, in the modest reserve of their maiden condition. Their discourse was low, confi- dential, and renewed at intervals. A few menials followed, and then came Sigismund at the side of the Signor Grimaldi’s friend, and one of the family of Blonay, the latter — poeta THE HEADSMAN. ' of whom was destined to return with the Baron, after doing honor to their guests by seeing them as far as Villeneuve. The rear was brought up by muleteers, domestics, and those who led the beasts that bore the bag- gage. All of the former who intended to cross the Alps carried the fire-arms of the period at their saddle-bows, and each had his rapier, his couteaw de chasse, or his weapon of more military fashion, so disposed about his person as to denote it was considered an arm for whose use some occasion might possibly occur. As the departure from Blonay was un- accompanied by any of those leave-takings which usually impress a touch of melancholy on the traveller, most of the cavalcade, as they issued into the pure and exhilarating air of the morning, were sufficiently disposed to enjoy the loveliness of the landscape, and to indulge in the cheerfulness and delight that a scene so glorious is apt to awaken in all who are alive to the beauties of nature. - Adelheid gladly pointed out to her com- panion the various objects of the view, as a means of recalling the thoughts of Christine from her own particular griefs, which were heightened by regret for the loss of her mother, from whom she was now seriously separated for the first time in her life, since their communications, though secret, had been constant during the years she had dwelt under another roof. The latter grate- fully lent herself to the kind intentions of her new friend, and endeavored to be pleased with all she beheld, though it was such pleas- ure as the sad and mourning admit witha jealous reservation of their own secret causes of woe. “ Yonder tower, toward which we advance, is Chatelard,” said the heiress of Willading to the daughter of Balthazar, in the pursuit of her kind intention; “a hold nearly as an- cient and honorable as this we have just quitted, though not so’constantly the dwell- ing of the same family; for those of Blonay have been a thousand years dwellers on the same rock, always favorably known for their faith and courage.” ‘Surely if there is anything in life that can compensate for its every-day evils,” ob- served Christine, in a manner of mild regret, and perhaps with the perversity of grief, “it | 135 must be to have come from those who have always been known and honored among the great and happy! Even virtue and goodness, and great deeds, scarce give a respect like that we feel for the Sire de Blonay, whose family has been seated, as thou hast just said, a thousand years on that rock above us!” - Adelheid was mute. She appreciated the feeling which had so naturally led her com- panion to a reflection like this, and she felt the difficulty of applying balm to a wound as deep as that which had been inflicted on her companion. “ We are not always to suppose those the most happy that the world most honors,” she at length answered ; “the respect to which we are accustomed comes in time to be neces- sary, without being a source of pleasure ; and the hazard of incurring its loss is more than equal to the satisfaction of Its possession.” ‘Thou wilt at least admit that to be de- spised and shunned is a curse to which noth- ing can reconcile us.” “‘We will speak now of other things, dear. It may be long ere either of us again see this grand display of rock and water, of brown mountain and shining glacier; we will not prove ourselves ungrateful for the happiness we have by repining for that which is im- possible.” Christine quietly yielded to the kind inten- tion of her new friend, and they rode on in silence, picking their way along the winding path, until the whole party, after a long but pleasant descent, reached the road, which is nearly washed by the waters of the lake. There has already been allusion, in the earlier pages of our work, to the extraordinary beau- ties of the route near this extremity of the Leman. After climbing to the height of the mild and healthful Montreux, the cavalcade again descended under a canopy of nut-trees, to the gate of Chillon, and sweeping around the margin of the sheet, it reached Villeneuve by the hour that had been named for an early morning repast. Here all dismounted, and refreshed themselves awhile, when Roger de Blonay and his attendants, after many ex- changes of warm and sincere good wishes, took their final leave. The sun was scarcely yet visible in the deep glens, when those who were destined for St. Bernard were again in the saddle. 136 The road now necessarily left the lake, trav- ersing those broad alluvial bottoms which have been deposited during thirty centuries by the washings of the Rhone, aided, if faith is to be given to geological symptoms and to ancient traditions, by certain violent con- vulsions of nature. For several hours our travellers rode amid such a deep fertility, and such a luxuriance of vegetation, that their path bore more analogy to an excursion on the wide plains of Lombardy, than to one amid the usual Swiss scenery; although, unlike the boundless expanse of the Italian garden, the view was limited on each side by perpendicular barriers of rock, that were piled for thousands of feet into the heavens, and which were merely separated from each other by a league or two, a distance that dwindled to miles in its effect on the eye, a consequence of the grandeur of the scale on which nature has reared these vast piles. It was high noon when Melchior de Willading and his venerable friend led the way across the foaming Rhone at the celebrated bridge of St. Maurice. Here the country of the Valais, then, like Geneva, an ally, and not a confederate of the Swiss cantons, was entered, and all objects, both animate and inanimate, began to assume that mixture of the grand, the sterile, the luxuriant, and the revolting, for which this region is so generally known. Adelheid gave an involuntary shudder, her imagination having been prepared by rumor for even more than the truth would have given reason to expect, when the gate of St. Maurice swung back upon its hinges, liter- ally inclosing the party in this wild, deso- late and yet romantic region. As they pro- ceeded along the Rhone, however, she and those of her companions to whom the scene was new were constantly wondering at some uulooked-for discrepancy, that drove them from admiration to disgust—from the excla- mations of delight to the chill of disappoint- ment. The mountains on every side were dreary, and without the rich relief of the pastured eminences, but most of the valley was rich and generous. In one spot a sac d’eau, one of those reservoirs of water which form among the glaciers on the summits of the rocks, had broken, and descending like a water-spout, it had swept before it every vestige of cultivation, covering wide breadths WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. of the meadows with a débris that resembled chaos. A frightful barrenness, and the most smiling fertility, were in absolute contact ; patches of green, that had been accidentally favored by some lucky formation of the ground, sometimes appearing like oases of the desert, in the very centre of a sterility that would put the labor and the art of man at defiance for a century. In the midst of this terrific picture of want sat a crétin, with his semi-human attributes, the lolling tongue, the blunted faculties, and the degraded appe- tites, to complete the desolation. Issuing from this belt of annihilated vegetations the scene became again as pleasant as the fancy could desire, or the eye crave. Fountains leaped from rock to rock in the sun’s rays; the valley was green and gentle; the moun- tains began to show varied and pleasing forms; and happy smiling faces appeared, whose freshness and regularity were perhaps of a cast superior to that of most of the Swiss. In short, the Valais was then, as now, a country of opposite extremes, but in which, perhaps, there is a predominance of the re- pulsive and inhospitable. It was fairly nightfall, notwithstanding the trifling distance they had journeyed, when the travellers reached Martigny, where dispositions had previously been made for their reception during the hours of sleep. Here preparations were made to seek their rest at an early hour, in order to be in readi- ness for the fatiguing toil of the following day. Martigny is situated at the point where the great valley of the Rhone changes its direction from a north and south to an east and west course, and it is the spot whence three of the celebrated mountain paths di- verge, to make as many passages of the upper Alps. Here are the two routes of the great and little St. Bernard, both of which lead into Italy, and that of the Col-de-Balme, which crosses a spur of the Alps into Savoy toward the celebrated valley of Chamouni. It was the intention of the Baron de Willa- ding and his friend to journey by the former of these roads, as has so often been men- tioned in these pages, their destination being the capital of Piedmont. ‘The passage of the great St. Bernard, though so long known by its ancient and hospitable convent, the THE HHADSMAN. 137 most elevated habitation in Europe, and in | in acts too insignificant for general interest, these later times so famous for the passage of a conquering army, is but a secondary Alpine pass, considered in reference to the grandeur of its scenery. The ascent, so in- artificial even to this hour, is long and com- paratively without danger, and in general it is sufficiently direct, there being no very pre- cipitous rise like those of the Gemmi, the Grimsel, and various other passes in Switer- land and Italy, except at the very neck, or col, of the mountain, where the rock is to be literally climbed on the rude and broad steps that so frequently occur among the paths of the Alps and the Apennines, The fatigue of this passage comes, therefore, rather from its length, and the necessity of unremitted diligence, than from any exces- sive labor demanded by the ascent ; and the reputation acquired by the great captain of our age, in leading an army across its sum- mit, has been obtained more by the military combinations of which it formed the princi- pal feature, the boldness of the conception, and the secrecy and promptitude with which so extensive an operation was effected, than by the physical difficulties that were over- come. In the latter particular, the passage of St. Bernard, as this celebrated coup de main is usually called, has frequently been outdone in our own wilds; for armies have often traversed regions of broad streams, broken mountains, and uninterrupted forests, for weeks at a time, in which the mere bodily labor of any given number of days would be found to be greater than that endured on this occasion by the followers of Napoleon. The estimate we attach to every exploit is so dependent on the magnitude of its results, that men rarely come to a perfectly impartial judgment on its merits; the victory or defeat, however simple or bloodless, that shail shake or assure the interésts of civil- ized society, being always esteemed by the world an event of greater importance than the happiest combinations of thought and valor that affect only the welfare of some remote and unknown people. By the just consideration of this truth, we come to understand the value of a nation’s possessing confidence in itself, extensive power, and a unity commensurate to its means; since small and divided States waste their strength frittering away their mental riches, no less than their treasure and blood, in supporting interests that fail to enlist the sympathies of any beyond the pale of their own borders. The nation which, by the adverse circum- stances of numerical inferiority, poverty of means, failure of enterprise, or want of opin- ion, cannot sustain its own citizens in the acquisition of a just renown, is deficient in one of the first and most indispensable ele- ments of greatness ; glory, like riches, feed- ing itself, and being most apt to be found where its fruits have already accumulated. We see, in this fact, among other conclu- sions, the importance of an acquisition of such habits of manliness of thought as will enable us to decide on the merits and demer- its of what is done among ourselves, and of shaking off that dependence on others which is too much the custom of some among us to dignify with the pretending title of defer- ence to knowledge and taste, but which, in truth, possesses some such share of true modesty and diffidence as the footman is apt to exhibit when exulting in the renown of his master. This little digression has induced us mo- mentarily to overlook the incidents of the tale. Few who possess the means, venture into the stormy regions of the upper Alps, at the late season in which the present party reached the hamlet of Martigny, without seeking the care of one or more suitable guides. The services of these men are useful in a variety of ways, but in none more than in offering the advice which long familiarity with the signs of the heavens, the tempera- ture of the air, and the direction of the winds, enables them to give. ‘The Baron de Willa- ding, and his friend, immediately dispatched a messenger for a mountaineer, of the name of Pierre Dumont, who enjoyed a fair name for fidelity, and who was believed to be better acquainted with all the difficulties of the as- cent and descent, than any other who jour. neyed among the glens of that part of the Alps. At the present day, when hundreds ascend to the convent from curiosity alone, every peasant of sufficient strength and in- telligence becomes a guide, and the little community of the Lower Valais finds the transit of the idle and rich such a fruit- , 138 ful source of revenue, that it has been in- duced to regulate the whole by very useful and just ordinances ; but at the period of the tale, this Pierre was the only individual who, by fortunate concurrences, had obtained a name among affluent foreigners, and who was at all in demand with that class of travellers. He was not long in presenting himself in the public-room of the inn—a hale, florid, mus- cular man of sixty, with every appearance of permanent health and vigor, but with a slight and nearly imperceptible difficulty of breathing. «Thou art Pierre Dumont ?” observed the Baron, studying the open physiognomy and well-set frame of the Valaisan, with satisfac- tion. ‘* Thou hast been mentioned by more than one traveller in his book.” The stout mountaineer raised himself in pride, and endeavored to, acknowledge the compliment in the manner of his well-meant but rude courtesy; for refinement did not then extend its finesse and its deceit among the glens of Switzerland. «« They have done me honor, monsieur,” he said: “‘it has been my good fortune to cross the Col with many brave gentlemen and fair ladies—and in two instances with princes.” (Though a sturdy republican, Pierre was not insensible to worldly rank.) ‘‘'The pious monks know me well; and they who enter the convent are not the worse received for being my companions. I shall be glad to lead so fair a party from our cold valley into the sunny glens of Italy, for, if the truth must be spoken, nature has placed us on the wrong side of the mountain for our comfort, though we have our advantage over those who live even in Turin and Milan, in matters of greater importance.” «< What can be the superiority of a Valaisan over the Lombard or the Piedmontese ?” de- manded the Signor Grimaldi quickly, like a man who was curious to hear the reply. “A traveller should seek all kinds of knowledge, and I take this to be a newly discovered fact.” ‘<< Liberty, signor! We are our own mas- ters ; we have been so since the day when our fathers sacked the castles of the barons, and compelled their tyrants to become their equals. warm plains of Italy, and return to my cot- better. I think of this each time I reach the. WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. tage a more contented man, for the reflec- tion.” | ‘«« Spoken like a Swiss, though it is uttered by an ally of the cantons!” cried Melchior de Willading, heartily. “This is the spirit, Gaetano, which sustains our mountaineers, and renders them more happy amid their frosts and rocks, than thy Genoese on his warm and glowing bay.” “The word liberty, Melchior, is more used than understood, and as much abused as used,” returned the Signor Grimaldi gravely. «A country on which God hath laid his finger in displeasure, as on this, needs have some such consolation as the phantom with which the honest Pierre appears to be so well satisfied. But, signor guide, have many travellers tried the passage of late, and what dost thou think of our prospects in making the attempt? We hear gloomy tales, some- times, of thy alpine paths in that Italy thou hold’st so cheap.” — ‘Your pardon, noble signor, if the frank- ness of 2 mountaineer has carried me too far. I do not undervalue your Piedmont, because I love our Valais more. A country may be excellent, even though another should be As for the travellers, none of note have gone up the Col of late, though there have been the usual number of vagabonds and adventurers. The savor of the convent kitchen will reach the noses of these knaves here in the valley, though we have a long twelve leagues to journey in getting from one to the other.” The Signor Grimaldi waited until Adel- heid and Christine, who were preparing to retire for the night, were out of hearing, and he resumed his questions. «Thou hast not spoken of the weather ?” «“ We are in one of the most uncertain and treacherous months of the good season, mes- sieurs. The winter is gathering among the upper Alps, and in a month in which the frosts are flying about like uneasy birds that do not know where to alight, one can hardly say whether he hath need of his cloak or not.” “San Francesco! Dost think I am dallying with thee, friend, about a thickness more or less of cloth? I am hinting at avalanches and falling rocks—at whirlwinds and tempests! ” Pierre laughed and shook his head, though he answered vaguely as became his business. THE HEHEADSMAN. «These are Italian opinions of our hills, signor,” he said; ‘‘ they savor of the imagina- tion. Our pass is not as often troubled with the avalanche as some that are known, even in the melting snows. Had you looked at the peaks from the lake, you would have seen that, the hoary glaciers excepted, they are still all brown and naked. ‘The snow must fall from the heavens before it can fall in the avalanche, and we are yet, I think, a few days from the true winter.” «Thy calculations are made with nicety, friend,’ returned the Genoese, not sorry, however, to hear the guide speak with so much apparent confidence of the weather, ‘and we are obliged to thee in proportion. What of the travellers thou hast named? Are there brigands on our path?” “Such rogues have been known to infest the place, but in general, there is too little to be gained for the risk. Your rich traveller is not an every-day sight among our rocks; and you well know, signor, that there may be too few, as well as too many, on a path, for your freebooter.” The Italian was distrustful by habit on all such subjects, and he threw a quick suspi- cious glance at the guide. But the frank open countenance of Pierre removed all doubt of his honesty, to say nothing of the effect of a well-established reputation. ‘But thou hast spoken of certain vaga- bonds who have preceded us?” “In that particular, matters might be better,” answered the plain-minded moun- taineer, dropping his head in an attitude of meditation so naturally expressed as to give additional weight to his words. ‘“ Many of bad appearance have certainly gone up to- day; such as a Neapolitan named Pippo, who is anything but a saint—a certain pilgrim, who will be nearer heaven at the convent than he will be at the death—St. Pierre pray for me if I do the man injustice!—and one or two more of the same brood. There is another that hath gone up also, post haste, and with good reason as they say, for he hath made himself the butt of all the jokers in Vévey on account of some foolery in the games of the abbaye—a certain Jacques Colis.” | The name was repeated by several near the speaker. 139 “The same, messieurs. It would seem that the Sieur Colis would fain take a maiden to wife in the public sports, and when her birth came to be known, his bride was no other than the child of Balthazar, the common headsman of Berne!” A general silence betrayed the embarras’ ment of most of the listeners. “And that tale hath already reached this glen,’ said Sigismund, in a tone so deep and firm as to cause Pierre to start, while the two old nobles looked in another direction, feign- ing not to observe what was passing. ~ Rumor hath a nimbler foot than a mule, young officer,” answered the honest guide. “The tale, as you call it, will have travelled across the mountains sooner than they who bore it—though I never knew how such a miracle could pass—but so it is; report goes faster than the tongue that spreads it, and if there be a little untruth to help it along, the wind itself is scarcely swifter. Honest Jacques Colis has bethought him to get the start of his story, but, my life on it, though he is active enough in getting away from his mockers, that he finds it, with all the addi. tions, safely housed in the inn at Turin when he reaches that city himself.” “These, then, are all?” interrupted the Signor Grimaldi, who saw, by the heaving bosom of Sigismund, that it was time in mercy to interpose. ‘Not so, signor—there is still another, and one I like less than any. A countryman ol your own, who, impudently enough, calls himself I] Maledetto.” “ Maso! ” «The very same.” “ Honest, courageous Maso, and his noble dog ?” “Signor, you describe the man so well in some things, that I wonder that you know so little of him in others. Maso hath not his equal on the road for activity and courage, and the beast is second only to our mastiffs of the convent for the same qualities ; but when you speak of the master’s honesty, you’ speak of that for which the world gives him little credit, and do great disparagement to the brute, which is much the best of the two, in this respect.” «This may be true enough,” rejoined the Signor Grimaldi, turning anxiously toward 140 ) his companions:—‘‘ man is a strange com- pound of good and evil; his acts when left to natural impulses are so different from what they become on calculation that one can scarcely answer for a man of Maso’s tempera- ment. We know him to be a most efficient friend, and such a man would be apt to make avery dangerous enemy! His qualities were not given to him by halves. And yet we have a strong circumstance in our favor; for he who hath once done the least service to a fellow-creature feels a sort of paternity in him he hath saved, and would be little likely to rob himself of the pleasure of knowing that there are some of his kind who owe him a grateful recollection.” This remark was answered by Melchior de Willading, in the same spirit, and the guide, perceiving that he was no longer wanted, withdrew. Soon after the travellers retired to rest. —_——____. CHAPTER XXI. « As yet the trembling year is unconfirmed, And winter oft, at eve, resumes the breeze, Chills the pale morn, and bids his driving sleets Deform the day delightful ;——”—Tuomson. THE horn of Pierre Dumont was blowing beneath the windows of the inn of Martigny, with the peep of dawn. Then followed the appearance of drowsy domestics, the saddling of unwilling mules, and the loading of bag- gage. A few minutes later the little caravan was assembled, for the cavalcade almost de- served this name, and the whole were in mo- tion for the summits of the Alps. The travellers now left the valley of the Rhone, to bury themselves amid those piles of misty and confused mountains, which formed the background of the picture they had studied from the castle of Blonay and the sheet of the Leman. They soon plunged into a glen, and following the windings of a brawling torrent, were led gradually, and by many turnings, into a country of bleak up- land pasturage, where the inhabitants gained a scanty livelihood, principally by means of their dairies. A few leagues above Martigny, the paths again separated, one inclining to the left WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. toward the elevated valley that has since be. come so celebrated in the legends of this wild region, by the formation of a little lake in its glacier, which, becoming too heavy for its foundation, broke through its barrier of ice, and descended in a mountain of water to the Rhone, a distance of many leagues, sweeping before it every vestige of civilization that crossed its course, and even changing in many places the face of nature itself. Here the glittering peak of Velan became visible, and though so much nearer to the eye than when viewed from Vévey, it was still a distant shining pile, grand in its solitude and mys- tery, on which the sight loved to dwell, as it studies the pure and spotless edges of some sleepy cloud. It has already been said, that the ascent of the great St. Bernard, with the exception of occasional hills and hollows, is nowhere very precipitous but at the point at which the last rampart of rock is to be overcome. On the contrary, the path, for leagues at a time, passes along tolerably even valleys, though of necessity the general direction is upward, and for most of the distance through a country that admits of cultivation, though the meagreness of the soil, and the shortness of the seasons, render but an indifferent re- turn to the toil of the husbandman. In this respect it differs from most of the other AlI- pine passes; but if it want the variety, wild- ness, and sublimity of the Spliigen, the St. Gothard, the Gemmi, and the Simplon, it is still an ascent on a magnificent scale, and he who journeys on its path is raised as it were by insensible degrees, to an elevation that gradually changes all his customary associa- tions with the things of the lower world. From the moment of quitting the inn to that of the first halt, Melchior de Willading and the Signor Grimaldi rode in company, as on the previous day. These old friends had much to communicate in confidential discourse which the presence of Roger de Blonay, and the importunities of the bailiff, had hitherto prevented them from freely say- ing. Both had thought maturely, too, on the situation of Adelheid, of her hopes, and of her future fortunes, and both had rea- soned much as two old nobles of that day, who were not without strong sympathies for their kind while they were too practised to THE HEADSMAN. overlook the world and its ties, would be _ likely to reason on an affair of this delicate - nature. «There came a feeling of regret, perhaps I might fairly call it by its proper name, of envy,” observed the Genoese, in pursuance of the subject which engrossed most of their time and thoughts, as they rode slowly along, the bridles dangling from the necks of their mules,—‘‘ there came a feeling of regret, when I first saw the fair creature that calls thee father, Melchior. God has dealt merci- fully by me, in respect to many things that make men happy; but he rendered my mar- riage accursed, not only in its bud, but in its fruit. Thy child is dutiful and loving, all that a father can wish; and yet here is this unusual attachment come to embarrass, if not to defeat, thy fair and just hopes for her welfare! This is no common affair, that a few threats of bolts and a change of scene will cure, but a rooted affection that is but too firmly based on esteem. By San Fran- cesco, but I think, at times, thou wouldst do well to permit the ceremony!” ‘‘Should it be our fortune to meet with the absconding Jacques Colis at Turin, he might give us different counsel,” answered the old Baron dryly. «That is a dreadful barrier to our wishes! Were the boy anything but a headsman’s child! I donot think thou couldst object, Melchior, had he merely come of a hind, or of some common follower of thy family ?” “Tt were far better that he should have come of one like ourselves, Gaetano. I rea- son but little on the dogmas of this or that sect in politics; but I feel and think, in this affair, as the parent of an only child. All those usages and opinions in which we are trained, my friend, are so many ingredients in our happiness, let them be silly or wise, just or oppressive; and though I would fain do that which is right to therest of mankind, I could wish to begin to practise innovation with any other than my own daughter. Let them who like philosophy, and justice, and natural rights so well, commence by setting us the example.” “Thou hast hit the stumbling-block that causes a thousand well-digested plans for the improvement of the world to fail, honest Melchior. Could we toil with others’ limbs, 141 sacrifice with others’ groans, and pay with others’ means, there would be no end to our industry, our disinterestedness, or our liber- ality—and yet it were a thousand pities that so sweet a girl and so noble a youth should not yoke!” «<’T would bea yoke indeed, for a daughter of the house of Willading,” returned the graver father, with emphasis. “I have looked at this matter in every face that be- comes me, Gaetano, and though I would not rudely repulse one that hath saved my life, by driving him from my company, at a mo- ment when even strangers consort for mutual aid and protection, at ‘'urin we must part forever!” ‘“‘T know not how to approve, nor yet how to blame thee, poor Melchior! ’*Twas a sad scene, that of the refusal to wed Balthazar’s daughter, in the presence of so many thous sands! ” “JT take it as a happy and kind warning of the precipice to which a foolish tenderness was leading us both, my friend.” ‘‘Thou may’st have reason; and yet I wish thou wert more in error than ever Christian was! These are rugged moun- tains, Melchior, and fairly passed, it might be so arranged that the boy should forget Switzerland forever. He might become a Genoese, in which event, dost thou not see the means of overcoming some of the present difficulty ?” “Ts the heiress of my house a vagrant, Signor Grimaldi, to forget her country and birth ?” “‘T am childless, in effect, if not in fact ; and where there are the will and the means, the end should not be wanting. We will speak of this under the warmer sun of Italy, which they say is apt to render hearts tender.” ‘‘The hearts of the young and amorous, good Gaetano, but, unless much changed of late, it is as apt to harden those of the old, as any sun I know of,” returned the Baron, shaking his head, though it much exceeded his power to smile at his own pleasantry when speaking on this painful subject. ‘‘Thou knowest that in this matter I act only for the welfare of Adelheid, without thought of my- self; and it would little comport with the honor of a Baron of an ancient house, to be 142 the grandfather of children who come of a race of executioners.” The Signor Grimaldi succeeded better than his friend in raising a smile, for, more accus- tomed to dive into the depths of human feeling, he was not slow in detecting the mix- ture of motives that were silently exercising their long-established influence over the heart of his really well-intentioned companion. ‘So long as thou speakest of the wisdom of respecting men’s opinions, and the danger of wrecking thy daughter’s happiness by run- ning counter to their current, I agree with thee to the letter ; but, to me, it seems pos- sible so to place the affair, that the world shall imagine all is in rule, and, by conse- quence, all proper. if we can overcome our- selves, Melchior, I apprehend no great diffi- culty in blinding others.” The head of the Bernois dropped upon his breast, and he rode a long distance in that attitude, reflecting on the course it most be- came him to pursue, and struggling with the conflicting sentiments which troubled his up- right but prejudiced mind. As his friend un- derstood the nature of this inward strife, he ceased to speak, and a long silence succeeded the discourse. It was different with those who followed. Though long accustomed to gaze at their na- tive mountains from a distance, this was the first occasion on which Adelheid and her com- panion had ever actually penetrated into their glens, or journeyed on their broken and changing faces. The path of St. Bernard, therefore, had all the charm of novelty, and their youthful and ardent minds were soon won from meditating on their own causes of unhappiness, to admiration of the sublime works of nature. The cultivated taste of Adelheid, in particular, was quick in detect- ing those beauties of a more subtle kind which the less instructed are apt to overlook, and she found additional pleasure in point- ing them out to the ingenuous and wonder- ing Christine, who received these her first lessons in that grand communion with nature, which is pregnant with so much unalloyed delight, with gratitude and a readiness of comprehension, that amply repaid her in- structress. Sigismund was an attentive and pleased listener to what was passing, though one who had so often passed the mountains, WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. and who had seen them familiarly on their warmer and more sunny side, had little to learn, himself, even from so skilful and alluring a teacher. As they ascended, the air became purer and less impregnated with the humidity of its lower currents; chang- ing, by a process as fine as that wrought bya chemical application, the hues and aspect of every object in the view. er: » THE HEADSMAN. possible, and advising all who felt the sinister effects of the cold on their limbs to dismount, and to endeavor to restore the circulation by exercise, Pierre resumed his route. But even the time consumed in this short conference had sensibly altered the condition of things for the worse. ‘he wind, which had no fixed direction, being a furious cur- rent of the upper air diverted from its true course by encountering the ragged peaks and ravines of the Alps, was now whirling around them in eddies, now aiding their ascent by seeming-to push against their backs, and then returning in their faces with a violence that actually rendered advance impossible. The temperature fell rapidly several degrees, and the most vigorous of the party began to per- ceive the benumbing influence of the chilling currents, at their lower extremities especially, in a manner to excite serious alarm. very precaution was used to protect the females that tenderness could suggest; but though Adelheid, who alone retained sufficient self- command to give an account of their feelings, diminished the danger of their situation with the wish not to alarm any of their compan- ions uselessly, she could not conceal from herself the horrible truth that the vital heat "was escaping from her own body with a rapid- ity that rendered it impossible for her much longer to retain the use of her faculties. Conscious of her own mental superiority over that of all her female companions, a superi- ority which in such moments is even of more account than bodily force, after a few min- utes of silent endurance, she checked her mule, and called upon Sigismund to examine the condition of his sister and her maids, neither of whom had now spoken for some time. This startling request was made at a mo- ment when the storm appeared to gather new force, and when it had become abso- lutely impossible to distinguish even the whitened earth at twenty paces from the spot where the party stood collected in a shivering group. The young soldier threw open the cloaks and mantles in which Chris- tine was enveloped, and the half uncon- scious girl sank on his shoulder, like a drowsy infant that was willing to seek its slumbers in the arms of one it loved. ‘‘Christine !—my sister, my poor, my 151 much-abused, angelic sister!’? murmured Sigismund, happily for his secret in a voice that only reached the ears of Adelheid. ‘Awake, Christine! for the love of our excellent and affectionate mother, exert thy- self. Awake, Christine! in the name of God, awake !” ‘Awake, dearest Christine!” exclaimed Adelheid, throwing herself from the saddle, and folding the smiling but benumbed girl to her bosom. ‘‘ God protect me from the pang of feeling that thy loss should be owing to my wish to lead thee amid these cruel and inhospitable rocks! Christine, if thou hast love and pity for me, awake !” “Took to the maids!” hurriedly said Pierre, who found that he was fast touch- ing on one of those mountain catastrophes, of which, in the course of his life, he had been the witness of a few of fearful conse- quences. ‘* Look to all the females, for he who now sleeps, dies !” The muleteers soon stripped the two domestics of their outer coverings, and it was immediately proclaimed that both were in imminent danger, one having already lost all consciousness. A timely application of the flask of Pierre, and the efforts of the muleteers, succeeded in so far restoring life as to remove the grounds of immediate apprehension; though it was apparent to the least instructed of them all, that half an hour more of exposure would probably com- plete the fatal work that had so actively and vigorously commenced. To add to the hor- ror of this conviction, each member of the party, not excepting the muleteers, was pain- fully conscious of the escape of that vital warmth whose total flight was death. In this strait all dismounted. They felt that the occasion was one of extreme jeopardy, that nothing could save them but resolution, and that every minute of time was getting to be of the last importance. Hach female, Adelheid included, was placed between two of the other sex, and, supported in this manner, Pierre called loudly and in a manful voice for the whole to proceed. The beasts were driven after them by one of the mule- teers. The progress of travellers, feeble as Adelheid and her companions, on a stony path of very uneven surface, and of a steep ascent, the snow covering the feet, and the 152 tempest cutting their faces, was necessarily slow, and to the last degree toilsome. Still, the exertions increased the quickness of the blood, and, for a short time, there was an appearance of recalling those who most suf- fered to life. Pierre, who still kept his post with the hardihood of a mountaineer and the fidelity of a Swiss, cheered them on with his voice, continuing to raise the hope that the place of refuge was at hand. At this instant, when exertion was most needed, and when, apparently, all were sen- sible of its importance and most disposed to make it, the muleteer charged with the duty of urging on the line of beasts deserted his trust, preferring to take his chance of re- gaining the village by descending the moun- tain, to struggle uselessly, and at a pace so slow, to reach the convent. The man was a stranger in the country, who had been ad- ventitiously employed for this expedition, and was unconnected with Pierre, by any of those ties which are the best pledges of unconquerable faith, when the interests of self press hard upon our weaknesses. The wearied beasts, no longer driven, and indis- posed to toil, first stopped, then turned aside to avoid the cutting air and the ascent, and were soon wandering from the path it was so vitally necessary to keep. As soon as Pierre was informed of the circumstances, he eagerly issued an order to collect the stragglers without delay, and at every hazard. Benumbed, bewildered, and unable to see beyond a few yards, this embarrassing duty was not easily performed. One after another of the party joined in the pursuit, for all the effects of the travellers were on the beasts; and after some ten minutes of delay, blended with an excite- ment which helped to quicken the blood and awaken the faculties of even the females, the mules were all happily regained. They were secured to each other head and tail, in the manner so usual in the droves of these animals, and Pierre turned to resume the order of the march. But on seeking the path, it was not to be found! Search was made on every side, and yet none could meet with the smallest of its traces. Broken, rough fragments of rock were all that rewarded the most anxious investigation ; and after a few precious minutes uselegsly WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. wasted, they all assembled around the guide, as if by common consent, to seek his counsel. The truth was no longer to be concealed — the party was lost. CHAPTER XXIII. ‘‘ Let no presuming railer tax Creative wisdom, as if aught was formed In vain, or not for admirable ends.” —THomson. So long as we possess the power to struggle, hope is the last feeling to desert the human mind. Men are endowed with every gradation of courage, from the calm energy of reflection, which is rendered still more effective by physical firmness, to the headlong precipita- tion of reckless spirit; from the resolution that grows more imposing and more respect- able, as there is greater occasion for its exercise, to the fearful and_ ill-directed energies of despair. But no description with the pen can give the reader a just idea of the chill that comes over the heart when acci- dental causes rob us, suddenly and without notice, of those resources on which we have been habitually accustomed to rely. The mariner, without his course or compass, loses his audacity and coolness, though the mo- mentary danger be the same; the soldier will fly, if you deprive him of his arms; and the hunter of our own forests who has lost his own landmarks, is transformed from the bold and determined foe of its tenants, into an anxious and dependent fugitive, timidly seeking the means of retreat. In short, the customary associations of the mind being rudely and suddenly destroyed, we are made to feel that reason, while it elevates us so far above the brutes to make man their lord and governor, becomes a quality less valuable than instinct, when the connecting link in its train of causes and effects 1s severed. It was no more than a natural consequence of his greater experience, that Pierre Dumont understood the horrors of their present situa- tion far better than any with him. It is true, there yet remained enough light to enable him to pick his way over the rocks and stones, but he had sufficient experience to understand that there was less risk in remaining stationary than in moving; for THE HEADSMAN. while there was only one direction that led toward the Refuge, all the rest would con- duct them to a greater distance from the shelter, which was now the only hope. On the other hand, a very few minutes of the intense cold, and of the searching wind to which they were exposed, would most proba- bly freeze the currents of life in the feebler of those intrusted to his care. “Hast thou aught to advise?” asked Melchior de Willading, folding Adelheid to his bosom beneath his ample cloak, and com- municating, with a father’s love, a small portion of the meagre warmth that still re- mained in his own aged frame to that of his drooping daughter—“ canst thou bethink thee of nothing that may be done in this awful strait?” “ If the good monks have been active returned the wavering Pierre. “I fear me that the dogs have not yet been exercised on the paths this season! ” *“* Has it then come to this? Are our lives indeed dependent on the uncertain sagacity of brutes ?” “Mein Herr, I would bless the Virgin and her holy, Son, if it were so! But I fear this storm has been so sudden and unexpected, that we may not even hope for their succor.” Melchior groaned. He folded his child still nearer to his heart, while the athletic Sigismund shielded his drooping sister, as the fowl shelters its young beneath the wing. “Delay is death,” rejoined the Signor Grimaldi. “I have heard of muleteers that have been driven to kill their beasts, that shelter and warmth might be found in their entrails.” ‘* The alternative is horrible !” interrupted Sigismund. ‘Is return impossible? By always descending, we must, in time, reach the village below.” ““That time would be fatal,’ answered Pierre. “I know of only one resource that re- mains. If the party will keep together, and answer my shouts, I will make another effort te find the path.” This proposal was gladly accepted, for en- ergy and hope go hand in hand, and the guide was about to quit the group, when he felt the strong grasp of Sigismund on his arm. 39 “‘T will be thy companion,” said the soldier firmly. 153 ‘Thou hast not done me justice, young man,” answered Pierre, with severe reproach in his manner. ‘‘ Had I been base enou gh to desert my trust, these limbs and this strength are yet sufficient to carry me safely down the mountain ; but though a guide of the Alps may freeze like another man, the last throb of his heart will be in behalf of those he serves.” “A thousand pardons, brave old man—a thousand pardons! still will I be thy com- panion. The search that is conducted by two will be more likely to succeed than that on which thou goest alone.” The offended Pierre, who liked the spirit of the youth as much as he disliked his previous suspicions, met the apology frankly. He ex- tended his hand and forgot the feelings that, even amid the tempests of those wild moun- tains, were excited by a distrust of his hon- esty. After this short concession to the ever- burning though smothered volcano of human passion they left the group together, in order to make a last search for their course. The snow by this time was many inches deep, and as the road was at best but a faint bridle-path that could scarcely be distin- guished by day-light from the débris which strewed the ravines, the undertaking would have been utterly hopeless, had not Pierre known that there was the chance of still meet- ing with some signs of the many mules that daily went up and down the mountain. The guide called to the muleteers, who answered his cries every minute; for so long as they kept within the sound of each other’s voices, there was no danger of their becoming en- tirely separated. But, amid the hollow roar- ing of the wind, and the incessant pelting of the storm, it was neither safe nor practicable to venture far asunder. Several little stony knolls were ascended and descended, and a rippiing rill was found, but without bringing with it any traces of the path. The heart of Pierre began to chill with the decreasing warmth of his body, and the firm old man, overwhelmed with his responsibility, while his truant thoughts would unbidden recur to those whom he had left in his cottage at the foot of the mountain, gave way at last to his emotions in a paroxysm of grief, wringing his hands, weeping and calling loudly on God for succor. This fearful evidence of 154 their extremity worked upon the feelings of Sigismund until they were wrought up nearly to frenzy. His great physical force still sus- tained him, and in an excess of energy that was fearfully allied to madness he rushed for- ward into the vortex of snow and hail, as if determined to leave all to the Providence of God, disappearing from the eyes of his com- panion. ‘This incident recalled the guide to his senses. He called earnestly on the thoughtless youth to return, No answer was given, and Pierre hastened back to the mo- tionless and shivering party, in order to unite all their voices in a last effort to be heard. Cry upon cry was raised, but each shout was answered merely by the hoarse rushing of the winds. “Sigismund! Sigismund!” called one after another in hurried and alarmed suc- cession. « ing for those who pressed upon him to give rae THE HEADSMAN. way, the Prince sat gazing at Maso, with eyes that appeared ready to burst from their sockets. “Thou Bartolomeo!” he uttered huskily, as if horror had frozen his voice. “T am Bartolo, signor, and no other. He who goes through many scenes hath occasion for many names. Even your Highness trav- els at times under a cloud.” The Doge continued to stare on the speaker with the fixedness of regard that one might be supposed to fasten on a creature of unearthly existence. ** Melchior,” he said slowly, turning his eyes from one to the other of the forms that filled them, for Sigismund had advanced to the side of Maso, in kind concern for the old man’s condition,—“ Melchior, we are but feeble and miserable creatures in the hand of one who looks upon the proudest and hap- piest of us, as we look upon the worm that crawls the earth! What are hope, and honor, and our fondest love, in the great train of events that time heaves from its womb, bringing forth to our confusion? Are we proud? fortune revenges itself for our want of humility by its scorn. Are we happy ? it is but the calm that precedes the storm. ' Are we great ? it is but to lead us into abuses that will justify our fall. Are we honored? stains tarnish our good names, in spite of all our care!” ‘‘He who puts his trust in the Son of Maria need never despair! ” whispered the worthy clavier, touched nearly to tears by the sudden distress of one whom he had learned to respect. ‘‘Let the fortunes of the world pass away, or change as they will, his chastening love outliveth time !” The Signor Grimaldi, for, though the elected of Genoa, such was in truth the family name of the Doge, turned his vacant gaze for an instant on the Augustine, but it soon reverted to the forms and faces of Maso and Sigismund, who still stood before him, filling his thoughts even more than his sight. “Yes, there isa power,” he resumed, “a great and beneficent Being to equalize our fortunes here, and when we pass into another state of being, loaded with the wrongs of this, we shall have justice! Tell me, Melchior, thou who knew my youth, who read my heart when it was open as day, what was 191 there in it to deserve this punishment ? Here is Balthazar, come of a race of execu- tioners—a man condemned of opinion—that prejudice besets with a hedge of hatred—that men point at with their fingers, and whom the dogs are ready to bay—this Balthazar is the father of that gallant youth, whose form is so perfect, whose spirit is so noble, and whose life so pure; while I, the last of a line that is lost in the obscurity of time, the wealthiest of my land, and the chosen of my peers, am accursed with an outcast, a com- mon brigand, a murderer, for the sole prop of my decaying house—with this Il Maledetto -—this man accursed—for a son!” A movement of astonishment escaped the listeners, even the Baron de Willading not suspecting the real cause of his friend’s dis- tress. Maso alone was unmoved ; for while the aged father betrayed the keenness of his anguish, the son discovered none of that sym- pathy of which even a life like his might be supposed to have left some remains in the heart of a child. He was cold, collected, observant, and master of his smallest action. <*T will not believe this,” exclaimed the Doge, whose very soul revolted at this unfeel- ing apathy, even more than at the disgrace of being the father of such a child; ‘‘thou art not he thou pretendest to be: this foul lie is uttered that my natural feelings may in- terpose between thee and the block! Prove thy truth, or I abandon thee to thy fate.” ‘«‘ Signor, I would have saved this unhappy exhibition, but you would not. That Iam. Bartolo this signet, your own gift sent to be my protection in a strait like this, will show. It is, moreover, easy for me to prove what I say, by a hundred witnesses who are living in Genoa.” The Signor Grimaldi stretched forth a hand that trembled like an aspen to receive the ring, a jewel of little price, but a signet that he had, in truth, sent to be an instru- ment of recognition between him and his child, in the event of any sudden calamity befalling the latter. He groaned as he gazed at its well-remembered emblems, for its iden- tity was only too plain. ‘© Maso— Bartolo— Gaetano—for such, mis- erable boy, is thy real appellation—thou canst not know how bitter is the pang that an un- worthy child brings to the parent, else would 192 thy life have been different. Oh! Gaetano! Gaetano! what a foundation art thou fora father’s hopes! What a subject for a father’s love! I saw thee last a smiling innocent cherub, in thy nurse’s arms, and I find thee with a blighted soul, the pure fountain of thy mind corrupted, a form sealed with the stamp of vice, and with hands dyed in blood; prematurely old in body, and with a spirit that hath already the hellish taint of the damned ! ” ‘Signor, you find me as the chances of a wild life have willed. ‘The world and I have been at loggerheads this many a year, and in trifling with its laws, I take my revenge of its abuse—” warmly returned Il Maledetto, for his spirit began to be aroused. ‘‘ Thou bear’st hard upon me, Doge—father—or what thou wilt—and I should be little worthy of my lineage, did I not meet thy charges as they are made. Compare thine own career with mine, and let it be proclaimed by sound of trumpet if thou wilt, which hath most reason to be proud, and which to exult. Thou wert reared in the hopes and honors of our name; thou passed thy youth in the pursuit of arms according to thy fancy, and when tired of change, and willing to narrow thy pleasures, thou looked about thee for a maiden to become the mother of thy suc- cessor; thou turned a wishing eye on one young, fair, and noble, but whose affections, as her faith, were solemnly, irretrievably plighted to another.” The Doge shuddered and veiled his eyes ; but he eagerly interrupted Maso. ‘Her kinsman was unworthy of her love,” he cried; ‘“‘he was an outcast, and little better than thyself, unhappy boy, except in the chances of condition.” “Tt matters not, signor; God had not made you the arbiter of her fate. In tempt- ing her family by your greater riches, you crushed two hearts, and destroyed the hopes of your fellow creatures. In her was sacri- ficed an angel, mild and pure as this fair creature who is now listening so breathlessly to my words ; in him a fierce untamed spirit, that had only the greater need of manage- ment, since it was as likely to go wrong as right. Before your son was born, this un- happy rival, poor in hopes as in wealth, had become desperate ; and the mother of your WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. child sank a victim to her ceaseless regrets, at herown want of faith as much as for his follies.” ‘‘Thy mother was deluded, Gaetano ; she never knew the real qualities of her cousin, ora soul like hers would have loathed the wretch.” ‘Signor, it matters not,” continued Il Maledetto, with a ruthless perseverance of intention, and a coolness of manner that would seem to merit the description which had just been given his spirit, that of possess- ing a hellish taint. ‘She loved him with a woman’s heart ; and with a woman’s ingenu- ity and confidence, she ascribed his fall to despair for her loss.” ‘*Oh, Melchior! Melchior! this is fear- fully true!” groaned the Doge. “Tt is so true, signor, that it should be written on my mother’s tomb. We are chil- — dren of a fiery climate ; the passions burn in our Italy like the hot sun that glows there. When despair drove the disappointed lover to acts that rendered him an outlaw, the pass- age to revenge was short. Your child was | stolen, hid from your yiew, and cast upon the world under circumstances that left little doubt of his living in bitterness, and dying under the contempt, if not the curses, of his fellows. All this, Signor Grimaldi, is the fruit of your own errors. Had you respected the affections of an innocent girl, the sad con- sequences to yourself and me might have been avoided.” ‘‘TIg this man’s history to be believed, Gaetano?” demanded the Baron, who had more than once betrayed a wish to check the rude tongue of the speaker. ‘“T do not—I cannot deny it; I never saw my own conduct in this criminal light before, and yet now it all seems frightfully true.” I] Maledetto langhed. Those around him thought his untimely merriment resembled the mockery of a devil. ‘*This is the manner in which men con- tinue to sin, while they lay claim to the merit — of innocence!” he added. “ Let the great of the earth give but half the care to prevent, that they show to punish, offences against themselves, and what is now called justice will no longer be a stalking-horse to enable a few to live at the cost of the rest. As for me, I am proof of what noble blood and illustrious - THE HEADSMAN. ancestry can do for themselves ! Stolen when a child, Nature has had fair play in my tem- _ perament, which I own is more disposed to i pleasures of marble halls. wild adventure and manly risks than to the Noble father of mine, were this spirit dressed up in the guise of a senator, or a Doge, it might fare badly with Genoa!” ‘‘Unfortunate man,” exclaimed the indig- nant prior, ‘‘is this language for a child to use to his father? Dost thou forget that the blood of Jacques Colis is on thy. soul?” ‘Holy Augustine, the candor with which my general frailties are allowed, should gain me credit when I speak of particular accusa- tions. By the hopes and piety of the rever- end canon of Aoste, thy patron saint and founder, I am guiltless of this crime. Ques- tion Nettuno as you will, or turn the affair in every way that usage warrants, and let appear- ances take what shape they may, I swear to you my innocence. If you think that fear of punishment tempts me to utter a lie under these holy appeals (he crossed himself with reverence), ye do injustice both to my cour- age and to my love of the saints. The only son of the reigning Doge of Genoa has little to fear from the headsman’s blow !” Again Maso laughed. It was the confidence of one who knew the world, and was too auda- cious even to consult appearances unless it suited his humor, breaking out in very wan- tonness. A man who had led his life, was not to learn at this late day, that the want of eyes in Justice oftener means blindness to the faults of the privileged, than the impartiality that is assumed by the pretending emblem. The chatelain, the prior, the bailiff, the cla- vier, and the Baron de Willading, looked at each other like men bewildered. ‘The mental agony of the Doge formed a contrast so fright- ful with the heartless an cruel insensibility of the son, that the sight chilled their blood. The sentiment was only the more common, escape. from the silent but general conviction that the unfeeling criminal must be permitted to There was, indeed, no precedent for leading the child of a prince to the block, unless it was for an offence which touched the preservation of the father’s interests. Much was said in maxims and apothegms of the purity and necessity of rigid impartiality in administering the affairs of life, but neither 198 had attained his years and experience without obtaining glimpses of practical things, that taught them to foresee the impunity of Maso. Too much violence would be done to a facti- tious and tottering edifice, were it known that a prince’s son was no better than one of the vilest, and the lingering feelings of paternity were certain at last to cast ashield before the offender. The embarrassment and doubt attending such a state of things was happily, but quite unexpectedly, relieved by the interference of Balthazar. The headsman, until this mo- ment, had been a silent and attentive listener to all that passed; but now he pressed him- self into the circle, and looking, in his quiet manner, from one to the other, he spoke with the assurance that the certainty of having important intelligence to impart, is apt to give even to the meekest, in the presence of those whom they habitually respect. “This broken tale of Maso,” he said, “ is removing a cloud that has lain for nearly thirty years before my eyes. Is it true, illus- trious Doge, for such it appears is your princely state, that a son of your noble stock was stolen and kept in secret from your love, through the vindictive enmity of a rival?” “True!—alas, too true! Would it had pleased the blessed Maria, who so cherished his mother, to call his spirit to Heaven, ere the curse befell him and me.” “Your pardon, great Prince, if I press you with questions at a moment so painful. But it isin your owninterest. Suffer that I may ask in what year this calamity befell your family ?”’ The Signor Grimaldi signed for his friend to assume the office of answering these extra- ordinary interrogatories, while he buried his own venerable face in his cloak, to conceal his anguish from curious eyes. Melchior Willading regarded the headsman in surprise; for an instant he was disposed to repel ques- tions that seemed importunate; but the ear- nest countenance, and mild, decent demean- or of Balthazar, overcame his repugnance to pursue the subject. ‘«« The child was seized in the autumn of the year 1693,” he answered, his previous confer- ences with his friend having put him in pos- session of all the leading facts of the history. «¢ And his age ?” GG 194 «“ Was near a twelvemonth.” “(Can you inform me what became of the profligate noble who committed this foul rob- bery?” “ The fate of the Signor Pantaleone Serrani has never been truly known; though there is a dark rumor that he died in a brawl in our own Switzerland. That he is dead there is no cause to doubt.” «And his person, noble Freiherr—a de- scription of his person is now only wanting to throw the light of a noonday sun on what has so long been night!” “J knew the unlucky Signor Pantaleone well in early youth. At this time mentioned his years might have been thirty, his form was seemly and of middle height, his features bore the Italian outline, with the dark eye, swarthy skin, and glossy hair of the climate. More than this, with the exception of a finger lost in one of our affairs in Lombardy, | can- not say.” “This is enough,” returned the attentive Balthazar. “Dismiss your grief, princely Doge, and prepare your heart for a new- found joy. Instead of being the parent of this reckless freebooter, God at length pities and returns your real son in Sigismund, a child that might gladden the heart of any parent, though he were an emperor!” This extraordinary declaration was made to stunned and confounded listeners. A cry of alarm burst from the lips of Marguerite, who approached the group in the centre of the chapel, trembling and anxious, as if the grave were about to rob her of a treasure. ‘©What is this I hear!” exclaimed the mother, whose sensitiveness was the first to take alarm. ‘‘ Are my half-formed suspicions, then, too true, Balthazar? Am I, indeed, without a son? I know thou wouldst not trifle with a mother, or mislead this stricken noble ina thing likethis! Speak again, that I may know the truth—Sigismund i “Ts not our child,” answered the heads- man, with an impress of truth in his manne~ that went far to bring conviction; ‘four owa boy died in that blessed state of infancy, and, to save thy feelings, this youth was sub- stituted in his place by me without thy knowledge.” WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. features, in which pain at being so unex- pectedly torn from the bosom of a family he had always deemed his own, was fearfully struggling with a wild and indefinite delight at finding himself suddenly relieved from a load he had long found so grievous to be borne. Interpreting the latter expression | with jealous affection, she bent her face to her bosom, and retreated in silence among her companions to weep. . : In the meantime a sudden and tumultuous surprise took possession of the different lis- teners, which was modified and: exhibited ac- cording to their respective characters, as to the amount of interest that each had in the truth or falsehood of what had just been an- nounced. The Doge clung to the hope, im- probable as it seemed, with a tenacity propor- tioned to his recent anguish, while Sigismund stood like one beside himself. His eye wan- — dered from the simple and benevolent, but degraded man, whom he had believed to be his father, to the venerable and imposing- — looking noble who was now so unexpectedly — presented in that sacred character. ‘The sobs — of Marguerite reached his ears, and first re- called him to recollection. They came blended with the fresh grief of Christine, who felt as _ if ruthless death had now robbed her of a brother. ‘There was also the struggling emo- — tion of one whose interest in him had a still tender and engrossing claim. ‘This is so wonderful!” said the trem- bling Doge, who dreaded lest the next syl- lable that was uttered might destroy the — blessed illusion, ‘‘so wildly improbable, that, — though my soul yearns to believe it, my reason refuses credence. It is not enough — to utter this sudden intelligence, Balthazar; it must be proved. Furnish but a moiety © of the evidence that is necessary to establish — a legal fact, and I will render thee the richest — of thy class in Christendom! And thou, Sigismund, come close to my heart, noble © boy,” he added, with outstretched arms, — ‘that I may bless thee, while there is hope— that I may feel one beat of a father’s pulse —one instant of a father’s joy !” Sigismund knelt at the venerable Prince’s” feet, and receiving his head on his shoulders, — their tears mingled. But even at that pre- Marguerite moved nearer to the young man. cious moment both felt a sense of insecurity, She gazed wistfully at his flushed, excited as if the exquisite pleasure of so pure a_ } | THE HHADSMAN. happiness was too intense to last. Maso looked upon this scene with cold displeasure; his averted face denoting a stronger feeling than disappointment, though the power of natural sympathy was so strong as to draw evidences of its force from the eyes of all the others present. ** Bless thee, bless thee, my child, my dearly beloved son!” murmured the Doge, lending himself to the improbable tale of Balthazar for a delicious instant, and kissing the cheeks of Sigismund as one would em- brace a smiling infant; ‘‘may the God of heaven and earth, His only Son, and the holy Virgin undefiled, unite to bless thee, here and hereafter, be thou whom thou mayest! I owe thee one precious instant of happiness, such as I have never tasted before. To find a child would not be enough to give it birth ; but to believe thee to be that son touches on the joys of paradise !” Sigismund fervently kissed the hand that had rested affectionately on his head during _this diction ; then, feeling the necessity of haying some guarantee for the existence of emotions so sweet, he rose and made a warm and strong appeal to him who had so long passed for his father to be more explicit, and to justify his new-born hopes by some evidence better than his simple asseveration ; for solemnly as the latter had been made, and profound as he knew to be the reverence of truth which the despised headsman not only entertained himself but inculcated on all in whom he had any interest, the revela- tion he had just made seemed too improbable to resist the doubts of one who knew his happiness to be the fruit of the forfeiture of his veracity. CHAPTER XXX. “ We rest—a dream has power to poison sleep ; We rise—one wandering thought pollutes the day; We feel, conceive or reason, laugh or weep ; Embrace fond woe, or cast our cares away.” —SHELLEY. THE tale of Balthazar was simple but eloquent. His union with Marguerite, in spite of the world’s obloquy and injustice, had been blessed by the wise and merciful Being who knew how to temper the wind to the shorn lamb. 195 ““ We knew we were all to each other,” he continued, after briefly alluding to the early history of their births and love; ‘‘and we felt the necessity of living for ourselves. Ye that are born to honors, who meet with smiles and respectful looks in all ye meet, can know little of the feeling which binds together the unhappy. When God gave us our first-born, as he lay a smiling babe in her lap, looking up into her eye with the innocence that most likens man to angels, Marguerite shed bitter tears at the thought of such a creature’s being condemned by the laws to shed the blood of men. ‘The reflec- tion that he was to live forever an outcast from his kind was bitter to a mother’s heart. We had made many offers to the canton to be released ourselves from this charge; we had prayed them—Herr Melchior, you should know how earnestly we have prayed the council, to be suffered to live like others, and without this accursed doom—but they would not. They said the usage was ancient, that change was dangerous, and that what God willed must come to pass. We could not bear that the burden we found so hard to endure ourselves should go down forever as a curse upon our descendants, Herr Doge,” he continued, raising his meek face in the pride of honesty; ‘‘it is well for those who are the possessors of honors to be proud of their priveleges ; but when the inheritance is one of wrongs and scorn, when the evil eyes of our fellows are upon us, the heart sickens. Such was our feeling when we looked upon our first-born. The wish to save him from his own disgrace was uppermost, and we bethought us of the means.” ‘‘Aye!” sternly interrupted Marguerite. “‘T parted with my child, and silenced a mother’s longings, proud nobles, that he might not become a tool of your ruthless policy ; I gave up a mother’s joy in nourish- ing and cherishing her young, that the little innocent might live among his fellows, as God had created him, their equal, and not their victim!” Balthazar paused, as was usual with him whenever his energetic wife manifested any of her strong and masculine qualities, and then, when deep silence had followed her re- mark, he proceeded. “We wanted not for wealth; all we asked 196 was to be like others in the world’s respect. With our money it was very easy to find those in another canton, who were willing to take the little Sigismund into their keeping. After which a feigned death and a private burial did the rest. The deceit was easily practised, for as few cared for the griefs as for the hap- piness of the headsman’s family. The child had drawn near the end of its first year, when I was called upon to execute my office on a stranger. The criminal had taken life inva drunken brawl in one of the towns of the canton, and he was said to be a man who had trifled with the precious gifts of birth, it being suspected that he was noble. I went with a heavy heart, for never did I strike a blow without praying God that it might be the last; but it was heavier when I reached the place where the culprit awaited his fate. The tidings of my poor son’s death reached me as I put foot on the threshold of the desolate prison, and I turned aside to weep for my own woes, before I entered to see my victim. The condemned man had great un- willingness to die ; he had sent for me many hours before the fatal moment, to make ac- quaintance, as he said, with the hand that was to dispatch him to the presence of his last and eternal Judge.” Balthazar paused; he appeared to meditate on a scene that had probably left indelible impressions on his mind. Shuddering invol- untarily, he raised his eyes from the pave- ment of the chapel, and continued the recital, always in the same subdued and tranquil manner. “J have been the unwilling instrument of many a violent death—I have seen the most reckless sinners in the agonies of sudden and compelled repentance, but never have I wit- nessed so wild and fearful a struggle between earth and heaven—the world and the grave —passion and the rebuke of Providence— as attended the last hours of that unhappy man! There were moments in which the mild spirit of Christ won upon his evil mood, *tis true; but the picture was, in general, that of revenge so fierce, that the powers of hell alone could give it birth in a human heart. He had with him an infant of an age just fitted to be taken from the breast. This child appeared to awaken the fiercest con- flicting feelings ; he both yearned over it and WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. detested its sight, though hatred seemed most to prevail.” “This was horrible!” murmured the Doge. “Tt was the more horrible, Herr Doge, that it should come from one who was justly con- demned to the axe. He rejected the priests ; . he would have naught of any but me. My soul loathed the wretch—yet so few ever showed an interest in us—and it would have been cruel to desert a dying man! At the end, he placed the child in my care, furnish« ing more gold than was sufficient to rear it frugally to the age of manhood, and leaving other valuables which I have kept as proofs that might some day be useful. All I could learn of the infant’s origin was simply this. It came from Italy, and of Italian parents ; its mother died soon after its birth,”—a groan escaped the Doge—*its father still lived, and was the object of the criminal’s implacable hatred, as its mother had been of his ardent love; its birth was noble, and it had been baptized in the bosom of the Church by the name of Gaetano.” “Tt must be he !—it is—it must be my be- loved son!” exclaimed the Doge, unable to control himself any longer. He spread wide his arms, and Sigismund threw himself upon his bosom, though there still remained fear-— ful apprehensions that all he heard was a dream. ‘Go on—go on—excellent Baltha- zar,” added the Signor Grimaldi, drying his eyes and struggling to command himself. “JT shall have no peace until all is revealed to the last syllable of thy wonderful, thy glori- ous tale.” “There remains but little more to say, Herr Doge. The fatal hour arrived, and the criminal was transported to the place where he was to give up his life. While seated in the chair in which he received the fatal blow, his spirit underwent infernal torments. I have reason to think that there were mo-— ments when he would gladly have made his peace with God. But the demons prevailed; he died in his sins! From the hour when he committed the little Gaetano to my keeping, — I did not cease to entreat to be put in pos- session of the secret of the child’s birth, but the sole answer I received was an order to appropriate the gold to my own uses, and to adopt the boy as my own. The sword was in my hand, and the signal to strike was given,” i 4 ‘ ? ~~ .4" ‘a THE HHADSMAN. when, for the last time, I asked the name of the infant’s family and country, as a duty I could not neglect. ‘He is thine—he is thine,’ was the answer. ‘Tell me, Balthazar, is thy office hereditary, as is wont in these regions?’ I was compelled, as ye know, to say it was. ‘Then adopt the urchin; rear him to fatten on the blood of his fellows!’ It was mockery to trifle with such a spirit. When his head fell, it still had on its fierce features traces of the infernal triumph with which his spirit departed!” “The monster was a just sacrifice to the laws of the canton!” exclaimed the single- minded bailiff. ‘‘Thou seest, Herr Mel- chior, that we do well in arming the hand of the executioner, in spite of all the sentiment of the weak-minded. Such a wretch was surely unworthy to live.” ‘This burst of official felicitation from Pe- terchen, who rarely neglected to draw a con- clusion favorable to the existing order of things, like most of those who reap their ex- clusive advantage, and to the prejudice of innovation, produced little attention; all present were too much absorbed in the facts related by Balthazar, to turn aside to speak, or think, of other matters. “What became of the boy?” demanded the worthy clavier, who had taken as deep an interest as the rest, in the progress of the narrative. “T could not desert him, father; nor did I wish to. He came into my guardianship at a moment when God, to reprove our re- pinings at a lot that he had chosen to im- pose, had taken our own little Sigismund to heaven. I filled the place of the dead infant with my living charge; I gave to him the hame of my own son, and I can say confi- dently, that I transferred to him the love I had borne my own issue; though time, and use, and a knowledge of the child’s character, were perhaps necessary to complete the last. Marguerite never knew the deception, though a mother’s instinct and tenderness took the alarm and raised suspicions. We have never spoken freely on this together, and like you, she now heareth the truth for the first time.” “Twas a fearful mystery between God and my own heart!” murmured the woman; “I forbore to trouble it—Sigismund or Gae- tano, or whatever you will have his name, 197 filled my affections, and I strove to be satis- fied. The boy is dear to me, and ever will be, though you seat him on a throne; but Christine—the poor stricken Christine—is truly the child of my bosom !” Sigismund went and knelt at the feet of her whom he had ever believed his mother, and earnestly begged her blessing and con- tinued affection. The tears streamed from Marguerite’s eyes, as she willingly bestowed the first, and promised never to withhold the last. “Hast thou any of the trinkets or gar- ments that were given thee with the child, or canst render an account of the place where they are still to be found?” demanded the Doge, whose whole mind was too deeply set on appeasing his doubts to listen to aught else. “They are all here in the convent. The gold has been fairly committed to Sigismund, to form his equipment as a soldier. ‘The child was kept apart, receiving such educa- tion as a learned priest could give, till of an age to serve, and then I sent him to bear arms in Italy, which I knew to be the coun- try of his birth, though I never knew to what prince his allegiance was due. The time had now come when I thought it due to the youth to let him know the real nature of the tie between us; but I shrank from paining Marguerite and myself, and I even did his heart the credit to believe that he would rather belong to us, humbled and despised though we be, than find himself a nameless outcast, without home, country, or parent- age. It was necessary, however, to speak, and it was my purpose to reveal the truth, here at the convent, in the presence of Chris- tine. For this reason, and to enable Sigis- mund to make inquiries for his family, the effects received from the unhappy criminal with the child were placed among his bag- gage secretly. They are, at this moment, on the mountain.” The venerable old Prince trembled violent- ly; for, with the intense feeling of one who dreaded that his dearest hopes might yet be disappointed, he feared, while he most wished, to consult these mute but veracious witnesses. ‘* Let them be produced!—let them be in- stantly produced and examined!” he whis- pered eagerly to those around him. Then, 198 turning slowly to the immovable Maso, he demanded—*“ And thou, man of falsehood and of blood! what dost thou reply to this clear and probable tale ?” Il Maledetto smiled, as if superior to a weakness that had blinded the others. The expression of his countenance was filled with that look of calm superiority which certainty gives to the well informed over the doubting and deceived. ‘‘T have to reply, signor, and honored father,” he coolly answered, ‘‘ that Balthazar hath right cleverly related a tale that hath been ingenuously devised. That I am Bar- tolo, I repeat to thee, can be proved by a hundred living tongues in Italy. ‘Thou knowest best who Bartolo Contini is, Doge of Genoa.” “He speaks the truth,” returned the Prince, dropping his head in disappointment. “Oh! Melchior, I have had but too sure proofs of what he intimates! I have long been certain that this wretch Bartolo is my son, though never before have I been cursed with his presence. Bad as I was taught to think him, my worst fears had not painted him as I now find the truth would warrant.” ‘‘ Has there not been some fraud—art thou not the dupe of some conspiracy of which money has been the object ?” The Doge shook his head in a way to prove that he could not possibly flatter himself with such a hope.” “ Never: my offers of money have always been rejected.” ‘ “Why should I take the gold of my father ?” added I] Maledetto ; “my own skill and courage more than suffice for my wants.” The nature of the answer, and the com- posed demeanor of Maso, produced an em- barrassing pause. “Tet the two stand forth and be con- fronted,” said the puzzled clavier, at length; “nature often reveals the truth when the uttermost powers of man are at fault—if either is the true child of the Prince, we should find some resemblance to the father to support his claim.” The test, though of doubtful virtue, was eagerly adopted, for the truth had now be- come so involved as to excite a keen interest The desire to explain the mystery was general, and the slightest means in all present. latter. any who wished to find it. WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. of attaining such an erid became of a value proportionate to the difficulty of effecting the object. Sigismund and Maso were placed beneath the lamp where its light was strong- est, and every eye turned eagerly to their countenances, in order to discover, or to fancy it discovered, some of those secret signs by which the mysterious affinities of nature are to be traced. A more puzzling examina- tion could not well have been essayed. There was proof to give the victory to each of the pretenders, if such a term may be used with propriety as it concerns the passive Sigis- mund, and much to defeat the claims of the In the olive-colored tint, the dark, rich, rolling eye, and in stature, the advan- tage was altogether with Maso, whose outline of countenance and penetrating expression had also a resemblance to those of the Doge, so marked as to render it quite apparent to The habits of the mariner had probably diminished the likeness, but it was too obviously there to escape detection. That hardened and rude appearance, the consequence of exposure, which rendered it difficult to pronounce within ten years of his real age, contributed a little to conceal what may be termed the latent character of his countenance, but the features themselves were undeniably a rude copy of the more polished lineaments of the Prince. The case was less clear as respects Sigis- mund. The advantage of ruddy and vigor- ous youth rendered him such a resemblance as we find between the aged and those por- traits which have been painted in their younger and happier days. ‘The bold outline was not unlike that of the noble features of the venerable Prince, but neither the eye, the hair, nor the complexiofi, had the hues of Italy. “Thou seest,’”’ said Maso, tauntingly, when the disappointed clavier admitted the differ- ences in the latter particulars, “‘ this is an imposition that will not pass. I swear to you, as there is faith in man, and hope for the dying Christian, that so far as any know their parentage, I am the child of Gaetano Grimaldi, the present Doge of Genoa, and of no other man! May the saints desert me !— the blessed Mother. of God be deaf to my of the Doge—in the points where it existed— ~ Be Fa ‘a See : Recher aie. that he belongs not to me. THE HEADSMAN. prayers !—and all men hunt me with their curses, if I say aught in this but holy truth!” The fearful energy with which Maso ut- tered this solemn appeal, and a certain sin- cerity that marked his manner, and perhaps we might even say his character, in spite of the dissolute recklessness of his principles, served greatly to weaken the growing opinion in favor of his competitor. « And this noble youth?” asked the sorrow- ing Doge—“this generous and elevated boy, whom I have already held next to my heart, with so much of a father’s joy—who and what is he?” “ Hecellenza, I wish to say nothing against the Signor Sigismondo. He is a gallant swimmer, and astanch support in time of need. Be he Swiss or Genoese, either coun- try may be proud of him; but self-love teaches us all to take care of our own interests be- fore those of another. It would be far pleas- anter to dwell in the Palazzo Grimaldi, on our warm and sunny gulf, honored and esteemed as the heir of a noble name, than to be cutting heads in Berne; and honest Balthazar does but follow his instinct, in seeking preferment for his son!” Each eye now turned on the headsman, who quailed not under the scrutiny, but maintained the firm front of one conscious that he had done no wrong. ‘“T have not said that Sigismund is the child of any,” he answered in his meek man- ner, but with a steadiness that won him credit with the listeners. “I have only said No father need wish a worthier son, and Heaven knows that I yield my own claims with a sorrow that it would be grievous to bear, did I not hope a better fortune for him than any which can come from a connection with a race accursed. The likeness which is seen in Maso, and which Sigismund is thought to want, proves little, noble gentlemen and reverend monks; for all who have looked closely into these matters know that resemblances are as often found between the distant branches of the same family, as between those who are more nearly united. Sigismund is not of us, and none can see any trace of either my own or of Marguerite’s family in his person or features.” Balthazar paused that there might be an examination of this fact, and, in truth, the 199 most ingenious fancy could not have detected the least affinity in looks, between either of those whom he had so long thought his parents and the young soldier. ‘“‘Let the Doge of Genoa question his memory, and look further than himself. Can he find no sleeping smile, no color of the hair, nor any other common point of appear- ance, between the youth and some of those whom he once knew and loved ?” The anxious Prince turned eagerly toward Sigismund, and a gleam of joy lighted his face again, as he studied the young man’s features. ‘By San Francesco! Melchior, the honest Balthazar is right. My grandmother was a Venetian, and she had the fair hair of the boy—the eye, teo, is hers—and—Oh!” bend- ing his head aside and veiling his eyes with his hand, “‘I see the anxious gaze that was so constant in the sainted and injured An- giolina, after my greater wealth and power had tempted her kinsmen to force her to yield to an unwilling hand! Wretch! thou art not Bartolo; thy tale is a wicked decep- tion, invented to shield thee from the pun- ishment due to thy crime!” « Admitting that I am not Bartolo, Hccel- lenza, does the Signor Sigismondo claim to be he? Have you not assured yourself that a certain Bartolo Contini, a man whose life is passed in open hostility to the laws, is your child? Did you not employ your confidant and secretary to learn the facts? Did he not hear from the dying lips of a holy priest, who knew all the circumstances, that ‘ Bar- tolo Contini is the son of Gaetano Grimaldi?’ Did not the confederate of your implacable enemy, Cristofero Serrani, swear the same to you? Have you not seen papers that were taken with your child to confirm it all, and did you not send this signet as a gauge that Bartolo should not want your aid, in any strait that might occur in his wild manner of living, when you learned that he resolutely preferred remaining what he was, to be- coming an image of sickly repentance and newly assumed nobility, in your gorgeous palace on the Strada Balbi?” The Doge again bowed his head in dismay, for all this he knew to be true beyond a shadow of hope. ‘¢ Here is some sad mistake,” he said with 200 bitter regret. of some other bereaved parent, Balthazar; but, though I cannot hope to prove myself the natural father of Sigismund, he shall at least find me one in affection and good offices. If his life be not due to me, I owe him mine; the debt shall form a tie between us little short of that to which nature herself could give birth.” ‘Herr Doge,” returned the earnest heads- man, ‘let us not be too hasty. If there are strong facts in favor of the claims of Maso, there are many circumstances, also, in favor of those of Sigismund. To me, the history of the last is probably more clear than it can be to any other. The time, the country, the age of the child, the name, and the fearful revelations of the criminal, are all strong proofs in Sigismund’s behalf. Here are the effects that were given me with the child ; it is possible that they, too, may throw weight into his scale.” Balthazar had taken means to procure the package in question from among the luggage of Sigismund, and he now proceeded to ex- pose its contents, while a breathless silence betrayed the interest with which the result was expected. He first laid upon the pave- ment of the chapel a collection of child’s clothing. The articles were rich, and accord- ing to the fashions of the times; but they contained no positive proofs that could go to substantiate the origin of the wearer, except as they raised the probability of his having come of an elevated rank in life. As the different objects were placed upon the stones, Adelheid and Christine kneeled beside them, each too intently absorbed with the progress of the inquiry to bethink herself of those forms which, in common, throw a restraint upon the manners of their sex. The latter ap- peared to forget her own sorrows, for a mo- ment, in a new-born interest in her brother’s fortunes, while the ears of the former drank in each syllable that fell from the lips of the different speakers, with an avidity that her strong sympathy with the youth could alone give. ‘‘Here is a case containing trinkets of value,” added Balthazar. ‘‘ The condemned man said they were taken through ignorance, and he was accustomed to suffer the child to amuse himself with them in the prison.” <¢Thou hast received the child WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. «These were my first offerings to my wife, in return for the gift she had made me of the precious babe,” said the Doge, in such a smothered voice as we are apt to use when examining objects that recall the presence of the dead—‘* Blessed Angiolina ! these jewels are so many tokens of thy pale but happy countenance; thou felt a mother’s joy at that sacred moment, and could even smile on me!” ‘«* And here is a talisman in sapphire, with many Eastern characters; I was told it had been an heirloom in the family of the child, and was put about its neck at the birth, by the hands of its own father.” ‘Task no more—I ask no more! God be praised for this, the last and best of all his mercies!” cried the Prince, clasping his hands with devotion. ‘‘ This jewel was worn by myself in infancy, and I placed it around the neck of the babe with my own hands, as thou sayest—I ask no more.” <«*And Bartolo Contini!” Maledetto. ‘¢Maso !” exclaimed a voice, which until then had been mute in the chapel. It was Adelheid who had spoken. Her hair had fallen in wild profusion over her shoulders, muttered Il as she still knelt over the articles on the pavement, and her hands were clasped en- treatingly, as if she deprecated the rude interruptions which had so often dashed the cup from their lips, as they were about to yield to the delight of believing Sigismund to be the child of the Prince of Genoa. ‘¢Thou art another of a fond and weak sex, to swell the list of confiding spirits that have been betrayed by the selfishness and falsehood of men,” answered the mocking mariner. ‘Go to, girl!—make thyself a nun; thy Sigismund is an impostor.” Adelheid, by a quick and decided inter- position of her hand, prevented an impetuous movement of the young soldier, who would have struck his audacious rival to his feet. Without changing her kneeling attitude, she then spoke, modestly, but with a firmness which generous sentiments enable women to assume even more readily than the stronger sex, when extraordinary occasions call for the sacrifice of that reserve in which her feeble- ness is ordinarily intrenched. ‘*T know not, Maso, in what manner thou THH HHADSMAN. hast learned the tie which connects me with Sigismund,” she said ; ‘‘ but I have no longer any wish to conceal it. Be he the son of Bal- thazar, or be he the son of a Prince, he has received my troth with the consent of my honored father, and our fortunes will shortly be one. There might be forwardness in a maiden thus openly avowing her preference for a youth ; but here, with none to own him, oppressed with his long-endured wrongs, and assailed in his most sacred affections, Sigis- mund has a right to my voice. Let him belong to whom else he may, I speak by my venerable father’s authority, when I say he belongs to us.” ** Melchoir, is this true?” cried the Doge. “The girl’s words are but an echo of what my heart feels,” answered the Baron, look- ing about him proudly, as if he would brow- beat any who should presume to think that he had consented to corrupt the blood of Willading by the measure. **T have watched thine eye, Maso, as one nearly interested in the truth,’ continued Adelheid, “and I now appeal to thee, as thou lovest thine own soul, to disburden thyself! While thou may’st have told some truth, the jealous affection of a woman has revealed to me that thou hast kept back part! Speak, then, and relieve the soul of this venerable Prince from torture.” “And deliver my own body to the wheel ! This may be well to the warm imagination of a love-sick girl, but we of the contraband, have too much practice in men uselessly to throw away an advantage.” ‘Thou mayest have confidence in our faith. I have seen much of thee within the last few days, Maso, and I wish not to think thee capable of the bloody deed that hath been committed on the mountain, though I fear thy life is only too ungoverned ; still I will not believe that the hero of the Leman can be the assassin of St. Bernard.” “When thy young dreams are over, fair one, and thou seest the world under its true colors, thou wilt know that the hearts of men come partly of Heaven and partly of Hell.” Masso laughed in his most reckless manner as he delivered this opinion. “Tis useless to deny that thou hast sym- pathies,’ continued the maiden steadily ; “thou hast in secret more pleasure in serving 201 than in injuring thy race. Thou canst not have been in such straits in company with the Signor Sigismondo, without imbibing some touch of his noble generosity. You have struggled together for our common good, you come of the same God, have the same manly courage, are equally stout of heart, strong of hand, and willing to do for others. Such a heart must have enough of noble and human impulses to cause you to love justice. Speak, then, and I pledge our sacred word that thou shalt fare better for thy candor than by taking refuge in thy present fraud. Bethink thee, Maso, that the happiness of this aged man, of Sigismund himself, if thou wilt, for I blush not to say it—of a weak and affectionate girl, is in thy keeping. Give us truth holy; sacred truth, and we pardon the past.” Il Maledetto was moved by the beautiful earnestness of the speaker. Her ingenuous interest in the result, with the solemnity of her appeal, shook his purpose. “Thou know’st not what thou say’st, lady; thou ask’st my life,” he answered, after pon- dering in a way to give a new impulse to the dying hopes of the Doge. “Though there is no quality more sacred than justice,” interposed the chatelain, who alone could speak with authority in the Valais; ‘‘it is fairly within the province of her servants to permit her to go unexpiated, in order that greater good may come of the sacrifice. If thou wilt prove aught that is of grave importance to the interests of the Prince of Genoa, Valais owes it to the love it bears his republic to requite the service.” Maso listened, at first with a cold ear. He felt the distrust of one who had sufficient knowledge of the world to be acquainted with the thousand expedients that were resorted to by men, in order to justify their daily want of faith. He questioned the chatelain closely as to his meaning, nor was it till a late hour, and after long and weary explanations on both sides, that the parties came to an under- standing. On the part of those who, on this occasion, were the representatives of that high attri- bute of the Deity which among men is termed justice, it was sufficiently apparent that they understood its exercise with certain reserva- tions that might be made at pleasure in favor 202 of their own views; and, on the part of Maso, there was no attempt to conceal the suspicions he entertained to the last, that he might bea sufferer by lessening in any degree the strength of the defences by which he was at present shielded, as the son, real or fancied, of a person so powerful as the Prince of Genoa. As usually happens when there is a mutual wish to avoid extremities, and when conflict- ing interests are managed with equal address, the negotiation terminated in a compromise. As the result will be shown in the regular course of the narrative, the reader is referred to the closing chapter for the explanation. CHAPTER XXXI. ‘Speak, oh, speak ! And take me from the rack.” —YOuUNG. Tr will be remembered that three days were passed in the convent in that interval which occurred between the arrival of the travellers and those of the chatelain and the bailiff. The determination of admitting the claims of Sigismund, so frankly announced by Adelheid in the preceding chapter, was taken during this time. Separated from the world, and amid that magnificent solitude where the passions and the vulgar interests of life sank into corresponding insignificance as the majesty of God became hourly more visible, the Baron had been gradually won upon to consent. Love for his child, aided by the fine moral and personal qualities of the young man himself, which here stood out in strong relief, like one of the stern piles of those Alps that now appeared to his eyes so much superior, in their eternal beds, to all the vine-clad hills and teeming valleys of the lower world, had been the immediate and efficient agents in producing this decision. It is not pretended that the Bernese made an easy conquest over his prejudices, which was in truth no other than a conquest over him- self, he being, morally considered, little other than a collection of the narrow opinions and exclusive doctrines which it was then the fashion to believe necessary to high civiliza- tion. On the contrary, the struggle had been severe; nor is it probable that the gen- WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. | tle blandishments of Adelheid, the eloquent but silent appeals to his reason that were constantly made by Sigismund in his deport- ment, or the arguments of his ‘old comrade, the Signor Grimaldi, who, with a philosophy that is more often made apparent in our friendships than in our practice, dilated copiously on the wisdom of sacrificing a few worthless and antiquated opinions to the happiness of an only child, would have pre- vailed, had the Baron been in a situation less abstracted from the ordinary circumstances of his rank and habits, than that in which he had been so accidentally thrown. The pious clavier, too, who had obtained some claims to the confidence of the guests of the convent by his services, and by the risks he had run in their company, came to swell the number of Sigismund’s friends. Of humble origin himself, and attached to the young man not only by his general merits, but by his con- duct on the lake, he neglected no good occa- sion to work upon Melchior’s mind, after he himself had become acquainted with the nature of the young man’s hopes. As they paced the brown and naked rocks together, in the vicinity of the convent, the Augustine discoursed on the perishable nature of human hopes, and on the frailty of human opinions. He dwelt with pious fervor on the usefulness of recalling tho thoughts from the turmoil of daily and contracted interests, to a wider view of the truths of existence. Pointing to the wild scene around him, he likened the confused masses of the mountains, their sterility, and their ruthless tempests, to the world with its want of happy fruits, its dis- orders, and its violence. Shen directing the attention of his ;ompanion to the azure vault above him, which, seen at that elevation, and in that pure atmosphere, resembled a benign canopy of the softest tints and colors, he made glowing appeals to the eternal and holy tranquillity of the state of being to which they were both fast hastening, and which had its type in the mysterious and imposing calm of that tranquil and illimitable void. He drew his moral in favor of 2 measured enjoy- ment of our advantages here, as well as of rendering love and justice to all who merited our esteem, and to the disadvantage of those iron prejudices which confine the best senti- ments in the fetters of opinions founded in 7 ee), Sa Ses Date Kang a het THR HHADSMAN. the ordinances and provisions of the violent and selfish. It was after one of these interesting dia- logues that Melchior de Willading, his heart softened and his soul touched with the hopes of heaven, listened with a more indulgent ear to the firm declaration of Adelheid, that unless she became the wife of Sigismund, her self-respect, no less than her affections, must compel her to pass her life unmarried. We shall not say that the maiden herself philosophized on premises as sublime as those of the good monk, for with her the warm impulses of the heart lay at the bottom of her resolution; but even she had the respect- able support of reason to sustain her cause. The Baron had that innate desire to perpetu- ate his own existence in that of his descend- ants, which appears to be a property of nature. Alarmed at a declaration which threatened annihilation to his line, while at the same time he was more than usually under the influence of his better feelings, he promised that if the charge of murder could be removed from Balthazar, he would no longer oppose the union. We should be giv- ing the reader an opinion a little too favor- able of Herr von Willading, were we to say that he did not repent having made this prom- ise soon after it was uttered. He was in a state of mind that resembled the vanes of his own towers, which changed their direction with every fresh current of air, but he was by far too honorable to think seriously of violat- ing a faith that he had once fairly plighted. He had moments of unpleasant misgivings as to the wisdom and propriety of his promise, but they were of that species of regret which is known to attend an unavoidable evil. If he had any expectations of being released from his pledge, they were bottomed on cer- tain vague impressions that Balthazar would be found guilty, though the constant and earnest asseverations of Sigismund in favor of his father had greatly succeeded in shak- ing his faith on this point. Adelheid had stronger hopes than either ; the fears of the young man himself preventing him from fully participating in her confidence, while her father shared her expectations on that tormenting principle which causes us to dread the worst. When, therefore, the jewelry of Jacques Colis was found in the possession of 203 Maso, and Balthazar was unanimously ac- quitted, not only from this circumstance, which went so conclusively to criminate an- other, but from the want of any other evi- dence against him than the fact of his being found in the bone-house instead of the Ref- uge, an accident that might well have hap- pened to any other traveller in the storm, the Baron resolutely prepared himself to redeem his pledge. It is scarcely necessary to add how much this honorable sentiment was strengthened by the unexpected declaration of the headsman concerning the birth of Sig- ismund. Notwithstanding. the asseveration of Maso that the whole was an invention con- ceived to favor the son of Balthazar, it was supported by proofs so substantial and pal- pable, to say nothing of the natural and ve- racious manner in which the tale was related, as to create a strong probability in the minds of the witnesses, that it might be true. Al- though it remained to be discovered who were the real parents of Sigismund, few now be- lieved that he owed his existence to the heads- man. A short summary of the facts may aid the reader in better understanding the circum- stances on which so much denouement de- pends. It has been revealed in the course of the narrative that the Signor Grimaldi had wed- ded a lady younger than himself, whose afiec- tions were already in the possession of one that, in moral qualities, was unworthy of her love, but who in other respects was perhaps better suited to become her husband than the powerful noble to whom her family had given her hand. The birth of their son was soon followed by the death of the mother, and the abduction of the child. Years had passed, when the Signor Grimaldi was first apprised of the existence of the latter. He had re- ceived this important information at a mo- ment when the authorities of Genoa were most active in pursuing those who had long and desperately trifled with the laws, and the avowed motive for the revelation was an ap- peal to his natural affection in behalf of a son who was likely to become a victim of his practices. The recovery of a child under such circumstances was a blow severer than his loss, and it will readily be supposed that the truth of the pretension of Maso, who 204 then went by the name of Bartolomeo Con- tini, was admitted with the greatest cau- tion. Reference had been made by the friends of the smuggler to a dying monk, whose char- acter was above suspicion, and who corrobo- rated, with his latest breath, the statement of Maso, by affirming before God and the saints that he knew him, so far as men could know a fact like this, to be the son of Signor Gri- maldi. This grave testimony, given under circumstances of such solemnity, and sup- ported by the production of important papers that had been stolen with the child, removed the suspicions of the Doge. He secretly inter- posed his interest to save the criminal, though, after a fruitless attempt to effect a reforma- tion of his habits by means of confidential agents, he had never consented to see him. Such then was the nature of the conflicting statements. While hope and the pure de- light of finding himself the father of a son like Sigismund caused the aged Prince to cling to the claims of the young soldier with fond pertinacity, his cooler and more deliber- ate judgment had already been formed in fa- vor of another. In the long private examina- tion which succeeded the scene in the chapel, Maso had gradually drawn more into himself, becoming vague and mysterious, until he suc- ceeded in exciting a most painful state of doubt and expectation in all who witnessed his deportment. Profiting by this advantage, he suddenly changed his tactics. He prom- ised revelations of importance, on the condi- tion that he should first be placed in security within the frontiers of Piedmont. ‘T’he pru- dent chatelain soon saw that the case was get- ting to be one in which Justice was expected to be blind in the more politic signification of the term. He, therefore, drew off his lo- quacious coadjutor, the bailiff, in a way to leave the settlement of the affair to the feel- ings and wishes of the Doge. The latter, by the aid of Melchior and Sigismund, soon ef- fected an understanding, in which the con- ditions of the mariner were admitted ; when the party separated for the night, I] Male- detto, on whom weighed the entire load of Jacques Colis’s murder, was again committed to his temporary prison, while Balthazar, Pippo, and Conrad, were permitted to go at large, as having successfully passed the ordeal of examination. WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. Day dawned upon the Col long ere the’ shades of night had deserted the valley of the Rhone. All in the convent were in motion before the appearance of the sun, it being generally understood that the events which had so much disturbed the order of its peace- ful inmates’ lives, were to be brought finally to a close, and that their duties were about to return into the customary channels. Orisons are constantly ascending to heaven from the pass of St. Bernard, but on the present occa- sion the stir in and about the chapel, the manner in which the good canons hurried to and fro through the long corridors, and the general air of excitement, proclaimed that the offices of the matins possessed more than the usual interest of the regular daily devo- tion. The hour was still early when all on the pass assembled in the place of worship. The body of Jacques Colis had been removed to a side chapel, where, covered with a pall, it awaited the mass for the dead. ‘Two large church candles stood lighted on the steps of the great altar, and the spectators, including Pierre and the muleteers, the servants of the convent, and others of every rank and age, were drawn up in double files in its front. Among the silent spectators appeared Bal- thazar and his wife, Maso, in truth a prisoner, but with the air of a liberated man, the pil- grim and Pippo. The good prior was pres- ent in his robes, with all of his community. During the moments of suspense which pre- ceded the rites, he discoursed civilly with the chatelain and bailiff, both of whom returned his courtesies with interest, and in the man- ner in which it becomes the dignified and honored to respect appearances in the pres- ence of their inferiors. Still, the demeanor of most was feverish and excited, asif the occasion were one of compelled gayety, into which unwelcome and extraordinary circum- stances of alloy had thrust themselves un- bidden. On the opening of the door a little proces- sion entered, headed by the clavier. Mel- chior de Willading led his daughter, Sigis- mund came next, followed by Marguerite and Christine, and the venerable Doge brought up the rear. Simple as was this wedding train, it was imposing from the dignity of the principal actors, and from the evidences THE HHEADSMAN. of deep feeling with which all in it advanced to the altar. Sigismund was firm and self- possessed. Still his carriage was lofty and proud, as he felt that a cloud still hung over that portion of his history to which the world attached so much importance, and he had _ fallen back on his character and principles ‘for support. Adelheid had lately been so much the subject of strong emotions, that she presented herself before the priest with less trepidation than was usual for a maiden; but the fixed regard, the colorless cheek, and an air of profound reverence, announced the depth and solemn character of the feelings with which she was prepared to take the vow. The marriage rites were celebrated by the good clavier, who, not content with persuad- ing the Baron to make this sacrifice of his prejudices, had asked permission to finish the work he had so happily commenced, by pro- nouncing the nuptial benediction. Melchior de Willading listened to the short ceremony with silent self-approval. He felt disposed at that instant to believe he had: wisely sacri- - ficed the interests of the world to the right, a sentiment that was a little quickened by the uncertainty which still hung over the origin of his new son, who might yet prove to be all that he could hope, as well as by the mo- mentary satisfaction he found in manifesting his independence by bestowing the hand of his daughter upon one whose merit was so much better ascertained than his birth. In this manner do the best deceive themselves, yielding frequently to motives that would not support investigation when they believe them- selves the strongest in the right. The good- natured clavier had observed the wavering and uncertain character of the Baron’s de- cision, and he had been induced to urge his particular request to be officiating priest by a secret apprehension that, descended again into the scenes of the world, the relenting father might become, like most other parents of these nether regions, more disposed to con- sult the temporal advancement than the true happiness of his child. As one of the parties was a Protestant, no mass was said, an omission, however, that in no degree impaired the legal character of the engagement. Adelheid plighted her unvary- ing love and fidelity with maiden modesty, but with the steadiness of a woman whose 205 affections and principles were superior to the little weaknesses which, on such occasions, are most apt to unsettle those who have the least of either of these great distinctive es- sentials of the sex. The vows to cherish and protect were uttered by Sigismund in deep manly sincerity, for, at that moment, he felt as if a life of devotion to her happiness would scarcely requite her single-minded, feminine, and unvarying truth. ‘* May God bless thee, dearest,”’ murmured old Melchior, as, bending over his kneeling child, he struggled to keep down a heart which appeared disposed to mount in his throat, in spite of it’s master’s inclinations ; <‘ bless thee—bless thee, love, now and for- ever. Providence has dealt sternly with thy brothers and sisters, but in leaving thee it has still left me rich in offspring. Here is our good friend Gaetano, too—his fortune has been still harder—but we will hope—we will hope. And thou, Sigismund, now that Balthazar hath disowned thee, thou must accept such a father as Heaven sends. All accidents of early life are forgotten, and Willading, like my old heart, hath gotten a new owner and a new lord!” The young man exchanged embraces with the Baron, whose character he knew to be kind in the main, and for whom he felt the regard which was natural to his present situ- ation. He then turned, with a hesitating eye, to the Signor Grimaldi. The Doge suc- ceeded his friend in paying the compliments of affection to the bride, and had just re- leased Adelheid with a warm paternal kiss. ‘<7 pray Maria and her holy Son in thy behalf!” said the venerable Prince with dig- nity. “Thou enterest on new and serious duties, child, but the spirit and purity of an angel, a meekness that does not depress, and a character whose force rather relieves than injures the softness of thy sex, can temper the ills of this fickle world, and thou may’st justly hope to see a fair portion of that felicity which thy young imagination pict- ures in such golden colors. And thou,” he added, turning to meet the embrace of Sig- ismund, ‘‘ whoever thou art by the first dis- position of Providence, thou art now right- fully dear to me. The husband of Melchior de Willading’s daughter would ever have a claim upon his most ancient and dearest 206 friend, but we are united by a tie that has the interest of a singular and solemn mys- tery. My reason tells me that I am pun- ished for much early and wanton pride and wilfulness, in being the parent of a child that few men in any condition of life could wish to claim, while my heart would fain flatter me with being the father of a son of whom an emperor might be proud! Thou art, and thou art not, of my blood. With- out these proofs of Maso’s, and the testimony of the dying monk, I should proclaim tliee to be the latter without hesitation ; but be thou what thou may’st by birth, thou art entirely and without alloy of my love. Be tender of this fragile flower that Providence hath put under thy protection, Sigismund ; cherish it as thou valuest thine own soul; this generous and confiding love of a vir- tuous woman is always a support, frequently: a triumphant stay, to the tottering princi- ples of man. Oh! had it pleased God earlier to have given my Angiolina, how differ- ent might have been our lives! his dark uncertainty would not now hang over the most precious of human affections, and my closing hour would be blessed. Heaven and its saints preserve ye both, my children, and preserve ye long in your present innocence and affection !” The venerable Doge ceased. The effort which had enabled him to speak gave way, and he turned aside that he might weep in the decent reserve that became his station and years. Until now Marguerite had been silent, watching the countenances, and drinking in with avidity the words of the different speakers. It was now her turn. Sigismund knelt at her feet, pressing her hands to his lips in a manner to show that her high, though stern character, had left deep traces in his recollection. Releasing herself from his convulsed grasp, for just then the young man felt intensely the violence of severing those holy ties which, in his case, had per- haps something of a wild romance from their secret nature, she parted the curls on his ample brow, and stood gazing long at his face, studying each lineament to its minutest shade. ““No,” she said, mournfully shaking her head, ‘‘truly thou art not of us, and God WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. hath dealt mercifully in taking away the in- nocent little creature whose place thou hast so long innocently usurped! Thou wert dear to me, Sigismund—very dear—for I thought thee under the curse of my race; do not hate me, if I say my heart is now in the grave of th “Mother!” exclaimed the young man, re- proachfully. ‘* Well, I am still thy mother,” answered Marguerite, smiling, though painfully, “thou art a noble boy, and no change of fortune can ever alter thy soul. *Tis a cruel parting, Balthazar, and I know not, after all, that thou didst well to deceive me, for I have had as much grief as joy in the youth —grief, bitter grief, that one like him should be condemned to live under the curse of our race—but it is ended now—he is not of us— no, he is no longer of us !” This was uttered so plaintively that Sigis- mund bent his face to his hands and sobbed aloud. ‘‘Now that the happy and proud weep, *tis time that the wretched dried their tears,” added the wife of Balthazar, looking about her with asad mixture of agony and pride struggling in her countenance; for, in spite of her professions, it was plain that she yielded her claim on the noble youth with deep yearnings and an intense agony of spirit. “We have one consolation, at least, Chris- tine—all that are not of our blood will not despise us now! AmIT right, Sigismund— thou, too, wilt not turn upon us with the world, and hate those whom thou once loved ?” ‘Mother, mother, for the sake of the Holy Virgin, do not harrow my soul! ” ‘**T will not distrust thee, dear; thou didst not drink at my breast, but thou hast taken in too many lessons of the truth from my lips to despise us—and yet thou art not of — us, thou mayest possibly prove a prince’s son, and the world so hardens the heart—and they who have been sorely pressed upon be- come suspicious ‘*‘For the love of God, cease, mother, or thou wilt break my heart !” “Come hither, Christine. Sigismund, this maiden goes with thy wife ; we have the greatest confidence in the truth and princi- ~_ ples of her thou hast wedded, for she has — oe See > ee THE HEADSMAN. been tried and not found wanting. Be tender to the child; she was once thy sister, and then thou used to love her.” < Mother—thou wilt make me curse the hour I was born! ” Marguerite, while she could not overcome the cold distrust which habit had interwoven with all her opinions, felt that she was cruel, and she said no more. Stooping, she kissed the cold forehead of the young man, gave a warm embrace to her daughter, over whom she prayed fervently for a minute, and then placed the insensible girl into the open arms of Adelheid. The awful workings of nature were subdued by a superhuman will, and she turned slowly toward the silent, respectful crowd, who had scarcely breathed during this exhibition of her noble character. «© Doth any here,” she sternly asked, ‘‘sus- pect the innocence of Balthazar ?” <‘None, good woman, none !” returned the bailiff, wiping his eyes; ‘‘ go in peace to thy home, 0’ Heaven’s sake, and God be with _ of principle. thee |” “He stands acquitted before God and man! ” added the more dignified chatelain. Marguerite motioned for Balthazar to pre- cede her, and she prepared to quit the chapel. On the threshold she turned and cast a lingering look at Sigismund and Chris- tine. The two latter were weeping in each other’s arms, and the soul of Marguerite yearned to mingle her tears with those she loved so well. But, stern in her resolutions, she stayed the torrent of feeling which would have been so terrible in its violence had it broken loose, and followed her husband, with a dry and glowing eye. They descended the mountain with a vacuum in their hearts which taught even this persecuted pair that there are griefs in nature that surpass all the artificial woes of life. The scene just related did not fail to dis- turb the spectators. Maso dashed his hand across his eyes, and seemed touched with a stronger working of sympathy than it ac- corded with his present policy to show, while both Conrad and Pippo did credit to their humanity, by fairly shedding tears. The latter, indeed, showed manifestations of a sensibility that is not altogether mcompati- ble with ordinary recklessness and looseness He even begged leave to kiss ‘hundred yards from the convent. 207 the hand of the bride, wishing her joy with fervor, as one who had gone through great danger in her company. The whole party then separated with an exchange of cordial good feeling which proves that, however much men may be disposed to jostle and dis- compose their fellows in the great highway of life, nature has infused into their compo- sition some great redeeming qualities to make us regret the abuses by which they have been so much perverted. On quitting the chapel, the whole of the travellers made their dispositions to depart. The bailiff and the chdtelain went down toward the Rhone, as well satisfied with themselves as if they had discharged their trust with fidelity by committing Maso to prison, and discoursing as they rode along on the singular chances which had brought a son of the Doge of Genoa before them in a condition so questionable. The good Au- gustines helped the travellers who were des- tined for the other descent into their saddles, and acquitted themselves of the last act of hospitality by following the footsteps of the mules, with wishes for their safe arrival at Aoste. The path across the Col has been already described. It winds along the margin of the little lake, passing the site of the ancient temple of Jupiter at the distance of a few Sweeping past the northern extremity of the little basin, where it crosses the frontiers of Pied- mont, it cuts the ragged wall of rock, and, after winding en corniche for a short distance by the edge of a fearful ravine, it plunges at once toward the plains of Italy. As there was a desire to have no unneces- sary witnesses of Maso’s promised revelations, Conrad and Pippo had been advised to quit the mountain before the rest of the party, and the muleteers were requested to keep a little in the rear. At the point where the path leaves the lake, the whole dismounted, Pierre going ahead with the beasts, with @ view to make the first precipitous pitch from the Col on foot. Maso now took the lead. When he reached the spot where the con- vent is last in view, he stopped and turned to gaze at the venerable and storm-beaten pile. «Thou hesitatest,” observed the Baron de 208 Willading, who suspected an intention to escape. “‘Signor, the look at even a stone is a melancholy office, when it is known to be the last. I have often climbed to the Col, but I shall never dare do it again; for, though the honorable and worthy chatelain, and the most worthy bailiff, are willing to pay their homage to a doge of Genoa in his own person, they may be less tender of his honor when he is absent. Addio, caro, San Bernardo! Like me, thou art solitary and weather-beaten, and, like me, though rude of aspect, thou hast thy uses. We are both beacons—thou to tell the traveller where to seek safety, and I to warn him where danger is to be avoided.” There is a dignity in manly suffering, that commands our sympathies. All who heard this apostrophe to the abode of the Augus- tines were struck with its simplicity and its moral. They followed the speaker in silence, however, to the point where the path makes its first sudden descent. The spot was favor- able to the purpose of Il Maledetto. Though still on the level of the lake, the-convent, the Col, and all it contained, with the exception of a short line of its stony path, were shut from their view, by the barrier of intervening rock. The ravine lay beneath, ragged, fer- ruginous, and riven into a hundred faces by the eternal action of the seasons. All above, beneath, and around, was naked, and chaotic as the elements of the globe before they re- ceived the order-giving touch of the Creator. ‘* Signor,” said Maso, respectfully raising his cap, and speaking with calmness, “this confusion of nature resembles my own char- acter. Here everything 1s torn, sterile, and wild; but patience, charity, and generous love, hath been able to change even this rocky height into an abode for those who live for the good of others. There is none so worth- less that use may not be made of him. We are types of the earth, our mother; useless and savage, or repaying the labor that we re- ceive, as we are treated like men, or hunted like beasts. Ifthe great, and the powerful, and the honored, would become the friends and monitors of the weak and ignorant, in- stead of remaining so many watch-dogs to snarl at and bite all that they fear may en- croach on their privileges, raising the cry of WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. the wolf each time that they hear the wail yy: the timid and bleating lamb, the fairest works of God would not be so often defaced. I have lived, and it is probable that I shall die an outlaw; but the severest pangs I have ever known come from the mockery which ~~ a « ‘ " y { accuses my nature of abuses that are the © fruits of your own injustice. kicking a bit of rock from the path into the ravine beneath, “is as much master of its direction after my foot has set its mass in motion, as the poor untaught being who is thrown upon the world, despised, unaided, suspected, and condemned even before he has sinned, has the command of his own course. My mother was fair and good. She wanted only the power to withstand the arts of one who, honored in the opinions of all around her, undermined her virtue. He was great, noble, and powerful; while she had little beside her beauty and her weakness. Signori,—the odds against her were too much. I was the punishment of her fault. I came into a world, then, in which every man de- spised me before I had done any act to deserve its scorn.” ‘‘Nay, this is pushing opinions to ex- tremes!” interrupted the Signor Grimaldi, who listened breathlessly to the syllables as they came from the other’s tongue. ‘We began, signori, as we have ended; distrustful, and struggling to see which could do the other the most harm. A rever- end and holy monk, who knew my history, would have filled a soul with heaven that the wrongs of the world had already driven to the verge of hell. The experiment failed. Homily and precept,” Maso smiled bitterly as he continued, ‘‘are but indifferent weapons to fight with against hourly wrongs; instead of becoming a cardinal and the counsellor of the head of the Church, I am the man ye see. Signor Grimaldi, the monk who gave me his care was Father Girolamo. He told the truth to thy secretary, for I am the son of poor Annunziata Altieri, who was once thought worthy to attract thy passing notice. The deception of calling myself another of thy children was practised for my own secur- ity. ‘The means were offered by an acciden- tal confederacy with one of the instruments of thy formidable enemy and cousin, who furnished the papers that had been taken That stone,” . THE HHADSMAN. with the little Gaetano. The truth of what I say shall be delivered to you at Genoa. As for the Signor Sigismondo, it is time we ceased to be rivals. We are brothers, with this difference in our fortunes, that he comes of wedlock, and I am of an unexpiated, and almost an unrepented, crime !” A common cry, in which regret, joy, and surprise were wildly mingled, interrupted the speaker. Adelheid threw herself into her husband’s arms, and the pale and conscience- stricken Doge stood with extended arms, an image of contrition, delight, and shame. ‘‘Tet me have air!” exclaimed the Prince ; ‘give me air or I suffocate! Where is the child of Annunziata ?—I will at least atone to him for the wrong done his mother!” It was too late. The victim of another’s fault had cast himself over the edge of the precipice with reckless hardihood, and he was already beyond the reach of the voice, in his swift descent, by a shorter but dangerous path, toward Aoste. Nettuno was, at his heels. It was evident that he endeavored to outstrip Pippo and Conrad, who were trudg- 209 ing ahead by the more beaten road. Ina few minutes he turned the brow of beetling rock, and was lost to view. | This was the last that was known of Il Maledetto. At Genoa, the Doge secretly re- ceived the confirmation of all that he had heard, and Sigismund was legally placed in possession of his birthright. The latter made many generous but useless efforts to discover and to reclaim his brother. With a delicacy that could hardly be expected, the outlaw had withdrawn from a scene which he now felt to be unsuited to his habits, and he never permitted the veil to be withdrawn from the place of his retreat. The only consolation that his relatives ever obtained arose from an event which brought Pippo under the condemnation of the law. Before his execution, the buffoon confessed that Jacques Colis fell by the hands of Conrad and himself, and that, ignorant of Maso’s ex- pedient on his own account, they had made use of Nettuno to convey the plundered jew- elry undetected across the frontiers of Pied- mont, END OF “‘THE HEADSMAN.” LIONEL LINCOLN. DEDICATION. To WittrAm JAY, OF BEDFORD, WEST- CHESTER, ESQUIRE: My Dear Jay: An unbroken intimacy of four-and-twenty years may justify the pres- ent use of your name. LIONEL LINCOLN. ROO in their silly heads?” demanded his cap-|eat another meal, I am as ignorant as the tain. . <¢ One of the men who has been on leave, has just got in, and reports that a squad of gen- tlemen from the army dined near them, your }. honor, and that as night set in they mounted and began to patrol the roads in that direc- tion. He was met and questioned by four of them as he crossed the flats.” «< All this confirms my conjectures,” cried Lionel—‘‘ there is a man who might now prove of important service—Job—where is the simpleton, Meriton ?” ‘*He was called out, sir, a minute since, and has left the house.” «Then send in Mr. Sage,” continued the young man, musing as he spoke. A moment after it was reported to him that Seth had strangely disappeared also. ‘¢ Curiosity has led him to the barracks,” said Lionel, ‘“‘ where duty calls you, gentle- men, I will despatch a little business, and join you there in an hour; you cannot march short of that time.” The bustle of a general departure suc- ceeded. Lionel threw his cloak into the arms of Meriton, to whom he delivered his orders, took his arms, and, making his apolo- gies to his guests, he left the house with the manner of one who saw a pressing necessity to be prompt. M’Fuse proceeded to equip himself with the deliberation of a soldier who was too much practised to be easily dis- concerted. Notwithstanding his great de- liberation, the delay of Polwarth, however, eventually vanquished the patience of the grenadier, who exclaimed, on hearing the other repeat, for the fourth time, an order concerning the preservation of certain viands, _ to which he appeared to cling in spirit, after acarnal separation was directed by fortune. «Poh! poh! man,” exclaimed the Irish- man, “why will you bother yourself on the eve of a march, with such epicurean propen- sities! It’s the soldier who should show your hermits and anchorites an example of mortification ; besides, Polly, this affectation _ of care and provision is the less excusable in yourself,—you, who have been well aware _ that we were to march on a secret expedition this very night on which you seem so much _ troubled.” «I !” exclaimed Polwarth; ‘‘as 1 hope to meanest corporal in the army of the whole transaction—why do you ‘suspect other- wise ?” ‘‘ Trifles tell the old campaigner when and where the blow is to be struck,” returned M’F use, coolly drawing his military overcoat tighter to his large frame ; ‘‘ have I not, with my own eyes, seen you, within the hour, provision a certain captain of light-infantry after a very heavy fashion? Damn it, man, do you think I have served these five- and-twenty years, and do not know that when a garrison begins to fill its granaries, it expects a siege ?”’ ‘‘T have paid no more than a suitable compliment to the entertainment of Major Lincoln,” returned Polwarth ; ‘‘ but so far from having had any very extraordinary appetite, I have not found myself in a condition to do all the justice I could wish to several of the dishes.—Mr. Meriton, I will thank you to have the remainder of that bird sent down to the barracks, where my man will receive it; and, as it may be a long march, and a hungry one, add the tongue, and a fowl, and some of the ragout ; we can warm it up at any farm- house—we’ll take the piece of beef, Mac— Leo has a particular taste for a cold cut ; and you might put up the ham, also ; it will keep better than anything else, if we should be out long—and—and—I believe that will do, Meriton.” ‘‘T am as much rejoiced to hear it as I should be to hear a proclamation of war read at Charing-Cross,” cried M’Fuse—you should have been a commissary, Polly—nature meant you for an army sutler !” «Laugh as you will, Mac,” returned the good-humored Polwarth; ‘I shall hear your thanks when we halt for breakfast ; but I attend you now.” As they left the house, he continued, ‘I hope Gage means no more than to push us a little in advance with a view to protect the foragers and the supplies of the army— such a situation would have very pretty advantages ; for a system might be estab- lished that would give the mess of the light corps the choice of the whole market.” «’Tis a mighty preparation about some old iron gun, which would cost a man his R54 life to put a match to,” returned M’Fuse, cavalierly ; ‘for my part, Captain Polwarth, if we are to fight these colonists at all, I would do the thing like a man, and allow the lads to gather together a suitable arsenal, that when we come to blows, it may be a military affair—as it now stands, I should be ashamed, as I am a soldier and an Irishman, to bid my fellows pull a trigger, or make a charge, on a set of peasants, whose firearms look more like rusty water-pipes than mus- kets, and who have half a dozen cannon with touch-holes that a man may put his head in, with muzzles just large enough to throw marbles.” ‘fT don’t know, Mac,” said Polwarth, while they diligently pursued their way toward the quarters of their men; ‘‘even a marble may destroy a man’s appetite for his dinner; and the countrymen possess a great advantage over us in commanding the supplies—the difference in equipments would not more than balance the odds. ‘¢T wish to disturb no gentleman’s opinion on matters of military discretion, Captain Polwarth,” said the grenadier, with an air of high martial pride; ‘‘but I take it there exists a material difference between a soldier and a butcher, though killing be a business common to both—lI repeat, sir, I hope that this secret expedition is for a more worthy object than to deprive those poor devils, with whom we are about to fight, of the means of making a good battle; and I add, sir, that such is sound military doctrine, without re- garding who may choose to controvert it.” ‘Your sentiments are generous and manly, Mac ; but, after all, there is both a physical and moral obligation on every man to eat ; and if starvation be the consequence of per- mitting your enemies to bear arms, it becomes a solemn duty to deprive them of their weap- ons—no—no—lI will support Gage in such a measure, at present, as highly military.” ‘¢ And he is much obliged to you, sir, for - your support,” returned the other—‘‘I ap- prehend, Captain Polwarth, whenever the Lieutenant-General Gage finds it necessary to lean on any one for extraordinary assist- ance, he will remember that there is a regi- ment called the Royal Irish in the country, and that he is not entirely ignorant of the qualities of the people of his own nation.— WORKS OF FENIMORE COOPER. You have done well, Captain Polwarth, to choose the light-infantry service—they are a set of foragers, and can help themselves, but the grenadiers, thank God, love to encounter men, and not cattle, m the field.” How long the good-nature of Polwarth would have endured the increasing taunts of the Irishman, who was exasperating himself, gradually, by his own arguments, there is no possibility of determining ; for their arrival at the barracks put an end to the contro- ersy and to the feelings it was beginning to engender. ooo CHAPTER VIII. ‘« Preserve thy sighs, unthrifty girl ! To purify the air ; Thy tears to thread, instead of pearl, On bracelets of thy hair.” —DAVENANT. LIONEL might have blushed to acknowl- edge the secret and inexplicable influence which his unknown and mysterious friend, Ralph, had obtained over his feelings, but which induced him, on leaving his own quar- ters thus hastily, to take his way into the lower parts of the town, in quest of the resi- dence of Abigail Pray. He had not visited the sombre tenement of this woman since the night of his arrival, but its proximity to the. well-known town-hall, as well as the quaint architecture of the building itself, had fre- quently brought its exterior under his obser- vation, in the course of his rambles through the place of his nativity. A guide being, con- sequently, unnecessary, he took the most di- rect and frequented route to the Dock Square. When Lionel issued into the street, he found a deep darkness already enveloping the pen- insula of Boston, as if nature had lent herself to the secret designs of the British comman- dant. The fine strain of a shrill fife was play- ing among the naked hills of the place, ac- companied by the occasional and measured taps of the sullen drum ;-and, at moments, the full, rich notes of the horns would rise from the common, and, borne on the night- air, sweep along the narrow streets, causing the nerves of the excited young soldier to thrill with a stern pleasure, as he stepped proudly along. The practised ear, however, |! detected no other sounds in the music than the usual nightly signal of rest ; and when oS. baa - Sls Ay the last melting strains of the horns seemed to be lost in the clouds, a stillness fell upon _ the town, like the deep and sluinvering quiet of midnight. He paused a moment before the gates of Province-House, and, after ex- amining, with an attentive eye, the windows of the building, he spoke to the grenadier, who had stopped in his short walk, to note the curious stranger. «You should have company within, senti- nel,” he said, “‘by the brilliant light from those windows.” The rattling of Lionel’s side-arms, as he pointed with his hand in the direction of the illuminated apartment, taught the soldier that he was addressed by his superior, and he answered respectfully— ‘Tt does not become one such as I to pre- tend to know much of what his betters do, your honor; but I stood before the quarters of General Wolfe the very night we went up to the Plains of Abram; and I think an old soldier can tell when a movement is at hand, without asking his superiors any impertinent questions.” 4 ‘«“T suppose, from your remark, the general holds a council to-night ?” said Lionel. “No one has gone in, sir, since I have been posted,” returned the sentinel, “but the : lieutenant-colonel of the 10th, that great Northumbrian lord, and the old major of _ marines; a great war-dog is that old man, _ your honor, and it is not often he comes to _ Province-House for nothing.” «A good-night to you, my old comrade,” said Lionel, walking away; ‘‘’tis probably - gome consultation concerning the new exer- cises that you practise.” The grenadier shook his head, as if uncon- cerned, and resumed his march with his cus- _ tomary steadiness. A very few minutes now brought Lionel before the low door of Abigail _ Pray, where he again stopped, struck with the contrast between the gloomy, dark, and unguarded threshold over which he was about to pass, and the gay portal he had just left. _ Urged, however, by his feelings, the young man paused but a moment before he tapped lightly for admission. After repeating his _ gummons, and hearing no reply, he lifted the latch, and entered the building without _ further ceremony. The large and vacant apartment, in which he found himself, was LIONEL LINCOLN. . 208 silent and dreary as the still streets he had quitted. Groping his way toward the little room in the tower, where he had met the mother of Job, as before related, Lionel found that apartment also tenantless and dark. He was turning, in disappointment, to quit the place, when a feeble ray fell from the loft of the building, and settled on the foot of a rude ladder which formed the means of communication with its upper apartments. Hesitating a single moment now to decide, he then yielded to his anxiety, and ascended to the floor above, with steps as light as extreme caution could render them. Like the base- ment, the building was subdivided here, into a large, open ware-room, and a small, rudely- finished apartment in each of its towers. Following the rays from a candle, he stood on the threshold of one of these little rooms, in which he found the individual of whom he was in quest. The old man was seated on the only broken chair which the loft contained, and before him, on the simple bundle of straw which would seem, by the garments thrown loosely over the pile, to be intended as his place of rest, lay a large map, spread for inspection, which his glazed and sunken eyes appeared to be intently engaged in marking. Lionel hesitated again, while he regarded the white hairs which fell across the temples of the stranger, as he bowed his head in his employment, imparting a wild and melancholy expression to his remarkable countenance, and seeming to hallow their possessor by the air of great age and attend- ant care that they imparted. “T have come to seek you,” the young man at length said, “since you no longer deem me worthy of your care.” ‘«“You come too late,’ returned Ralph, without betraying the least emotion at the suddenness of the interruption, or even rais- ing his eyes from the map he studied so in- tently; “too late at least to avert calamity, if not to learn wisdom from its lessons.” “ You know, then, of the secret movements of the night?” “Old age, like mine, seldom sleeps,” re- turned Ralph, looking for the first time at his visitor ; ‘‘for the eternal night of death promises a speedy repose. I, too, served an apprenticeship in my youth to your trade of blood.” 256 “Your watchfulness and experience have then detected the signs of preparation in the garrison ? Have they also discovered the ob- jects and probable consequences of the enter- prise?” “Both; Gage weakly thinks to crush the germ of liberty, which has already quickened in the land, by lopping its feeble branches, when it is rooted in the hearts of the people. He thinks that bold thoughts can be humbled by the destruction of magazines.” “Tt is then only a measure of precaution that he is about to take ?” The old man shook hig head mournfully as he answered— ‘