the whole Court with considerable surprize, that after the fatal hawking party, he had never smiled. A deep and settled melancholy fell upon him; and the gloom of his brow was not chased away even by the intelligence of the Princess's convalescence. Thoughtful in the midst of company, morose to his family, and peevish to his dependents, it became every day more and more apparent that the agitation of his soul had soured every hour of his existence. About a fortnight after the accident in question, and while holding a military levee, he conversed with some of the officers of the regiment of Saltzdahlen, in the low and languid tone which he had assumed from that horrible hour, which appeared to have terminated his peace of mind for ever! He was in the act of replying to an observation of the celebrated French Marshal R——, who had paid some ordinary compliment upon the fine appearance of the corps upon parade, when an Aide-deCamp brought him a note from Lord E. F. which, apologizing for his abrupt departure, on the day before, without taking a formal leave of his Serene Highness, communicated the fact, "that his presence at home was rendered indispensable by reason of some pressing information which he had received from thence;" adding, "that his friend Barham, being surprised and uneasy at the manner in which he had been last addressed by his Highness, intended to accompany his Lordship; and in the meanwhile respectfully returned his grateful acknowledgments for the favor and consideration which his Highness had been pleased

to extend to him." The perusal of this note affected the Duke in no ordinary degree. He read it over once or twice with visible emotion: questioned the Aide-de-Camp as to the fact of the departure of the two English officers, and dispatched a messenger to ascertain the fact. His return confirmed the intelligence. At times the Duke appeared overjoyed; at times cast down under a burden of intolerable despondency. He shewed the note to the Duchess; severely taxed his over hasty resentment which had dismissed Barham-then urged the advantage and good fortune of his departure being voluntary and attended with circumstances of such a description; next he doubted of the reality of their departure. The household were summoned, examined, and dismissed they were asked what they knew of Barham; and it turned out that he had lived in the most rigorous exclusion, since the animadversion addressed to him by the Duke in the courtyard of the castle. He had, however, been seen on the preceding night; when a boatman, it was said, had recognised him in company with Lord E. F. who wished to engage his boat to take them down the Aller, and so to Bremen. The man not being able to accompany them, refused to hire himself, but recommended his brother, with whom they finally agreed, intending, as was supposed, to take shipping at the last mentioned port. Whatever had been the cause, before the arrival of this note, of the Duke's melancholy, it wore off visibly and rapidly afterwards.

It is time, however, now to visit the chamber of

our heroine. most assiduous punctuality, and the most affectionate anxiety the disturbed couch of her lovely daughter. It was long before the intermitting paroxysms of frenzy, the frightful remembrances of her fearful situation, entirely subsided. The Duchess in those intervals discovered the secret of her heart; but willing to think that the manner in which she repeated the name of Barham, was the effect only of her distempered imagination, and that it would with equal facility, dwell on any other name which might happen to present itself, she resolved to keep the discovery to herself. At length, Caroline being recovered so far as to converse on the subject of her extraordinary escape, without experiencing that shuddering sensation of disgust to which the most distant allusion to it first gave rise; her mother one day requested her to state particularly the circumstances of the accident, and the appearance of her unfortunate deliverer. To this she replied, that her violent alarm, added to the circumstance of that person's starting so abruptly from the other side of the precipice (where it appeared a mystery to all, for what purpose, or in what possible manner, from the steepness of the declivity, he could have concealed himself) had prevented her from at all observing his features at the time: that he was interposed, moreover, between her horse's head and the brink of the precipice; a situation in which, even at a less calamitous and awful moment, it would have been difficult to have formed any correct idea of his countenance. One

Her fond mother attended with the

fact, however, she thought she could remember; and that was, that he wore the uniform of a private trooper in the regiment of Saltzdahlen: and that in person and figure, so far as she could venture to guess, he most resembled the Englishman, Wentworth; (who was celebrated for the feats of strength and intrepidity with which he was accustomed to amuse the whole town of B-k.)

That, my love," replied the Duchess, “I "I apprehend is impossible; for I know by my pensionlist that he is still very ill; being not yet recovered from the wounds which he received in the late affair with the advanced guard.-He has been lately on the report of the sick; but your account suggests a mode of enquiry which probably may be successful, and enable us to perform at least a sacred duty, though we cannot, alas! repair an unatonable loss: we will take care to provide for the wife and children of this brave man, if he was married;—” (Caroline turned pale at the apprehension.)

"And if he be not, Madam, your Highness"Will not fail to extend this justice to his relatives."

The benevolent Princess insisted on being the messenger and administratrix of that justice herself. She drove, with a trembling heart, and almost fainting purpose to H-n-tt, where the Barracks of the Invalids were, and was soon waited on by the old and humane Adjutant-General Van Erfurt. On making her wishes known, the roll was called over on the adjoining parade; all the men were

1

either present or accounted for; till the last, which, by an odd coincidence, was no other than "Wentworth." "Absent, with leave, and sick at Wolfenstein," was the sole information the disappointed Princess could obtain regarding him. She did not hesitate, however; and, without being disheartened by this piece of military brevity, she returned to Wolfenstein herself with all imaginable speed; and repaired to the humble lodging, near the Public Library, where she was told the trooper lodged. The woman of the house, after recovering from the surprise and awful dismay, which are occasioned among the German peasantry, by the most ordinary condescension of the great, explained that Wentworth had left his lodgings about three days before, and had not been heard of since.

"Has he been accustomed to walk out of late?" enquired Caroline.

"Jesu Maria!" exclaimed the old Sybil, "I cry your mighty Serene Princess's pardon, but the poor fellow has never quitted his bed, since he returned from the last battle with the French, where the handsome foreign gentleman, they say, cut down sixty of them with his own hand."

(The sigh which escaped from Caroline at this incidental allusion, was checked by an inclination to smile at the marvellous exaggeration of his prowess.)

"And this Wentworth, my good woman-"

-fought with him, I assure you: poor fellow, and cruel wounded he was; and how he can have

E.