neighbours made inquiry after them every day, and thought that they would never die :-but they did die -yet so gently that Lucy knew it not, till, speaking to one of them, she received no answer. They were sitting in their easy chairs, one on the one side of the fire, the other on the other side. Their thread of life was so attenuated, that it broke without a shock. To them was granted the rare blessing, to meet in a better world without parting in this.

THE BRIDAL OF GERTRUDE.

BY G. P. R. JAMES.

AT the distance of about twelve miles from the point at which the Necker falls into the magnificent Rhine, between the small and beautiful town of Neckersteinach, and the famous city of Heilbron, a deep and narrow gorge, lined with wood, and flanked, on either hand, by rocks, carries down a small and sparkling stream into the wider channel of the Necker. Following the course of that rivulet up towards the mountains of the Odenwald, in which it takes its rise, lies a small village domineered by one of the frowning castles of the ancient feudal lords of Germany. That castle now stands a gray ruin, raising its proud but shattered head in the majesty of desolation, twined with immemorial ivy, and with its aged brow crowned, by the fantastic hand of nature, with rich garlands of wild flowers. Thus have I seen it myself, catching the shadows of the clouds as they flitted across the sky, whilst the humbler village, that has grown up at its feet, lay smiling in the calm sunshine. But in the days that I speak of, though the lords of that castle dwelt amidst the clouds and storms of ambitious life, yet the light and the sunshine of prosperity was upon those castle walls, and splendour and pageantry, the song, the revel, and the feast, rioted, day after day, within the stately halls. How the means were obtained by which that profuse expenditure was kept up, how often the groaning peasant was forced to yield his hard-earned produce to supply his lord's extravagance, how often the wandering merchant was despoiled of the fruits of his industry, to furnish resources to the idle and the turbuJent, how often plunder, massacre and crime were the ources from which that luxury was derived, may easily be divined by all those who know the history of those mes, and of that country. For the present our story eads us to the humbler dwellings which lay below.

It was a pretty village, and a peaceful spot, for the inhabitants paid highly for the protection of their lords above, and, in general, obtained it in due measure, so that the evil days they knew were few. Each cottage stood by itself, surrounded by the host of apple trees, which still distinguishes that part of the world: each had its little garden of herbs and fruit; each had its little portion of allotted woodland; and when the lords of Erlach looked out from their stronghold, over the world of forest that lay extended at their feet, they could distinguish their own immediate villages by the glow of the apple blossoms, or the snowy flowers of the cherry, chequering the darker foliage of the beech and the oak. Little variety existed amongst the houses; some were larger, and some were smaller, but all were built very nearly on the same plan, and the only two which distinguished themselves at all from the rest, were those of the pastor of the place, and of the forester of Count Erlach. The latter was a wealthy man, as the affairs of the village went. He had been a great favourite with his lord, who was one of the best of the nobles of those days; and under him, Müller, the forester, had accumulated no insignificant wealth. On the death of the old lord, some apprehensions had been entertained by the worthy peasant, regarding the duration of his favour with the young count, who had been absent for many years from his paternal home, gracing the Imperial Court, to which the emperor was, at that time, making every effort to draw the young nobility of distant principalities. He was reported to be a gay and gallant youth, somewhat too much addicted to the pleasures of the court, more familiar with the camp, the battle-field, the ball-room, and the capital, than with the sports of rural life, and the usual avocations of a feudal noble: and old Karl Müller shook his head, when the news came that the old count had died in Vienna, whither he had gone to see his son.

The villagers found no difficulty in translating that prophetic shake of the bead, easily divining that the worthy forester believed new days and less pleasant ones were about to fall upon them. No immediate change, however, was perceptible: the forester was continued in

all his privileges and charges; all the old servants of the castle were retained and provided for; every month, couriers from Vienna brought the orders of the young count, displaying great care and exactitude in maintaining every thing in the state wherein his father had kept it up. The feudal retainers necessary for the protection of the peasantry, were always held in a due state of preparation and discipline; and so prompt and well-judged were all the arrangements of the young lord, that it became a proverb amongst the people of the Odenwald, that Count Wilhelm had a long arm, for it reached from Vienna. The peasantry, however, and the old retainers, the good seneschal of the castle, the lieutenant commanding the soldiers, the forester himself, and even the fool whose jests or nonsense had given amusement to the long dinners of the old count, began to grumble as year after year passed by, and their young lord never made his appearance amongst them.

Our tale, however, refers more immediately to the forester and his family, which consisted of three persons besides himself. His wife had been dead for years, and he had never taken unto himself another helpmate, alleging as a reason-though perhaps it was not the true one-that, having noble blood in his veins, being a poor relation of the count himself, he could never hope to find another wife of equal dignity with his last good dame, who, by some very circuitous process, was linked, by a long chain, to the Lanschadens of Neckersteinach. She had left him, however, enough pledges of their love to prevent his home from looking desolate: two sturdy lads, who soon grew up into stout and powerful men; and one fair girl, who, from a pretty child, rose, day by day, into fresh beauties, till she ended in becoming the envy of all the women's hearts, and the admiration of all the men throughout the country round.

The eldest son was called Karl after his father; the second was named Wilhelm from the young count; and the girl had received the name of Gertrude, from the late countess, who had held her at the baptismal font. If the two youths showed forth, in their strong and stalwart limbs, the vigorous formation of their father, and enabled

him to say that not a knight in all the emperor's court was better formed than they were, whatever gentle blood the family did really possess, made itself manifest in Gertrude Müller, as she grew up towards womanhood. The fine and delicate features, the graceful and rounded form, the easy and dignified movements, the bright and thoughtful expression, were all above the ordinary habits and appearance of the people with whom she lived: and, though she mingled amongst them with pleasure, and neither affected nor perceived a difference, yet they themselves discovered it; and while a few, who could not understand or appreciate her worth, felt angry at the superiority they were unwilling to admit, the rest of the peasantry paid her the tacit tribute of admiration and respect. And now it was Gertrude Müller's bridal morning, and though, amongst the youths of the villages round about, there might be, here or there, a sore heart, no one was unwise enough to show his disappointment. Every girl, throughout ten miles of the Odenwald, was glad; for some knew Gertrude, and loved her; and many who loved her not, thought it quite as well that her fair face should be one out of the way, and her sweet voice sound no longer in the ears of the young men of the neighbourhood. In short, all the youth of her native kreis wished her happiness and the matron's coif, as soon as might be ; but many of the elder part of the community shook the wise head, and thought that both old Karl Müller and his daughter were doing an unwise thing. In the first place, they urged that she was very young, too young to take upon her the serious duties of a wife. But Karl said not a whit; her mother had been his wife at the same age. Besides that cogent reason for her marrying soon, he had one which was more powerful still. Three weeks before, a youth, with several gallants in his train, had ridden up to the castle of Erlach, demanding to see its lord, though all the world knew, Karl observed, that the count was absent. This same gay young noble, however, after reposing for a time at the castle, had made an excuse to go down to the forester's house, and had remained there longer than old Karl liked. He had since returned twice alone, and sought by many a wile to speak to Gertrude