near Dornfeld declared they had seen Captain Sturmgang's housekeeper, Theresa Frohberg, wear a gown of this stuff three years before, which they remembered by this token, that they had censured her at the time among themselves, for wearing garinents above her degree, and prophesied there would no good come of it. The tipstaff, before returning to X., had asked an outdoor servant of Captain Sturmgang's how were all at Dornfeld, and received for answer that all there were well, except Madame Theresa, who was ill in bed. "I see you are prejudiced against me—misunderstandings""Ah!-misunderstandings." "I am convinced, Mr. Assessor, that you are judging me unjustly. It is true that I have suffered myself to be imposed on by that unhappy young man-that I have had a better opinion of him than he deserved. He has deceived me, brought shame and grief upon his family, made our honest name a town-talk. I confess I expected, for all this, rather compassion than insult from you." "Mr. Sub-rector; I should be sorry to insult misfortune; but I will acknowledge that I do not feel very strongly moved to compassion for you, because I have seen how little you showed for that poor young fellow, Ludwig Sturmgang, who nevertheless had nearer claims on you than you have on me." My next step was to send the district physician to visit this woman, and from his report I learned that she had been delivered of a child within a few days, but was now in a state which admitted of her being judicially interrogated. I repaired accordingly to Dornfeld without delay, and had no difficulty in obtaining from her, in her first alarm, the confession that she had, three days before, given birth to a child, the father of which was Christian Schein, her master's stepson; that she had concealed her condition, had delivered herself in secret, and, according to previous concert, given the babe to Schein, who left it in the neighborhood That is not so certain. I believe young of human habitations, that it might be the sooner Sturmgang fully worthy to perform that pious found, and not perish. She acknowledged that office, and should be sorry, Mr. Sub-rector, to this was the second child she had borne to Chris-be the wall of partition that separates father and tian Schein, but the former was still-born, and had been buried by its father in the garden. To arrest Schein was now the most pressing concern, but, on taking steps for that purpose, we discovered that that bird was flown, having first broken open the captain's desk, and taken out of the same three hundred dollars in gold. The housekeeper, however, I had removed to Zell, (on the doctor's certifying that this might be done without danger,) and placed in the prison infirmary, under the charge of a careful nurse. The next morning the sub-rector entered my office, with a face rigid as that of the statue in Don Juan. "Mr. Assessor," said he, in a hollow voice, "I come to you on a distressing occasion." I requested-in no very sympathizing manner, I am afraid-to know how I could serve him. "You are conducting the investigation of this affair of my brother's housekeeper?" I bowed. "And my nephew is implicated?" "Sir," answered I," you should be aware that a magistrate engaged in a criminal investigation does not take every casual inquirer into his confidence." "As you please: I know, however, that he is implicated." 66 Then, sir, as a magistrate, I must ask you how you know it?" From common report, and from my brotherin-law." "Did he deserve compassion! God pity my poor brother-in-law, betrayed by those who are nearest to him! The hand of a stranger will close his eyes, for one son after another shows himself unworthy to do it!" son. "There is no one but my brother-in-law himself that can remove the wall of partition, as you call it. I have often enough tried to bring them together, to move my brother-in-law to forgiveness. But Ludwig is to the full as impracticable as his father, and after he had so contumaciously rejected my mediation, I don't see how I should have gone on pressing it on him. No, I look on that young man as doubly unworthy, without sense of filial love or of common gratitude." "And have you, Mr. Sub-rector-have you endeavored to mediate in this unhappy quarrel?" "To be sure I have: who should, if I did not?" "Who, indeed? And may I entreat you to tell me in what manner the young man, as you have expressed it, contumaciously rejected your mediation!" "My nephew Christian, who wished as much as I do to see the good understanding between his father and his brother restored, went several times to Ludwig, to induce him, if possible, to abandon the law suit. On these occasions, Ludwig expressed himself, regarding me, in a way that made me highly indignant-asserted that I belied him with his father with a view to get a share in his inheritance myself. Such aspersions, I confess, had the effect of greatly embittering my feeling towards him, and I felt in no way called upon to make him a personal visit-which otherwise I should have done. However, about two years ago, I had got my brother-in-law a good deal softened, sent my nephew to Ludwig, and bid him use the moment, as I was convinced that if he would now beg his father's pardon, a complete reconciliation would be brought about. How was my good will requited? Ludwig answered my nephew, Tell your uncle, he may tan the hides of his scholars as much as he pleases, but that I am a little too old to have the fifth commandment flogged into me.'" เ "Your nephew brought you that message from Ludwig?" "DEAREST THERESA : "He did-and a still more impertinent message than that: 6 And tell him, moreover,' added this graceless young man, that he may bless his stars that he has not me for a scholar, for I would get up a revolution in the school-room, and byI need not repeat his oaths- we'd flog the flog-hence for New Orleans. Ere you receive this, the ger. "Very disrespectful, indeed." "That was not the worst. And as for my father,' he went on, you may tell him from me that the state showed its judgment in not promoting him, and that it was a fortunate day for the navy when he left it. And tell him he did well when he planted me behind a counter instead of taking me to sea, for by'―more oaths- I'd have had the crew in a mutiny in three days, and we'd have hung the old tiger at the yard arm.' I should like to know, Mr. Assessor, what you think of that?" "And your nephew delivered that message to Captain Sturingang?" "He did, with fear and trembling." "Well, Mr. Sub-rector, I begin to think we have all of us fallen into some errors of judgment. But no more on the subject at present-leave the rest to me. I have now to attend the court, and must pray you to excuse me. When a culprit has once made a confession of his main offence, it is generally not very difficult to bring him to acknowledge his minor ones. This reflection induced me to examine the housekeeper with respect to the poisoning affair. To my surprise and vexation she stuck to her old story, that she had, from the store-room, seen Ludwig Sturmgang spill something out of a paper bag into the soup-kettle, and at every subsequent examination she repeated this without variation. I had the young man summoned, and asked him (though not on his oath, as it was possible that he might, in the course of the inquiry, have to appear before the tribunal as an accused person) when he had last spoken with Christian Schein. He answered, on the day he left his father's house. I admonished him that it was probable this question might be put to him on his oath within a few days. He replied that he could give no other answer to it than he had now done. In reply to further questions he distinctly denied that he had ever had a conversation with his stepbrother respecting the sub-rector or a reconciliation. I asked him (without mentioning the assertion of the housekeeper) had he gone at all to the soup-kettle on the day of the alleged attempt to poison. He answered most decidedly in the negative; there was nothing to take him to the soup-kettle on that or any other day. The whole business seemed to me a tangled yarn, and I dismissed Ludwig Sturmgang without coming to any conclusion. "After all," thought I, "he may be guilty, and that a jury would pronounce him so is almost certain. Theresa Frohberg's intrigue with Schein, to be sure, throws suspicion on her testimony; and yet her persisting in it now, after the flight of her lover, and when she can have no conceivable interest in blackening young Sturmgang, is, to say the least, very embarrassing. In my heart I'm convinced of his innocence-but, thank Heaven, I'm not on his jury." An event occurred the next day which solved the riddle. A letter addressed to the housekeeper, and bearing the Bremen post-mark, was handed to the court; it was from her seducer, and ran thus: "Before I leave my country forever, I cannot resist the impulse which bids me send you a last-an eternal farewell. I am, you will be glad to hear, safely arrived in Bremen, and sail an hour shores of Europe will have disappeared from my view. We shall meet no more. Forget me, Theresa; but be assured that you will never be forgotten by "Your sincerely broken-hearted "CHRISTIAN SCHEIN." On reading this letter, the unfortunate creature broke into bitter tears, and cursed the author of her misery. She now confessed that she had been the tool of this miscreant in her inculpation of Ludwig Sturmgang. Schein had promised her marriage, but there were two hindrances to the fulfilment of the promise-the life of Captain Sturmgang, and Ludwig's claims as his heir. The captain was old, and breaking down; they could reckon on his being soon out of the way, but the heir was a more serious obstacle. Schein, however, had long profited by the absence of the younger Sturmgang, to ingratiate himself with the old man, and insure himself, at least, a legacy; nor had he neglected his many opportunities to blacken Ludwig in his father's eyes. Ludwig's betrothal, and the pecuniary disagreement between him and his father, enlivened the hopes of the abandoned pair to make their harvest at his expense, and the accidental circumstance that his horse fell sick at Dornfeld, and that he got arsenic to wash it, inspired them with the bellish plan, which was as hastily carried out, as it was conceived, of making the old man believe that his son intended to poison him. By the prospect of being now shortly able to marry, Schein induced the housekeeper to aid him in this work. She went in the evening into the town, and bought a sufficient quantity of tartar emetic; this she gave to Schein, who placed in her hands the arsenic, which he had got, by means of a false key, out of his brother's desk. Theresa put the poison into the soup, after she had served her lover with his own portion, and this, having mixed the emetic in it, he immediately took. It was not long down before he was seized with vomiting; he cried out that he was poisoned; the housekeeper pretended to recollect having seen the captain's son put something into the pet: it was examined, and the arsenic was found. This plan succeeded: the father and son were irreconcilably disunited; the latter hardly knowing why, for Theresa's testimony against him had never come to his ears, and he was not aware of his father's grounds either for believing that the matter found in the pot was arsenic, or for concluding that he had put it in. To exasperate both parties the more against each other, and to render any danger of a reconciliation more unlikely, Christian Schein had fabricated the malediction and threat of ignominious treatment, which he announced to Ludwig on the part of his father, and had afterwards brought to the captain and the sub-rector accounts equally mendacious, of his having visited young Sturmgang on errands of peace, and of the insulting messages, to both the old gentlemen, by which the rebellious son had met these overtures. Theresa Frohberg had been the faithful ally of Schein in all these measures; and, even when their intrigue came to light, and the seducer absconded, she continued to keep the secret of their 66 alliance, believing that Schein, once beyond the | It was an even chance whether they were to adreach of pursuit, would not fail to provide her with vance towards each other or to draw back. the means of rejoining him, or would even, perhaps, return, when the scandal was blown over, and sit as fast as ever in his stepfather's favor; for she had not been informed of the act of the theft which had preceded his flight. Now, however, he had cast her off, and all motive for concealment of the truth was at an end. The two rogues had fallen out, and honest men, according to the proverb, came by their own. No sooner had I received the above confession, than I despatched the tip-staff to summon the captain and the sub-rector to give evidence before the court. After asking them some questions about Christian Schein's amour with the housekeeper, I said to the captain Sir, the tribunal has been compelled to intrude into your domestic secrets, because, as I need not tell you, it is instituted to the end of discovering and punishing criminals. It is known to you that arsenic was brought into your house for a certain alleged purpose, and was there used as the means of an intended crime." "It is but too well known to me.' 99 "You yourself have named your housekeeper to me as a witness; it has become necessary that you should hear her testimony before the court." "Pray, spare me the humiliation of hearing the crime of my son deposed to before a public tribunal." "I am sorry to say it cannot be." I rang, and directed that Theresa Frohberg should be brought in. She appeared pale and dejected. I bid her repeat her deposition of yesterday. It was done. The two old men stood as if turned into stone, as the story of the prisoner removed the scales from their eyes. 66 Now, gentlemen," said I," be so good as to walk into the waiting-room till these depositions are signed and sealed. I will be with you in a few minutes." They did so, and I shortly followed them. 66 Now," said I, "I must request you to accompany me a short distance." I said this with so official a look, and in so civilly peremptory a tone of voice, that they thought I had authority to take them wherever I pleased, and followed me without a word. Both looked like men suddenly awakened, and not knowing rightly whether they were in the body or out of the body. Need I tell the reader that I led them to Ludwig Sturmgang's? As we were at the door, and I was going in, the captain grasped my arm, and asked "Sir, what does this mean?-where are you bringing me?" "Go with him," said the sub-rector, soothingly. "Let the assessor have his way, he means your good." With these words, he pressed my hand. We went in. The shop-boy was behind the counter; the young wife sat in the parlor, rocking the cradle, and sewing. At the sight of the old captain, she sprang up with a cry of terror, and darted out of the room. "What's the matter?" said Ludwig, coming in; but, as he saw his father and his uncle, his arms fell as if paralyzed at his sides. Father and son stood at the two opposite doors of the room. Sturmgang," said I to the young man, "it was I that brought your father and your uncle hither; they did not know my purpose, though I dare say they guessed it. The moment is comethe quarrel is at an end-all is explained. Sturmgang, throw yourself into your father's arms.” Sturmgang stood as if his shoes were part of the floor. "Captain, then, embrace your son. He stood like his son's counterpart. "Mr. Sub-rector," appealed I-but he was crying. "Good folks," said I, "do you mean to put me in a passion? Ludwig Sturingang, will you be friends with your father?" "I will," answered he, quickly. 66 Captain, has your enmity no end?" "It is past," was his equally quick reply. "Well, then, when two people that have fallen out mean to be good friends again, why, either one of them must take the first step, or both must step out together. Come-together be it." "No," said Ludwig Sturmgang, stepping forward, "I am the son-the first step belongs to me. Father, there is my hand-forgive me !" "Stop!" shouted the old man, "stand back! Mine must be the first step: it is I that have to say forgive!' I alone am guilty of all this misery. My poor, poor Ludwig, I have done thee bitter, ay, bitter and crying wrong. God forgive me!" "Hurra!" cried I, and with a spring was in the kitchen. "In with you, Madame Sturmgang," said I to the trembling young wife; "you'll find none but friends in the parlor." The following Sunday my wife and I, in compliance with a formal invitation, sent two days before, dined at Dornfeld. The company was not large; there were only ourselves, the Sturmgangs, and the sub-rector. After dinner, the captain presented us pipes, and bid Margareta bring a light, which she did, sobbing violently, as she had done, to the great peril of the captain's equanimity, all dinner time. "I have got no matches," said the old gentleman; " but here is some paper. Good Mr. Assessor, will you tear it neatly into strips: we can light our pipes with it very well." The will was in a very few minutes torn up, and helped to light the "calumet of peace." "I want a purchaser for Dornfeld," said the captain to me. "I am going to live with the children in town. It's so dull out here." I puffed. By and by, the sub-rector drew me to a window. "When is your office open?" asked he. He pressed my hand. "Are you still angry with me?" "Ye watchful stars," thought I," and I have called this man Mephistopheles! Wise judges are we of each other!'" Puff, puff, puff-f-f-f-f. THE BEAR-CHASE. [From the French.] ONE evening, a short time after the battle of Fontenoy, (1745,) a group of the king's bodyguard was congregated near the Latona basin, at Versailles, listening to two of their number discussing a subject which at that period was rarely a matter of controversy in military circles. "Refuse a duel after a public affront!" exclaimed the tallest of the speakers, whose bronzed features were rendered almost ferocious by a thick red mustache: "it is a stain that all the waters of the deluge would not wash away." "I repeat, Monsieur de Malatour," replied the other in a calm, polite tone, that there is more true courage in refusing than in accepting a duel. What is more common than to yield to passion, envy, or vengeance; and what more rare than to resist them? Therefore it is a virtue when exhibited at the price of public opinion; for what costs nothing, is esteemed as worth nothing." "A marvel! Monsieur d'Argentré, I would advise, if ever the king gives you the command of a company, to have engraven on the sabres of the soldiers the commandment-' Thou shalt do no murder.'' "And wherefore not? His majesty would have better servants, and the country fewer plunderers, if we had in our regiments more soldiers and fewer bullies. Take, as an example, him with whom you seem so much incensed: has he not nobly avenged what you call an affront by taking, with his own hands, an enemy's colors, while your knaves most likely formed a prudent reserve behind the baggage?" "Cowards themselves have their moments of courage.' "And the brave also their moments of fear." "The expression is not that of a gentleman.' "Yet a moment. Here is my proposition: we are all assembled this evening previous to our leave of absence: I invite you, then, as also these gentlemen present, to a bear-hunt on my estate, or rather amongst the precipices of Clat, in the Eastern Pyrenees. You are very expert, Monsieur de Malatour-you can snuff a candle with a pistol at twenty paces, and you have no equal at the smallsword. Well, I shall place you before a bear, and if you succeed-I do not even say in lodging a ball in his head, but merely in firing upon him I shall submit immediately after to meet you face to face with any weapons you choose to name, since it is only at that price I am to gain your good opinion." "Are you playing a comedy, sir?" "Quite the contrary. And I even repeat that this extreme haste shows more the courage of the nerves, than of the true courage arising from principle." "What guarantee have I, should I accept your proposition, that you will not again endeavor to evade me?" "My word, sir; which I take all my comrades to witness, and place under the safeguard of their honor." There ran through his auditory such a buzz of "It is that of Monsieur de Turenne, whose approbation, that De Malatour, though with a bad family equalled either of ours, and who avowed grace, was obliged to accede to the arrangethat he was not exempt from such moments. ment. It was then agreed that, on the 1st of SepEverybody has heard of his conduct to a bragga-tember, all present should assemble at the Chateau docio, who boasted in his presence that he had du Clat. never known fear. He suddenly passed a lighted Whilst the young lord of the manor is making candle under the speaker's nose, who instantly the necessary preparations for their reception, we drew back his head, to the great amusement of the bystanders, who laughed heartily at this singular mode of testing the other's assertion." "None but a marshal of France had dared to try such a pleasantry. To our subject, sir. I maintain that your friend is a coward, and you "And I- 99 repeated D'Argentré, his eyes flashing, and his lips firmly compressed. "Holla, gentlemen!" exclaimed a third party, who, owing to the warmth of the argument, had joined the group unperceived. "This is my affair," said he to Monsieur d'Argentré, holding his arm; then turning to his adversary, added— "Monsieur de Malatour, I am at your orders." "In that case, after you, if necessary, ," said D'Argentré, with his usual calmness. By my honor you charm me, gentlemen! Let us go." "One moment," replied the new comer, who, young as he was, wore the cross of St. Louis. "No remarks. Gentlemen, hasten." "Too great haste in such cases evidences less a contempt for death than an anxiety to get rid of his phantom." shall explain the accusation of which he was the object, yet which had not branded him with any mark of disgrace among a class of men so punctilious on the point of honor. The young Baron de Villetreton, in entering amongst the gentlemen who formed the household guard of the king of France, carried with him principles which remained uncorrupted amidst all the frivolities of one of the most licentious courts in Europe. Such, however, is the charm of virtue, even in the midst of vice, that his exemplary conduct had not only gained him the esteem of his officers, and the friendship of his companions, but had attracted the attention of the king himself. One alone among his comrades, Monsieur de Malatour, took umbrage at this general favor, and, on the occasion of some trifling expression or gesture, publicly insulted him. Villetreton refused to challenge him, as being contrary to his principles, but determined that this seeming cowardice, in not fighting a well-known duellist, should be redeemed by some action of eclat during the campaign just commenced. That moment had arrived; and for his noble conduct in taking the English colors at the battle of Fontenoy, he received the cross of St. Louis from the king's own hand on the field, I guarded a dozen large mastiffs, held in leash by the eulogium of Marshal Saxe, and a redoubled his vigorous helpers. The young baron and his enmity on the part of De Malatour. The first care of the young baron on arriving at his estate was to call his major-domo, an old and faithful servant. "I have business of thee, my master," said he cordially shaking him by the hand. Speak, monseigneur," replied the pareur, who was deeply attached to his young lord: "you know the old hunter is yours to his last drop of blood." "I never doubted it, my old friend. Did you receive my letter from Paris?" "Yes, sir; and those gentlemen, your comrades, will have some work before them." "Are there bears already on the heights then?" asked Villetreton, extending his hand in the direction of one of the lofty peaks, whose summit, covered with snow, glittered in the morning sun. "Five in all-a complete ménage-father, mother, and children; besides an old bachelor, whom the Spaniards had driven to this side." "In less than a week we shall go in pursuit of them. Do you know, pareur, some of my comrades are rather rough sportsmen: there is one of them who is able to snuff a candle with a pistol at twenty paces." "Easier, perhaps, than to snuff a bear at four," replied the old man laughing. That is what I said also. But as I should wish to judge for myself of his prowess, you must place us together at the same post-at the bridge of Maure, for instance." "Hum!" said the pareur, scratching his ear; "it would better please me to have you elsewhere." 66 Very well, very well," murmured the pareur as he retired; "I shall have my eye on him." Eight days afterwards, all those invited, not excepting Monsieur de Malatour-who, despite the delicate attentions of the host, preserved a cold reserve were assembled at the chateau. The nagnificent grandeur of the Pyrenees, their shining summits relieved against the blue sky of Spain, was an unlooked-for pleasure to the greater number of the guests, who for the most part belonged to the rich and fertile plains of the interior. The morning following their arrival, a body of trackers and scouts, provided with all manner of discordant instruments-trumpets, saucepans, drums, &c., &c.-were assembled under the walls of the chateau, with the pareur at their head; while by his side stood the mandrin, who proudly friends, armed with carabines and hunting-knives, had scarcely appeared, when, by a sign from the pareur, the whole troop moved silently forward. The dogs themselves seemed to understand the importance of this movement; and nothing was heard but the confused tramp of feet, blending with the noise of the distant torrent, or, at intervals, the cry of some belated night-bird flying heavily homeward in the doubtful glimmer of the yet unopened day. As the party reached the crest of the mountain which immediately overhung the chateau, the first rays of the sun breaking from the east glanced on the summit of the Pyrenees, and suddenly illuminating the landscape, discovered beneath them a deep valley, covered with majestic pine-trees, which murmured in the fresh breeze of the morning. Opposite to them, the foaming waters of a cascade fell for some hundreds of feet through a cleft which divided the mountain from the summit to the base. By one of those caprices of nature which testify the primitive convulsions of our globe, the chasm was surmounted by a natural bridge-the piles of granite at each side being joined by one immense flat rock, almost seeming to verify the fable of the Titans; for it appeared impossible that. these enormous blocks of stone could have ever been raised to such an elevation by human agency. Sinister legends were attached to the place; and the mountaineers recounted with terror that no hunter, with the exception of the pareur, had ever been posted at the bridge of Maure without becoming the prey of either the bears or the precipice. But the pareur was too good a Christian to partake of this ridiculous prejudice: he attributed the fatality to its real cause-the dizziness arising from the sight of the bears and the precipice combined, by destroying the hunter's presence of mind, made his aim unsteady, and his death the inevitable consequence. He could not, however, altogether divest himself of fears for his young master, who obstinately persevered in his intention of occupying the bridge with his antagonist. After placing the baron's companions at posts which he considered the most advantageous, the pareur rejoined his men, and disposing them so as to encompass the valley facing the cascade, commanded the utmost silence to be preserved until they should hear the first bark of his dog. At that signal the mastiffs were to be unleashed, the instruments sounded, and all to move slowly forward, contracting the circle as they approached the cascade. These arrangements being made, the pareur and his dog, followed by the mandrin alone, disappeared in the depths of the wood. For some minutes the silence had remained unbroken, when suddenly a furious barking commenced, accompanied by low growling. Each prepared his arms; the instruments sounded; and the mastiffs being let loose, precipitated themselves pell-mell in the direction of the struggle. Their furious barking was soon confounded with the cries of the hunters and the din of the instruments, mingled with the formidable growling of the bears, making altogether a hideous concert, which, rolling along the sides of the valley, was repeated by the distant echoes. At this moment the young baron regarded his companion, whose countenance, though pale, remained calm and scornful |
