"What meanest thou, Magdalena?" cried the young man. "Strive not to comprehend me," said the old woman in a more subdued tone--"I would not foster vain delusions;" and, as if to remove the impression of what she had said from Gottlob's mind, she hastily added, "You have not seen the Prince at Saaleck?" "Alas, no!" replied the young artist. "My noble patron had already left the castle with a small retinue, and I was too late to meet him. It was said that he was gone upon a visit to all the various monasteries in this part of the country, in order to hold secret counsel with the different dignitaries of the church in his domain, respecting the late heresies that have appeared, and already spread so widely throughout the land." Magdalena was about to answer, when a new and general movement among the crowd, showed that the expectation of the multitude was aroused. The tapers upon the altars in the church had been lighted in splendid profusion. The vapour of incense already scented the air, as it floated down the aisles. The organ pealed through the church; and the priests, in their sacerdotal robes, were seen advancing along the middle aisle towards the entrance, to meet the expected dignitary. But Gottlob and Magdalena gazed not upon this priestly show; their heads were turned in another direction, and looked from the church across the square. Their hearts beat with one feeling. Both murmured to themselves with one accord, "She comes!" Already the pikes of the guard preceding the noble Ober-Amtmann appeared emerging from the street leading to the episcopal palace, and the soldiers, entering the square, cleared the way rudely through the crowd, when Magdalena again pressed tightly her companion's arm. "Swear to me, young man," she whispered in a low and solemn tone, "as you value your salvation--swear to me ever to respect the purity and peace of mind of that innocent and happy girl, upon whose fair face I shall now gaze for the last time!" Gottlob looked at the excited woman with much surprise. "Swear to me that you will not trouble her unconscious heart with words of love, until, perhaps, a better time may come!" she continued, with hesitation. "Magdalena, I understand thee not," replied the young man. "But before me she is as a holy saint of heaven, at whose shrine we may bow down and pray, but whom we cannot pollute with earthly touch." "God grant you happiness, young man!" said Magdalena, dropping her flowing tears upon the hand she held in her own.