In the bosom of a tranquil valley situated near the Rhine rose the walls of a monastery, which in point of wealth was only inferior to the monks of Saint Basil in Solothurn, and to the valuable endowments and extensive possessions of the Great Lady of Zurich. Since time immemorial had this district belonged to the Lords of Carlsheim; and they were so conscious of its worth, that when they sold the rest of their estates beyond the power of redemption, they had only parted with this as a pledge. My uncle had already entered without success into various negociations with Count Werner (Ethelbert’s father) on this subject; and after the old man’s death, he had found his son equally determined never to relinquish entirely his right to “the jewel of the land,” for such was the popular name of the Cloister in the Wood. Various means were proposed to my uncle (several by the monks themselves) for subduing the obstinacy of the original possessor: but Leopold’s tender conscience thought some unjust, and some unfeeling, and every thing remained as it was. —“Let us not,” he always answered, when prest upon this subject, “let us not rob this young man of the flattering hope, that by means of his claims on this delightful territory he may one day be enabled to get a firm footing in the land of his once opulent inheritance! I will not be the man who deprives him of it; far more willingly would I lend him my aid towards realizing his expectations, were I assured that he is really the character for which I take him. In the mean while, let him continue to feast his imagination with the hope of one day enjoying the treasures said to be buried in the Abbey of Curwald, and with the rest of those chimæras which have been painted to me in such brilliant colours for the purpose of seducing me to seize _that_ by force of arms, to which without Ethelbert’s voluntary agreement I can never possess a satisfactory right.”— It is but too certain, that no means were left untried, which might exasperate my uncle against Ethelbert of Carlsheim; who on _his_ side suffered many an interested adviser to assail his ear with similar representations. Things were carried to such a length, that feudal war would certainly have been declared, and the dwellings of tranquillity must have been deluged with an ocean of blood, had not Count Venosta’s generosity induced him to give way on all possible occasions.