To talk over calmly these and similar circumstances with Ethelbert in person, such was my uncle’s object in endeavouring to throw himself in his way; and the obstinate care, with which the latter avoided every explanation, might as well be ascribed to a sentiment of false pride which made him feel humiliated by Count Venosta’s superior wealth, or to the insinuations of ill-disposed advisers, as to envy, or malignity, or any other bad feature in his character. Count Leopold and myself had always made it a rule to consider Ethelbert’s actions in the most favourable light. It is true, we had both been long the inhabitants of a court, the proper atmosphere of suspicion and mistrust; but on our first arrival among the frank and honest children of Helvetia, we dismissed those enemies of rural peace for ever, and determined to be open-hearted with those whose hearts were so open to us. The circumstance which at length brought my uncle and Count Ethelbert together, was a dispute between the monks of Curwald and their Abbot; and which at last was carried to such a pitch, that it became necessary to refer it to the cloister’s liege-lord. But who was this same liege-lord? was it Leopold, who was in actual possession of the revenue, or Ethelbert, in whom the legal right still vested? The monks appealed from one to the other over and over again, and at length it became absolutely necessary that a meeting should take place between them, in order that the business might be finally adjusted. My uncle had never forbidden my interference in matters, which did not exactly fall within the province of women; nor indeed would it have been in my power to remain inactive on this occasion, in which the honour and welfare of those persons who (after my uncle) were most dear to me, were very deeply implicated. Christian, the persecuted Abbot of Curwald, was my father-confessor; the Prior Matthias, who shared with him the unmerited hatred of the monks, had been my instructor in botany, one of my most favourite studies, and which the Rhætian mountains afforded me every means of cultivating with success. I knew the excellence of both these men, and exerted all the powers of female persuasion, which consist in tears and entreaties, to keep my uncle steady in the interests of my venerable friends. I was too anxious about the issue of this affair to suffer Count Venosta to go alone to the place, which had been appointed for the interview between him and his rival. Report had informed me, that Ethelbert appeared disposed to protect the persecutors of innocence; I resolved, that he should be made thoroughly aware of the real state of the case; nor could I suppose, that any thing more could be requisite in order to obtain the decision, which I so ardently desired to hear pronounced. I was still to learn, that it is possible to act in opposition to a principle, of whose justice we are thoroughly convinced.