With one voice we both pronounced the name of the dear lost child, who was now restored to us so unexpectedly. Rapture almost deprived the Countess of speech and recollection; and I was myself too much bewildered with the joy of having recovered the little Ludolf and my own liberty at the same time, to be capable of affording my friend much assistance. As soon as we could recollect ourselves, we endeavoured to call Walter to the side of the litter, in order that he might explain these mysterious transactions; but he paid no attention to us. This was not a fit time for explanations and expressions of gratitude. Not a moment was to be lost, and we traversed the valley with the rapidity of the tempest. Till we were safe on the other side of the mountains, or had crost the lake of Thun, we were desired not to expect our curiosity to be fully gratified; in the mean while we were obliged to content ourselves with such circumstances, as we could collect from Ludolf’s unconnected account, which however left us no doubt, that we were indebted for our rescue to the courage and address of Walter Forest. Providence had made use of Edith’s desperate resolution of dropping her little darling from the prison-window, to effect our deliverance. You see in this an example, my children, what insignificant trifles furnish the Omnipotent Ruler of all things with the means of blessing his creatures! Our imprudences, nay even our very faults are not without their use in the great chain of accidents; and managed by a hand of superior power they often produce consequences totally different from those, which might naturally have been expected to follow! In that night of terror Ludolf’s better angel had guided him safely through a dangerous path on every side beset with steep precipices and vast tremendous chasms. Weeping and exhausted with fatigue, he was found at the foot of a rock by a peasant from the vale of Frutiger. On being informed that he had just made his escape from the burning Castle, and was unwilling to return thither, the honest countryman conducted him to the house of Walter Forest, one of the most distinguished inhabitants of those parts. He received the child with that hospitable kindness, which no true Helvetian ever refuses to the unfortunate. Walter was _indeed_ a true Helvetian; and he felt double pleasure in giving protection to a child like Ludolf, who to the beauty of a cherub united the most unprotected helplessness: surely there is no chain more powerful to bind a noble heart. It was long, before his new guardian could comprehend the meaning of the child’s broken narrative; but the names of his mother and myself (both of whom Ludolf supposed to have perished in the conflagration) and his calling himself the Count of Mayenfield, roused Walter’s attention sufficiently to induce him to enquire farther into the business; and those enquiries at length made him master of the whole truth.