The virtuous inhabitants of that tranquil valley troubled themselves but little about what past in the rock-founded Castles of the neighbouring lords. They looked upon them as the abodes of vice and of injustice, loathed their possessors for the one, and feared them for the other. Their power was too weak to permit their preventing the commission of those crimes, which frequently took place in these fortresses, though the report of such deeds of horror occasionally reached them; therefore their most earnest wish, respecting these dens of robbers, was to escape the notice of their owners, who might otherwise have been tempted to make them also experience the weight of their oppression. But Walter Forest (a man, whose sentiments and actions were in every respect far superior to those of his co-temporaries) needed only to be informed, that two unhappy women stood in need of his protection, to make him resolve on granting it. By making enquiries cautiously and discreetly among the household of the Count of Carlsheim, he ascertained the truth of what he had collected from the child’s narration, and also that the captives of whom he spoke had been rescued from the flames. His resolution was immediately adopted, and swift and successful was the execution of his design. Henric Melthal was an old acquaintance and friend of Walter; and it was to him, that the latter applied for information respecting the history of Edith and myself. That faithful vassal of Count Venosta had long lamented in secret the fate of his former mistress, and anxiously wished to discover the place of her confinement. Readily therefore did he enter into Walter’s plan for my deliverance; and in the mean while (through fear of losing time) he dispatched his son in all haste to give my uncle information of every thing that had taken place. The measures adopted for our rescue by these two honest Helvetians is easy to be guest from what has been already related. Henric brought with him a small band of faithful friends from the neighbourhood of Sargans, which Walter strengthened with some of the bravest inhabitants of the vale of Frutiger. They were daring enough to present themselves at Ravenstein, as Envoys from the Count of Carlsheim; and the very rashness of the design made it pass without suspicion. The firm and commanding tone, which they assumed, overawed the numerous soldiers of Ravenstein; our friends were well aware, that their artifice could not remain long undiscovered, and therefore they lost not a moment in endeavouring to reap the fruits of it; they were successful, and the captives were once more free!