—“Oh! Edith,” he replied to our supplications, “spare me these entreaties; the unmanly conduct of your tyrant is too base to be permitted to pass unpunished. Reflect, of how many happy years the monster has deprived us, which we might have passed together in peace and joy; reflect too, that he robbed you, my innocent Urania, of your good name, and by that means of the assistance of your best, your only friend. Fool that I was, how could I have been so credulous as to believe his calumny! How artfully did he long contrive to keep me ignorant of his separation from you! and when at length the remonstrances of Henric Melthal, and the cries of your faithful Gertrude, penetrated to my solitude, how skilfully did he lull to rest my love and my anxiety by slanderous tales, to which your uncle (under whose eye you had so long past a life of the purest innocence) ought never to have given credit?”— Such being his feelings, it was impossible for our entreaties to make any impression on Count Venosta. He was positively determined to punish the Count of Carlsheim, not only for the crimes which he had committed, but for the error which (through him) he had himself been induced to commit. For this purpose he conducted us to the strong Castle of Upper Halbstein, on the banks of the Rhine, which was situated not far from the scene of action, and consequently was then more convenient for our abode than the distant vale of Munster. Scarcely had we reached the Castle, when we received a pleasure totally unexpected, but long most anxiously desired. In vain had we endeavoured to discover, what was become of the youthful Minna of Mayenfield, whom I had been compelled to leave behind in Count Ethelbert’s power. My uncle assured us, that no sooner had he been informed of my departure from the Castle of Sargans, than in hopes of gaining some consolation for my loss, he had requested the Count of Carlsheim to entrust her to his care. His application however had been unsuccessful; and the only intelligence which he could gain respecting her was, that on the day after my forcible departure from Sargans, Gertrude had found means to quit the Castle privately, and had been accompanied in her flight by the Damsel of Mayenfield. Yet when Gertrude made her appearance at Count Venosta’s to prevail on him to attempt my deliverance, and was questioned respecting the above report, she denied any knowledge of the place of Minna’s concealment. The mystery was now dissolved; on the day after our arrival at the Castle on the Rhine, I had the pleasure of being welcomed by my faithful Gertrude!