“My more than father, you see in me the son of your once implacable enemy, the Duke of Zähringen. He has been many years gathered to his fathers; and I, as his only son, have succeeded to his title and his possessions. My heart, my liberty, were entirely lost in the parlour of the Abbess of the Ursulines. But when I learnt whose child my Ida was, and your sad story, I resolved ere I would make her mine to win not only her love, but also your favour and esteem. How well I have succeeded, this little magic circle on my Ida’s finger is my witness. It will add no small measure to your happiness to know that my father had for many years repented of the wrongs which he had done you; and, as much as possible to atone for them, entrusted the education of his son to the care of this my best of friends, the Abbot of St. Anselm, that he might learn to shun the errors into which his sire had unhappily fallen. And now,” continued he, advancing, and leading Ida towards the abbot, “I have only to beg your blessing, and that this lady, whom through Heaven’s goodness I glory to call my wife, be invested with those insignia of the rank which she is so fit to adorn.” Walter, or, as we must now call him, the Duke of Zähringen, with Ida, then lowly knelt before the venerable abbot, whilst the holy man, with tears in his eyes, invoked upon them the blessings of Heaven. His Highness then rising, took one of the coronets, and placing it on Ida’s head, said,— “Mayst thou be as happy under this glittering coronet, as thou wert under the russet hood in which I first beheld thee.” “God and our Lady aid me!” replied the agitated Ida; “and may He grant that I may wear it with as much humility. Yet thorns, they say, spring up beneath a crown.” “True, my beloved,” said the duke, “and they also grow beneath the peasant’s homely cap. But the rich alchemy of my Ida’s virtues will ever convert all thorns into the brightest jewels of her diadem.” FINIS. MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PATERSON’S NEW ENGLAND NOVELS. ------------------ Cloth, gilt top, 2s. each; ornamental paper cover, 1s. each. Contain the following Works:— NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE. 1. THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES. 2. THE SCARLET LETTER. 9. MOSSES FROM AN OLD MANSE. 10. THE NEW ADAM AND EVE. 11. TWICE-TOLD TALES. 12. LEGENDS OF THE PROVINCE HOUSE. 13. THE SNOW IMAGE. 17. OUR OLD HOME. 18. TANGLEWOOD TALES. 20. THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE. 21. TRUE STORIES FROM HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY. 22. A WONDER-BOOK FOR GIRLS AND BOYS. A. S. HARDY. 14. BUT YET A WOMAN. THEO. WINTHROP.