am, my dear Julius," answered the kind Professor, as he rose from his chair, and grasped with cordial pressure the hand of the inquirer. "Can I do anything to oblige you?" "I have called upon you to request a favour," answered the stranger hesitatingly, as he surveyed with searching looks the three students, whose features were not distinguishable in the Rembrandt chiaroscuro of the Professor's study. "If no secret," said the Professor briskly, as he replenished his stove with beechwood, "explain yourself freely. All present are my particular friends, and certainly no enemies of yours. Say, my dear boys! you all know and respect our worthy Harpocrates?" The students briefly assented, and the Professor invited the stranger to take a seat near the fire, which, darting playfully through the pile of beech, soon roared loudly up the chimney. "I believe that Lieutenant B. is your near relation?" began the pale youth, in tones which betrayed an inward tremor. "He is my nephew," replied the Professor. "I have understood," continued the stranger, "that he will command the detachment ordered on duty at the execution to-morrow. I am particularly desirous to stand near the criminal at the moment of decapitation, and wish, through your kind interference with the Lieutenant, to obtain admission within the circle." "By all means," answered the Professor. "My nephew has invited me to accompany him, but I have declined it, and I must own that your request surprises me no little. How is it, my dear Julius, that you, who are by nature and habit so gentle and fastidious, can seek such strong aliment as the near inspection of a public execution? Even I, who served three campaigns in the artillery before I betook myself to mathematics, could not face a catastrophe so appalling." "I study anatomy as an amateur," replied Julius, somewhat disconcerted; "and, as I may eventually embrace the medical profession, it is essential to my purpose to steel my nerves by inuring them to every trying spectacle." "You are right, Julius!" exclaimed the Professor, with cordial assent. "Trials are the fostering element of great hearts and lofty natures. To become great in anything, we must take the Egyptian test, and purify our feeble minds by passing through fire and water. Call upon me to-morrow morning at seven. I will introduce you to my nephew, and he shall give you a place near the headsman. And now, not another word on this painful subject, which has haunted us ever since we heard the workmen hammering the scaffold this afternoon. So cheer up, my dear boys! Light the candles, and fill your meerschaums, while I compound a bowl of such punch as Anacreon would have made, had he known how.--No, no! my dear Julius," he continued, seizing the arm of the young stranger, who was rising to depart. "A friendly chance has brought you into our cordial circle, and I must insist upon your remaining my guest."