Florian looked at him in silent wonder, but unhesitatingly followed him into the capacious cellars, where the old man unlocked a door which his guest had never before observed. Florian entered with his conductor, but started back in dismay as he saw a number of executioner's swords and axes hanging round the walls of a low vaulted room, in the centre of which several cabbage-heads were fixed with pegs upon an oblong block of wood. The headsman took one of the swords from the wall, drew it from the scabbard, carefully wiped the glittering blade, and then offered it to Florian. "Now, my son," he began, "try your strength upon these cabbage-heads. It is easy work, and requires nothing but a steady hand." "Gracious heaven! you cannot be in earnest!" exclaimed Florian, retreating from him in deadly terror. "Not in earnest?" rejoined the headsman, sternly; "I consider your compliance as a matter of course. You love my daughter--you have won her affections--and surely, Florian, you are not the man to play her false!" "God forbid!" exclaimed Florian with honest fervour. "I dearly love her, and seek no happier lot than to become her husband." "I offered her to you, my son!" said the other with returning kindness; "but you did not like the conditions, and declined her. You have since, without my permission, sought and won her affections, and you have no right to flinch from the implied consequences. It is high time to come to a conclusion, and to apply yourself in good faith to the only pursuit through which you can ever obtain my Madelon." "The only one?" timidly repeated Florian. "I have, 'tis true, abandoned for your daughter's sake the world, and the world's prejudices; but I am young and industrious; I possess valuable knowledge, and surely I may find some employment which will maintain a wife and family. Do, my good father, relinquish this dreadful vocation"---- "And my daughter!" exclaimed the headsman, with loud and bitter emphasis. "What is to become _her_? If even you could step back within the pale of society, _she_ would for ever be excluded. But you have neither moral courage nor animal bravery enough for any worldly pursuit--your original station in society is irrecoverably gone--and if you attempt to leave this safe asylum, the sword of justice will face you at every turn. No, no, Florian! I love my future son-in-law too well to expose him to such imminent and deadly peril. There, read that paper! The contents will bring you to your senses."