for some field of glorious enterprise, and dazzled by visions of personal distinction. How could he judge the knotted questions which agitate the deepest minds of great thinkers? A mere pretence, a well-painted scene of oppression or sufferance, might easily enlist the sympathies of a boy whose impulses have more than once made him bestow on the passing beggar the little hoardings of weeks. And yet, with all these, he is not guilty,--I never can believe that he could be! Oh, sir, you know not, as I know, how treason in him would be like a living falsehood; how the act of disloyalty would be the utter denial of all those dreams of future greatness which, over our humble fireside, were his world! To serve the Kaiser,--the same gracious master who had rewarded and ennobled our great kinsman,--to win honors and distinctions that should rival his; to make our ancient name hold a high place in the catalogue of chivalrous soldiers,--these were Frank's ambitions. If you but knew how we, his sisters, weak and timid girls, seeking the quiet paths of life, where our insignificance might easiest be shrouded,--if you knew how we grew to feel the ardor that glowed in his heart, and actually caught up the enthusiasm that swelled the young soldier's bosom! you have seen the world well and long; and, I ask, is this the clay of which traitors are fashioned? Be a father to him, then, who has none; and may God let you feel all the happiness a child's affection can bestow in return! “We are a sad heritage, Sir Count! for I now must plead for another, not less a prisoner than my poor brother. Kate is in a durance which, if more splendid, is sad as his. The ceremony of betrothal--which, if I am rightly told, is a mere ceremonial--has consigned her to a distant land and a life of dreary seclusion. There is no longer a reason for this. The sacrifice that she was willing to make can now confer no benefit on him who sleeps in the churchyard. The Prince has shown towards her a degree of indifference which will well warrant this breach. There was no affection on either side, and it would be but to ratify a falsehood to pledge fidelity. You alone have influence to effect this. She will hear your counsels, and follow them with respect, and the Prince will scarcely oppose what his conduct seems to favor. This done, Sir Count, let Kate be your daughter; and oh! in all the glory of your great successes, what have you gained to compare with this? She loves you already--she has told me of the affectionate gentleness of your manner, the charm of your chivalrous sentiments, and a nobility marked by every word and every gesture. Think, then, of the untaught devotion of such a child--your own by blood and adoption--