ought to thank me for it; for now you may consider that you have done me no injustice, and may thus sleep with a pure conscience. I, on my side, have no longer a right to complain of you, except, indeed, that you have made me get battered about till my bones ache-and all for nothing, but let's not speak o' that—it's a trifle."

"How!" replied de Mauny, provoked by his son's assumed calmness, more even than by the escape of the enemy. "Dost thou then glory in thy conduct!-Thinkest thou I will suffer thee to lord it here!-Art thou in thine own fortress or in mine?-Are these vassals at my command, or will they obey thy bidding?—I'll soon show thee!-Hither mine henchmen," he continued, beckoning to two sturdy fellows waiting near him,-" lead this stubborn boy to the Northern tower.-Go, Sir," he continued to his son," and in a prison, and on prisoner's fare, learn you to behave with decency to your parent, and to forget this most disgraceful passion for the sorry jade who hath bewitched your senses."

CHAPTER XII.

Such

In the mean while, Emily, the original, though innocent mover of all this turmoil, continued a close prisoner in her own chamber, whence she was not suffered to move, either day or night, lest she should be espied by the menials. a complete, and almost solitary, confinement, (for it was not very frequently that either the Baron or his lady allowed themselves to visit her) was but little suited to the taste or temper of a young girl, who had ever hitherto been accustomed to rove at liberty. Her grief, too, was greatly aggravated by the uncertainty of her lover's fate. And of what steps his father might have taken against him-save that she had heard of his imprisonment, she knew not; but from old

de Mauny's recent conduct to herself, she looked upon him as a harsh, hard-hearted man, who would not scrupie to adopt any measures however violent or oppressive, to obtain an object of desire. Perhaps he would compel him into marrying with some other damoyselle; perhaps, indeed, his imprisonment had been in consequence of a refusal to comply with such orders.

One fine autumnal night, being, from the agitation which such, and a thousand other thoughts of a like nature had cast her into, unable to sleep; she arose from her bed, and placed herself at the window to enjoy the freshness of the breeze. The moon was up, the nightingale pouring forth his melancholy notes, and the hour was that in which happy. lovers love to meet, and in which, those whom love has treated rudely, choose to complain of his unkindness:-Emily was of this latter class. She thought of her lover-of his father-of her own desolate condition-of the unhappiness she had occasioned-and of that which she herself endured; then said that could she but promise

herself a reasonable probability of escaping, she would not hesitate to make the attempt, and seek an asylum in some other country.

Yet, where should she even succeed in escaping-was she to look for a place of safety? this was a question too natural not to occur even to her, young as she was; yet, was it no sooner asked, than with all the fond confidence of youth, 'twas also answered. She might she said hire herself to some one for whom she would work, and thus obtain subsistence. She could play upon the virginal or guitar;-there would be an hundred ways she imagined by which she could gain a living. Alas! poor Emily,—she who had been bred so delicately, and been in daily intercourse with dames and seigneurs, is now about to mix with herdsmen and peasants, that she may gain a livelihood by manual labour: yet, how hard soever this might be, she still preferred it to subsisting on the bounty of another, who was either incapable or unwilling to protect her against the barbarity of one persecuting her with such an unrelenting cruelty.

Yet, insane and hopeless as the project of

thus flinging herself upon the world might have been, it was by no means unnatural, or without charms. There is a delight, an extatic enjoyment in thus feeling, though abandoned, yet at large;-though friendless, free: and there exists in the heart of youth a buoyancy, which makes it not only cheerfully bear up against risk and difficulty, but even court them for the sake of conquest.

Many of my readers may remember the toy, value twenty sols, given to Jean Jaques Rousseau, at Milan, and by means of which he and his friend, Barclé, had calculated they should, and that too speedily, make a large fortune. At the end of a few days of their journey towards Geneva, this source of immense wealth got broken; thus were the hopes of the two enthusiasts in one moment destroyed; they looked at it an instant, then burst out into laughter, and again set themselves to hope in some other direction.-Could I but imitate them in this species of mirth, I should be the merriest man in Christendom. Ah! ma pauvre fontaine à l'Héron combien souvent tu as été cassée.