filled purse into his rival's hand, and wishing him well, poor Frederic, heart-broken at leaving his Adelinda in such hands, was drawn up to the mouth of the mine, and under a strong mounted escort, carried to the skirts of the forest, which the party did not reach till day-break, in a direction quite opposite that of the mine.

After Konigsberg's departure, and when too late to remedy the error, Cronstadt discovered that in his haste, and in the gloom of the ill-lighted cavern at night, he had given his rival one entire bag of that false money with which the ingenuity of some of his band supplied him, to mingle occasionally, and in small proportions, with the current coin; the next news which greeted the alarmed bandit, was the arrest of his late captive, at Wirtemberg, for uttering base money, and the suspicions attached to him in consequence: neither he nor his men doubted, that their late prisoner would, to save his own life, disregard (like themselves) the sacredness of an oath, and betray them; so that whilst busily engaged in consulting what steps should be taken in this extremity, and in preparing for an immediate evacuation of the mine, they had little time to concern themselves about their fair captive, over whom Vürsteenslaw obtained permission to keep almost exclusive guard: a permission, of which, after he had narrated some twenty times to his weeping and untiring auditress, the history of her poor Frederic's calamities, he availed himself most largely to lay plans for her escape; encouraged by her assurance that if he could effect it, he should be re-engaged to work in the baron's now profitable mine.

The removal of so large a body of free-booters as that over which Cronstadt had the command, and whose numbers were almost daily augmenting by the influx of the idle, the dissolute, the discontented, and the distressed, required no little generalship to effect without suspicion, and was necessarily a work of time; a distant place of residence had to be fixed upon, prepared for their reception, and to avoid suspicion, single individuals, and parties of two or three, were to be sent forwards to it, at various times. Cronstadt intended, when the main body of his bandit forces had thus moved safely to their new quarters, to follow them with Adelinda, and a few of his band by way of guard; and as

he knew that the annual criminal trials ere long would take place at Wirtemberg, and, little dreaming of the noble nature of his rival, justly apprehended the consequences to himself of any disclosures Konigsberg might think proper to make, he hurried his preparations for departure from the Black Forest, and, truth to say, found little time, and less inclinations, for love and Adelinda to occupy his thoughts. True, having, pro tempora, resigned her to the care of Vürsteenslaw and an old hag, a sort of dependent upon the bounty of the troop, he contented himself with the idea that he should soon have her entirely to himself, and that, too, in a situation so far removed from her paternal home, as to render her person and misfortunes equally unknown.

Poor Frederic, meanwhile, was drinking deeply of the bitter cup of affliction: if his present unexpected imprisonment gave a death-blow to every latent hope of his being able to serve his captured mistress, his excessive agony may be imagined when he discovered that his trial was to take place almost immediately, and, that unless a miracle saved him, his body would be decaying in a dishonored grave, long ere the lapse of the six months in which he had promised, and sworn, to keep secret the proceedings and retreat of his rival.

The day of trial arrived, the unhappy youth was brought forth and found himself indicted on more than one capital charge, the crown and the Baron de Meinheim being his prosecutors. The charges brought against him were those, of uttering base money, refusing to confess his connection with the coiners of it, and thereby aiding and abetting a set of felons in their nefarious designs against the properties of the crown, and the liberties and lives of the subject; and of contumaciously refusing to avow all that he knew concerning the abduction and subsequent fate of the Baron de Meinheim's daughter,-strongly suspected in consequence :-to have been murdered by the prisoner and his associates; to these Frederic answered not a word, and his contempt of court and pre-supposed crimes, were rather vengefully punished by the sentence of death, previous subjection to the torture, together with the confiscation of his paternal property to the state.

Against the latter clause a couple of poor Kœnisberg's

relations appealed, in favor of themsleves, but could not obtain a remisssion of the sentence; and the baron, and Von Fritz, strenuouly exerted themselves to gain from royal clemency a pardon in full for the unhappy young man, but only succeeded so far as to effect a commutation of the sentence in these respects, viz.-a fortnight's reprieve from execution, a total respite from undergoing the torture, and a remission of the entire forfeiture of his property for one half.

Poor Konigsberg endeavoured to employ the melancholy interval between the passing of his sentence and its fearful execution, in religious exercises, in writing many letters to relatives and friends, in the disposal of that portion of his property which royal clemency still allowed him to consider his own, and particularly in addressing, most amply and affectionately, his once betrothed bride, should she ever be recaptured from Cronstadt; for this letter he intended to commit to the care of the baron, enclosed in another addressed to himself, and containing a full and succinct account of the extraordinary circumstances under which he so unjustly met his death; but which was not to be opened before the expiration of the fatal six months.

About four nights, however, previous to the day appointed for his execution, and when the worn, weary, and afflicted young man, was enjoying a repose, such as only, amid the deepest injuries and afflictions, innocence can know, his goaler entered his cell, aroused him with a hearty shake, and desired him to arise, dress, and follow him immedi. ately. Konigsberg, without being able to gain a word from the man in answer to the various questions with which he plied him, dressed, as he was desired, and was, to his infinite astonishment, allowed to quit his cell without his fetters; still more was he astonished when, after having crossed the inner and outer courts of the prison, he found himself at its principal portal, which was opened for him by the turnkey with a profound bow: a carriage stood in waiting at the gate of the gloomy edifice, its door was opened, its step let down, and Koenigsberg, whose throbbing heart now intimated that he was, by some amazing miracle, free, his character placed above suspicion, and himself about to be restored to the bosom of that one dear family, in whom was

rested the hope and happiness of his existence, cleared those steps with a bound, and took the only vacant place in the vehicle, the others being occupied by a couple of men. The door was then shut, the carriage drove off with speed; Konigsberg had indeed left the gloomy and fatal prison for ever behind him, and was going, our readers will guess whither, when we state that his silent companions were Lodowig and Vürsteenslaw.

In a few minutes the carriage stopped at the door of a handsome house, owned by Herr Von Fritz, in one of the principal streets of Wirtemberg, and Frederic being dragged, rather than led, by his companions, into a comfortable apartment, warmed by a brilliant fire, lighted by numerous wax tapers, and cheered no less by the presence of a goodly company than by the welcome preparations for a substantial supper, found himself surrounded by all whom in this world he held most dear! But, whilst he clasped the agitated Adelinda to his glowing and faithful bosom, lost upon him were the babel congratulations of the Baron, Lodowig, Aunt Rhoda, Nurse Winnifred, Von Fritz, Vürsteenslaw, and even his disappointed property-hunting relations, whose "waiting for a dead man's shoes," had thus been rendered inutile; as little did the happy Frederic heed, if he felt, the jostlings, pushings, twitchings, and kissings, of the throng, amongst whom was nothing but clamour and confusion, laughter, tears, and joy, for his recovered liberty and life; not, however, unmingled with bitter lamentations on his wasted and worn appearance; nor was it until after the conclusion of the glorious hot supper, which had not failed of realizing all the half-famished young gentleman's brightest imaginations, that the good people, so kindly interested in his fate, could be brought to give him the information he required, accounting for his present happy reverse of fortune.

From this it appeared, that on the day previous to that appointed for Frederic's trial, of which Cronstadt had taken care to procure a very accurate account, or rather, we should say, on the night of that day, the bandit attempted to remove with Adelinda to his new quarters; but that Vürsteenslaw, who had resolved to afford the distressed girl that assistance previous to quitting the Black Forest which

he feared he should have no opportunity of offering afterwards, having fallen in with Lodowig (whom he knew when a worker in the baron's mine) communicated to him the proceedings and present plans of the bandit chief, whose projected removal was in consequence prevented by a strong party of military stationed at the mouth of the mine, to intercept his flight, to make him their prisoner if they could, and to rescue Adelinda.

Cronstadt, finding himself betrayed, fought like an enraged tiger, laid a couple of soldiers dead at his feet, hurled a third headlong down the shaft of the mine, but was finally slain; the few of his band whom he had reserved as a guard, captured. Adelinda recovered, and immediately restored by Lodowig and Vürsteenslaw to her father, then at Wirtemberg. Since which the whole transactions heretofore detailed, and which were known to Vürsteenslaw, were made public, and the necessary measures taken for the honorable acquittal and liberation of poor, unconscious, Frederic; now freed for ever from the machinations of that wicked rival, by and through whom he had been so innocent and severe a sufferer.

It will be surmised that no very long period elapsed after the happy restoration of our hero and his lady-love to each other, to their family and to their friends, ere the taste and talents of Aunt Rhoda, for the occult subtilties of the honorable art of confectionary, were put in requisition; and that at the marriage feast of Frederic and Adelinda the bride-bread was eaten with a higher relish, and the excellent cider-posset quaffed with treble gusto, when the guests assembled on that happy occasion, were duly apprised of the incredible escape the poor young bridegroom had from affording himself a banquet to the worms, and how nearly the blooming bride missed being lost for ever to her husband, family, and self! All which curious particulars, have been fully detailed in this veracious narrative; the which we felicitate ourselves upon having the honor of being the first to promulge to our good friend, the public.