International Weekly Miscellany, Vol. 1, No. 2, July 8, 1850

arguerite, with her eyes closed and half reposing in Dumiger's arms, was enjoying all the happiness which the sense of returning affection gives. The night was somewhat changed s

h are covered with ruins when the trumpet sounds through the city and the tocsin rings to arms; when war or rebellion sweeps like a pestilence, n

, which made Marguerite start and c

utside of the door, he had a right to be within. Marguerite and Dumiger both looked at the fire, as though they could read in its confused shapes the reason of this interruption;

whose lives are not a succession of parties of pleasure, of soft dreams and golden fulfillments-to such favored ones all sense of happiness is deadened by satie

uttered a faint cry. Margueri

all the inhabitants of Dantzic, and more especially to the poorer classes, who gazed on them with awe, for they were in general stern, hard-featured, and hard-hearted men, who did their duty without

air, and drew his missive from his pocket. It was Dumiger's bill to

ped his recollection. "Ach Gott!" exclaimed Dumiger, "is it possible?" but observing

there,-the few which had remained after the expenses of the last fortnight. For some time past he had devoted all h

debtor was either dragged to the common prison or all his goods were seized. Either alternative was terrible. He looked round

pipe, and was ca

e, we have no time to lose, Herr Dumiger. The money or the furniture, or to prison. Consult the pretty jungfrau there: but you must come to a conclusion d

clasped her hands in his own, and as his lips clung to hers he exclaimed, "Perish all things but love." He rose-he was on the point of desiring the man to take away the clock in payment of the debt, in the hope that he m

sent you on t

of astonishment at his presumption, and wit

rand Master?"

that there is no time to spare. Tell me what course you intend to take. Give up some articles in this room-the

into his possession; that it was a deep-laid scheme to spoil him of the result of all his labor. Better, far bette

t for a short time. I will write from my prison to some of my friends; they will not dese

and the lips which touched h

although her lips faltered, the look and th

sion than love like mine. Leave me for a time. I know the interval will be

r's craft. As some people can regard the most beautiful varying tints of heaven, the lights and shadows which flit across the face of nature, and see nothing more in them

mured by his bride. Again he felt disposed to turn back and sacrifice all for his affection; but already one of the city guard stoo

ntolerably severe. Some men were permitted to groan away their whole lives in hopeless misery. The creditor was in general without pity, and the debtor unpitied. He was entirely at the mercy of the jailer, who had it in his power to load him with chains, and even on the slightest pretext of insubordination to execute summary justic

island, for a wide, wet ditch surrounded it, except where a drawbridge connected it with the square. The towers and ramparts had in some places mouldere

vapors which arose from the moat, and hung like a pall over the recently flooded plain. Through these mists the city chimes sounded muffled and melancholy. It was solitude-of all solitude the most fearful-a prison solitude in the neighborhood of a great town. The very esc

bridge while the sergeant was holding some

ife. And then, it was rather strange my being ordered to take a file of my guard instead of honest Jean, who would have held him just as firm in his grasp, and not kept my poor fellows shivering out all night in th

the water, and the purest drops in it were the two tears which had fallen from his eyes

ow, tell us the real truth. What conspiracy have you entered into, what political offense have you committed, to entitle you to be escorted with such honor, and be made the subject of so many forms? There is no use

e muskets was heard as the massive gates rolled ponderously upon their axes. The one light in the entrance gave an awful but not unpicturesque appearance to the scene,

ingled with the rattle of the chains of the bridge.

sed. The single drum beat, and its echo vibrated through the building. The gates clo

g, he could see that the windows which looked into it were all trebly barred. Besides, the building looked throughout so mi

ed him. He took him gently by the arm, and brought him to the broken, rotten, creaking stairs, which le

handkerchiefs tied round their heads, to serve the purpose of night-caps, were sitting by the fire smoking. They took the pipes from their lips to salute the lieutenant as he passed, but beyond this notice paid no attention to the object of his visit. It was evidently an event of no uncommon occurrence. More passages, more bars, more doors battered by age and mended by slabs of iron, and at last Dumiger arrived at the room, or rather the cell, which had been prepared for him. The preparations, it must however be admitted, w

and above all, with the most painful of all suffering, anxiety, solitude and sleep are the only consolations. But then the sleep is not the light, happy, joyous slumber, from which we awake refreshed and strengthened; it is a leaden, sullen, sodden trance, from which we awake with the sensation that the whole weight of the atmosphere has be

d expressions of deeper and more fearful import, if indeed anything could be more fearful than the contrast between the ridiculous and such a dungeon. "Non omnis moriar," wrote one man in a yellow liquid, which too evidently was discolored blood. "Justum et tenacem recti virum," scrawled another, immediately followed by a portrait of the "vultis instantis tyranni," who had, if we may judge by the chain suspended from his neck, once been a famous Grand Master. On one part of the wall might be deciphered a whole romance scrawled with an old nail, in which the prisoner had arrived at such excellence, that the letters were like the most admirable type. It was a long, and doubtless melancholy tale; so much so, that the kind guardians of the place had scratched it

e turning of huge, unwieldy keys, and the

its strength. Though there was little to invite confidence in the outward demeanor of the functionary, he

ed the bronzed old

l against this monstrous treatment. Be a man! why, I appeal to you, sir, to be a man, and to give up that si

tled a tune, took the only two turns in the cell which its extent permitted, and th

l treated, young man, when

pain be had endured, the sight of two letters, the one in the handwriting of Marguerite, the other

ving sung sundry snatches of martial airs, gave Dumiger a contemptuous, indignant glance, and stalked out of the cell, taking care to rattle the b

the second in command wh

present he is under the impression it is only for debt; but when he learns i

he subaltern, who was evidently the kinder

ost dangerous character. But I never trouble myself much about these kind of fellows. I do my duty quietly. Meanwhile, I have given him letters whic

t the same evening, the moment his arrest was known in the neighborhood, bills had poured in from all quarters; that she had seen his friends Carl and Krantz, who called early on that morning, and who found it impossible to obtain one-tenth of the sum now required for his release. All they could do, therefore, was to take charge of the wonderful model, and carry it to the Court-house, where it would have to remain until the decision of the

ed on the past, the more desperate he became; he rolled on the ground in agony; the whole day passed in efforts to reach the window, whence at least he might perceive the situation of his house, or to shake the bars of the strongly-ironed door. Toward evening a soldier brought him some refreshment, but preserved an obstinate silence. Dumiger all

as they marched over the drawbridge to the several reliefs. At ten o'clock he heard the bugles sounding the retreat, and then when he pictured to himself his gentle young bride, so sw

son-bars, when Dumiger was roused from his uneasy slumber by the rattling of the lock

laimed Dumiger, "for there is such a

quietly and coolly took a tinder-box from his pocket, struck a light in the most deliberate manner, and lit the small l

ensual expression of his mouth and the protuberance at the nape of the neck, whose world was of the worst description-a phrenologist or physiognomist would have hung him at

soon be fr

, throwing himself back on his pillo

tranger. "I said you would soon be free, if-you

almost shrieked Dumiger, so terrified was he

elling you that I am a native of Hamburgh and like yourself, a great mechanist. I was sent for by the Council last even

guerite, Marguerite!

isitor, "yours is by far superior to all

Dumiger; for now all his a

do that the machinery requires some directing power.

uth, his face brightening even throug

here I have a schedule of the judgments for debt which have been lodg

nd are there no mea

at there are none for the present; but there is one way in which the clock may still b

me quickly!" cried Dumig

we have plenty of time: let's pr

continued Dumiger, in anythi

e violence with which he seized his arm, "I have told you that I am a native of Hambro', a mechanician; that I

ave anoth

quietly in prison here, charged besides, as far as I can understand the matter, with some political offense; that Marguerite will either pine away o

just occurred to him that it was strange that Marguerite should have gone to him for assistance with

, but affected not to notice his

relieve yourself from all these

re, what is it

hase it on the part of the free city of

lock!" ech

e, Why the city of Hambro' should make so extravagant an offer? I will recall to you the extreme jealousy which has always existed between these two great commercial cities. You will remember that this rivalry is unceasing-that it comprehends all things, the smallest as well as the greatest. They attempted to vie with each other in the construction of their doms: Dantzic gained the advantage. The fame and the prize given for excellence in these clocks, and of

d Dumiger, "if you were he

ot hope to obtain the preference unless you are enabled to inform any one of the secret of setting the works in motion, and then it would require a ha

ditions drawn ou

l that he had been laboring for through life; but then, at what price? at that which it pained him to contemplate-the citizenship of his native town, where his family had dwelt respected for centuries. No doubt he was selling his birthright; he was pa

rom her; he saw her bosom heaving with sighs instead of love; he heard her soft whisper in his ear, and he thought that whisper expressed assent-that for him, she too was willing to relinquish the home and the friends of her childhood. Ay, is it not ever so? Invoke whom we may in hours o

ck is yours, and the principle of the movement is to b

h which passed over that man's cou

put his materials and his p

will be irritated at being deprived of their master-piece. I would not have you trust to their render mercies; for that m

debts? How came you to hear of Marguerite, and Carl, and Krantz? Surely," and he passed his hand across his brow like a man who is pained by the inte

tightly over the papers. "I was sent for by the Grand Master, who engaged me to obtain t

eme broke on

ect?" he gasped fo

therefore, when yours is sold to Hambro', his will be prized in Dantzic. As for me, I shall get rewarded for my exertion

. You betrayed me into this act; it was not my own free will. I am the victim of the basest conspiracy. I have been induced to se

putting himself into

, who had appeared half decrepit and aged, rose up in all the strength of youth. In a moment he had grasped Dumiger's arms, very coolly taken out a handkerchief, and in spite of all Dumiger's effort

w that s

e the only words to which D

ld have taught you this kind of self-command. You will soon be free. As for your arms, I dare not unt

how far it was from him! And Hamburgh-to be great and ennobled there, what did that signify to him? How long would it not take for him, the inhabitant of the great rival city, to be admitted into this new society? No, he had made an error which could never be recalled; he had broken the ties which were once so dear to him. Dumiger now lear