The Headsman; Or, The Abbaye des Vignerons

lence, that t

is knight and

Hen

red of support powerful as that of Melchior de Willading, he was disposed to turn it to account without farther delay. The old men were still standing with their hands graspin

or the gains or losses of us watermen. I feel it my duty, as patron of the bark, to recall to your honors that many poor travellers, far from their homes and pining families, are waiting our leisure, n

kness from his cheeks. "We are forgetful of all these worthy people while joy at our meeting is so stron

nd was the party in want of his influence. Still it was much easier to admit the force of this new and unexpected appeal than to devise the means of success. The officer was, to use a phrase which most men seem to think supplies a substitute for reason

oblige than yourself, noble baron," answered the officer; "but the duty of the watc

slept soundly, in situations where failure in this doctrine might have cost us our lives, to quarrel with the honest Gene

ng in a way to show that he had only revived one of those standing but biting j

he mirth of the other in a manner to show that the allusion recalled days when their

tures, but, by the name of thy favorite, San Francesco! it would give the honest gate-ke

heir virtues--but we shall never see again the days that we have known! Neither the games o

Baptiste, "but this western wind is more in

o are wishing us both in Abraham's bosom, for keeping the impatient bark in id

cient"--the person questioned, who appeared to fill a middle station betwe

avoid producing it--but anything is bett

inkelried rot where she lies. 'Twere easier to se

e wearied pilgrims and the many

thy consent, honest Baptiste, we

rest will only fit them the better for the passage of the mountains; and as for the others, why

ld, Melchior, and let the honest Baptiste keep h

distress yourself in tenderness for me. I am ready to do fa

ficer, wilt thou do me the fa

rument with deep attention, and, when half through its contents, his eyes left the page to become rivetted in respectful attention on the face of the expectant Ital

re would have been no delay. I hope your

well; in proof of which I beg thy a

gold came rather from a love of duty than from any particular aversion to the metal itself, this second offering met with a more favorable reception than the f

movement of the bark was at first slow and heavy, for the wind was intercepted by the buildings of the town; but, as she receded from the shore, the canvass began to flap and be

th, and even before the marriage of her parents, and she being the youngest and the only survivor of a numerous family of children, they were, as respected herself, events that already began to assume the hue of history. She received the old man frankly and even with affection, though in his yielding but still fine form, she had quite as much difficulty as her father in recognizing the young, gay, gallant, brilliant, and handsome Gaetano Grimaldi that her im

r sent by the Swiss Ambassador, who took our city in his way as he traveled

ince, a cherub in heaven. Thou seest the ninth precious gift that

inued, under such disadvantages as marked the period, long after their duties called them different ways; and time, with its changes and the embarrassments of wars, had finally destroyed nearly every link in the chain of their correspondence. Each had, therefore, much of a near and interesting character to communicate to the other, and each dreaded

f, of which I must envy thee the possessio

hat, just at the moment, he was more affected by some interest of his friend, than by the appr

thou has

sly--irretrievably l

Baron de Willading witnessed the sorrow that deeply shadowed the face of the Genoese, he almost felt that Providence, in summoni

ns, should know how to submit. The letter, of which I spoke, contained the last direct tidings that I received of thy welfare, though differe

wiss, have denied me even this meagre satisfaction as respects thee and thy fortunes

he felt he was again touc

y unhappy boy," continued t

ws of thee, except in a way so vague, as to whet the desir

e, and, when called different ways by duties or interest, we first begin to perceive that the world is not the heaven we thought i

Swiss

, the keen eye of the Italian, whose countenan

at ser

d scarce love thee, as I do, wert thou other than thou art! I believe

n the subjects of snows and money, and yet he beareth with me marvellously. Well, strong love endureth much. Hath the ba

e castle of Willading is deep among the mountains, and it is rare indeed for the foot of stranger to enter its gates. During the long evenings of our severe winters, I have listened as a d

the plunge into the canal, by over-stooping to

ct of humid gallantry," re

er in which he bore me off in a noble rescue

, too," returned Adelheid, evidently trying to rec

e impartiality of thy narratives, good Melchior, in which a life preserved, wounds received, a

was more than deserved by the ma

rits. Didst thou ever tell the girl, Melchior, of our mad excursion into the forests of the Apennines, in search of a Spanish lady that had fallen into the hands of banditti; and how we passed weeks o

d sincere mind. "Of this adventure I have heard; but to me it has never seemed ridicu

ted opinions lead us to commit mad pranks under the name of spirit and generosity, there a

laughed while uttering the words, as if he felt, at least a portion of the other's indifference to those exaggerated feelings that had entere

refer each in its season, or rather the two united, with a gradual change in their influence. Let the youth commence with the first in the ascendant, and close with the last. He who begins life too cold a reasoner may end it a calculating egotist; and he who is ruled solely by his imagination is in danger of having his mind so ripened as to bring forth the fruits of a visionary. Had it pleased heaven to have left me the dear son I possessed for so short a period, I would rather have seen him leaning to the side of exaggeratio

aused another cloud to pass at

thee, in virtue of a second father's rights--that we are making our folly res

arely to the poor, and we must make much of such as offer. The games at Vévey have called every craft on the Leman to the upper end of

ssed by your city on th

are collecting at Vévey and in the neighboring villages. The country

The hope of at last obtaining certain tidings of thy welfare was the chief inducement that caused me to steal

alive in me. Thou art mistaken in fancying that curiosity, or a wish to mingle with the multitude at V

er to revive her animation. I have promised Roger de Blonay to pass a night or two within his ancient walls, and then we are destined to seek the hospitality of the

common fate of the family. Disease had not, however, set its seal on the sweet face of Adelheid, in a manner to attract the notice of a common observer. The lessening of the bloom, the mournful character of a dove-like eye, and a look of thoughtfulness, on a brow that he had ever known devoid of care and open as day with youthful ingenuou

d charged his good bark to the uttermost. The water was nearly on a line with the low stern, and when the bark had reached a part of the lake where the waves were rolling with some force, it was found that the vast weight was too much to be lifted by the feeble and broken efforts of these miniature seas. The consequences were, however, more vexatious than alarming. A few wet feet among the less quiet of the passengers, with an occasional slapping of a s

inland. At the time of which we write, the whole coast of the Leman, if so imposing a word may be applied to the shores of so small a body of water, was in the possession of the three several states of Geneva, Savoy, and Berne. The first consisted of a mere fragment of territory at the western, or lower horn of the crescent; the second occupied nearly the whole of the southern side of the sheet, or the cavity of the half-moon; while the latter was mistress of the whole of the convex border, and of the eastern horn. The shores of Savoy are composed, with immaterial exceptions, of advanced spurs of the high Alps, among which towers Mont Blanc, like a sovereign seated in majesty in the midst of a brilliant court, the rocks frequ

e freest effort of the wind to "drive the breeze home," as it is called by seamen, against the opposing currents that frequently descend from the mountains which surrounded his port. In addition to this difficulty, the shape of the lake was another reason why the winds rarely blow in the same direction over the whole o

eeze carried them up abreast of Lausanne in good season, but here the influence of the mountains began to impair its force, and, by the time the sun ha

s likely to arise from the multitude of strangers who were in Vévey, rendered him moody. As is usual with the headstrong and selfish when they possess the power, others were made to pay for the fault that he alone had committed. His men were vexed with contradictory and useless orders; the inferior