with dismay, and he paused; while the good old man, placing his taper on the tomb, fell prostrate before the shrine of the Virgin, and, in grief-broken accents, besought Heaven to restore the dying Louisa to his prayers. Nothing could exceed the horror and distress of Vallenstein, when, amid the heavy sobs which interrupted the old man's orisons, he distinguished those words. Still was he doomed to wrestle with suspense, for, until the Friar arose from his devotions, the slightest interruption would have been an outrage which he could not, dared not hazard; and so busied in fervent petition was the heart of the good man, that poor Vallenstein stood distractedly waiting the moment when his eager solicitude might obtain some relief. At length that moment came; the Friar arose, his agitation calmed apparently by the devout exercise in which he had been engaged. Vallenstein quitted his lurking place; but when Felix beheld the figure

of a man present itself from behind the tomb, "Avaunt!" he cried, "dark agent of Satan! What dost thou here? Shall not this spot be sacred in thine eyes? Avaunt, thou murderer !"

"Hear me father! Hear me!" cried Casimir.

"What must I hear? What wouldst thou do more? Thou hast blighted the sweetest rose that ever bloomed! Art thou not content? Avaunt, thou fiend! Never before have I closed mine ear to man's entreaty :-but thou-thou art a monster!"

*

"Oh, father! Holy Felix, look upon me! I am no Wolfstein! I abhor that man even as thou dost abhor him!"

"Who art thou then ?" asked the Friar with a bewildered gaze, "and what dost thou here ?"

"Alas, father! when I think who I am, and what brought me hither, did I not tremble to insult this holy place, my heart would relieve itself in curses on

that wretch for whom thou mistakest me, and who has so basely usurped my name and darkened my fair prospects. I am indeed Vallenstein, the Vallenstein Wilhelm loved, the brother of his choice!"

"And art thou no counterfeit? Art thou verily Casimir? Alas, poor youth! thou shouldst have come sooner! Oh, what an hour of misery might have been averted!"

“And is it yet too late, my father? Is all hope at an end?”

"I know not! I know not! Wilhelm died; and, I fear me, she is dying! I saw him laid within that marble by the side of his pale bride, and I chanted the death-mass over him; but Louisa, she is

the last!"

A deep and hollow groan followed, as though it would have rived his heart to the centre, and the slow tear rolled down his aged cheek. The feelings of Casimir became painfully concentrated: he ap

proached, and laid his hand on the grey sleeve of the Friar's gown.

"Tell me," said he, in an inward voice, "has he murdered her? Has he murdered the sister of him who sleeps in that sepulchre? If he has, the black blood from his heart shall flow for it! I will hunt him through the world, father!"

"Be it far from thee, my son! The blood which thou sheddest in revenge will cleave to thine hand! Think where thou art, and who hears thee, my son! No, no,-leave vengeance to Heaven!"" "Where is Wolfstein, my father?" "I know not:-he went hence yesterday, and I trust he is far away."

"And how, by what means, my father, was the base counterfeit revealed ?"

By the return of Conrade from Vienna. Even should she die, sure it were better that her innocent soul should join its kindred in a happier clime, than suffer the long, slow trial of a life united to

the destiny of a fiend!

Another day, my son, and these hands were to have tied the, fatal knot!"

"I knew it, my father! I knew it! Louisa's guardian angel slumbered not! I was lurking nigh-I was ready! I would have dashed the cup from his lip; yea, snatched his bride from him at the altar!"

"Ay! It is plain then, that Providence was doubly armed against the hypocrite! But it was better-I would not that the sacred peace of this place had been so broken!"

"Yet, tell me, I beseech you, father, has the detection of this wretch fallen so heavily on the gentle spirit of Louisa? Was she so bound to him, that to break the tie has broken her heart also? Oh! tell me, father!"

"Alas! I fear it greatly. Who could. have penetrated the false seemings of that man? Her person, her liberty is rescued; but, I fear me, he has despoiled her of