Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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p&nv's," replied Obenreizer. "Those exe om casks of wine." He wee singing to himself', enc lighting a cigar. ''I bave been drearily dull company to-day,' said Vendale. " I don't know what has been th? matter with me." '.You had no sleep last night ; and a kind o: brain congestion frequently comes, at first, o such cold, said Obenreizer. " I have seen ii often. After all, we shall haTe our journey foi nothing, it seems." " How for nothing?" " The house is at Milan. You know, we are i wine beuse at Nenobatel, and a silk hones al Milan ? Well, silk happening to press of a sud? den, more than wine, Defreenier was summoned to Milan. Rolland, the other partner, bas been taken iii emce hie departure, and the doctors will allow bim to see no one. A letter awaits you atNeuchatel to tell you so. ] have it from our chief carrier whom you saw me talking; with. He was surprised to see me. and aaid he had that word for you if he met you. What do you do? Go back?" " Go on," said Vendale. "On r "On? Ten. Across the Alps, and down to Milan." Obenreizir stopped in his smoking to look et Vencfl?e, and then smoked heavily, looked up the road, looked down the road, looked down at the stones in the road at his feet "I have a very serious matter in charge," said Vendale; '"mere of these missing forms may be turned to bad account, or worse; I um urged to loee no time lu helping the house to take the thief; and nothing shall turn me back." "No?" cried Obenreizer, taking out his cigar to smile, and giving his band to his fellow-trav? eler. "Then nothing shall turn me baok. Ho, driver 1 Dispatch. Qui'* there 1 Let us [push on!" They traveled through the night There had been r.now, and there vas a partial thaw, and they mostly traveled at a foot-pace, and always with many stoppages to breathe the splashed and floundering horses. After an hour's broad daylight, they drew rein at the inn-door at Nouchatel, having been some eight-and-twenty hours m conquering some eighty English miles. When they had hnrrledlv refreshed and changed they went together to the honse of bnsinees of Defresnier and Company. There they found the letter which tbe wine-carrier had described, inclosing the tests and comparisons of hand? writing essential to the discovery of the forger. Vendale's determination to iress forward, with? out resting, being already taken, the only ques? tion to delay them was by what pass could they cross the Alps? Respecting the state of the two pass?e of the St. Gotthard and the Simpl?n, the guides and mule-drivers differed greatly; and both passes were still far enough off, to pre? vent the traveler* from having the benefit of any recent experience of either. Besides which, they well knew that a fall of snow might alto? gether change the described conditions in a sin? gle hour, even h* they were correctly stated. But, on the whole, the Simpkin appearing to be the hopefuller route. Vendale decided to take it. Obenreizer bore little or no part in the discos ?ion, and scarcely spoke, i Ta Geneva, to Lausanne, along the level mar? gin of the bike to Vevay, so into the winding valley between the spurs of the mountains, and into the valley of the Rhone. The sound of the carriage wheels, as they rattled on, through the day, throngii the night, became as tho wheels of a great dook, recording the hours. No change of weather varied the journey, after it bad hardened into a sullen frost. In a somber yellow sky they eaw the Alpine ranges; and they saw enough of snow on nearer and much lowerjkill-tops and hillsides to sully, by contrast. the purity of lake, torrent and waterfall, ana make the villages look discolored and dirty. But no snow tell, nor waa there any snow-drift on tht road. Tbe stalking along the valley of more or less of white mist, changing on their hair and dress into icicles, was the only variety between them and the gloomy sky. And still by day, and still by night, the wheels. And stid they rolled, in the hearing of one of them, to the burden, altered from the burden of tbe Rhine : "The time ie gone for robbing him alive, and I must murder him." They came, at length, to the poor little tr wn of Brieg, at the foot of the Simpl?n. They came there after dark, but yet could see how dwarfed men's worka and mon became with the immense mountains towering over them. Here they must lie for the night ; and here was warmth of fire, and lamp, and dinner, aud wine, and after-conference resounding, with guides and drivers. No human creatnre had come across the Pass for four days. The snow above the snow-line was too soft for wheeled carriage, and not hard enough for sledge. There was snow in the sky. There had been snow in the sky for data past, and the marvel waa that it had not fallen, and the cer? tainty was that it must fall. No vehicle could cross. Tbe journey might be tried on mules, or it might be tried on foot; but the best guides must be paid danger-price in either case, and tuat, too, whether they succeeded in taking the KT travelers across, or turned for safety and brought them back. In this discussion, Obenreizer bore no part wha'ever. He sat silently smoking by the fire until the room was cleared and Vendale referred to him. "Bah ! I am weary of these poor devils and their trade," he said, in reply. "Always the same story. It is the story of their trade, to? day, as it was the story of their trade when I was a ragged boy. What ao you and I want? We want a knapsack each, and a mountain-staff each. We want no guide; we should guide him; he would not guide us. We leave our portman? teaus here, and we cross together. We have been on th? mountains together before now, and I am mountain-born, ana I know this pass -pass 1-rather high road I-by heart. We will Isave thete poor devils, in pity, to trade with others; but they must not delay to make a pre? tense of earning money. Which is all they mean." Vendale, glad to be quit of the dispute, and to cut the znot, active, adventurous, bent on fettftg forward, and, therefore, very snscepti le to the last hint, readily assented. Within two hours they had purchased what they wanted tor the expedition, bad packed their knapsackE. and lay down to sleep. At break of day they found half the town col? lected m the narrow street to see them depart. The people talked together in groups ; the guides and drivers whispered apart, and looked up at the sky ; no one wished them a good journey. As they began the ascent a gleam of nun shone from the otherwise unaltered sky, and for a moment turned the tin spirea of the town to silver. "A good omen !" said Vendale (though it died out while he spoke). "Perhaps our example will ODen the Pass on this side." "K?; we shall not be followed," returned Obenreizer, looking up at the sky and back at the valley. "Wo shall be a.ono up yonder." ON TEE MOUNTAIN. The road was fair enough for stout walkers, and tho air grew lighter and easier to breathe as the two ascended. But the settled gloom re? mained as it had remained for days back. Na? ture seemed to have come to a pause. The aei.ee of bearing, no less than the sense of sight, was troubled by having to wait so long for the change, whatever it might be, that impended. The silence was as palpable and beary as tho lowering clouds, or rather cloud, for there seemed to be but one in all the sky, and that one covering the whole of it. Although the light was thns dismally shroud? ed, the prospect was not obscured. Down in tho Yaller ai the Rhous behind them the atraam could be traced through all its many windings oppressively somber and solemn in it: one leaden hne, a colorless waste. Far anc high above them, glaciers and suspended ava lanches overhung tbe spots where they must Dasi by and by ; deep and clark below them on the:: right were awful precipice and roaring tor rent ; tremendous mountains rose in every vista The gigantic landscape, uncheered by a toucl or changing light or a solitary ray of sun, wat yet terribly distinct in its ferocity. The hearts of two lonely men might shrink a little if the; bad to win their way for miles and hours amone a legion of silent and motionless men-men men uko themselves-all looking at them witt fixed and frowning front ; but bow much mon when the legion is of Nature's mightiest works and the frown may turn to fury in au instant I As they ascended, the road became graduall] mors rugged and difficult. But the spirits o: V?ndale rose as they mounted higher, leaving sc much more of the road behind them conquered, Obenreizer spoke little, and held on with a deter mined purpose. Both, in respect of agility anc endurance, were well qualified for the expedition, Whatever the born mountaineer read in the wea ther tokens, that was illegible ta the other, h< kept to himself. "Shall we get across to-day?" asked Vendale, " No," replied the other. " You see how mud: deeper the snow lies here than it lay half t league lower. The higher we mount, the deepei the snow will lie. Walking is bau* wading ever now. And the days are so short 1 If we get ae high as thc Filth Befuge, and be to-night at thc Hospice, we shall do well." "is there no danger of tbe weather rising bi the night," asked Vendale, anxiously, "and snowing us up ?" "There is danger enough about us." said Obenreizer, with a cautious glance onward and upward, " to render silence our best policy. You have heard of the Bridge of the Oanther ?" " I bave crossed lt once." " In the summer ?" " Yes ; in tbe traveling season." "Yes ; but it ls another thing at thin season ;" with a sneer, as though he were out of temper. " This ia not a time of year, or a state of things, on an Alpine pass, that you gentlemen holiday travelers know much about." " You are my guide," said Vendale, good humoredly. "I trust to you." ' " I am your guide," said Obenreizer, " and I will guide yon to your Journey's end. There is the bridge befcre us." They had made a turn into a desolate and dis? mal ravine, where tbe snow lay deep below them, deep above them, deep on every side. While speaking Ooenreizer stood pointing at the bridge, and observing Vendale's face, with a very singular expression on his own. "If I, as guide, had sent' you over there, in advance, and encouraged you to give a shout or two, you migh have brought down upon yourself tuns and tuns and tuns of snow, that would not only have struck you dead, but buried you deep at a blow." " No doubt," said Vendale. . "No doubt. But that is not what I have to do as guide. So pass silently. Or, going as we go, our indiscretion might else crush and bury i me. Let us go on I" There was a great accumulation of snow on I the bridge ; and such enormous accumulations of snow overhung tuarn from projecting masses of rock, that t'loy. might nave been making their way througn a stormy sky of white clouds. Using his ?taff skillfully, sounding as he went, and looking upward, with bent shoulders, as it were to resist the mere idea of a fall from above, Obenreizer softly led. Vendale closely followed. They were yet in the midst of their dangerous way, when there came a mighty rusb, followed bv a sound as of thun? der. Obenreizer dapped his hand on Vendale's month, and pointed to the track behind them. Ita aspect bad been wholly changed in a moment. An avalanche had swept over it, and plunged into the torrent at the bottom of the gulf below. Their appearance at tbe solitary Inn not far beyond this terrible Bridge, elicited many ex? pressions of astonishment from the people shut np in the house. " We stay bat to rest," said Obenreizer, shaking the snow from his dress at tho Are. "This gentleman has very pressing occasion to get across f tell them, Vendale.' " Assuredly, I have vory pressing occasion. I must cross." " You hear, all of you. Hy friend bas very pressing occasion to get across, and we want no advice and no help. I am as good a guide, my fellow countrymen, aa any of you. Now, give us to eat and drink." In exactly tbe same way, and in nearly the same worda, when it was coming on dark and they had struggled through the greatly-in? creased difficulties of the road, and hal at last reached their destination for the night, Oben? reizer said to the astonished people of the Hoc pice, gathering about them at the fire, while they were yet in the act of getting their wet shoes off and Shaking the snow from thou* clothes- ? " It is well to understand one another, friends all. This gentleman-" " Has," said Vendale, readily taking him np with a smile, "very pressing occasion to get across. Must cross." "Yon hear?-bas very pressing occasion to get across, must cross. We want no advice and no help. I am mountain-born and aot as guide. Do not worry us by talking about it, but let us nave supper, and wine, and bed." All through the intense cold of the night, the same awful stillness. Again at sunrise, no son? ny tinge to gild or redden the snow. The same interminable waste of deathly white ; the same immovable air ; the same monotonous gloom in the sky. "Travelers I" a friendly voice called to them from the door, after they were afoot, knapsack on back and staff in hand, as yesterday; "re? collect I There are five places of shelter, near together, on the dangerous road before you ; and there is the wooden cross, and there is the next Hospice. Do not stray from the track. If the Txmrmente comes on, take shelter instantly I" " The trade of these poor devils 1" said Oben? reizer to his friend, with a contemptuous back? ward wave of bis hand toward tho voice. " How they stick to their trade 1 You Englishmen say wo Swiss are mercenary. Truly it does look Like it." They had divided between the two knapsacks such refreshments as thsy had been able to ob? tain that morning, and as they deemed it pru? dent to take. Ooenreizer carried the wine as his part of the burden ; Vendale the bread, and meat, and cheese, ana the flask of brandy. They bad for some time labored upward and onward through the snow-which was now above their knees in tbe track, ? and of unknown depth elsewhere-and they were still laboring upward and onward through tho most frightful part of that tremen? dous ('.eaolation, when snow began to fall. At first, but a few flakes descended slowly and steadily. After a little while the fall grew much denser, and suddenly it began without apparent cause to whirl itself into spiral shaper. Instantly ensuing upon this last change, an icy blast carno roane T at them, aud every eound and forco im? prisoned until now was let loose. One of the dismal galleries through which the road is carried at that perilous point, a cave elcod out by arches of great strength, was near at band. They struggled into it, aud the storm raged wildly. The noise of the wind, th9 noiso of the water, tho thundering down of displaced mashes of roca and snow, the awful voices with which not only that gorge, but every gorge in the whole monstrous range seemed to bo sud? denly endowed, tho riarkness as of Dight, tho violent revolving of the snow which beat and broke it into spray and blinded them, the mad? ness of everything around insatiate for destruc? tion, the rapid substitution of furious violones ' for tran atar al calm, and h os ta of appalling ?ont for silence: theae were things, on the edge o deep abyss, to chill the blood, though the fiei wind, made actually solid by ice and snow, t failed to chill it." Obenreizer, walking to and fro in the gall? without ceasing, signed tu Vendale to help h unbuckle his knapsack. They could see es other, but could not have heard each oder spei Vendale complying, Obenreizer produced his b tie of wine, and poured eome ont, motioni V?ndalo to take that for warmth's eak a, and i brandy. Vendale again complying, Obenrei; seemed to drink after him, and the two walk backward and forward, side by side; "both w knowing that to rest or sleep would be to die.' The snow came driving heavily into the gall? by the upper end at whica they would pass out it, if they ever passed out; for greater c angers J on the road behind them than before. The en soon began to choke the arch. An hour mo and it lay so high as to block out half of the i turning daylight. But it froze hard now, ai fell, and could be clambered through or ov The violence of the mountain ?torin n gradnally yielding to a steady snowfall. T wind still raged at intervals, but not incessant aad when it paused, the snow fell in hea flakes. They might have been two hom's in thi frightful ? prison, when Obenreizer, now crane ing into the mound, now creeping over it wi his head bowed down and his body touching t top of the arch, made his way out. Vend; followed close upon him, but followed withe clear motive or calculation. For the lethargy basie waa creeping over him again, and mae? lng bis senses. How far lie had followed out of the gallery, i with what obstacles he had since contended, I knew not. He became roused to the knowledi that Obenreizer had set upon hun, and that th were struggling desperately in the snow. ] became roused to tho remembrance of what I assailant carried in a girdle. He felt for it, dr* it, struck at bim, struggled again, etruck at hi again, cast hun off, and stood face to face wi him. " I promised to guide you to your journe-j end." said Obenreizer, " and I have kept n promise<. The journey of your lift ends her Nothing can prolong it. Yon are sleeping i you stand." " You. are a villain. What have yon done \ me P " Yoti are a fool. I have drugged yon. Yon a doubly a fool, for I drugged you once lie fore DOC the journey, to try you. You are trebly tne fri for I am the thief and forger, and in a few nu menta I shall take those proofs against the thii and forger from your insensible body. " The entrapped man tried to throw off tl lethargy, but its fatal hold on him was so sm that, even while he heard those words, 1 stupidly wondered which of them bad bee wounded, and whose blood it was that he sa sprinkled on the snow. What have I done to yon," be asked, hea vi: and thickly "that you should be-so base murderer'.'" "Done to me? Yon Would have destroyed mi but that you have come to your journey's eoe Your earned activity interposed between'me an the time I had counted on in which I might hav replaced the money. Done to me? lion hav como in my Way- hot once, not twice, hut agai and again and again. Did I try to shako yon o in the beginning, or no ? You warn cot to b shaken off. Therefore you die here. " Vendale tried to think coherently, tried t speak coherently, tried to pick up the iron-eho a taff he had let fall; failing to touch it, tried t stagger on without its aid. All in vain, all i vain 1 He stumbled, and fell heavily forward o the brm k of the deep chasm. s fi tup jfied, dozing, unable to stand upon his feel a vail bofore his eyes, his sense of h earing dead ened, he made such a vigorous rally that, sup porting himself on his hands, he saw tua enem; standing calmly over bim, and heard bim speak " You call me murderer," said Obenreizer. with a grim .laugh. "The name matters ver; little. But at least I have set my life agains yours, for I am surrounded by dangora, and ma, never make my way out of this place. Tb Toumarnte is rising again. The snow is on thi whirl. I must have the papers now. Ever; moment has my life in it." " Stop 1" cried Vendale, in a terrible voice staggering np with a last Hash of i re breaking ont of him, and clutching the thievish hands a his breast in both of his. u Stop I Stand awa; from me 1 God bless my Marguerite I Happih she will never know bow I died. Stand off fron" me and let me look at your murderous face. Lei it remind me-of something-left to e?.y." The sight of him fighting so baird for hil sense?, and the doubt whether he might not foi the instant be possessed by, the .strength of i dozen men, kept his opponent el ill. Wildly glar ing at him, Vendale faltered out the broker words, M It Bhall not be-the trust-of the dead-be? trayed by me-reputed parents-misinhorited fortune-see to it 1" As his head dropped on his breast, and he stumbled on the brink of the chaiim as before, the thievish hands went once mor s, quick and busy to his breast. He made a convulsive at? tempt to cry " No I" desperately rolled himsell over into the gulf, and sank away from hie enemy's touch, like a phantom in a dreadful dream. Th J mountain storm raged again, ?.nd passed again. The awful mountain voices dind away, the moon rose, and the soft and silent snow fell. Two men and two large dogs came out at the door of the Hospice. The men locked carefully around them, and up at the sky. The dogs rolled in the snow, and took it into their mout h's, and cast it np with their raws. Ono of the men said to the other: "We may venturo now. We may find them : n one of the five Refuges." Each fastened on his back a basket ; each took in his hand a strong spiked pole ; each girded under his arms ii looped end of a stout rope, so that they were tied together. Suddenly the dogs desisted from their gam? bols in toe enow, stood looking down the ascent, put their noses up, put their noses down, be? came greatly excited, and broke into ii deep loud bay together. The two men looked in the faces ol' the doge. The two dogs looked with at least equal intelli? gence, in the faces of the two men. " Au secours, then 1 Help I To the rescue I" cried tbo two men. Tho two doge, with a glad, deep, generous bark, bounded away, "Two more mad onoa !" said tbs men, strick? en motionless, and looking away into the moon? light. "Is it possible in such weather 1 And one of thom a woman 1" Each of the doge had the corner ol' a woman's dress in ita mouth, and drew her ??long. She fondled their heads ss she carno vp, and she came up through the enow with tn accustomed tread. Not BO tne large man who W?IB with her, who waa epent and winded. Dear guides, dear frionda of travelers 1 I am of your country. Wo seek two gentlemen crossing the Pass, who should have reached the Hospice this evening." "Tliey have reached it, ma'amsells." "Thank Heaven I O thank Hea veal" "But, unhappily, they have gone on again. Wo are Betting forth to seek thom even now. Wo had to wait until tho Tourmente paaaed. It has boon fearful up here." "Dear guides, dear frionda of travel era I Let mo go with you. Let me go witn you, for the love of Godl One of those gentlemen ia to be my hus oand. I love bim, O so dearly. 0 so dearly I You see I am not faint ; you see I am not tired. I am born a peasant girl. I will show you that I know well how to fasten myself to your ropes. I will do it with my own hauda. I wit. swear to be brave and good. But let me go with you-lai me go with Toa ! If any m?chanos should 1 befallen him, my love would find him, w nothing else could. On my knees, dear trie of travelers 1 By the love your dear mothers for your fathers !" The good, rough fellows were moved. " A all," they murmured to one another, " speaks but the truth. She knows the way the mountains. Seo how marvelously ahe come here 1 But aa to Monsieur ithere, ma' selle?" "Bear Ur. Joey," said Marguerite, addr lng him in his own tongue, "you will ren? nt the house and wait for me, will you not V " If I know'd which o' you two recommen it," growled Joey Ladle, eying the two men i great indignation, " Io fight you for sizpe and give you half a crown toward your ex pe rx No, miss. I'll stiok by you as long as there's slicking left in me, and I'll die for you whe can't do better." The state of the moon rem ing it highly important that no time ? ahould lost, and the doga showing signs of great eu -lineas, the two men quickly took their re* tion. The rope that yoked them together \ exchanged for a longer one ; tbe party were cured, marguerite second and the ce ll arc last ; and they set out for the Befnges. The tual distance of those places was nothing ; whole five and the next Hospice to boot be within two miles ; but tko ghastly way waa wi 1 ened out and sheeted over. They made no miss in reaching the gall where the two had taken shelter. The sect storm of wind and anow had so wildly aw over it since, that their tracks were gone. 1 the dogs went to and fro with their noses doi and were confident. The party stopping, h< ever, at the further arch, where the eeoc storm had been especially furious, and wh i the drift was deep, the dogs became troubl and went about and about, in queat of a i jaurpose. The great abyss being known to lie on I right, they wandered too much to the left, i had to regain the way with infinite labor thron a deep field of anow. The leader of the li bad stopped it, and was taking note of the hu mark, when one of the dogs fell to tearing the anow a little before them. Advancing a stooping to look at it, thinking that some o might be overwhelmed there, they saw that waa stained, and that the stain waa red. The other dog was now seen to look over t brink of the gulf, with his forelegs straighter out, lest he should fall into it, and to trem in every limb. Then the dog who had found 1 stained snow joined him, and then to ey ran and fro, distressed and whining. Finally, tb both stopped on the brink together, and sotti up their heads, howled dolefully. " There is some one lying below," said MJ gu?rite. , " I think ao," said the foremost man. " Sta well inward, the two last, and let us look ovei The last man kindled) two torches from 1 basket, and handed them forward. The lea? taking one, and Marguerite the other, th looked down ; now shading the torches, n moving them to the right or left, now raiei them, now depressing them, as moonlight : below contended with black shadows. A pie ing cry from Marguerite broke a long silem " Mr Ood ! On a projecting point, when wall of ice stretches forward over the torrent see a human form 1" " Where, ma'smselle, where ?" " See, there I On the shelf of ice below t dogs !" The leader, with a sickened aspect, drew I ward, and they were all suent. But they wc not all inactive, for Marguerite, with swift a skillful fingers, had detached both herself a him from the rope in a few seconds. " Show me the baskets. These two ara t only ropes ?" "The only ropes here, ma'ams ol le ; but at t Hospice -" "If be is able-I know it is my lover-he w be dead before yon can return. Dear Guide Blessed friends of travelers! Look at no Watch my hands. If they falter or go wron make me your prisoner by force, fi they a steady and go right, help me to save bim 1" Shejrtrded herself with a cord under the brea and arms, she formed it into a kind of jacki she drew it into knots, she laid its end side I side with the end of the other cord, she twist? and twined the two together, abo knotted the together, she set her foot upon the knots, el strained them, she held them for the twe men strain at. . "She is inspired," they said to one another. "By tbe Almighty's mercy !" she excloimei " Yon both know that I am by tar the lighte here. Give me the brandy and the wine, an lower me down to him. Then go for assistant and a stronger rope. You see that when in lowered to me -look at this about m now-I can make it fast and safe to h body. . Alive of dead. I will bring hil np, or die with him. 1 love him passionately Can I say more ?" They turned to her companion, but he wa lying senseless on the snow. "Lower me down to him," she said, taking tw little kegs they had brought, and hanging thei about her, or I will dash myself to pieces 1 am a peasant and I know no giddiness or feai and thia is nothing to me, and I pasaionatel love him. Lower me down 1" " Ma'auwelle, ma'ameelle, he must be dying o dead." " Dying or dead, my husband's head shall h upon my breast, or I will dash myself to pieces. They yielded, overborne. With snch precau tiona as their skill and the circumstances admit ted, they let nor slip from the summit, gnidini herself down the precipitous icy wall with he hand, and tbey lowered down, and lowered down and lowered down, until the cry came up "Enough!" " Is it really he, and is he dead?" they callee down, looking over. Theory came up: "He is insensible; but hil heart beats. It beats against mme. " " How does he lie '" The cry came up: " Upon a ledge of ice. It has thawed beneath him, and it will thaw be neath me. Hasten. If we elie, I am content." One of the two men hurried off with the dogs at such topmost speed as he could make; th< other set up the lighted torches in the snow, and applied himself to recovering the Englishman. Much snow chafing and some brandy got him oe hie legs, but delirious and quito unconscious where he was. The watch remained upon the brink, and his cry went down continually: "Courage! They will soon be here. How goes it ?" And the cry came up: " His heart still beats against mine. I warm him in my arms. I have cast ofi the rope, for the ice melts under us, and the rope would separate me from him; but I am not afraid.** The moon went down behind the mountain tops, and all the abyss lay in darkness. The cry went down: " How goes it?" The cry came up: " We are sinking lower, but his heart still beats against mine." At length the eager barking of the dogj, and a flaro of light upon the snow, proclaimed that help was coming on. Twenty or thirty men, lamps, torches, litters, ropes, blankets, wood to kindle a great fire, restoratives and stimulants, came in fast. The dogs ran from one man to another, and from this thing to that, and ran to the edge of the abyss, dumbly entreating speed, speed, speed ! The cry went down: "Thanks to God, allis ready. How goes it ?" Theory came up : " We are sinking still, and we are deadly cold. His heart no longer beats against mine. Let no one come down, to add to our weight. Lower the rope only." The fire was kindled high; a great glare of torches lighted the sides of the precipice; lamps were lowered; a strong rep? vu l?wered. She 9 --f??- "% j? I_. T^3 < could be teen passing it round bim and makinj it secure. The cn came np int' a deathly silence t u Baise ! t?oftly i " They could see her diminished figure shrink, as he was swung into thc- air. They gave no shout when eome of them laid . him on a Utter, and others lowered another strong rope. The cry again came up into ? deathly silence: "Baise; Soft I vi" But when they caught her st the brink, then they shouted, then they wept, thea they gavi> thanks te heaven, then they kissed . ber feet, Iben they, kissed her dress, then tnt dogs caressed her, licked her icy hands, and with their honest faces warmed her frozen bosom I She brake from them all, and sank over hint on his litter, with both her loving hands upon the heart that stood still. ACT IV. TEZ CLOCK-LOCK. The pleasant ec ene was Neuchat el ; the pleasant month waa April; the pleasant place was a notary's office; the pleasant person in it was the notary: a rosy, hearty, handsome old man, chu f notary of Neuchate), known far and) wide in 'the canton aa Ma?tre Voigt. Profes? sionally and personally, the notary was a popular . citizen. His innumerable kindnesses and his in? numerable oddities had for years made him one of the recognized publio characters of th? ; pleasant Swiss town. His long brown frock' ! coat and his black skullcap were among the in? ! etitutionii of the place; and he carried a ?nuff box which, in point of size, was popularly be? lieved to be without a parallel in Eure oe. There was another person m the notary's of" flee, not so pleasant as the notary. This was Obonreizor. An oddly pastoral kind of office it was, and ono that woe ld never have answered rn England. It stood in. a aeat back yard, fenced off from a - pretty flower-garden. Goats browsed in the door-way, and a cow was within half a dozen feet of keeping company with the clerk. Mai tra Voigt's room was a bright and varnished little; room, with paneled walls, like a toy-chamber. According to the seasons of the year, roses, sun? flowers, hollyhocks, peeped m at the windows. Maitre Voigt's bees bummed through the office all the summer, in at this window and but ab that. Ulringit frequently in their dav's work, as if honey were to be made from Mai tra Voigt's sweet disposition. A large musical box on the chimney-piece often trilled away at th J overturn to Ira Diavolo, or a selection from William Tefl, with a chirruping liveliness that had to be stopped by force on th? entrance of a client, and irrepressibly broke out again the moment his back waa turned. "Courage, courage, my good fellow I" s*id; Ma?tre Voigt, patting Obenreizer on the knee, in> , a fatherly and comforting way. "You wdl be? gin a new lifo to-morrow morning in my office here.'' Obeni-eizer-dressed in mourning and sub? dued in manner-lifted his hand, with a white handkerchief in rt, to the region of bis heart. " The gratitude is here," he said. " But the words to express it are not here." '. Ta-ta-ta 1 Don't talk to me about gratitude I* said M ?i tro Voigt. " I bate to. see. a man op?, pressed. I eee you oppressed, and I bold out my hand to you by instinct. Beside, I am not too old yet to remember my young days.' Yous fainer sent me my first client, (it was on a question of half an acre of vineyard that seldom bore any gripes.) Do I owe nothing to youl father's son ? I owe him a debt of friendly ob? ligation, and I pay it to you. That's rather neatly expressed, 1 think.'- added Mm tro Voigt, in high good humor with himself. " Permit me to reward my own ment with a pinch of snuff!" Obenreizer dropped bis eyes to the ground, as though he were not even worthy to see the no? tary take snuff. *' Do mu one last favor, sir," he said, when be raised his eyes. **Do not acton impulse. Thu? far, you nave only a general knowledge of my position. Hear the case for and against me, in its details, before you take me into your- office. Let my claim on your benevolence be recognized by your sound reason as well as by your excel? lent heart. In that case, I may hold np my bead against the bitterest of my enemies, and build myself a new reputation ou the ruins of the character I have lost. "AB you will," ?aid Ma?tre Voigt. " You speak . well, my son. You will be a fine lawyer one of these dP7a." "Thedetails are not many," pursued Oben? reizer. "My troubles begin with the accidental death of my Ute traveling companion, my lost . dear friend, Mr. Vendale.* < " Mr. Vendale," repeated the notary. "Just so, I have heard and .Tread of the name, several times'jwithin these two months. Tito name of I the unfortunate English gentleman who was killed on the Simpl?n. Wi,eu you ?ot that seal upon your cheek and neck." I "-From my own knife,'' said Obenreizeri touching what must have oceu an ugly gash ab i the time of its infliction. ; " From your own knife," assented the notary, , "and in trying to eave him. Good, good, good, i That was very gi od. Vendale, les. I have. ; several times, lately, thought it droll that I ! should once havo had a cheat of that uamo." i " But tile world, sir,*' returned Obenreizer, "ia se small I" Nevertheless, be miado a men I tal note that the notary had once had a client of that name. i " AB I was saying, sir, the death of that dear ' traveling comrade begins my troubles. What fol? i lows I I save myself. 1 go down to Milan. I am re? I ceived with cold nc ss by De fres ni er a ad Company, i Shortly afterward, I am discharged by Detres ! nier und Company. Why ? They gave no rea I eon why. 1 asked, do they assad my honor ? I No answer. I ask. what is the imputation against me ? No answer. I ask. where are their proofs I against mo ? No answer. I ask, what am I to think V The reply ie. ? M. Obenreizer is free to think what he will. What M. Obenreizer thinks is. of no importance to Defresmer and Company.' And that is all." ' ' Perfectly. That is ail," assented the notary, taking*large pinch of snuff. " Bat is that enough, sir ?" "That is not enough," said Maitre Voigt. " The House of Defresnier are my fellow-towns- _ men-much respected, much esteemed-but they T House of Defrosmer must not silently destroy e a man's character. You can rebut assertion.' But how can you rebut silence?" gi "Your sense of justice, my dear patron," an swered Obenreizer, " states in a word the cruelty V-, of the case. Does it stop there? No. For,. _? whit follows upon that V a* " True, my poor boy," said the notary, with ?' W comforting nod or two ; "your ward rebels upoo that." *?? "Bebels is two soft a word," retorted Oben?- .?> reizer. " My ward revolts from me with horror.? 3j. My ward defies me. My ward withdraws her*1' Sj self from my authority, aud takes shelter. x ( Madame Dor with her) ia the house of that ft' English lawyer, Mr. Bmtrey, who replies to you? ? summons to her to submit herself to my author*/ % ity, that she will not do so." Si '.-And who afterward writes," said tho notary, Sf moving bis large snuff-box to look among the papers underneath it tor the letter, "that be ia A coming to confer with me." " Indeed ?" replied Obenreizer, rather checked. " Well, sir. Have I no logal rights ?" "Assuredly, my poor boy," returned the S*j cotarv. "All but felons have their legal right?." mm? "And who calla me felon?" Bsid Ubcnreuer, S& " No one. Be calm under your wrongs. If HK tho house of Defresnier would cai! vou felon, indeed, we should know how to deal with th^in.'' flfl j While saying these words, he bad hauded L^M Bintrey's very short letter to Obenreizer, who NW| now read it and gave it back. VS?M "lu aayinji," ybaervod Obenjeiza-6 fit^ cg