that I love her! Those last words of hers, and her sudden departure, look as though she had some faint inkling of the truth, sweet, lovely, innocent creature! I never saw a woman like her. I hate Home for neglecting her; yet if he valued her as she deserves, I should hate him still more."

And so, round and round in a circle, went his evil thoughts, and, the better to indulge them, he took a book, and, throwing himself into an easy-chair, sat revolving his hopes and unformed plans. After a time he got up again, looked out into the hopeless weather, and, with a shrug of his shoulders, went into the hall, where he indued himself with a rough coat and soft hat, and went out into the storm, not to return till barely in time to dress for dinner, when he came in (it is to be hoped) the better for a thorough wetting and buffeting from the rough wind.

JOURNAL OF AN AIDE-DE-CAMP.

V.

THE period of continued anarchy in Paris had been brought to a close by the sanguinary days of June-days which French historians admit cost more fearful bloodshed than any similar number of battles of the First Empire, and the iron hand of the republican General Cavagnac had restored order at a cost, a tenth part of which would have preserved the throne of the monarchy of July! But if suppressed in France, murder, outrage, and the worst excesses of revolutionary frenzy raged in Vienna, Prague, on the Rhine, and in other parts of Germany, as if the populations had been inspired by a delirium of sanguinary madness.

We stood by our horses, the men with their lances in hand, at a distance of something less than half a mile from the city, the animals panting at the rate we had latterly ridden, our commander having despatched me in advance in command of my own squadron and another, to act as circumstances might require, but vague rumours having alone as yet reached us of the revolutionary disorders which had broken out at Frankfort (though that they were of a very serious nature was evident from the urgency with which the commander of the forces quartered there desired the advance of every disposable man to reinforce him, the troops under his command, with the same short-sightedness which had everywhere distinguished the German governments, being altogether insufficient to quell the insurrection). Within a quarter of an hour after "Boot and Saddle" had rung from our trumpets, on the somewhat sultry oppressive September morning I am alluding to we were under arms; but as cavalry could be not only of no use, but an absolute encumbrance in narrow barricaded streets, while I was sent forward with my two squadrons, the remainder of the regiment was detained till the infantry and artillery could be brought together.

My orders were to make straight for the city, and to open communi

cation with the general if possible, and place myself under his orders. If all intercourse was cut off, I was then to remain a short distance in observation, and wait the arrival of the main body of the troops, falling back if attacked. We halted, in consequence of meeting with some infantry soldiers of the garrison, who had been cut off from joining their ranks on the breaking out of the revolt, and who narrowly escaped with their lives on attempting to rejoin their regiments. From their report it appeared the city was bristling with barricades, but that the military were strongly and judiciously posted to resist attack, although too few in number to put down the insurrection till reinforcements, more particularly in artillery, reached them. There was no other resource left, therefore, but to throw out videttes, and direct the men to stand by their horses drawn up in the road in column of half squadron, prepared for any contingency that might arise, not daring even to loosen the saddle-girths to afford a temporary relief to our panting chargers, lest a moment should be lost when the period for action arrived.

Suddenly, from the street in the suburb leading to the road we occupied, there burst forth a band of men, yelling out curses and imprecations like so many demons. I was with the advanced videttes at the time, and could see the mob was following two persons on horseback, who appeared the objects of their wrath and hostility. I spurred back, and shouted out the order to prepare to mount and advance, when suddenly several shots were fired, while the cries we had heard rose to a shout of fiendish triumph and exultation. Quick to the word my troopers were in their saddles, and we galloped forward in time to see the two horsemen fall to the ground, their horses rushing off in wild affright, while the mob, on our appearance, scattered in every direction, and fled across the country. We reined up close beside the fallen riders, and I sprang from

my horse to ascertain what had occurred. My God! shall I ever forget the horror of that moment? Stretched before me, with their eyes closed, as I thought, in death, foully and pitilessly murdered, were the bodies of the Prince de L. and the Austrian general, Count Ardlesberg, deputies of the empire to the Assembly of the German Confederation. Several of the men and officers followed my example, and for the moment we stood paralysed with horror, gazing upon the hideous scene before us and upon each other. The Prince had been shot in the back in the first instance, and then pierced with several other wounds, the most horrible of which, striking out one of his eyes, and said to have been inflicted by the hand of a woman, could not destroy the contour of his noble and classic features; but the countenance of the General was distorted, and exhibited a ghastly look of agony it was fearful to contemplate. He had been apparently in the act of turning in his saddle when the shots fired by his assassins had first struck him, as two had taken effect in his hip and shoulder, bringing him to the ground, and it was while thus prostrate that a ruffian had plunged a broad double-edged knife into his breast, with the intention of completing his butcherly work. On closer examination, we found both still breathed, but it was too evident all prospect of recovery was hopeless, though they eventually lingered for nearly two days afterwards, when death terminated the fearful tragedy.

The momentary stupor on the part of the soldiers at this fearful spectacle was quickly succeeded by bitter execrations, not loud, but deep,

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and vows of revenge which sought their realisation on the instant. a moment all sense of discipline was lost, as many of the troopers burst from their ranks and started off in the vain effort to overtake the assassins. But all pursuit was vain, and they reluctantly obeyed the trumpet call which sounded for their return, the officers and myself having with difficulty kept the rest of the men together, the glaring eye and muttered curse expressing their determination to exact the fullest retribution when the moment arrived for doing so. We removed the bodies to the roadside, where we resumed our position, and covering them with cloaks, and exerting everything in our power to afford some temporary relief, stood beside them, waiting the arrival of the troops who two hours afterwards reached the spot. On came the streaming columns, pressing forward in hot haste, the artillery, with their guns and caissons, prepared for every description of conflict, as fortunately it proved, since, unaware of the formidable nature of the revolt, a few rounds of grape and canister in the limber of each gun, had at first been deemed all that was requisite. The remainder of my regiment brought up the rear, and having made my report, and informed the general commanding of the tragic event which had occurred, we formed up with the corps, and the order was given to advance, the soldiers of the garrison I have already adverted to acting as guides, our squadrons being directed still to remain outside the city, but to be prepared to follow in support of the infantry as they moved forward to storm or clear the barricades.

The events which followed now belong to history. As it would have been sheer madness to have exposed men and horses to the fire of an unseen foe from the houses and buildings of the streets, our regiment was scarcely called upon to act in the desperate conflict which terminated in the suppression of the revolution and the restoration of order, but wherever the opportunity offered, the troopers were not slow to exhibit their reminiscence of their oath relative to the foul murders they had witnessed. "Spare none" was their motto, and lance-blade and sabre were often dripping with gore, even when open resistance had some time ceased. On tranquillity being re-established, we were ordered permanently into the city, and while the infantry and artillery bivouacked in the streets, we furnished strong patrols, which day and night paraded every quarter throughout.

It was towards the end of October, when law and authority were deemed to be thoroughly re-established, and the troops had been withdrawn from their nightly bivouac in the streets-though detachments both of cavalry and infantry still at uncertain intervals displayed themselves at different points by way of intimation that the military authorities were vigilantly on the alert to guard against any renewed attempt at disorder and revolution that one clear autumnal morning I was strolling down the Seil, when I encountered an elderly-looking man and a young girl, whose extraordinary beauty at once riveted my attention. She appeared to be Italian, and her features exhibited that classic form and outline which, if not often seen in the Peninsula, is rarely if ever met with out of it. It was not, however, even their rare loveliness that attracted my attention so much as their angelic and melancholy sweetness, which in the mental suffering they displayed approached to absolute wretchedness. They had passed onward, and I know not what impulse prompted me to do so, but more than once I turned back to look at them. They were about a

hundred yards from the spot where I stood, with my attention still directed towards them, and were apparently gazing into the shop-window of a print-seller and stationer's establishment, when suddenly I heard a shriek of such unutterable, such piercing agony, that it seemed scarcely possible to have emanated from a human being, while at the same instant I saw the young girl fall heavily into the arms of her companion.

I sprang forward to offer assistance, but on reaching the spot the old man, unmindful for the moment even of the burden he sustained, could only point to the window and exclaim, in accents of intense anguish, "That portrait! Oh! for God's sake, sir, tell me who-who is that?"

I glanced hastily in the direction he indicated. There were several fine engravings exposed to view, embracing landscapes, animals, and figures, but prominent among them all was one single magnificent mezzotinto half-length portrait, the finest specimen indeed of its kind I have ever seen, the one the old man had evidently alluded to, and under which was written, in distinct and legible characters:

PRINCE CHARLES FERDINAND VON L.,

Murdered, September, 1848.

I was for the moment so bewildered alike by the question and the scene which had preceded it that I was incapable of answering, but on the frantic repetition of the question, I replied, "The picture before you, my friend, is that of the illustrious nobleman whose name you see inscribed beneath it, who was basely and foully murdered by a band of assassins, as I myself unfortunately witnessed, on the commencement of the late revolutionary troubles." The words had scarcely issued from lips, before the old man staggered as if struck by a heavy blow, and, together with the young girl he supported in his arms, would inevitably have fallen to the ground, had I not caught and sustained both, while I shouted to some passing soldiers for assistance. They sprang forward to my aid, and we bore them into the interior of the establishment, the people of which crowded around us speechless with amazement.

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Our efforts to recover the beautiful being lying in a state of insensibility before us seemed utterly fruitless; she reclined in the large chaise longe brought by the people of the shop, in which we had placed her, cold, motionless, the dark lashes of the eyelids resting upon the marble cheek, as if in the shock she had sustained, whatever was its nature, her spirit had altogether fled. With her companion we were more fortunate. After a few minutes he opened his eyes, and then the first reminiscence that struck him seemed the event of the picture, the remembrance of which appeared to haunt him like the spell of some evil spirit, as he wildly asked again to see it. I whispered one of the shop-people, who brought it from the window and placed it before him. He gazed upon it with wild and frantic eagerness for a second, and then, as if some dreadful conviction he could not hitherto realise had now been too surely and fatally fulfilled, he exclaimed, with a burst of poignant anguish that seemed to crush his very being, "Mia povera figlia -mia povera figlia tradita!" (My poor child-my poor betrayed child!)

I strove to rouse him by drawing his attention to the state of the young girl, which I must confess had now created in my mind the strongest degree of apprehension. He started at my words, and gazed

upon the senseless form before us with an agony so piteous, a feeling of misery so utterly intense, that even the rough soldiers turned away and drew their sleeves across their eyes. As if, however, suddenly awakened to the magnitude of the crisis, he exclaimed, "The Hôtel de Russie! Take us there! Oh! for the love of Heaven, sir," addressing me, "do not abandon me, but assist in the restoration of my child." Just then, one of our patrols passing the shop, I called to the non-commissioned officer commanding it, and desired him to detach two of his men, one to the residence of the surgeon-major of our regiment, a gentleman of considerable eminence in his profession whose residence was close to the hotel the stranger had mentioned, and the other to the military hospital, requesting the immediate attendance of any other medical man who might be present. The troopers rode off on the spur, and then, with the aid of the soldiers, placing the still insensible form of the young girl in a fiacre, which had been summoned to the spot, I seated myself beside her, and we drove off to the hotel.

On our arrival we laid her on a couch, and in a few minutes afterwards the surgeon, who was fortunately at home, joined us. In a hurried whisper I informed him of what had occurred, and in the next minute he stood beside his patient. He placed his hand upon her slender wrist, afterwards upon the heart, and then gazed fixedly and steadfastly upon her countenance, the unfortunate parent, still half stupified, regarding him with a wistful eagerness it was painful to witness. After a short time the surgeon beckoned me into a corner of the room, and said, in a low tone, "This is a bad business. Do you know anything relative to it ?"

"Nothing," I replied, "excepting what I have already told you; the affair was so instantaneous, and seems so utterly unaccountable, that I am completely bewildered."

Suddenly the incident of the picture flashed across me, which, in the confusion of the moment, I had forgotten, and, indeed, had not had time to communicate. I now briefly related it to my attentive auditor, who shook his head at the recital.

"There is evidently some painful mystery here," he observed, "the sudden elucidation of which has caused a shock to this poor girl's brain and nervous system. I, too, much fear all human aid will prove wholly unavailing in preventing the inevitably fatal issue. Even should her life be spared, of which I have scarcely the remotest hopes in her present state" (I am led to believe he alluded to the near prospect of her becoming a mother), "she would survive only to be bereft of reason for the remainder of her existence. But let us get the wretched father away, and summon the women to take charge of his unfortunate child, till I can order experienced nurses to watch over her, in company with myself or one of my assistants, for a medical man must never for one single moment be absent from her bedside, since our only hope is to watch the faint chance of any favourable turn occurring, which her youth and evidently strong constitution might afford.”

His directions were implicitly obeyed; some difficulty being, as might have been anticipated, experienced with the unhappy parent, who could only be dragged from the apartment of his suffering child by the intimation that any prospect of her recovery consisted in his implicit com