phrases of lovers: why, a stone wall or a steel chain might have kept him away at that very moment! They passed through many a gloomy room, dimly seen in the moonshine, till they came to the picture-gallery, which was splendidly illuminated—and, strange contrast to its usual desolation, there was spread a magnificient banquet. The waxen tapers burned in their golden candlesticks, the lamps were fed with perfumed oil, and many a crystal vase was filled with rare flowers, till the atmosphere was heavy with fragrance. Piled up, in mother-of-pearl baskets, the purple grapes had yet the morning dew upon them; and the carved pine reared its emerald crest beside peaches, like topazes in The Count and the lady seated themselves on a crimson ottoman; one white arm, leant negligently, contrasted with the warm colour of the velvet; but extending the other towards the table, she took a glass; at her sign the Count filled it with wine. a sunset. "Will you pledge me?” said she, touching the cup with her lips, and passing it to him. He drank it-for wine and air seemed alike freighted with the odour of her sigh. "My beauty!" exclaimed Ludolf, detaining the ivory hand. "Nay, Count," returned the stranger, in that sweet and peculiar voice, more like music than language-" I know how lightly you hold the lover's vow!" 66 "I never loved till now!" exclaimed he, impatiently; name, rank, fortune, life, soul, are your own." She drew a ring from her hand, and placed it on his, leaving her's in his clasp. "What will you give me in exchange,—this?”—and she took the diamond cross of an order which he wore. Ay, and by my knightly faith will I, and redeem it at your pleasure” It was her hand which now grasped his; a change passed over her face: "I thank you, my sister-in-death, for your likeness,” said she, in an altered voice, turning to where the portrait had hung. For the first time, the Count observed that the frame was empty. Her grasp tightened upon him-it was the bony hand of a skeleton. The beauty vanished; the face grew a familiar one-it was that of Bertha! The floor became unstable, like water; he felt himself sinking rapidly; again he rose to the surface-he knew the gloomy pine-trees overhead; the grasp on his hand loosened; he saw the fair head of Bertha gasp in its death-agony amid the waters; the blue eyes met his; the stream flung her towards him; her arms closed round his neck with a deadly weight; down they sank beneath the dark river together-and to eternity! MY MAIDEN NAME. BY J. E. CARPENTER. My maiden name, my maiden name! For one with every sorrow rife; THE MAGIC MIRROR. A German Legendary Tale. It was early in the last century, on the eve of an All-hallows Day, that a set of riotous young men, the greater part of whom were students of the university of Göttingen, were seated round the table of a public tavern near the college. The bottles had circulated so rapidly that many of the boon companions were lying beneath the table, joining in the revels only by an occasional half-uttered imprecation or a loud snore. By slow degrees the party dwindled away, and there were but two left whose brains had resisted the stupifying effect of their debauch. One of them was Leopold Von Desterreich, a student; the other was a captain in a regiment of Jägers, then quartered in the town: his name was Schwartzwald. In the whole university there was not any young man who kept up the true character of a collegian with a more assiduous perseverance than Leopold Von Desterreich. He was the only son of a too-indulgent mother; his follies and faults were not only over-looked, but his purse was so amply supplied that he had the means—and to persons of his age, the inclination is never wanting—to indulge to the uttermost in all the absurdities of Burschenism, as a college life was then called. Captain Schwartzwald was a soldier: he had upon many occasions shown a great inclination for the company of the students, and was one of the very few persons who, without being of their fraternity, were allowed to join their revels. He was a profligate daring person, with a most forbidding countenance. His conversation was as odious as his manners were disagreeable. A professed free-thinker in matters of religion-by turns a bully and a sycophant, but always ready to back his opinions and his insolence with his sword he was feared and hated by most of the Burschen, to whom, however, he contrived, upon many occasions, to make himself useful. His example was infinitely pernicious among young men already too apt to be seduced into wrong and he was so well known to be a corrupter, that every new comer to the university was cautioned by the rectors not to associate with him. Leopold neither feared the captain nor any other person; but he hated him cordially, and to this feeling he added an utter scorn of him, and Leopold was the only man in the university with whom the captain dared not trifle. The soldier and the student now sat smoking their large pipes, and puffing the dense clouds into each other's faces with a very laudable diligence: the bottle was stationary, and one of those deep pauses prevailed which sometimes ensue after very noisy revels. It was broken by the captain proposing to sally forth in search of adventures. "Shall we take a walk?" he said. "Shall we storm the governor's house, and run away with his nieces? Shall we break into St. Ursulu's convent, where the blue-eyed girl is going to take the veil, and prevent her locking up so much beauty from the world? Any thing that is mad and wicked, and I'm your comrade." "Hark how the ""Tis All-hallows Eve," said Leopold. wind blows! the devil and all his imps are riding on the night-blast! Would you walk on such a night?" The captain soon overcame Leopold's scruples, by alarming his pride with some ingeniously placed sarcasms. At length he asked Leopold if he would go with him to the house of the witch Alice, and have their fortunes spelt. Leopold consented; and, quitting the tavern, they sallied forth into the street, It was now twelve o'clock. The night was totally dark ; not a star was visible through the thick black clouds which palled the heavens. The wind blew in fierce gusts; and, as it rushed through the ample sky, shrill sounds, which seemed horrible and unnatural, were mingled with its fitful blasts. The old houses shook, the signs creaked in the wind, chimneys were heard to fall into the silent streets, window shutters flapped, and watch-dogs howled. Nothing could be more gloomy, nor oppressive to the spirits, than this weather; and Leopold, more than once, wished that he had never begun the adventure. We shall be sure to find company at the old crone's," said Schwartzwald: "the girls will be afraid to return home while the wind blows thus." "A man need have some inducement to go out on such a night," replied Leopold; "I mean something beyond that old woman's juggling.—I look for some pretty wenches; and, if I find them, they shall pay for it. I won't take all this trouble for nothing; nay, if I should even find some of those fiends, which, as folks say, visit the old sorceress, provided they come in the shape of young and pretty women, I will boldly make love to them." Leopold said this merely for the sake of saying something, and for keeping up the character of a daredevil, which he had got. "Well said, Orlando Innamorato!" replied the soldier, 66 even such a cold wind as this, I see, cannot cool hot young blood; but here we are at the gate." He gave the word, which, as an officer of the guard, he was acquainted with; and being, moreover, well known, he and his companion were permitted to pass. They quitted the town, and struck into a path diverging away from the road, which led them on to a barren heath. A quarter of an hour's rough walking brought them to a low hovel, the lights in which they had seen some time before they reached it. A loud sound of laughter, mingled with |