he old
man, seriously; "he holds for Wuertemberg."

The greatest part of the procession had, during this conversation,
passed by under the windows; and Marie remarked, with astonishment, the
indifference and unconcern with which her relation Bertha viewed it.
The usual manner of her cousin was thoughtful; indeed, at times she
appeared in a state of absence to all surrounding objects; but on such
a day as this, to be so perfectly insensible to the brilliancy of the
passing scene, was, in Marie's mind, to be guilty almost of
impropriety.

She was just on the point of upbraiding her, when her attention was
called to a sudden noise in the street. A large, powerful horse was
prancing immediately under their window, having probably taken fright
at the waving ensigns of the trades. The high crest and flowing main of
the steed sheltered the rider's face, and the feathers only of his cap
were visible to the spectators at the window; but the adroitness and
ease with which he managed his horse and kept him under command, proved
him to be a skilful cavalier. In his exertion to quiet him, his
light-brown hair had fallen over his face, and as he threw it back, his
look fell on the bow-window of the corner house.

"Well at last there is a handsome young man," whispered Marie to her
neighbour, so softly and secretly as if she feared to be overheard by
him; "and how polite and courteous he is! Look! I really think he has
saluted us, without knowing who we are."

Marie's curiosity was too much excited at the moment to notice the
sudden change which her remark had produced on her cousin's
countenance, who, to conceal her embarrassment, feigned to pay no
attention to what she said. Bertha had hitherto sat unconcerned,
viewing the passing procession with apparent cold indifference; but
when she recognised the young cavalier, and returned his salutation
with a slight inclination of the head, her cheek was suddenly suffused
with a burning blush, her thoughtful eye was animated into an
expression in which tender love and fearful anticipation predominated;
and though the smile about her mouth might bespeak joy at the sight of
the unexpected apparition, a keen observer could not have failed to
discover, that it betrayed somewhat of pain and regret. Her accustomed
self-possession, however, quickly regained the ascendancy over these
conflicting feelings, and thus her merry cousin, whose quick
penetration at any other moment would have been st