y with you, dear Mary," said she, "and has taken you under
His protection. I see now that He has guided my steps here in order
that I might find you for whom we have sought so long. Simple as are
the events which I am about to relate to you, we can see in them a
chain of truly providential circumstances.

"From the time that your innocence was discovered I had no more rest.
You and your father were always pressing on my mind, wandering without
home and friends. Believe me, my dear Mary, I have shed many bitter
tears on your account. My parents were also deeply distressed at the
injustice they had unwittingly done you, and sought for you everywhere;
but, as you know, without being able to obtain any trace of you.

"Two days ago we came to a hunting-lodge of the Prince in the forest,
not far from this village. For twenty years at least this castle has
not been visited, the only occupant being a gamekeeper. My father had
gone on business, and had spent the whole day in the forest in company
with two noblemen whose wives were staying at the castle. It had been a
very warm day, and the evening was very fresh. The setting sun, the
mountain covered with pines interspersed with picturesque rocks offered
such a beautiful spectacle that I begged permission to take a walk.
Accompanied by the gamekeeper's daughter I set out, and as we passed
along we found the graveyard gate open, and the tombstones gilded by
the light of the setting sun.

"Since my childhood I have always had a pleasure in reading
inscriptions and epitaphs on tombstones. I am moved when one tells of a
young man or woman carried off in the bloom of youth, and I feel a sort
of melancholy pleasure if it concerns a person who had reached advanced
age. The verses themselves, poor as they may be from a poetical point
of view, stir serious feelings within me, and I never fail to carry
away with me from a graveyard good thoughts and pious resolutions.

"Entering the graveyard with the gamekeeper's daughter, I began as
usual to read the inscriptions. After a little while the girl said to
me, 'Come, I will show you something very beautiful. It is the grave of
an old man, who has neither tombstone nor epitaph, but it has been
ornamented with taste and beauty by the tender piety of his daughter.
See, you can just distinguish it through the thick leaves of these
pines--the beautiful rose tree and the basket of flowers.'

"You can imagine, dear Mary, the shock I received, w