in with impetuous anguish to
get near the waterside.

It was thus that I abandoned Babet and Jacques, in despair at having been
unable to die with them, still calling out to them in a husky voice. The
river cast me on the stones, like one of those bundles of grass it leaves
on its way. When I came to myself again, I took my daughter, who was
opening her eyes, in my arms. Day was breaking. My winter night was at an
end, that terrible night which had been an accomplice in the murder of my
wife and son.

At this moment, after years of regret, one last consolation remains to me.
I am the icy winter, but I feel the approaching spring stirring within me.
As my uncle Lazare said, we never die. I have had four seasons, and here I
am returning to the spring, there is my dear Marie commencing the
everlasting joys and sorrows over again.

BARON DE TRENCK

BY CLEMENCE ROBERT

Baron de Trenck already had endured a year of arbitrary imprisonment in
the fortress of Glatz, ignorant alike of the cause of his detention or the
length of time which he was destined to spend in captivity.

During the early part of the month of September, Major Doo, aide to the
governor of the prison of Glatz, entered the prisoner's apartment for a
domiciliary visit, accompanied by an adjutant and the officer of the
guard.

It was noon. The excessive heat of the dying summer had grown almost
unsupportable in the tower chamber where Baron de Trenck was confined.
Half empty flagons were scattered among the books which littered his
table, but the repeated draughts in which the prisoner had sought
refreshment had only served to add to his ever-increasing exasperation.

The major ransacked every nook and corner of the prisoner's chamber and
the interior of such pieces of furniture as might afford a possible
hiding-place. Remarking the annoyance which this investigation caused the
baron, Doo said arrogantly:

"The general has issued his orders, and it is a matter of little
consequence to him whether or not they displease you. Your attempts to
escape have greatly incensed him against you."

"And I," retorted Trenck, with like hauteur, "am equally indifferent to
your general's displeasure. I shall continue to dispose of my time as may
best please me."

"Good!" replied the major, "but in your own interests you would be wiser
to philosophize with your books, and seek the key to the sciences, rather
than that of the fortress."

"I do not need your