imprecations and the clash of steel; we cannot avenge the dead,
for their bodies are dust, and their souls absorbed in things eternal;
and Sandrit de Stramen is but making his brother's misfortune the
occasion of his own temporal, and perhaps eternal injury. I wish,
indeed, this criminal work of vengeance could be stopped."

"Yes," replied the duke, "they had better husband their energies, for if
I read the future aright, Suabia will have need of every nerve."

Rodolph paused here; and as his companion did not reply, they rode on in
silence.

"I have a plan," exclaimed the duke, with singular vivacity. "But tell
me first, has that young Gilbert seen the Lady Margaret?"

In reply the missionary briefly narrated the events of which the reader
is already in possession. "Then," pursued the King of Arles, eagerly, "I
have strong hopes of success. Listen to me, holy Father: the maiden is
beautiful and virtuous, the youth fair and knightly, and I can so
represent one to the other, as to create an attachment strong enough to
insure to filial love a victory over parental hate. It is fair, I think,
to employ the bodily graces of these young persons against the mental
deformity of their parents--to array the child against the father, when
we seek the triumph of innocence over sin."

"Your highness is inclined to be romantic," rejoined the priest.

"Only the circumstances are romantic, and they seem to have shaped
themselves; my plan is practical enough. Tell me--what think you of it?"

"Briefly, then, I think your project impracticable."

"Impracticable! You cannot know, Father, all that love and youth will
dare; but I, whose earthly life has given me experience in such matters,
have seen the impossibilities of sober minds yield to the irresistible
energy of two plighted hearts. Oh, no; it is not impracticable."

"I will grant you," replied the missionary, "that these two young
persons might be brought to love each other, that they might marry in
spite of family opposition, but the result would make your romance a
tragedy."

"How so?" inquired the duke. "May we not deem without impiety that God,
in His mercy, has designed them for the extirpation of this miserable
feud, and has drawn out of the stern parents themselves the instruments
by which their hearts may be softened?"

"It is impossible," said Father Omehr, "for us to discover by any human
means what the mercy of God may appoint; all we can do is to ask for
ligh