glancing
on yonder trees; and thence reflected from the burnished arms of the
Crusaders. But, Gela--"

"Ah," said Gertrude, "_she_ must be no more; for she would have outlived
her beauty, and have found that glory had now no rival in his breast.
Glory consoles men for the death of the loved; but glory is infidelity
to the living."

"Nay, not so, dearest Gertrude," said Trevylyan, quickly; "for my
darling dream of Fame is the hope of laying its honours at your feet!
And if ever, in future years, I should rise above the herd, I should
only ask if _your_ step were proud and _your_ heart elated."

"I was wrong," said Gertrude, with tears in her eyes; "and for your sake
I can be ambitious."

Perhaps there, too, she was mistaken; for one of the common
disappointments of the heart is, that women have so rarely a sympathy in
our better and higher aspirings. Their ambition is not for great things;
they cannot understand that desire "which scorns delight, and loves
laborious days." If they love us, they usually exact too much. They
are jealous of the ambition to which we sacrifice so largely, and which
divides us from them; and they leave the stern passion of great minds
to the only solitude which affection cannot share. To aspire is to be
alone!

CHAPTER XXI. VIEW OF EHRENBREITSTEIN.--A NEW ALARM IN GERTRUDE'S
HEALTH.--TRARBACH.

ANOTHER time our travellers proceeded from Coblentz to Treves, following
the course of the Moselle. They stopped on the opposite bank below the
bridge that unites Coblentz with the Petersberg, to linger over the
superb view of Ehrenbreitstein which you may there behold.

It was one of those calm noonday scenes which impress upon us their own
bright and voluptuous tranquillity. There stood the old herdsman leaning
on his staff, and the quiet cattle knee-deep in the gliding waters.
Never did stream more smooth and sheen than was at that hour the surface
of the Moselle mirror the images of the pastoral life. Beyond, the
darker shadows of the bridge and of the walls of Coblentz fell deep over
the waves, checkered by the tall sails of the craft that were moored
around the harbour. But clear against the sun rose the spires and roofs
of Coblentz, backed by many a hill sloping away to the horizon. High,
dark, and massive, on the opposite bank, swelled the towers and rock of
Ehrenbreitstein,--a type of that great chivalric spirit--the HONOUR that
the rock arrogates for its name--which demands so man