resource but to die."

"The triumph of Castero, then--the triumph he owes to luck--has cowed
you so that you are afraid to challenge him to another trial?"--rejoined
the stranger in an angry tone.

"Every thing is lost," said Frederick, "don't you hear those sounds?" he
added, holding his hands out towards the city--"my courage cannot bear
up against such mockery--_vae victis_!--my doom is sealed."

"But you do not yet know the full extent of your rival's victory. There
is a young girl who was to have been your wife--a girl who loves you--"

"Maina!"--cried Frederick, to whom these words restored his
recollection.

"Yes, Maina, the daughter of Jansen Pyl, the burgomaster of Haarlem.
Well, encouraged by his success, Castero went to the house, and demanded
the hand of her you love."

"What?--what do I hear?"--said Frederick, and looked once more towards
the lake.

"The burgomaster never liked you very well, as you are aware. In
consenting to receive you as his son-in-law, he yielded more to the
wishes of his daughter, to her prayers and tears, than to his preference
of you over the other adorers of the Beauty of Haarlem. Castero's fame
had long predisposed him in his favour; and the triumph he obtained
to-day has entirely won the old man's heart."

"He has promised her?" enquired Frederick in a voice almost inaudible
from anxiety.

"To-morrow he will decide between you. You are ignorant of the
arrangement entered into; and, yielding to a cowardly impulse, you give
up the happiness of your life at the moment it is in your grasp. Listen.
The Stadtholder, who did not intend to remain at Haarlem, has accepted
the invitation of the burgomaster, and will not leave the city till
to-morrow afternoon. That illustrious personage has expressed a wish to
hear again the two performers who pleased him so much, and his patronage
is promised to the successful candidate in the next trial. He is a
judge of music--he perceived the fineness of your touch, and saw that it
was a mere accident which was the cause of your failure. Do you
understand me now? Maina will be the wife of the protege of the
Stadtholder--and you give up your affianced bride if you refuse to
measure your strength once more against Castero."

The explanation brought tears into Frederick's eyes. In his agony as a
musician he had forgotten the object of his love--the fair young girl
whose heart was all his own. Absorbed in the one bitter thought of his
defeat