ith the instructions I
have ever received from your highness, I pushed my way into all
quarters, opposing what authority I might to the brutality of the
troopers."

"Quick, quick!"--cried Prince Alexander in anxious haste--"Let me not
suppose that the wearer of this ring fell the victim of such an
hour?"--

It was in passing the open doors of the church that my ears were
assailed with cries of female distresses:--nor could I doubt that
even _that_ sanctuary (held sacred by our troops of Spain!) had been
invaded by the impiety of the German or Burgundian legions!--As
usual, the chief ladies of the town had placed themselves under the
protection of the high altar. But there, even there, had they been
seized by sacrilegious hands!--The fame of the rare beauty of the
daughter of the governor of Dalem, had attracted, among the rest, two
daring ruffians of the regiment of Cevray."

"You sacrificed them, I trust in GOD, on the spot?"--demanded the
prince, trembling with emotion. "You dealt upon them the vengeance
due?"

"Alas! sir, the vengeance they were mutually dealing, had already
cruelly injured the helpless object of the contest! Snatched from the
arms of the Burgundian soldiers by the fierce arm of a German
musketeer, a deadly blow, aimed at the ruffian against whom she was
wildly but vainly defending herself; had lighted on one of the
fairest of human forms! Cloven to the bone, the blood of this
innocent being, scarce past the age of childhood, was streaming on
her assailants; and when, rushing in, I proclaimed, in the name of
God and of your highness, quarter and peace, it was an insensible
body I rescued from the grasp of pollution!"

"Unhappy Ulrica!" faltered the prince, "and oh! my more unhappy
kinsman!"

"Not altogether hopeless," resumed Rinaldo; "and apprized, by the
sorrowful ejaculations of her female companions when relieved from
their personal fears, of the high condition of the victim, I bore the
insensible lady to the hospital of Dalem; and the utmost skill of our
surgeons was employed upon her wounds. Better had it been
spared!--The dying girl was roused only to the endurance of more
exquisite torture; and while murmuring a petition for 'mercy--mercy
to her _father_!' that proved her still unconscious of her family
misfortunes, she attempted in vain to take from her finger the ring I
have had the honour to deliver to your highness:--faltering with her
last breath, 'for _his_ sake, Don John will