to them
to turn back, that he, their companion, their comrade, was a captive. He
shouted till his hoarse throat grew raw with straining, but they heard
him not.

A deep, narrow gorge lay between them, with a brawling rivulet far
below, and though the boy shouted with all his might, the voice never
reached them. There they walked along up the steep path, whither to,
he knew not. That they meant to desert him was, however, clear enough.
Already in that far-away land to which they journeyed no part was
assigned him. And Marietta!--she to whom he had given his heart, she
whom he bound up with all his future fortunes--she to leave him thus
without a word of farewell, without one wish to meet again, without one
prayer for his welfare! Half-maddened with grief and rage--for in his
heart now each sentiment had a share--he sprang wildly to the window,
and gazed downward at the terrace. Heaven knows what terrible thoughts
ebbed and flowed within him as he looked! Life had little to attract
him to it; his heart was well-nigh broken; a reckless indifference was
momentarily gaining on him; and he crept farther and farther out upon
the window-sill, till he seemed almost to hang over the depth beneath
him. He wanted to remember a prayer, to recall some words of a litany
he had often recited, but in his troubled brain, where confusion reigned
supreme, no memory could prevail; thoughts came and went, clashing,
mingling, conflicting, like the storm-tossed sea in a dark night, and
already a stupid and fatalist indifference dulled his senses, and one
only desire struggled with him--a wish for rest!

Once more, with an effort, he raised his eyes toward the mountain side.
The little procession was still ascending, and nigh the top. At a short
distance behind, however, he could see Marietta standing and looking
apparently toward Florence. Was it that she was thus taking a last
farewell of him, muttering, among some broken words of affection, some
blessing upon him! A sudden thrill of joy--it was hope--darted through
him as he gazed; and now bending over, he perceived that the steep wall
beneath the window was broken by many a projection and architrave, the
massive pediment of a large window projecting far, about six feet from
where he sat. Could he gain this he might descend by the column which
supported it, and reach a great belt of stonework that ran about fifteen
feet from the ground, and whence he might safely venture to drop. If
there