intentions were
misunderstood, and he too often allowed himself to be carried away by
the violence of passion--but where lives the man of which this might
not be said? Truly, he has wofully repented himself." He stopt short,
fearing he had said more than he ought before Albert, who asked in vain
to hear something further of his character. The old man sank into
silence and deep thought.

The sun having risen over the mountains and dispersed the mist which
hung about the vallies, invited Albert to the window to enjoy the
splendid view. A lovely valley, surrounded by wooded heights, with
three smiling villages scattered over its surface, and a rapid stream
running through it, lay at the foot of the rock of Lichtenstein. It was
like beholding the earth from a point in the heavens. Leaving the
valley and looking to the wooded heights, his eye rested with delight
upon picturesque groups of rocks and the mountain of the Alb, behind
which rises the castle of Achalm, and forms the boundary of the
immediate surrounding country. Beyond the walls of Achalm, the distant
hills were visible to the right and left. The rock of Lichtenstein,
reaching, as it were, into the clouds, commands an extensive view of
Wuertemberg, free and unbroken, into the far lowland. The morning sun
throwing its oblique rays across the landscape, Albert was transported
with the beauty of its scenery.

The fertile fields spread before him, surrounded by the wooded hills,
he compared to variegated carpets, edged, as it were, with borders of
dark green and brown, deriving their different shades and colours from
the tints thrown over them by the dawning day. And then turning to the
country between Lichtenstein and the distant Asperg, he exclaimed,
"What charms for the lover of the picturesque! No continuous
uninterrupted plain to weary the beholder, the eye ranges from hill to
mountain in pleasing variety, and rests on the luxuriant valley, with
its meandering stream gently rippling along in its course."

Albert stood wrapt in delight. He strained his eyes more and more to
see and distinguish each castle and village in the far distance. Bertha
stood beside him, and though she had enjoyed the same view from her
childhood, she now shared his pleasure; she pointed out every place,
and named all the different towers to him. "Where is there another spot
in all Germany which can be compared to this!" said Albert; "I have
seen vast plains, and mounted heights which c