red upon an old _chasseur_, Francis by
name, Wolfgang's faithful servant.

At last, after long waiting, V---- received from Switzerland
information of the most favourable character. The priest who had
married Roderick was long since dead; but there was found in the church
register a memorandum in his hand writing, to the effect that the man
of the name of Born, whom he had joined in the bonds of wedlock with
Mdlle. Julia de St. Val, had established completely to his satisfaction
his identity as Freiherr Wolfgang von R----, eldest son of Freiherr
Roderick von R---- of R--Sitten. Besides this, two witnesses of the
marriage had been discovered, a merchant of Geneva and an old French
captain, who had moved to Lyons; to them also Wolfgang had in
confidence stated his real name; and their affidavits confirmed the
priest's notice in the church register. With these memoranda in his
hands, drawn up with proper legal formalities, V---- now succeeded in
securing his client in the complete possession of his rights; and as
there was now no longer any hindrance to the surrender to him of the
entail, it was to be put into his hands in the ensuing autumn. Hubert
had fallen in his very first engagement, thus sharing the fate of his
younger brother, who had likewise been slain in battle a year before
his father's death. Thus the Courland estates fell to Baroness
Seraphina von R----, and made a handsome dowry for her to take to the
too happy Roderick.

November had already come in when the Baroness, along with Roderick and
his betrothed, arrived at R--sitten. The formal surrender of the
estate-tail to the young Baron took place, and then his marriage with
Seraphina was solemnised. Many weeks passed amid a continual whirl of
pleasure; but at length the wearied guests began gradually to depart
from the castle, to V----'s great satisfaction, for he had made up his
mind not to take his leave of R--sitten until he had initiated the
young lord of the entail in all the relations and duties connected with
his new position down to the minutest particulars. Roderick's uncle had
kept an account of all revenues and disbursements with the most
detailed accuracy; hence, since Hubert had only retained a small sum
annually for his own support, the surplus revenues had all gone to
swell the capital left by the old Freiherr, till the total now amounted
to a considerable sum. Hubert had only employed the income of the
entail for his own purposes during th