; and shall sighs that will not cease, and tears that may not be
dried, be the only dowry of thy bride? Thou, too, for whom all blessings
should be ordained! No, forget me; forget thy poor Leoline! She hath
nothing but prayers for thee."

In vain Warbeck pleaded; in vain he urged all that passion and truth
could urge; the springs of earthly love were forever dried up in the
orphan's heart, and her resolution was immovable. She tore herself from
his arms, and the gate of the convent creaked harshly on his ear.

A new and stern emotion now wholly possessed him; though naturally
mild and gentle, he cherished anger, when once it was aroused, with the
strength of a calm mind. Leoline's tears, her sufferings, her wrongs,
her uncomplaining spirit, the change already stamped upon her face,--all
cried aloud to him for vengeance. "She is an orphan," said he, bitterly;
"she hath none to protect, to redress her, save me alone. My father's
charge over her forlorn youth descends of right to me. What matters it
whether her forsaker be my brother? He is _her_ foe. Hath he not crushed
her heart? Hath he not consigned her to sorrow till the grave? And with
what insult! no warning, no excuse; with lewd wassailers keeping revel
for his new bridals in the hearing--before the sight--of his betrothed!
Enough! the time hath come when, to use his own words, 'One of us two
must fall!'" He half drew his sword as he spoke, and thrusting it back
violently into the sheath, strode home to his solitary castle. The sound
of steeds and of the hunting horn met him at his portal; the bridal
train of Sternfels, all mirth and gladness, were parting for the chase.

That evening a knight in complete armour entered the banquet-hall of
Sternfels, and defied Otho, on the part of Warbeck of Liebenstein, to
mortal combat.

Even the Templar was startled by so unnatural a challenge; but
Otho, reddening, took up the gage, and the day and spot were fixed.
Discontented, wroth with himself, a savage gladness seized him; he
longed to wreak his desperate feelings even on his brother. Nor had
he ever in his jealous heart forgiven that brother his virtues and his
renown.

At the appointed hour the brothers met as foes. Warbeck's vizor was up,
and all the settled sternness of his soul was stamped upon his brow.
But Otho, more willing to brave the arm than to face the front of his
brother, kept his vizor down; the Templar stood by him with folded arms.
It was a study in