nd the sense of liberty nerved me to exertion, and I walked on
till day was breaking. Our path generally lay in a descending direction,
and I felt little fatigue, when at sunrise Lydchen told me that we might
rest for some hours, as our guide could now detect the approach of any
party for miles round, and provide for our concealment. No pursuit,
however, was undertaken in that direction, the peasants in all
likelihood deeming that I would turn my steps towards Lahn, where a
strong French garrison was stationed; whereas we were proceeding in the
direction of Saltzbourg, the very longest and therefore the least likely
route through the Tyrol.

'Day succeeded day, and on we went. Not one living thing did we meet on
our lonely path. Already our little stock of provisions was falling low,
when we came in sight of the hamlet of Altendorf, only a single day's
march from the lake of Saltzbourg. The village, though high in the
mountain, lay exactly beneath us as we went, and from the height
we stood on we could see the little streets of the town and its
market-place like a map below us. Scarcely had the guide thrown his eyes
downwards than he stopped short, and pointing to the town, cried out
"The French! the French!" and true enough, a large party of infantry
were bivouacked in the streets, and several horses were picketed in the
gardens about. While the peasant crept cautiously forward to inspect
the place nearer, I stood beside Lydchen, who, with her hands pressed
closely on her face, spoke not a word.

'"We part here!" said she, with a strong, full accent, as though
determined to let no weakness appear in her words.

'"Part, Lydchen!" cried I, in an agony; for up to that moment I believed
that she never intended returning to the Tyrol.

'"Yes. Thinkest thou that I hold so light my home and country as thou
dost? Didst thou believe that a Tyrol girl would live 'midst those who
laid waste her Fatherland, and left herself an orphan, without one of
her kindred remaining?"

'"Are there no ties save those of blood, Lydchen? Is your heart so
steeled against the stranger that the devotion, the worship, of a life
long would not move you from your purpose?"

'"Thou hast refused me once," said she proudly; "I offered to be all
your own when thou couldst have made me so with honour. If thou wert the
Kaiser Franz, I would not have thee now."

'"Oh, speak not thus, Lydchen, to him whose life you saved, and made him
feel that life i