epless one. At the hour of prime--ay,
and an hour before it, was he in the castle garden, where no one now
opposed either his entrance or his abode, with a feather of the assigned
colour, as distinguished as he could by any means procure in such haste.
No notice was taken of his appearance for nearly two hours, at length
he heard a few notes of the lute, and presently the lattice opened right
above the little postern door at which Marthon had admitted Hayraddin,
and Isabelle, in maidenly beauty, appeared at the opening, greeted him
half kindly, half shyly, coloured extremely at the deep and significant
reverence with which he returned her courtesy--shut the casement, and
disappeared.

Daylight and champaign could discover no more! The authenticity of the
billet was ascertained--it only remained what was to follow, and of
this the fair writer had given him no hint. But no immediate danger
impended--the Countess was in a strong castle, under the protection of
a Prince, at once respectable for his secular and venerable for his
ecclesiastical authority. There was neither immediate room nor occasion
for the exulting Squire interfering in the adventure, and it was
sufficient if he kept himself prompt to execute her commands whensoever
they should be communicated to him. But Fate purposed to call him into
action sooner than he was aware of.

It was the fourth night after his arrival at Schonwaldt, when Quentin
had taken measures for sending back on the morrow, to the Court of
Louis, the remaining groom who had accompanied him on his journey, with
letters from himself to his uncle and Lord Crawford, renouncing the
service of France, for which the treachery to which he had been exposed
by the private instructions of Hayraddin gave him an excuse, both in
honour and prudence, and he betook himself to his bed with all the rosy
coloured ideas around him which flutter about the couch of a youth when
he loves dearly, and thinks his love is as sincerely repaid.

But Quentin's dreams, which at first partook of the nature of those
happy influences under which he had fallen asleep, began by degrees to
assume a more terrific character.

He walked with the Countess Isabelle beside a smooth and inland lake,
such as formed the principal characteristic of his native glen, and he
spoke to her of his love, without any consciousness of the impediments
which lay between them. She blushed and smiled when she listened--even
as he might have expe