lagers roofless and deserted--the mill a shapeless mass of timber and
stones. Our orchard was unfolding the buds of spring--I fancied that the
hoary apple-trees wore the aspect of friends--the voice of singing floated
on my ear, as I neared the dwelling of my infancy, and the fountain of my
heart re-opened.

Close to the spot where our pretty porch once stood, a matron, in the garb
of extreme penury, was bending over the trampled remains of a plot of
flowers. Her features were only partially revealed, but the mountain
melody she sang could not be mistaken--I fell at my mother's feet! Shading
back the hair from my scarred temples, she asked me if I had come from her
children!

Mercy was vouchsafed to her and to me. She soon slumbered with the clods
of the valley. My father had died, ere my departure from France; and the
story of our injuries from the Austrian lightened the burden of remorse
for the shedding of blood. I have discovered no trace of Katherine since I
quitted her at the cave.

A MASKED BALL AT VIENNA.

It is a bitterly cold night, and the snow which has been for three days
tumbling down upon the roofs and pavements of Vienna, tumbles down upon us
still. The theatres, which get through their performances by half-past
nine, are closed already; and there is a lull now in the muffled streets.
I mean to go out as a muffled man, and use the ticket I have bought for a
Masked Ball at the palace. The sale of tickets for such balls, which take
place now and then during the winter, raises enormous sums, which are
applied to charitable purposes, so that the luxury of the rich is made to
minister, in this case, also to the comforts of the poor.

Here I stand ankle-deep in snow, and look up at the palace; all the
windows on the first story are being lighted up, and cold gentlemen
converging toward the door from all parts, are the members of Strauss's
band. And now lights have begun to flash about the streets, and masks are
beginning to arrive. Splendid carriages of the nobility; and positively
some of the imperial family do not disdain to be among the first arrivals!
The beau from the suburbs, in a light fiacre. Actresses and officers in
their broughams. Sledges from the country, drawn by merry little horses,
frisking through the snow, and jingling bells over their harness. A chaos
of lights, a coachman, and the long poles of sedan chairs in the way of a
chaos of legs, hats, shoulders, coach-tops, and every