any further proceedings against the man, who, he said, had been allured
and seduced into things with which he should have nothing to do.

Again Eric expressed his wish that Clodwig would assist at the trial.

He merely replied,--

"I will inform the Court that the man summons a tribunal of his own
accord. It will have a good effect there; and to oblige you"--here he
sat upright, and his expression of languor changed to one of
resolution. He passed his hand over his whole face, as though feeling
that he must wipe away its look of distress--"yes, on your account, in
the belief that your connection with that house may be, by this means,
severed, or that light may be thrown upon it, I do not shrink from the
appeal."

It was hard to Eric that this consent should be given for his sake, and
not with a view to serving the cause. He was on the point of announcing
his intention of becoming the man's son, when approaching footsteps
were heard. Clodwig rose hastily, and, seizing Eric's hand, said, in a
low but decided voice,--

"Well, I yield. The man wishes a court of honor: he shall have one."

Clodwig had uttered these words quickly and precipitately, for at that
moment Bella entered.

She greeted Eric with Latin words; and it was with a strange confusion
of sensations that he perceived in her a sudden defiance, utterly out
of keeping with the present state of things, and, above all, with
Clodwig's dejected mood.

"Pray tell me," she asked, "did you ever pass through a phase in which
you admired men of force, like Ezzelin von Romano? There is, after all,
something great in such violent natures, especially when contrasted
with men of petty interests and weak dilettanteism"--,

Eric could not understand what this meant. It did not occur to him that
Bella, screened by the presence of a stranger, was discharging arrows,
none of which missed their mark.

Clodwig gently closed his eyes, nodded, and then opened them again.

"Oh, yes," she continued, more calmly, "I am glad that I remember a
question which I wished to put to you. Tell me, what would Cicero or
Socrates have said, on reading Lord Byron's 'Cain'?" Eric looked at her
with a puzzled air. This question was so extravagantly odd, that he did
not know whether it was intended as a sneer, or whether she was insane.
Bella, however, went on:--

"Has Roland ever yet read Byron's 'Cain'?"

"I believe not."

"Give him the book now. It must have an effect upon him. He,