dkerchief to the kneeling women, and galloped from
the gate. His comrades hastened after him; their lances gleamed
through clouds of dust, which soon concealed them from view; but
neither the Szekely nor the Circassian women saw that young chieftain
more.

He was summoned before a military tribunal for transgression of duty,
and suffered the stern fate of the soldier.

Troops of a different nature were sent next against the town, whose
horses trampled down the grave, and whose bayonets forced open the
closed doors.

It was a weary strife, without the glory of war; one by one each house
was taken, defended as they were by women and children; the contest
was renewed in every street; the infuriated inhabitants pouring
boiling water and oil over the heads of their enemies, while the
fearful tolling of the bell, heard above the cries and the clang of
arms, excited them to still greater desperation.

The combat continued till night, when the song of triumph was heard
in the streets--the town was in the hands of the enemy. Suddenly, as
if it had descended from heaven, fire burst from the roofs of the
houses, and in an instant, the wind coming to the assistance of the
flames, carried the fiery embers from one end of the town to the
other. Cries of despair arose amidst the howling of the blast, but
dense clouds of smoke concealed all but the flames which darted
through them, devouring as they passed; and high above, the roof of
the tower blazed like a gigantic torch, while the solemn tolling still
continued, the voice of battle, of fire, of tempest, and of death: a
fearful crash was heard, and all was still--the bell had fallen.

* * * * *

The two elements remained joint masters of the field. The wind and the
flames contended over the ruins of Kezdi-Vasarhely.

A BALL.

DEAREST ILMA,--I am in despair! I am very ill, and in bed! Ah! I shall
never dance a quadrille again. I will go into a convent, or marry, or
make away with myself in some other way. Conceive what has happened to
me! Oh! it is too dreadful, too shocking! you never read such a thing
in a romance!

You may have heard that the Hungarian troops marched through here last
week, after the battle of Branyisko; there was the greatest panic and
confusion at the news of their approach; we expected that they would
have set fire to the town, and pillaged, and killed us--indeed, mamma
said there was no knowing what horrors the