curdle to-day whilst listening to
their heartless threats and terrible maledictions. Without this fear, I
should have kept my secret,--for God knows I am not proud of my office!"

The general and sudden surprise, accompanied as it was by a common
movement of aversion, induced the Signor Grimaldi to demand the reason.

"Thy name is not in much favour apparently, Herr Mueller, or Herr
Balthazar, whichever it is thy pleasure to be called," observed the
Genoese, casting a quick glance around the circle. "There is some mystery
in it, that to me needs explanation."

"Signore, I am the headsman of Berne."

Though long schooled in the polished habits of his high condition, which
taught him ordinarily to repress strong emotions, the Signor Grimaldi
could not conceal the start which this unexpected announcement produced,
for he had not escaped the usual prejudices of men.

"Truly, we have been fortunate in our associate, Melchior," he said drily,
turning without ceremony from the man whose modest, quiet mien had lately
interested him so much, but whose manner he now took to be assumed,--few
pausing to investigate the motives of those who are condemned of
opinion:--"here has been much excellent and useful morality thrown away
upon a very unworthy subject!"

The baron received the intelligence of the real name of their travelling
companion with less feeling. He had been greatly puzzled to account for
the singular language he had heard, and he found relief in so brief a
solution of the difficulty.

"The pretended name, after all, then, is only a cloak to conceal the
truth! I knew the Muellers of the Emmen Thal so well, that I had great
difficulty in fitting the character which the honest man gave of himself
fairly upon any one of them all. But it is now clear enough, and doubtless
Balthazar has no great reason to be proud of the turn which Fortune has
played his family in making them executioners."

"Is the office hereditary?" demanded the Genoese, quickly.

"It is. Thou knowest that we of Berne have great respect for ancient
usages. He that is born to the Buergerschaft will die in the exercise of
his rights, and he that is born out of its venerable pale must be
satisfied to live out of it, unless he has gold or favor. Our institutions
are a hint from nature, which leaves men as they are created, preserving
the order and harmony of society by venerable and well-defined laws, as is
wise and necessary. In nature, he that is