the Toledo of Bellissima Napoli, which, as everybody knows, is a
bit of heaven fallen upon earth!"

The fervor with which Pippo uttered the customary eulogium on the site of
the ancient Parthenope was so natural and characteristic as to excite a
smile in the judge, in spite of the solemn duty in which he was engaged,
and it was believed to be an additional proof of the speaker's innocence.
The chatelain then slowly recapitulated the history of the buffoon and the
pilgrim to his companions, the purport of which was as follows.

Pippo naively admitted the debauch at Vevey, implicating the festivities
of the day and the known frailty of the flesh as the two influencing
causes. Conrad, however, stood upon the purity of his life and the sacred
character of his calling, justifying the company he kept on the
respectable plea of necessity, and on that of the mortifications to which
a pilgrimage should, of right, subject him who undertakes it. They had
quitted Vaud together as early as the evening of the day of the abbaye's
ceremonies, and, from that time to the moment of their arrival at the
convent, had made a diligent use of their legs, in order to cross the Col
before the snows should set in and render the passage dangerous. They had
been seen at Martigny, at Liddes, and St. Pierre, alone and at proper
hours, making the best of their way towards the hospice; and, though of
necessity their progress and actions, for several hours after quitting the
latter place, were not brought within the observation of any but of that
all-seeing eye which commands a view of the recesses of the Alps equally
with those of more frequented spots, their arrival at the abode of the
monks was sufficiently seasonable to give reason to believe that no
portion of the intervening time had been wasted by the way. Thus far their
account of themselves and their movements was distinct, while, on the
other hand, there was not a single fact to implicate either, beyond the
suspicion that was more or less common to all who happened to be on the
mountain at the moment the crime was committed.

"The innocence of these two men would seem so clear, and their readiness
to appear and answer to our questions is so much in their favor," observed
the experienced chatelain, "that I do not deem it just to detain them
longer. The pilgrim, in particular, has a heavy trust; I understand he
performs his penance as much for others as for himself, and it is scarce
decent in u