sian army were marauding there.'

Arwed, kissing the old count's hand, protested against all ceremony;
the latter, however, would not be persuaded, but slowly raised himself
from his chair, suppressing the pain it gave him, until he stood
upright before his nephew. His purple velvet cap, from under which his
thin white locks escaped, his sharply delineated, intelligent, good
humored, and withal bold face, which the lines of age and experience
had but ennobled, his tall and powerful frame, set off with an
ermine-lined green hunting dress, altogether gave him the appearance of
one of the old Norman princes of long forgotten times, and Arwed
involuntarily started back before the noble figure.

'My dear nephew!' said the old man with his deep and thrilling voice,
and holding aloft the silver goblet with solemn dignity, 'once again I
welcome thee to the castle of our ancestors, and from this goblet I
drink to thy welfare and to our common lineage.'

He drank, and then handed the goblet to the youth, who, after draining
it, tenderly embraced his worthy uncle. Sinking back into his chair,
the old man pointed to the window, where stood a table replenished with
wine and drinking cups.

Arwed wheeled him to it, and, sitting down, filled his goblet afresh.

'Now, what news do you bring, captain?' asked the uncle with a hearty
shake of the hand; 'or perhaps a yet higher title--hey?'

'I am dismissed, with the rank of major,' answered Arwed, with a slight
shrug of the shoulders.

'I understand,' cried the uncle. 'Punishment and reward, wound and
balsam, all in a breath. One may see by this, that a woman governs in
Sweden. She holds to the doctrine according to the excellent German
proverb, of washing the fur without wetting it. With Charles XII you
would not have escaped so easily! All that has occurred redounds to
your credit, and the 'out of service,' attached to your rank of major,
is as honorable to you as would be the order of the seraphim.'

'Where is cousin Christine?' asked Arwed, to interrupt his uncle's
praises, which covered his cheeks with blushes.

'She rode out to meet you,' answered the old man, 'I should have
accompanied her, but my gouty feet forbade it. The king's death and my
anxiety for its consequences, have so pulled me down that I came this
time very near going, and shall never entirely recover from the shock.
I cannot imagine how the maiden could have missed you.'

'May she not have met with some a