was to do so," sighed
Dalton, heavily. "I wish I had done the same."

The chamber into which they entered was, although scrupulously clean and
neat, marked by every sign of poverty. The furniture was scanty and of
the humblest kind; the table linen, such as used by the peasantry, while
the great jug of water that stood on the board seemed the very climax of
narrow fortune in a land where the very poorest are wine-drinkers.

A small knapsack with a light travelling-cap on it, and a staff beside
it, seemed to attract Dalton's eyes as he sat down. "It is but a poor
equipment, that yonder. Frank," said he at last, with a forced smile.

"The easier carried," replied the lad, gayly.

"Very true," sighed the other. "You must make the journey on foot."

"And why not, father? Of what use all this good blood, of which I have
been told so often and so much, if it will not enable a man to compete
with the low-born peasant. And see how well this knapsack sits," cried
he, as he threw it on his shoulder. "I doubt if the Emperor's pack will
be as pleasant to carry."

"So long as you haven't to carry a heavy heart, boy," said Dalton, with
deep emotion, "I believe no load is too much."

"If it were not for leaving you and the girls, I never could be happier,
never more full of hope, father. Why should not _I_ win my way upward as
Count Stephen has done? Loyalty and courage are not the birthright of
only one of our name!"

"Bad luck was all the birthright ever I inherited," said the old man,
passionately; "bad luck in everything I touched through life! Where
others grew rich, I became a beggar; where they found happiness, _I_ met
misery and ruin! But it's not of this I ought to be thinking now," cried
he, changing his tone. "Let us see, where are the girls?" And so saying,
he entered a little kitchen which adjoined the room, and where, engaged
in the task of preparing the dinner, was a girl, who, though several
years older, bore a striking resemblance to the boy. Over features that
must once have been the very type of buoyant gayety, years of sorrow and
suffering had left their deep traces, and the dark circles around the
eyes betrayed how deeply she had known affliction. Ellen Dalton's figure
was faulty for want of height in proportion to her size, but had another
and more grievous defect in a lameness, which made her walk with the
greatest difficulty. This was the consequence of an accident when
riding, a horse having fallen upo