rtune, and served
neither Mars alone nor Venus. Countess Anna was to be among that
company assembled at the Castle of Sonnenberg in Meran; and if, while
introducing Vittoria there with a discreet and exciting reserve, he at
the same time handed over the assassin of Count Paul, a fine harvest of
praise and various pleasant forms of female passion were to be looked
for--a rich vista of a month's intrigue; at the end of it possibly his
wealthy lady, thoroughly tamed, for a wife, and redoubled triumph over
his comrades. Without these successes, what availed the fame of the
keenest swordsman in the Austrian army?--The feast as well as the plumes
of vanity offered rewards for the able exercise of his wits.

He remained at the sub-Alpine inn until his servant Wilhelm (for whom he
had despatched the duchess's chasseur, then in attendance on Vittoria)
arrived from Milan, bringing his uniform. The chasseur was directed on
the Bormio line, with orders that he should cause the arrest of
Vittoria only in the case of her being on the extreme limit of the Swiss
frontier. Keeping his communications alert, Weisspriess bore that way
to meet him. Fortune smiled on his strategy. Jacob Baumwalder
Feckelwitz--full of wine, and discharging hurrahs along the road--met
him on the bridge over the roaring Oglio, just out of Edolo, and gave
him news of the fugitives. 'Both of them were at the big hotel in
Bormio,' said Jacob; 'and I set up a report that the Stelvio was
watched; and so it is.' He added that he thought they were going to
separate; he had heard something to that effect; he believed that the
young lady was bent upon crossing one of the passes to Meran. Last night
it had devolved on him to kiss away the tears of the young lady's maid,
a Valtelline peasant-girl, who deplored the idea of an expedition over
the mountains, and had, with the usual cat-like tendencies of these
Italian minxes, torn his cheek in return for his assiduities. Jacob
displayed the pretty scratch obtained in the Herr Captain's service, and
got his money for having sighted Vittoria and seen double. Weisspriess
decided in his mind that Angelo had now separated from her (or rather,
she from him) for safety. He thought it very probable that she would
likewise fly to Switzerland. Yet, knowing that there was the attraction
of many friends for her at Meran, he conceived that he should act more
prudently by throwing himself on that line, and he sped Jacob Baumwalder
along t