mountaineer's emotions
and experiences, with piff-paff continually left of him and right of him
and nothing hitting him. The mountaineer is perplexed; an able man, a
dead shot, who must undo the puzzle or lose faith in his skill, is a
tremendous pursuer, and the mountaineer follows the steinbock ever. A
'sennderin' at a 'sennhutchen' tells him that she admitted the steinbock
last night, and her curled hair frizzled under the steinbock's eyes. The
case is only too clear: my goodness! the steinbock is the--"Der Teu!..."
said Andreas, with a comic stop of horror, the rhyme falling cleverly to
"ai." Henceforth the mountaineer becomes transformed into a champion
of humanity, hunting the wicked bearded steinbock in all corners;
especially through the cabinet of those dark men who decree the taxes
detested in Tyrol.

The song had as yet but fairly commenced, when a break in the
'piff-paff' chorus warned Andreas that he was losing influence, women
and men were handing on a paper and bending their heads over it; their
responses hushed altogether, or were ludicrously inefficient.

"I really believe the poor brute has come to a Christian finish--this
Ahasuerus of steinbocks!" said the duchess.

The transition to silence was so extraordinary and abrupt, that she
called to her chasseur to know the meaning of it. Feckelwitz fetched
the paper and handed it up. It exhibited a cross done in blood under the
word 'Meran,' and bearing that day's date. One glance at it told Laura
what it meant. The bride in the court below was shedding tears:
the bridegroom was lighting his pipe and consoling her; women were
chattering, men shrugging. Some said they had seen an old grey-haired
hag (hexe) stand at the gates and fling down a piece of paper. A little
boy whose imagination was alive with the tale of the steinbock, declared
that her face was awful, and that she had only the use of one foot. A
man patted him on the shoulder, and gave him a gulp of wine, saying with
his shrewdest air: "One may laugh at the devil once too often, though!"
and that sentiment was echoed; the women suggested in addition the
possibility of the bride Lisa having something on her conscience,
seeing that she had lived in a castle two years and more. The potential
persuasions of Father Bernardus were required to get the bride to
go away to her husband's roof that evening: when she did make her
departure, the superstitious peasantry were not a merry party that
followed a