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The consultation that now took place was between
the principal laymen. The connection which
the Church had so long maintained with supernatural
agencies, determined Emich, who was jealous of its
again obtaining its lost ascendency in that country,
to exclude the officiating priests altogether from the
decision he was about to take. Were we to say that
the Count of Hartenburg gave full faith to the rumors
concerning the spirit of his late Forester, having
been seen engaged in the chase, as when in the flesh,
we should probably not do entire credit to his intelligence
and habits of thinking, but were we to say,
that he was altogether free from superstition and
alarm on this difficult point, we should attribute to
him a degree of philosophy and a mental independence,
which in that age was the property only of
the learned and reflecting, and not always even of
them. Astrology, in particular, had taken strong
hold of the imaginations of those who even pretended
to general science; and when the mind once admits
of theories of a character so little in accordance with
homely reason, it opens the avenues to a multitude
of collateral weaknesses of the same nature, which
seem to follow as the necessary corollaries of the
main proposition.

The necessity of a prompt solution of the question
was admitted by all of those whom the Count consulted.
Many had begun to whisper that the extraordinary
visitation was a consequence of the sacrilege, and that
it was hopeless to expect peace, or exemption from
supernatural plagues, until the Benedictines were

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restored to their Abbey and their former rights.
Though Emich felt convinced that this idea came
originally from the monks, through some of their
secret and paid agents, he saw no manner of defeating
it so effectually as that of demonstrating the falsity
of the rumor. In our time, and in this land, a
weapon that was forged by a miracle, would be apt
to become useless of itself; but in the other hemisphere,
there still exist entire countries, that are yet
partially governed by agents of this description. At
the period of the tale, the public mind was so uninstructed
and dependent, that the very men who were
most interested in defeating the popular delirium of
the hour, had great difficulty in overcoming their
own doubts. It has been seen that Emich, though
much disposed to throw off the dominion of the
Church, so far clung to his ancient prejudices, as secretly
to distrust the very power he was about to
defy, and to entertain grave scruples not only of the
policy, but of the lawfulness of the step his ambition
had urged him to adopt. In this manner does man
become the instrument of the various passions and
motives that beset him, now yielding, or now struggling
to resist, as a stronger inducement is presented
to his mind; always professing to be governed by
reason and constrained by principles, while in truth
he rarely consents to consult the one, or to respect the
other, until both are offered through the direct medium
of some engrossing interest, that requires an
immediate and active attention. Then indeed his
faculties become suddenly enlightened, and he eagerly
presses into his service every argument that offers,
the plausible as well as the sound; and thus it happens
that we frequently see whole communities
making a moral pirouette in a breath, adopting this
year a set of principles that are quite in opposition
to all they had ever before professed. Fortunately,
all that is thus gained on sound principles is apt to

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continue, since whatever may be the waywardness of
those who profess them, principles themselves are immutable,
and when once fairly admitted, are not easily
dispossessed by the bastard doctrines of expediency
and error. These changes are gradual as respect
those avant-couriers of thought, who prepare the
way for the advance of nations, but who, in general,
so far precede their contemporaries, as to be utterly
out of view at the effectual moment of the reformation,
or revolution, or by whatever name these sudden
summersets are styled; but as respects the mass, they
often occur by a coup-de-main; an entire people awakening,
as it were, by magic, to the virtues of a new
set of maxims, much as the eye turns from the view
of one scenic representation to that of its successor.

Our object in this tale is, to represent society,
under its ordinary faces, in the act of passing from
the influence of one set of governing principles to
that of another. Had our efforts been confined to
the workings of a single and a master mind, the picture,
however true as regards the individual, would
have been false in reference to a community; since
such a study would have been no more than following
out the deductions of philosophy and reason—
something the worse, perhaps, for its connection
with humanity; whereas, he that would represent
the world, or any material portion of the world,
must draw the passions and the more vulgar interests
in the boldest colors, and be content with pourtraying
the intellectual part, in a very subdued
background. We know not that any will be disposed
to make the reflection that our labors are intended
to suggest, and without which they will scarcely
be useful; but, while we admit the imperfection of
what has been here done, we feel satisfied that he
who does consider it coolly and in candor, will be
disposed to allow, that our picture is sufficiently
true for its object.

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We have written in vain, should it now be necessary
to dwell on the nature of the misgivings that
harassed the minds of the Count and Heinrich, as
they descended the hill of Limburg, at the head of
the new procession. Policy, and the determination
to secure advantages that had been so dearly obtained,
urged them on; while doubt and all the progeny
of ancient prejudices, contributed to their distrust.

The people advanced much in the same order as
that in which they had ascended to the ruins of the
Abbey. The pilgrims were in front, followed closely by
the parochial priests, and their choirs; while the rest
succeed in an eager, trembling, curious, and devout
crowd. Religious change existed, as yet, rather in doctrine,
and among the few, than in the practices of the
many; and all the rites, it will be remembered, were
those usually observed by the church of Rome on an
occasion of exorcism, or of an especial supplication
to be released from a mysterious display of Heaven's
displeasure. The Count and Heinrich, as became their
stations, walked boldly in advance; for, whatever
might have been the extent and nature of their distrust,
it was wisely and successfully concealed from
all but themselves—even the worthy Burgomaster
entertained a respectful opinion of the Noble's firmness,
and the latter much wondering at a man of
Heinrich's education and habits of life, being able
to show a resolution that he thought more properly
belonged to philosophy. They passed up towards the
plain of the Heidenmauer, by the hollow way that has
already been twice mentioned in these pages—once
in the Introduction, and again, as the path by which
Ulrike descended on her way to the Abbey, on the
night of its destruction. Until near the summit, nothing
occurred to create new uneasiness; and as the
choristers increased the depth of their chant, the
leaders began to feel a vague hope of escaping from

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farther interruption. As the moments passed, the
Count breathed freer, and he already fancied that
he had proved the Heidenmauer to be a spot as
harmless as any other in the Palatinate.

“You have often pricked courser over this wild
common of the Devil, noble and fearless Count,”
said Heinrich, when they drew near the margin of
the superior plain—“One so accustomed to its view,
is not easily troubled by the cries and vagaries of a
leash of uneasy dogs, though they might be kenneled
beneath the shade of the Teufelstein!”

“Thou mayest well say often, good Heinrich.
When but an urchin, my excellent father was wont
to train his chargers on this height, and it was often
my pleasure to be of the party. Then our hunts
frequently drove the deer from the cover of the
chases to this open ground—”

The Count paused, for a swift, pattering rush, like
that of the feet of hounds beating the ground, was
audible, just above their heads, though the edge of
the mountain still kept the face of the level ground
from being seen. Spite of their resolution, the two
leaders came to a dead halt—a delay which those in
the rear were compelled to imitate.

“The common hath its tenants, Herr Frey,” said
Emich, gravely, but in a tone of a man resolute to
struggle for his rights; “it will soon be seen if they
are disposed to admit the sovereignty of their feudal
lord.”

Without waiting for an answer, the Count spite
of himself muttered an ave, and mounted with sturdy
limbs to the summit. The first glance was rapid,
uneasy, and distrustful; but nothing rewarded the
look. The naked rock of the Teufelstein lay in
the ancient bed—where it had probably been left,
by some revolution of the earth's crust, three thousand
years before—gray, solitary, and weather-worn
as at this hour; the grassy common had not a hoof

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or foot over the whole of its surface; and the cedars
of the deserted camp sighed in the breeze, as usual,
dark, melancholy, and suited to the traditions which
had given them interest.

“Here is nothing!” said the Count, drawing a
heavy breath, which he would fain ascribe to the
difficulty of the ascent.

“Herr von Hartenburg, God is here, as he is among
the hills we have lately quitted—on that fair and
wide plain below—and in thy hold!—”

“Prithee, good Ulrike, we will of this another
time. We touch now on the destruction of a silly
legend, and of some recent alarms.”

At a wave of his hand the procession proceeded,
taking the direction of the ancient gateway of the
camp, the choir renewing its chant, and the same
leaders always in advance.

It is not necessary to say that the Heidenmauer
was approached, on this solemn occasion, with beating
hearts. No man of reflection and proper feeling
can ever visit a spot like this, without fancying a
picture that is fraught with pleasing melancholy.
The certainty that he has before his eyes the remains
of a work, raised by the hands of beings who existed
so many centuries before him in that great chain of
events which unites the past with the present, and
that his feet tread earth that has been trodden
equally by the Roman and the Hun, is sufficient of
itself to raise a train of thought allied to the wonderful
and grand. But to these certain and natural
sensations was now added a dread of omnipotence
and the apprehension of instantly witnessing some
supernatural effect.

Not a word was uttered, until Emich and the Burgomaster
turned to pass the pile of stones which
mark the position of the ancient wall, by means of
the gateway already named, when the former, encouraged
by the tranquillity, again spoke.

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“The ear is often a treacherous companion, friend
Burgomaster,” he said, “and like the tongue, unless
duly watched, may lead to misunderstandings. No
doubt we both thought, at the moment, that we
heard the feet of hounds beating the earth, as on a
hunt; thou now seest, by means of one sense, that
the other hath served us false. But we approach
the end of our little pilgrimage, and we will halt,
while I speak the people in explanation of our opinions
and intentions.”

Heinrich gave the signal, and the choir ceased its
chant, while the crowd drew near to listen. The
Count both saw and felt that he touched the real
crisis, in the furtherance of his own views, as opposed
to those of the brotherhood, and he determined,
by a severe effort, not only to overcome his enemies,
but himself. In this mood, he spoke.

“Ye are here, my honest friends and vassals,” he
commenced, “both as the faithful who respect the
usefulness of the altar when rightly served, and as
men who are disposed to see and judge for themselves.
This camp, as ye witness by its remains, was once
occupied by armed bands of warriors who, in their
day, fought and fortified, suffered and were happy,
bled and died, conquered or were vanquished, much
as we see those who carry arms in our own time,
perform these several acts, or submit to these several
misfortunes. The report that their spirits frequent
the spot, is as little likely to be true, as that the spirits
of all who have fallen with arms in their hands remain
near the earth that hath swallowed their blood; a
belief that would leave no place in our fair Palatinate
without its ghostly tenant. As for this late
alarm, concerning my Forester, poor Berchthold Hintermayer,
it is the less probable from the character
of the youth, who well knew when living the disrelish
I have felt for all such tales, and my particular
desire to banish them altogether from the Jaegerthal,

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as well as from his known modesty and dutiful obedience.
You see plainly that here are no dogs—”

Emich met with a startling contradiction. Just
as his tongue, which was getting fluent with the impunity
that had so far attended his declarations,
uttered the latter word, the long drawn cries of
hounds were heard. Fifty strong German exclamations
escaped the crowd, which waved like a troubled
sea. The sounds came from among the trees in the
very centre of the dreaded Heidenmauer, and seemed
only the more unearthly from rising beneath that
gloomy canopy of cedars.

“Let us go on!” cried the Count, excited nearly
to madness, and seizing the handle of his sword with
iron grasp. “Tis but a hound! Some miscreant
hath loosened the dog from his leash, and he scents the
footsteps of his late master, who had the habit of
visiting the holy hermit that dwelt here of late—”

“Hush!” interrupted Lottchen, advancing hurriedly,
and with a wild eye, from the throng of females.
“God is about to reveal his power, for some
great end? I know—I know—that footstep—”

She was fearfully interrupted, for while speaking,
the hounds rushed out of the grove, in the swift, mad
manner common to the animal, and made a rapid
circuit around the form of the dazzled and giddy
woman. In the next moment, a tottering wall gave
way to the powerful leap of a human foot, and Lottchen
lay senseless on the bosom of her son!

We draw a veil before the sudden fear, the general
surprise, the tears, the delight, and the more regulated
joy of the next hour.

At the end of that period, the scene had altogether
changed. The chant was ended, the order of the
procession was forgotten, and a burning curiosity
had taken place of all sensations of superstitious
dread. But the authority of Emich had driven the
crowd back upon the common of the Teufelstein,

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where it was compelled to content itself, for the moment,
with conjectures, and with tales of similar
sudden changes from the incarnate to the carnate,
that were reputed to have taken place in the eventful
history of the borders of the Rhine.

The principal group of actors had retired a little
within the cover of the cedars, where, favoured by
the walls and the trees, they remained unseen from
without. Young Berchthold was seated on a fragment
of fallen wall, supporting his still half incredulous
mother in his arms, a position which he had
received the Count's peremptory, but kind orders to
occupy. Meta was kneeling before Lottchen, whose
hand she held in her own, though the bright eye and
glowing face of the girl followed, with undisguised
and ingenuous interest, every glance and movement
of the countenance of the youth. The emotions
of that hour were too powerful for concealment, and
had there been any secret concerning her sentiments,
surprise and the sudden burst of feeling that was its
consequence, would have wrung it from her heart.
Ulrike kneeled too, supporting the head of her friend,
but smiling and happy. The Knight of Rhodes, the
Abbe, Heinrich and the smith paced back and forth,
as sentinels to keep the curious at a distance, though
occasionally stopping to catch sentences of the discourse.
Emich leaned on his sword, rejoicing that
his apprehensions were groundless, and we should
do injustice to his rude but not ungenerous feelings,
did we not say, glad to find that Berchthold was
still in the flesh. When we add, that the dogs
played their frisky gambols around the crowd on the
common, which could hardly yet believe in their
earthly character, our picture is finished.

The deserving of this world may be divided into
two great classes; the actively and the passively
good. Ulrike belonged to the former, for though she
felt as strongly as most others, an instinctive

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rectitude rarely failed to suggest some affirmative duty
for every crisis that arrived. It was she, then, (and
we here beg to tell the reader plainly, she is our
heroine,) that gave such a direction to the discourse
as was most likely to explain what was unknown,
without harassing anew feelings that had been so
long and so sorely tried.

“And thou art now absolved from thy vow,
Berchthold?” she asked, after one of those short interruptions,
in which the exquisite happiness of such
a meeting was best expressed by silent sympathy.
“The Benedictines have no longer any claim to thy
silence?”

“They set the return of the pilgrims as their
own period, and, as I first learned the agreeable
tidings by seeing you all in the procession, I had
called in the hounds, who were scouring the chase,
and was about to hurry down to present myself,
when I met you all at the gateway of the camp.
Our meeting would have taken place in the valley,
but that duty required me first to visit the Herr Odo
Von Ritterstein—”

“The Herr Von Ritterstein!” exclaimed Ulrike,
turning pale.

“What of my ancient comrade, the Herr Odo,
boy?” demanded Emich. “This is the first we have
heard of him since the night the abbey fell.”

“I have told my tale badly,” returned Berchthold,
laughing and blushing, for he was neither too old
nor too practised to blush, “since I have forgotten
to name the Herr Odo.”

“Thou told us of a companion,” rejoined his mother,
glancing a look at Ulrike, and raising herself
from the support of her son, instinctively alive to
her friend's embarrassment, “but thou called him
merely a religious.”

“I should have said the holy Hermit, whom all
now know to be the Baron Von Ritterstein. When

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obliged to fly from the falling roof, I met the Herr
Odo kneeling before an altar, and recalling the form
of one who had shown me much favour, it was he
that I dragged with me to the crypt.—I surely spoke
of our wounds and helplessness!”

“True; but without naming thy companion.”

“It was the Herr Odo, Heaven be praised!
When the monks found us, on the following day,
unable to resist, and weakened with hunger and loss
of blood, we were secretly removed together, as ye
have heard, and cared for in a manner to restore us
both, in good time, to our strength and to the use
of our limbs. Why the Benedictines chose to keep
us secret, I know not; but this silly tale of the
supernatural huntsman, and of dogs loosened from
their leash, would seem to prove that they had hopes
of still working on the superstition of the country.”

“Wilhelm of Venloo had nought to do with this!”
exclaimed Emich, who had been musing deeply.
“The underlings have continued the game after it
was abandoned by their betters.”

“This may be so, my good Lord; for I thought
Father Bonifacius more than disposed to let us depart.
But we were kept until the matters of the
compensation and of the pilgrimage were settled.
They found us easy abettors in their plot, if plot to
work upon the fears of Deurckheim was in their
policy; for when they pledged their faith that my
two mothers and dearest Meta had been let into the
secret of our safety, I felt no extraordinary haste to
quit leeches so skilful, and so likely to make a speedy
cure of our hurts.”

“And did Bonifacius affirm this lie?”

“I say not the Abbot, my Lord Count, but most
certainly the Brothers Cuno and Siegfried said all
this and more—the malediction of a wronged son,
and of a most foully treated mother”—

His mouth was stopped by the hand of Meta.

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