husband for (they tell me) the prettiest girl in Germany. If such a bride, and a couple of thousand rix dollars with her, can gild the pill of matrimony, she is yours, and you will have the pleasure of obliging an old friend into the bargain."

Next to the discovery of a lunar atmosphere, or the unexpected avatar of one of the best calculated and best behaved of the comet race, nothing could have been more astounding to Dr Voss, than this abrupt proposal of involving him in the cares of sublunary housekeeping! He was not, however, so irremediably engrossed with celestial affairs as to be wholly insensible to so flattering a terrestrial prospect; and, thanking Dr Müllner for his favourable opinion, he stammered something about inclinations, disparity of age, &c. &c. It was now the father's turn to feel astonishment. That Rose should hesitate to accept so eligible a match, seemed quite beyond his comprehension, and he assured Dr Voss that he had even heard her speak of him with high respect and veneration. How far this assurance was calculated to remove the astronomer's doubts, we shall not pretend to say; suffice it that he bowed acquiescence, and left the delighted father to make the interesting discovery to its fair subject.

Rose, when her father returned, was sitting in the projecting bowwindow, which, in our older cities, so charitably aids the curiosity of maidens of all ages, to see what is passing at the other end of the street. Groups of students were walking below; and among the many heads turned wistfully towards the well-known window, one alone called forth something like a sigh from its fair occupant. Rose's knitting, in the meantime, had fallen on the ground, and a kitten was making, among its ravelled meshes, much the same havoc as Cupid was trying to effect in that strange complication of threads and fibres, the female heart. The doctor's step on the stairs, aroused his daughter from her delicious reverie, and the blow which sent poor puss scampering out of the room, met its prompt retaliation in the shock which her mistress was destined to receive from the first words of her at all times awful parent.

"Rose!" said her father, with more than usual animation of tone and ges

ture, "I have just been settling a match for you. You are too young and pretty to remain unmarried in an idle place like this, and my good neighbour, Dr Voss, has kindly con sented to break through his bachelor habits, to do me a favour, and secure you a good husband."-There was no danger of an answer. Rose was as incapable of making one as the bust of Archimedes which crowned her father's bookcase; nor could all that able mechanician's boasted levers have extorted one word from her terrorsealed lips.-"Don't be cast down, my dear child," said her father gaily, "at the prospect of leaving me; it is only next door, you know, and for some time at least, you can read the Gazette as usual, for Dr Voss lectures in the evening, and besides, is no politician; it is his only fault!"

A knock at the house-door came fortunately to operate a diversion in poor Rose's favour; and as she knew it to be her friend Constance come to summon her to her usual evening walk, she stammered out her name, and ran, or rather stumbled down stairs to meet her. They left the house together, and it was not till they had climbed the steep ascent leading to the ruined chateau, and were embosomed in the deepest recess of one of its shady alleys, that Rose found breath to answer her friend's inquiries, as to the cause of her very unusual agitation. Constance's astonishment was mingled with sympathetic indignation, and private disappointment; for she had long destined the gentle Rose for the bride of her only and beloved brother, then a student at Heidelberg. This plan, she had fondly flattered herself, might one day be crowned with success; as, although her parents, rich bankers of Frankfort, would naturally prefer for their son a more brilliant alliance, yet the beauty and gentleness of Rose (whom she projected inviting to visit her) would, she doubted not, make a favourable impression on the old couple, and pave the way for a declaration of their son's sentiments. These skilful and cautious manœuvres were, however, totally disconcerted by the abrupt determination of the old Doctor, and nothing remained but to anticipate it, if possible, by a coup de main. This the energy of Constance's character peculiarly qualified her to counsel and conduct; and having, du

A friendship, similar to that which bound her and Rose, subsisted between her brother and a youth named Freyling, who resided in the house of the same worthy Dr Schröder, (Pro-rector of the college.) under whose roof Constance was at present living, on a visit to her brother. To Freyling she communicated the astounding intelligence of Rose's approaching immolation, and entreated his assistance in stimulating her diffident and unenterprising brother, to the exploit of carrying her off, taking upon herself the responsibility of the elopement, if it could once be fairly effected. Freyling, though himself once a devoted slave to the charms of Rose, had of late begun to find more congenial attractions in the frank manners and lively conversation of her friend. Visions of a double alliance floated dimly before his eyés, as he listened to the singular proposal, and disposed him to overlook its rashness and eccentricity. The chief difficulty, of course, which presented itself to the two sapient counsellors, arose from the want of funds to carry the fair beyond the danger of immediate pursuit, until the marriage could be celebrated in a neighbouring territory. This Freyling undertook to obviate, and that without compromising the delicacy of his friend, by keeping him in ignorance of the mode of raising the supplies until after its success, of which he entertained little doubt. Recommending secrecy to his fair ally, he sought his fellow-students, at that hour usually assembled to practice gymnastic exercises in the court of the dilapidated chateau.

Having drawn some of the elder ones into a circle round him, and climbed on a fragment of the ruins, which elevated him above the astonished auditors-" My friends," said he, with an air of mock solemnity which was habitual to him, " I hereby exorcise the Demon of Selfishness, and banish him from a circle, to which I am about to propose a generous sacrifice worthy of the heroes of antiquity. You all know Rose Müllner;

most of you love her, but without hope of success, and with the certainty that one alone among you could enjoy the prize, even were it not on the point of being for ever snatched from your grasp by a competitor to whom you would die rather than resign it. It is an insult to your understanding, as well as to your feelings, to ask whether each would not gladly yield his pretensions to the lovely Rose, rather than see her consigned to the arms of a dotard? Know, then, that her father has promised her in marriage to Professor Voss; and if some one of our fraternity is not chivalrous enough to rescue her, the finest creature in Germany will, ere many days elapse, be lost to the world for ever! My friends, a speedy elopement must avert this slur on the university; and as circumstances seem to point out Con rad Ranzer as the person most likely to achieve it with success, I propose, that a sum be forthwith collected among us to defray the expense of the journey, and convey the worthy couple beyond the reach of pursuit,—with this proviso, that if Ranzer declines, or fails in the enterprize, it shall be undertaken, and the funds appropriated, by the next who can prove any title to the favour of Rose." The proposal, strange as it may seem to those who do not know German students, was carried by acclamation, and the hat of Freyling filled with as many rix-dollars as would have amply sufficed for a much more distant expedition. The means of conveyance, and precise time, became the next subject of consideration.

Constance's visit at Heidelberg, and the Session of College, were alike drawing to a close; and she had previously announced to her kind hosts her resolution to avail herself of her brother's escort to perform the journey home to Frankfort. So far, all would answer extremely well; but to carry off those in open day, threatened more difficulty; especially, as, in consequence of his impending nuptials, the otherwise obvious pretext of accompanying her friend on a visit to Frankfort could not be resorted to.

To surmount this obstacle, a brilliant idea presented itself to the inventive Constance. The close of the academic term was to be signalized by a gala given by the students to the inhabitants in the beautiful gardens of the castle; and Constance, feign

ing equal impatience to reach home, and reluctance to lose the fete, proposed to combine these objects by quitting Heidelberg late on the evening in which it was to take place, and proceeding as far as Mannheim, where she should appoint her father's carriage to be in waiting to receive her. In the dusk of evening, and amid the bustle of the fete, Rose, she flattered herself, might easily be smuggled out of town; and when, in the innocence and civility of his heart, good Dr Schröder insisted on Madamoiselle Ranzer's accepting his berlin and horses as far as Mannheim; there was something so piquant in eloping in the very pro-rector's carriage, that neither Freyling nor Constance could resist this ludicrous and somewhat equivocal return for his hospitality.

All went on happily, as projected. The fete was unusually brilliant; and the consciousness of the event in which it was to terminate gave even to the quondam admirers of Rose a sensation of joyful exultation, when they compared the gay youthful mien of the enamoured Ranzer, with the wrinkled visage and formal gallantries of the awkward and absent professor. Dr Müllner, seeing his daughter closely attended by the bridegroom of his choice, never doubted that all was going on exactly as it should do; nor was any surprise excited when it was discovered that Rose had withdrawn some time before the collation, to assist in the preparations for departure of so dear a friend as Constance.

Rose, who, it must be said for her, had, during the whole affair, been nearly passive in the hands of more energetic advisers, trembled violently as the moment approached for abandoning even a father who had never testified for her much ardour of affection; but when Constance assured her that his favourite object of getting rid of her, would be at least equally accomplished by her marriage with the object of her own affections, she suffered herself to be persuaded.

All the younger and gayer part of the Pro-rector's domestics having been attracted to the fete in the Schlossgartem, there only remained an old greyheaded servant, too little in the secrets of the family to feel any surprise at seeing three, instead of two passengers step into the berlin; nor did the message left in Rose's name, that she had yielded to her friend's entreaty to

accompany her the first stage, and return in the carriage, inspire him with the smallest doubt of its authenticity.

Off set the trio, longing many a time to exchange the sober jog-trot pace of Dr Schröder's sleek horses, and the contented whistle of his agricultural Jehu, for a rapidity of motion savouring more of a bridal, and especially a stolen one. There was here, however, no immediate danger of pursuit; so they resigned themselves to their fate, and in due time reached Mannheim, which, though a somewhat circuitous route to Frankfort, had been selected by the contrivers of the expedition, both from the facilities afforded by a large city for shaking off their simple charioteer, and as lying more directly in the way to a lonely village, the residence of an uncle of Rose's, its primitive pastor, who, they flattered themselves, might save them the trouble of a farther journey, and be induced to join the hands of the young couple, by the united eloquence of love, friendship, and necessity.

On arriving at the hotel at the entrance of Mannheim where the carriage of Constance's father was to meet them, it was of course inquired for in vain; and the apparently annoyed travellers declining to sleep at the inn, set off, ostensibly, to pass the night at a friend's house, (where Homs was duly instructed to call in the morning for his fair charge,) but in reality to procure from another inn, at the opposite extremity of the town, the chaise and horses, which were to convey her, long ere that hour, to her uncle's at Sandorf. To elude observation, as well as to baffle inquiry, should any be made, the anxious Constance and shrinking Rose ensconced themselves within a porte-cochère, until Conrad, having hired, in the character of a single traveller, the best post-waggon and horses this secondrate inn afforded, came to release them from their awkward situation, and they all gladly quitted Mannheim.

It was fortunate that a faint moon lent its glimmering aid to guide the stupid post-boy and sorry jades along the dreary sandy track which supplied the place of a road through a gloomy pine forest, where not even a sound from their own wheels broke the midnight stillness of the scene. would have been in despair at the novelty and strangeness of her situation, had she not sometimes given a thought

Rose

to Dr Voss and the interminable Frankfort Gazette. Ranzer, naturally timid, and sharing her anxiety, was silent; and even Constance wished the adventure well over.

The post-boy, though he had professed perfect acquaintance with the bye road leading to the village, got evidently bewildered among the various tracks which crossed each othernow amid the tall pines, now on the desolate open heath between-and the moon having now failed them, a light in a distant window was joyfully hailed, and Conrad dispatched to procure information as to the situation of Sandorf. Chance on this occasion, as on some others, had proved the best of pilots; and the lover found himself, with no small joy, at the door of his uncle elect, who, equally studious (though in a different department) with his academic brother, was consuming the midnight oil over sundry choice morceaux of Hebrew lore, with which he was in the habit of occasionally edifying his parishioners. On a signal from Kanzer, the carriage drew up to the door; and an event (nearly unparalleled in the simple annals of Sandorf) threw the learned Hebraist and his primitive housekeeper into paroxysms of painful surprise. Rose, utterly incapable of appearing in the character of a fugitive before an uncle, whose learning had invested him in her eyes with a character little less awful than her father's, remained trembling in the carriage, supported by Conrad, while Constance, who saw herself reduced to carry the fortress by a coup-de-main, presented herself before the astounded presbyter. "Reverend sir," said she, "this is no time for apologies or explanations. You are of course interested in the welfare of your brother's daughter, the lovely and amiable Rose; and jealous of the honour of your respectable family. A youth, belonging to me, equally reputable and more wealthy, has succeeded, with the assistance of his sister, (who now addresses you,) in carrying her off from Heidelberg, where your brother was about to marry her to a man older than yourself, and not half so goodlooking. The die is cast-Rose has eloped. The affair to-morrow morning will ring from Heidelberg to Frankfort, whither we are hastening; and it remains with you, whether I shall

carry my friend there, indissolubly united to a deserving young man, or whether they shall wander farther in a very unpleasant situation, and owe to the casual good offices of a stranger their mutual happiness, and the only termination of which your niece's rash step now admits."

This reasoning, though rather vulnerable on some points, was, in the main, unanswerable. The good pastor was little in the habit of arguing with young ladies, and so completely under the dominion of an old one, that when his Dame Jacintha (previously won over below stairs by the sweet words of Ranzer, and the sweet looks of Rose) joined in recommending the measure, he could no longer resist; and Rose, more dead than alive, and given away by the sexton, hastily roused from sleep to act in the double capacity of father and witness, became the wife of the transported Ranzer, and the sister of her faithful Constance.

A bumper of Rhein-wine, older than the bride, was the only refreshment the trio had leisure or inclination to partake of, being most anxious, by reaching Frankfort early, to anticipate those rumours which a few hours would put in circulation. It was now dawn, and, soon regaining the highroad, the refreshed post-boy and seemingly conscious steeds trotted nimbly towards Darmstadt, where the reported liberality of the youthful travellers failed not to place at their command its gayest wagen and choicest nags.

It was hardly noon when they reached Frankfort and the Römische Kaiser, which, in preference to any more obscure inn, the sagacious Constance had selected, that the notoriety of her arrival there, with her brother and a young lady, might operate in compelling (if necessary) her parents to make the best of an affair they could not hope to conceal. Leaving the young couple to breakfast, with what appetite they might, this indefatigable diplomatist threw herself again into the carriage, and drove to her father's door; before reaching which, the distress she intended feigning was exchanged for a real alarm and agitation, little requiring aid from art. Her heart beat violently as she ran up stairs, and when, on entering the room, she found her mother alone, and read in her face the terror in

spired by her own pale countenance and haggard appearance, it smote her for inflicting even a momentary pang on so affectionate a parent. She had, however, gone too far to recede; and to her mother's agonized exclamation, My son! what of Conrad?" only answered by a mournful shake of the head. Every fatal contingency of a lawless university life now flashed rapidly across Madame Ranzer's mind; and seizing, with the ingenuity of terror on the most irreparable, she almost shrieked the words, "Duel! and killed! . . .”—"Oh no, no!" cried the deeply shocked Constance," he has not fought, he is not killed. . . only .... he is. -"Expelled!" sighed her mother, in a tone of passive resignation, only produced by previous apprehensions of a more dreadful kind.

Here the step of her husband was heard on the stairs, and Constance, in dread of his more energetic character and manly sincerity, paid the full penalty of her own system of deception, which she felt unequal to carry any further.

Her mother saved her from an ordeal too powerful for such a novice in dissimulation; and, in answer to a scrutinizing glance from her husband, immediately began, with maternal instinct, to apply palliatives to her son's unknown transgression. "Conrad, my dear Fritz," said she softly, "is very young, and his character gentle and complying; there are always sad doings at Heidelberg, and he, I fear, is implicated, at least so says Constance's face, for I have heard no particulars." "And before we hear any, wife," interrupted the plain-spoken upright old banker, "I will tell you and that trembling girl there how I mean to act towards my only son. If he has wounded or killed a fellow-creature in one of these senseless Bürschen quarrels, he must answer to God and his conscience for so irreparable a calamity; and, if I know his heart, he will stand more in need of parental consolation than severity. If he has merely joined in the idle frolics of a set of misgoverned youths, I will tell him he is a fool for his pains, and trust to time and German good sense to cure him, as they did his father before him; but if, as I think more likely, in one of his philandering turn, he has trifled with the affections or ruined the character of a pretty girl,

by Heaven! he shall never call Frederick Ranzer father till he does her justice!"

"And what if he has done it already, papa, ay, and without earning your permission by any previous injury to her peace?" whispered the delighted Constance, throwing herself into the arms of her mother, and casting a deprecating glance towards her father. "He loved the prettiest and best girl in Heidelberg; she was to have been married next week to the ugliest old scarecrow in all the college; Conrad was miserable; Rose was miserable; and miserable they must all have remained, had not your mad Constance run away with them both last night, got them married at Sandorff this morning, and lodged them at this moment in the Römische Kaiser, where you have only to go yourself, to see the prettiest sight in all Germany."

Her father held out one arm to his weeping wife, and another to his again siniling daughter, and exclaiming, "Ah, Constance, Constance! he will be a bold man that ventures on you for a wife!" drove to the Römische Kaiser, ran nimbly up stairs, pushed aside his petrified son, and giving a hearty kiss to his daughter-in-law, swore, that, rather than Dr Voss should have had her, he would have turned Mahometan and married her himself!

The grateful and interesting bride was that day presented with maternal pride by Madame Ranzer to a few privileged friends; and at the great wedding-dinner, some days after, to which both Doctor Müllners were duly invited, the delighted father, as he looked round on the happy group, and heard his rustic brother's health drank with rapturous applause, for the first time suspected, that a man might do a sensible thing without belonging to any university!

Fortunately for Dr Voss, the close of the academic term relieved him from many a Bürschen joke on his disappointment; although one quaint and pleasing device (representing the professor gazing as usual through a telescope, the glass of which was prevented from doing its office, by the sly interposition of Cupid's wing) found its way, doubtless from those aerial regions in which he was chiefly conversant, into his apartment. The