the interview between the lady and her guide, before she entered the bathkeeper's house, described her as expressing, with a burst of tears, the deepest anxiety and alarm ; to which he heard the old woodman distinctly reply

"God in Heaven! be calm. Weeping will not bring him to life again with me you are safe. I shall be silent-silent as the grave!"

The dress of the lady, according to their recollection, was a green silk gown, a straw hat with flowers, and a parasol of light-coloured silk.

Preussach was well satisfied with the result of these enquiries. "We shall have light soon," said he to Senkenberg. "The glove is a strong piece of evidence. It is clear the wounded lady must have lost it. It is for the right hand. We have the glove, we shall have the hand presently."

The active Senkenberg again set the police in motion. He procured a description of the suspected operadancer; which, as is generally the case, suited tolerably well with the description given by the bath-keeper and his wife. At last he was fortunate enough to discover her place of residence. But the anticipations of Preussach were not in this instance to be realized. The opera-dancer was in a condition to establish an unquestionable alibi. Her passports and certi. ficates were completely en regle: she was proved to have left K by the middle of July, and to have never been in that neighbourhood since.

The glove, which she had been requested in the course of the investigation to put on, was found to be far too small for her hand. It was with difficulty, indeed, that it could be drawn off without tearing. But in doing so a circumstance came to light which showed that the investigations had not been made with such minuteness but that more might yet be discovered. In removing the glove it was turned inside out, and close to the sleeve was discovered a name stamped upon the leather, Wilh: T.. ffe. The intermediate letters were illegible.

Attention was now, of course, directed to the discovery of the person whose name was thus stamped upon the glove. The name might be that of the pro. prietor, or it might be that of the maker of the glove; but even in this last case, it might lead to farther dis.

coveries. With this view the glove was put into the hands of a confiden. tial agent of the police, for the purpose of making farther enquiry among the dealers in such articles as to the name.

Meantime, a singular circumstanco occurred. The festival of St Anne was at hand, and the clergyman of Hoffstede, according to his usual custom, had gone up to remove from the little chapel the offerings which had been deposited through the year in the poor's chest. The box on this occasion contained an unexpected addition;-a green purse, damp and mouldy as if it had lain there for some time, containing a good many silver and a few gold coins. A stripe of paper was fastened to the purse, on which was written in pencil, and apparently in a disguised hand, with large and straggling characters, the words "Bury the dead as a Christian and a Catholic. God will reward you."

The clergyman communicated the fact to the authorities; they recollected the statement of the landlord as to the purse belonging to his guest: he was again summoned, and declared that the purse now shown to him closely resembled that worn by the stranger.

" I saw from the first," observed Preussach, when this new circumstance was made known to him, "that robbery was out of the question; gold and silver no robber would cast aside. Some other passion, jealousy perhaps, or revenge for disappointed love, guided the murderer's hand; remorse followed the act; the same hand which dealt the blow was now employed to obtain Christian burial for the victim ; and these lines were assuredly written in the hope that they would be found at the same time with the body."

In the mean time, letters from home arrived which obliged Preussach for some time to leave the further prosecution of the enquiry in Senkenberg's hands. Decisive steps had now become urgently necessary with regard to the civilconsequences of Hermann's death; for the old baron was visibly dropping into the grave. Ferdinand was advised to repair in person to the capital, where it was thought likely that his personal influence with the central power might remove those obstacles to the obtaining a formal judicial recognition of Hermann's death, which in the provincial court were found to be insurmountable. In this object at least-however little cordiality otherwise subsisted between the familieshe was likely to be assisted by the relations of Hermann's wife; since, upon the death of Hermann being ascertained, the widow would step into the enjoyment of an annual income from the estate, considerably exceeding the allowance which had been made to her after her separation.

The idea of this renewed intercourse, however, with a family with whom, since the separation, now three years past, he had had no communication, was any thing but agreeable to Ferdinand. His sister-in-law he had never liked, and the stern obstinacy of her father, Colonel Siegfeld, who had steadily repulsed every attempt made by Hermann towards a reconciliation with his wife, had sorely wounded the pride of the house of Preussach. There remained, however, no alternative; and in August 1817 Ferdinand set out for the capital.

Shortly after his arrival he announced himself at the residence of Colonel Siegfeld. Albertine, the widow, was not at home; his reception from the colonel and his wife was at first of the coldest character. The intelligence, however, which he brought, produced an immediate change. The honourable character of the colonel, and the refined feelings of his wife, made them receive the melancholy tidings with that sympathy which, in noble minds, overpowers every hostile feeling. The colonel readily promised his aid in promoting the object which Ferdinand had in view; and Preussach was about to take his leave, when Albertine's carriage drove up to the gate. The mother had just time to entreat him to conceal from Albertine on the present occasion the death of her husband, promising to break the matter to her as soon as they were alone.

Albertine entered. She paused a moment at the sight of Ferdinand, who was advancing respectfully to meet her; then, as if suddenly recognising him, she became deadly pale, staggered back, and, without a word of salutation, disappeared in the anteroom. Her mother followed her. Preussach felt deeply annoyed at this public and unequivocal indication of dislike-a feeling which, in his own heart, he was conscious of reciprocating; but which at least, he thought, need not be manifested so very open ly. He stood before the old man

silent and confused. The colonel hastened to relieve him from his embarrassing situation, shook hands with him, as if to give him a hint of departure, and said, "We shall see each other frequently; let us do what we have to do as men, calmly and considerately." He laid a strong emphasis on the words "as men," and "calmly," as if he felt annoyed that Ferdinand should have been a witness to this recent display of female irritability.

Three days afterwards the colonel returned the visit, but the intelligence he brought was by no means encour aging. In regard to the succession to the Preussach estates, two courses only were open; either to procure a formal judicial attestation of Hermann's death, proceeding on strict legal evidence; or to go through the form of edictal citation of the deceased, who, after the expiry of the legal period, would be legally held dead. This, however, would require an interval of years; and should the old baron die in the mean time, the estates must be put under a provisional management, an arrangement which the family naturally felt would be extremely disagreeable. The colonel had, with a view to the interests of his daughter, employed his utmost interest at court to have the proceedings shortened; but had little hope that the prince, who entertained strict notions on such matters, would be induced to interfere to obtain any relaxation of the rules of law in a particular case.

From the colonel's conversation, Preussach farther gathered that the intelligence of the death of her husband had been communicated to Albertine, and that she had been more deeply affected by it than her father seemed willing to allow.

In the course of the tedious proceedings and audiences of ministers which the affair demanded, Preussach had occasion to be more than once in company with Albertine. She appeared in a widow's dress-a mark of respect for the memory of her late husband, for which he could not but feel indebted to her. Nor, with all the deep-rooted dislike which he felt for his sister-in-law, could he disguise from himself the ex. quisite beauty of her face and form, attired in all the bloom and fulness of youth, and set off to advantage by the mourning garb she wore; the grace and elegance of her movements; or the refined gentleness of her manners,

though her bearing towards himself was reserved and formal.

In September he received a letter ! from Senkenberg. "I have a novelty in its way to communicate to you,' the advocate wrote, "in regard to - our painful enquiry. Our well-known glove has found its fellow-the left. It resembles the blood-spotted one as one twin does another; the stamp is the same, though more legibly impressed. The name is Tieffe. It is generally supposed to be the name of the maker; but it has led to what I have now in a few words to communicate.

1

"In the course of his enquiries the police agent had occasion to exhibit the right hand glove to a milliner here Madame Lax; one of her customers, a lady - Madame Zeltwach - who had seen the glove in her possession, and had learned that it formed the subject of some enquiry by the police, took it up and examined it. Madame Lax must, in the course of conversation, have mentioned my name; for, two or three days afterwards, Madame Zeltwach waited upon ime, and presented me with its counterpart, the left hand glove. She is intimate, it seems, with the family of the Protestant clergyman in Blumenrode, about three leagues from hence. On a late visit there with her daughters, and in the course of some cabinet council among the young ladies as to matters of dress, the second daughter of the clergyman happened accidentally to pull out from her drawer this left hand glove; - there was some jesting as to the name, Wilhelmine Tieffe. The name had struck Madame Zeltwach, so that she had immediately recollected the incident when the right hand glove was shown to her by Madame Lax. She had since pressed the clergyman's daughter for an explanation how she came by it. Her account is, that she had received it from the waiting-woman of a lady who had been on a visit to the baronial family in the neighbourhood the summer before.

This took place yesterday. Today the clergyman- his name is Rauch with his daughter Adelaide, appeared before me. They were both anxious and distressed at the idea that they might be suspected of any unfair acquisition of the unfortunate glove. I begged the girl to tell me in the minutest manner how she came by it. She told me, with perfect simplicity,

that she had it from a third party. A young widow from the capital, a Madame Sussfeld, had been long on a visit at the house of Baron Kettler, in the immediate neighbourhood of the parsonage: Adelaide, who had a turn for music, had occasionally played with the lady, and had formed an acquaintance with her waiting-woman. On Madame Sussfeld's departure, Adelaide had assisted the attendant in some of her preparations: in a small dressing-box, among other odds and ends, lay this single new glove, which the waiting-woman, not thinking, it worth while to take with her, as its fellow was wanting, had thrown upon the floor. Adelaide, pleased with the fineness of the work, had taken it up, and said, in jest, she would keep it as a remembrance-which she had done.

"I am inclined to believe the story, both because Mademoiselle Rauch is a girl of good character, and also because some things led me to the conclusion that your unfortunate brother had some connexion with Blumenrode.

"Under the apocryphal French letter found at K-, you well remember the letters Bl, and an A. Strangely enough, however, the Christian name of the waiting-woman, to whom the glove belonged, was Agatha, her surname Roger. An A and a French name. She is described to me as tall and slender, (Adelaide is neither.) As to the lady, I have learned nothing more than that she was a young widow, of high connexions, and resident at court.

"You have often manifested, in this melancholy investigation, a penetration which I readily acknowledge: you are possessed of information as to your brother's course of life, with which I am but imperfectly acquainted. Possibly you may find the clue where to me the connecting links are awanting."

Preussach laid down the letter with indifference. "Strange!" he could not help saying, "that the cautious Senkenberg should attach such weight to this discovery. If the stamp be but the signature of the firm, how many hundreds of such gloves, exactly resembling each other, must be now in circulation through the world! I shall write him to that effect, after I have paid my last visit at the colonel's, on the subject of this wearisome succession question."

FERDINAND paid his visit. On this occasion Albertine's mother was alone. The conversation turned on Hermann's death, and the discovery of the body, of which she now learned the details for the first time.

"Your brother, then," said she, "is buried where he met with his melancholy end?"

"He is. He rests in the church. yard of the village of Hoffstede, not far from Hilgenberg!"

"Hilgenberg! If Albertine had suspected this! How near she wasat that very time to the scene of this atrocity!"

"How! was your daughter then in Hilgenberg?"

"She was on a visit to the family of Baron Kettler, at their estate of Blumenrode; from whence she often visited Hilgenberg."

"Blumenrode!" repeated Preussach thoughtfully. A thought began to arise in his mind, to which he felt reluctant to give admission. "Albertine ! a third A ! - and this time perhaps the right one." He saw that his absence of mind attracted the lady's attention, and took his leave as soon as he could find an opportunity.

He returned to his lodgings; he read over Senkenberg's letter again; a new light seemed to flash upon him. The billet of 21st July, the glove, were Albertine's. She was the wounded lady at the bath-house; her appearance corresponded sufficiently with the well-remembered description given by the witness. Madame Sussfeld-a young widow;-this also admitted of explanation. The separated wife might prefer appearing among strangers in the character of a widow; the name might be mistaken, as has already been the case with that of the leading sufferer in this tragedy.Siegfeld was the real name. The colonel, in the first vehemence of his indignation against the family of Preussach, had insisted, as he knew, on his daughter's resumption of her family name; and though, from both the married parties being Catholic, he could not effect a dissolution of the marriage, Albertine in private circles, even in the capital, bore the name of Madame Siegfeld. The extraordinary reception he had met with was now accounted for. It was the fear of discovery, the feeling of conscious guilt,

which had overpowered her presence of mind.

The suspicion, once fairly admitted into his mind, he pondered day and night how to put the proofs into such a shape as to induce the authorities to proceed against his sister-in-law as an accomplice in the assassination of her husband.

Agatha Roger, the waiting-woman, he had known before; but she had left the Siegfeld family, and he was afraid of exciting the suspicions of Albertine by venturing on any enquiry after her present residence.

At last he resolved on having a con. versation with Albertine, in hopes that, during the interview, something might occur which would bring the matter more distinctly to a point. He found both the ladies at home; and introduced the subject of the investigation which was going on as to the circumstances and the author of Hermann's death. Albertine listened, with evident interest, but without embarrassment. Preussach turned suddenly to his sister-in-law. "You are acquainted, I believe, with the family of the Baron von Kettler of Blumenrode." Albertine answered in the affirmative. "You are perhaps acquainted, then, with the daughter of the Protestant clergyman there."

"The clergyman has several daughters." "I mean the second, named Adelaide."

"I know her well: what of her?" Preussach hesitated; he was in some confusion. He secretly wished that he possessed that penetrating glance for which Senkenberg had gi. ven him credit: he felt how difficult it was to steer his way, but he resolved to venture.

" I would willingly," he resumed, after a pause, " learn some particulars as to that girl. She is involved, in a very peculiar manner, in this investigation; the police have discovered"

"For the love of Heaven what?" exclaimed Albertine " The poor unfortunate girl! She is innocent, wholly innocent!" She trembled as she uttered these words; every drop of blood had vanished from her cheeks; her mother hurried to her side, thinking she was about to faint.

By a strong effort she regained her composure. "O mother!" she ex

"Nay, I blame you not; but you are not acquainted with the irritable nerves of females. One thing only I beg of you: avoid such scenes during the rest of your stay-we have had enough already."

" Enough indeed," said Preussach. " I take my leave, colonel. I regret the pain I have been the means of causing. I regret it more than you can believe."

He took his leave; but in the capital he could rest no longer. "What need of further witnesses?" he said to himself. "Albertine undertakes to prove Adelaide's innocence; who can do that but one who knows the real perpetrator of the crime?"

He wrote to Senkenberg. "You praised my penetration, because from a woman's glove I inferred the presence of a woman's hand. You shall hear more. You found the second glove, I have found the hand that fits it. Stop all further proceedings against the clergyman's daughter; let there be no further disturbance made in Blumenrode. In eight days at the farthest I shall be with you."

On mature consideration, Preussach thought it desirable to ascertain to what resolution Albertine had come: he was therefore glad to receive a message that she would wish to see him before his departure. She received him with composure; and pressed him earnestly to explain what had occurred to attach suspicion to Adelaide. Preussach dexterously evaded the desired explanation till he should discover how far she was acquainted with the state of the proceedings. Perceiving her entire ignorance, he spake in dark and doubtful language; told her his advocate wrote vaguely and indefinitely on the subject ;thus much only was certain, that grievous suspicions rested on the girl.

Albertine instantly announced her resolution of repairing in person to Hainburg, in order to save the unfor

tunate Adelaide. Her testimony and that of the Kettler family would be sufficient, she thought, for that purpose. A written interposition, which her mother had at first proposed, appeared to her insufficient. Of this her mother was now convinced, and would accompany her on her long journey.

Preussach encouraged the ladies in theirdetermination. Nothing could suit better with his plans. Once within the sphere of the tribunal of investigation, Albertine would be more easily reached than under the protection of her paternal mansion. In the provinces, too, the forms of the French law prevailed, while in the capital the old German forms were still in use. All his efforts were directed to this end. He advised Albertine to address her. self at once to the Ober-Procurator, and to offer every explanation she might have to afford, -generally, and without specifying the person to whose justification these explanations were directed.

The colonel now communicated to him the final result of his negotiations at Court with regard to the succession. The question whether Hermann's death was to be held so far established as to open the succession to the estate to Ferdinand on his father's death, was to be referred to the Court of Appeal at K, as the supreme tribunal of the province in which Hermann had last resided; with the decision of that court the reigning prince would not interfere.

Such being the case, Ferdinand, with his usual prudence, deemed it advisable to be on the spot. He passed through Hainburg, where he had an interview with Senkenberg, who was not a little confounded at the nature of his verbal communications; and directing him to write to him as soon as any thing deserving of attention should occur, he made the best of his way to K.

Shortly afterwards arrived a packet from Senkenberg.

"I have learned some particulars from a servant in Blumenrode, which seem to connect with those spoken by the Swiss boy, the bath-keeper, and his wife. They remember that the 24th of August was a Saturday. It was the day on which the families of the gentry in the neighbourhood used to hold their weekly assembly in Hilgenberg; on that day the family of Kettler was not there, but Madame