Vanda; but resolved to confound the two, deceivers, she threw herself, dressed as she was, upon her bed, in order to be in readiness to leave her chamber at the first dawn of day. But exhausted as she was by grief, sleep soon overcame her, and after several troubled dreams, she awoke only in time to hear the tinkling of the bell which was attached to Elizabeth's travelling carriage.*

Iwan had given her, all the proofs of affection and attachment which, ever since their infancy, her cousin had lavished upon her, she strove to repel the cruel idea that she was deceived by two beings so dear to her. But her confidante returned; and, with her, all the torments of jealousy revived. 'Well, have you seen them together?' Yes,' replied the maid, I have just left them. Where?' In the very same part of the garden where "Vanda flew to the window, and I have already told you they meet beheld her cousin tearing herself from every morning.'-Ah! what did the embraces of Iwan, while she gave you overhear '-'I have no doubt him a box, which he firmly pressed they had been there some time be to his lips. She then hastily threw fore I got sight of them. Iwan was herself into the carriage which was kneeling before Elizabeth; he held waiting to receive her. In the first in his hand a paper, which it appear- transport of her indignation Vanda ed she had just given him, and which rushed from the chamber, for the he was urging her to take back. purpose of convicting them of their "Nothing can make me change my treachery; but, in the state of agitaresolution," said Elizabeth ;" it is un- tion in which she was, she missed alterable. Be prudent; I have your her way, and wandered wildly about promise, and on that I rely. In three the long winding avenues of the casdays we shall have nothing to con- tle. When at length she reached ceal." "Three days!" said Vanda, the court-yard, Elizabeth's carriage with a sigh. "At the altar," continu- had started, and was already out of ed Elizabeth," I will release you from sight. Iwan was alone, and with this oath, especially if every thing is eyes suffused with tears, was looking kept from Vanda's knowledge." out upon the road in the direction Iwan, still on his knees, begged her which the carriage had taken. He to defer her departure but for one was unconscious of her presence, unday. "My dear Iwan," said she," to- til his attention was directed towards morrow at day-break we shall both her by the expressions of astonishof us have done our duty!" Here ment which her frantic air elicited their tears flowed in abundance. At last both left the arbour, and Iwan, placing the paper in his bosom, said: "It shall remain here, dear Elizabeth, along with your secret, and the vow of adoration which I have made to you. Here they remain conjoined for life." "Farewell, Iwan," said she, to-morrow Elizabeth will give you all that she can now dispose of." They then parted, and I hurried back to you, for it now wants but a few hours to day-break.'

"Certain of being sacrificed to a rival, disdain for a moment took place of indignation in the mind of

from a group of peasants who happened to observe her. 'Dear Vanda,' he exclaimed, 'I did not expect or wish to see you here; Elizabeth and I had determined to spare you the pain of another farewell. Your scheme was well contrived,' replied Vanda, with an ironical smile, but it is not yet too late to defeat the perfidious design. Your base treachery fills me with detestation and contempt: and these are the only sentiments with which you can, henceforth, inspire me!' Vanda,' said Iwan, in a tone of mingled astonishmeut, grief, and pride, can this

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*In Russia it is usual to fasten bells to travelling carriages; and the ringing being heard at a distance in the solitary roads, warns the peasantry to range their carts and sledges on one side, so as not to obstruct the way.

38 ATHENEUM, VOL. 9, 2d scries.

language be addressed to me? To most promptly executes my orders you, Iwan Iwanowitch!* to you! and and brings me the papers.' I desire that you instantly deliver up." Only those who have witnessed the state of passive obedience, to which ages of slavery have reduced the peasantry of Russia and Poland, who hesitate not at the orders of a tyrannical steward, to inflict the bru tal punishment of flogging on women and even on their own parents-only those who know the debased condi tion of these uncivilized beings, will perhaps believe that the commands of the frantic Vanda were promptly executed. Men of all classes seem to enjoy a malignant pleasure in the humiliation of those whose merit is superior to their own; besides, in this instance, the temptation of the promised reward was irresistible; and the most ignominious of punish. ments was inflicted on a young man, whose high spirit and cultivated edu cation rendered him keenly sensible to the full extent of the degradation,

to me the papers and the box which you have received from my cousin.' Vanda, Vanda, your reason wan ders-Come with me; this is nei ther the time nor the place for explanation.''My reason must, in deed, have been bewildered, while I was the dupe of your falsehood. But I am so no longer, and once more I desire you to deliver up those papers. Will you dare to withhold them? The tone in which you make this demand, Vanda, would sufficiently justify my refusal to comply with it, even though a solemn oath did not bind me.' 'Oh! this is too much! give them to me instantly I say!' While she uttered these words, making an effort to rush towards Iwan for the purpose of snatching the papers from his bosom, she fell and her head struck with violence upon the stones. She was immediately raised, but her indignation was excited to a pitch of frenzy, and she exclaimed, Iwan Iwanowitch! you have dared to entertain a perfidious attachment for another woman. This baseness merits the punishment of a slave; and you are now nothing else. A slave! repeated the astonished Iwan; 'A slave, Vanda! Your father made me your equal.' "How! Will you dare to make so insolent an assertion! Show me the act by which you are enfranchised. You are a serf I say, a rebellious serf, refusing to obey the commands of his mistress, and as such you shall receive the punishment assigned to slaves.' Then turning to the peasants who stood near her, Seize him instantly,' she continued, and take from him by force the papers which he has refused to give up. Let him instantly receive the punishment of the bagottes, and I offer a hundred gold ducats to him who

"Alas! what a world of vain repentance might we often sparé ourselves, if we suffered only a moment's calm reflection to intervene between our anger and its effects. The wretched Vanda, already stung with the pangs of remorse, hurried wildly to her apartment, and sunk exhausted with grief before the portrait of her father, whose stern glance seemed to heap reproaches on the head of his unhappy daughter. But what was her agony, when she received the packet which she so eagerly desired to possess. The box, which she herself had formerly presented to Elizabeth, and which was adorned with her own portrait and a lock of her hair, contained merely some contracts relative to family property, and a letter addressed to her by her cousin. She instantly broke the seal, and hurriedly glanc ing over its contents, she learned that Elizabeth, having been long a prey to grief, which all her efforts

Iwanowitch signifies the son of Iwan. It is customary in Russia to add the father's name to the baptismal name of the son.

+ Rods made of the branches of a hard kind of water willow, with which serfs are flogged for any offence they commit. This punishment is less severe than that of the knout.

were unable to subdue, had resolved to forsake a world in which she could no longer be happy'; but before she buried herself for ever in a convent, she was anxious to give her two friends a last testimony of her unalterable regard; that she accordingly made over her whole property to Iwan, hoping thereby to remove the only obstacle which could retard his marriage with Vanda: that she attached to this bequest only one condition, namely, that Iwan should liberate and provide for her servants, all of whom had been with her since her childhood. Adieu! dear Van da,' she said at the conclusion of her letter, may you be as happy as Eli zabeth wishes you should be, and may Iwan's love repay you for my loss. I return your portrait and your lock of hair, to prove to you that I now tear myself from every earthly tie, and direct all my thoughts towards another world, in which I trust we shall all hereafter meet.'

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"The grief and despair which now rent the heart of the unhappy Vanda, may be easily conceived. Bring him back,' she exclaimed, bring him back! that I may implore his pardon, and die at his feet.... Fly! odious instruments of my fatal rage!' she continued, addressing the vassals who had come to claim her promised reward, and he who restores him to me, shall immediately have his freedom.' A numerous band of peasants now set out in various directions in pursuit of Iwan; but their search proved fruitless, they could discover no traces of him.

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of an existence which is no longer endurable; and my death, while it releases me from misery, will embit ter with remorse the future life of her who has so cruelly wrouged me.' He now turned in the direction of the castle, and the lightning, which vividly illumined the heavens, enabled him to retrace his way through the almost impenetrable forest. At length he came within sight of the turrets of the castle, and he heard the clock strike one. Proceeding onward at a rapid pace, he soon reached the garden-gates, which, in the confusion of the preceding day, had been left unfastened. He entered 'unperceived by any one, for most of the servants were still out in quest of him, and those who were at home had retired to rest. One light was still burning in the castle, and that was visible at Vanda's chamberwindow. Ah!' exclaimed Iwan, sleep has forsaken her couch and how many weary and restless nights must she yet linger out, whilst I shall sleep undisturbedly in the everlasting night of death! Having entered the castle, and ascended to his own apartment, he took from the head of his bed a brace of pistols, splendidly mounted, which had been one of the first presents he received from the Count; and, hiding them in his bosom, he proceeded to Vanda's chamber. Starting up at the sound of his footsteps, she exclaimed, in wild accents, Ah! have you found him?— is he here?'-' He is,' said Iwan, and presenting himself before her in the miserable condition to which his sufferings had reduced hini, he added, I am come to afford you the happiness of witnessing this sight.' With these words, he drew one of the pistols from his bosom, and was aiming it at his head, but Vanda, rushing to wards him with the quickness of thought, seized his arm, and the pistol-ball struck a mirror, which it shivered in a thousand pieces.

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"Irritated to madness by the degrading punishment to which he had been subjected, Iwan eagerly longed for revenge. He fled to the woods adjoining the castle, uttering cries of fury and despair. Here he wandered about for several hours, eutering the thickest recesses of the forest, amidst the haunts of wild beasts. Night drew in, and the rain, which fell in torrents, drenched his gar-Your efforts are vain,' said he,' you ments, though it had no power to have deprived me of honour, and I allay the fever that raged within him. might now be avenged, for your life 'Let me,' he exclaimed, rid myself is in my hands. But I will not take

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ceived with the attentions to which of St. Vincent de Paule, devote them-` his own good qualities sufficiently selves to the aid of the poor and the entitled him; and he soon became infirm. Here every assistance was one of the staff-officers of a Prince rendered him, both by the physician who knew how to appreciate and to of the convent and by those pious reward merit. Throughout the whole sisters, who, like ministering angels, of the campaign, he omitted no op- soothe earthly suffering by the hope portunity of distinguishing himself, of celestial bliss. But, alas! Iwan's and he gained the esteem and re- wound was mortal, and, on the sespect of the whole army. He thought cond day after he was brought to the of Vanda only to recollect her good- convent, the doctor pronounced his ness, and pursued glory only to renrecovery to be impossible. Ou hearder himself worthy of her. I need ing this fatal declaration, one of the not enter into the details of this cam- nuns, who had attended the patient' paign, with the results of which you with the most unremitting anxiety, are so well acquainted. Suffice it to uttered a piercing shriek, and threw say, that Prince Joseph succeeded herself on his bed in an agony of even beyond his hopes; for, turuing grief. The dying man raised his the Austrian army, he threw himself languid eyelids, and, to his amazeupon Galicia, and took possession of ment, recognised Elizabeth, the comSandomir and Zamoski. Profiting panion of his boyhood. 'Can it be?" by the enthusiasm of the inhabitants, he exclaimed. Is it really you, my who rose on all sides to join his dear Elizabeth, or has an angel, asforces, he detached General Fischer, suming your semblance, come to rethe chief officer of his staff, with or- ceive my last sigh. Alas,' continued ders to march upon Limberg, and he, taking her hand, was it for this Iwan was the first who had the hon- that you abandoned wealth and luxuour to affix the White Eagle of Po- ry; and did you enrich me to make land on the walls of Leopoldstadt. yourself the servant of the poor and The bulletins of the Polish army the afflicted ?' Heaven willed it contained the highest encomiums ou so, my dear Iwan,' she replied; and his courage, and thus conveyed the if I resisted all your affectionate enmost acceptable consolations to the treaties to turn me from my resolution A heart of Vanda. of retiring from the world, it was because I felt myself called hither by Heaven, and that nothing could have power to change my destiny. Before I had formed my determination, I had suffered all that can most severely try the heart of a woman. There was no sacrifice to which I could not have submitted. In ́renouncing you, my most difficult task was accomplished. But, alas! little did I think that I should live to close the eyes of him, for whose dear sake mine have shed so many tears.’— How, Elizabeth! tears for my sake...

"This success was, however, speedily followed by a reverse of fortune; for, a few days after, while he was engaged in pushing a reconmaisance beyond Leopoldstadt, he was surprised by a party of Austrian Hullaus. After an obstinate engagement, he succeeded in putting them to flight, but not until a musket-ball had entered his chest, and he fell, seriously wounded, from his horse. He was immediately raised by his brave lancers, assisted by his faithful servant Peter. The blood, which flowed profusely from his wound, rendered it unsafe to attempt con

veying him back to the camp. He was, therefore, carried to a neigh bouring village, in which there was an hospital founded by Princess Lubornieska, where some sisters of La Charité, conforming to the institution

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"Dearest Iwan, listen to me. This fatal secret I now disclose, at the moment when you must carry it with you to the tomb. I loved you, Iwan, with the most devoted affection; but, alas! after doing all that could be done, to avoid disturbing