wood. Dinner time came and I was missing; when I returned to the castle in the evening, I met some servants whom the count had sent in search of me. Having sent them back with a satisfactory answer to their master, I got over the park-wall, and surprized my Adela in a favorite arbor of the garden, in a pensive and melancholy posture. Her thoughts were deeply absorbed in a rose which she would now take from her bosom, now replace it again. She supported herself on my cane, and frequently looked at it. At my approach she was suddenly roused from her reverie, and seeing somebody so near her, would, in her surprize have fallen to the ground, had I not fortunately caught her in my arms.
"My God," cried she composing herself, "where have you been Carlos?" But here another accident happened, I had forced my hunting-piece so violently among the shrubs composing the bower, that on putting my hand to the mouth of the barrel to take it out again, the lock unfortunately cocked among the stems, and the piece being loaded
