"I accept your offer (said the Count, hastily interrupting him.) From this hour you are my friend and brother; we will together seek the path to glory, and in the din of arms forget our private sorrows!"—His eyes sparkled as he spoke, and every feature grew animated; he seemed as if suddenly informed by a new soul, and from that moment struggled to subdue his grief, and assume an appearance of resignation and content.
Several days passed with cheerfulness, tho" not entirely free from anxiety by either party, for the return of their several messengers:—The first that arrived was Ferdinand's, with a letter from Count Rhodophil, and another from the good old Ernest: Respect superseded affection and curiosity. He opened the Count's letter first; it was not a long one.
"He was glad to hear from his brother, whose strange whim of rambling among unfrequented paths on foot had exposed him to
