hoped this unusual sortie from my hold might lead to intelligence touching
the fortunes of one I have never ceased to love."

The Signor Grimaldi turned a more scrutinizing took towards the face of
their female companion. Her gentle and winning beauty gave him pleasure;
but, with his attention quickened by what had just fallen from her
father, he traced, in silent pain, the signs of that early fading which
threatened to include this last hope of his friend in the common fate of
the family. Disease had not, however, set its seal on the sweet face of
Adelheid, in a manner to attract the notice of a common observer. The
lessening of the bloom, the mournful character of a dove-like eye, and a
look of thoughtfulness, on a brow that he had ever known devoid of care
and open as day with youthful ingenuousness, were the symptoms that first
gave the alarm to her father, whose previous losses, and whose
solitariness, as respects the ties of the world, had rendered him keenly
alive to impressions of such a nature. The reflections excited by this
examination brought painful recollections to all, and it was long before
the discourse was renewed.

In the mean time, the Winkelried was not idle. As the vessel receded from
the cover of the buildings and the hills, the force of the breeze was
felt, and her speed became quickened in proportion; though the watermen of
her crew often studied the manner in which she dragged her way through the
element with a shake of the head, that was intended to express their
consciousness that too much had been required of the craft. The cupidity
of Baptiste had indeed charged his good bark to the uttermost. The water
was nearly on a line with the low stern, and when the bark had reached a
part of the lake where the waves were rolling with some force, it was
found that the vast weight was too much to be lifted by the feeble and
broken efforts of these miniature seas. The consequences were, however,