604 . The Dobson Family. 



Ulric left the hall with an expression of anguish on his pale hand 

 some face : he stood at the private postern gate, arrayed in his 

 costly wedding dress, and gazed out into the night. The dark clouds 

 were scudding along before the gale, which was whistling dismally 

 through the battlements, forming a striking contrast to the scene 

 within. " Yes, yes/' he muttered, " it must be done now or never/' 

 and he then sprang hastily down the cliff and soon reached the bottom, 

 where now you may perceive the ruins of rather a large village. 

 The inhabitants were all at that late hour asleep,and Ulric passed on 

 unseen, till he came to a small but neat cottage, which belonged to 

 the widow of a distant relation of the Baron's, whose husband had 

 been executed for treason, and all his estates confiscated. This small 

 cottage had been given to her and her only daughter by the Baron, 

 and here Ulric, during his father's absence at the chase or in the 

 carousals at the neighbouring castles, spent the greater portion of his 

 idle time. He knocked at a small latticed window : the noise 

 was probably drowned in the storm, for he received no answer ; so 

 putting his face to the casement, he said, " Lieba, dearest Lieba, it is 

 I." The casement was opened, and Ulric sprang into the room. 

 "Are you ready, dearest?" he said ; Lieba threw herself into his arms, 

 and, hiding her weeping face on his shoulder, said, " Oh, Ulric, you 

 must not indeed do this ! I know your father never will forgive 

 you ; and how can you, Ulric, bear poverty, who have so long been 

 accustomed to live in princely splendour, and to the gratification of 

 every wish ? you will repent your hasty act, and " 



" Never, dearest, never," interrupted Ulric ; " you know that nol 

 many hours hence I must wed the haughty maiden of Eichenherz 

 whom I can never love. No, Lieba, I would rather share poverty, 

 sickness, death itself, with you, than a throne with the proud Christine. 

 I will never return to my father's hall, even should you not fly with 

 me. I have bribed the boatman, and horses wait us at the other 

 side of the river. Now, Lieba, will you come ?" 



She raised her head from his shoulder and looked out. " It is, in 

 truth, a fearful night, and it seems as if heaven frowned on us : 

 yet I will go." 



They left the cottage, and a few moments brought them to the 

 river, where was the boat ; and in it sat the old boatman muffled in 

 his large cloak. 



" Now row us quickly across, good Fritz/' said Ulric as he placed 

 himself in the boat. 



Scarcely had the frail bark left the shore when a flash of light- 

 ning, so vivid as to light up the whole scene with a blinding reful- 

 gence, burst from the cloud immediately over their heads, followed 

 by a clap of thunder 'so loud and long that it seemed as if the 

 demons of the storm were engaged in the din of war, and in all the 

 confusion of a first onset. This was followed by so quick a succession 

 of flashes as to be nearly continuous. The troubled waters were 

 fearfully distinct, and the whole river appeared one mass of white 

 and sparkling foam. The strong oars bent like reeds from the vigor- 

 ous strokes of the boatman, as, wrapping himself closer in his mantle, 

 he pulled silently into the stream. When he had reached the middle 



