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 GLOBAL
EDITION

Starting Out with

C++
From Control Structures through Objects

NINTH EDITION
Tony Gaddis
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This page intentionally left blank
 STARTING OUT WITH

C++
From Control Structures
through Objects
NINTH EDITION

GLOBAL EDITION
This page intentionally left blank
 STARTING OUT WITH

C++
From Control Structures
through Objects
NINTH EDITION
GLOBAL EDITION

Tony Gaddis
Haywood Community College

330 Hudson Street, New York, NY 10013

Senior Vice President Courseware Portfolio Managing Producer, ECS and Math: Scott ­Disanno
Management: Marcia J. Horton Content Producer: Sandra L. Rodriguez
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The right of Tony Gaddis to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Authorized adaptation from the United States edition, entitled Starting Out with C++: From Control
Structures through Objects, 9th Edition, ISBN 978-0-13-449837-9 by Tony Gaddis, published by Pearson
Education © 2018.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
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ISBN 10: 1-292-22233-6

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 Contents at a Glance

Preface 17
CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Computers and Programming 33
CHAPTER 2 Introduction to C++ 59
CHAPTER 3 Expressions and Interactivity 117
CHAPTER 4 Making Decisions 183
CHAPTER 5 Loops and Files 263
CHAPTER 6 Functions 337
CHAPTER 7 Arrays and Vectors 413
CHAPTER 8 Searching and Sorting Arrays 495
CHAPTER 9 Pointers 535
CHAPTER 10 Characters, C-Strings, and More about the string Class 559
CHAPTER 11 Structured Data 645
CHAPTER 12 Advanced File Operations 697
CHAPTER 13 Introduction to Classes 751
CHAPTER 14 More about Classes 849
CHAPTER 15 Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Virtual Functions 939
CHAPTER 16 Exceptions and Templates 1021
CHAPTER 17 The Standard Template Library 1061
CHAPTER 18 Linked Lists 1155
CHAPTER 19 Stacks and Queues 1197
CHAPTER 20 Recursion 1255
CHAPTER 21 Binary Trees 1289

Appendix A: The ASCII Character Set 1319

Appendix B: Operator Precedence and Associativity 1321
5
6 Contents at a Glance

Quick References 1323

Index 1325
Credit 1343
Online The following appendices are available at www.pearsonglobaleditions.com/gaddis.
Appendix C: Introduction to Flowcharting
Appendix D: Using UML in Class Design
Appendix E: Namespaces
Appendix F: Passing Command Line Arguments
Appendix G: Binary Numbers and Bitwise Operations
Appendix H: STL Algorithms
Appendix I: Multi-Source File Programs
Appendix J: Stream Member Functions for Formatting
Appendix K: Unions
Appendix L: Answers to Checkpoints
Appendix M: Answers to Odd Numbered Review Questions

Case Study 1: String Manipulation

Case Study 2: High Adventure Travel Agency—Part 1
Case Study 3: Loan Amortization
Case Study 4: Creating a String Class
Case Study 5: High Adventure Travel Agency—Part 2
Case Study 6: High Adventure Travel Agency—Part 3
Case Study 7: Intersection of Sets
Case Study 8: Sales Commission
 Contents

Preface 17

CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Computers and Programming 33

1.1 Why Program? 33
1.2 Computer Systems: Hardware and Software 34
1.3 Programs and Programming Languages 40
1.4 What Is a Program Made of? 46
1.5 Input, Processing, and Output 49
1.6 The Programming Process 50
1.7 Procedural and Object-Oriented Programming 54
Review Questions and Exercises 56

CHAPTER 2 Introduction to C++ 59

2.1 The Parts of a C++ Program 59
2.2 The cout Object 63
2.3 The #include Directive 68
2.4 Variables, Literals, and Assignment Statements 70
2.5 Identifiers 74
2.6 Integer Data Types 75
2.7 The char Data Type 81
2.8 The C++ string Class 85
2.9 Floating-Point Data Types 87
2.10 The bool Data Type 90
2.11 Determining the Size of a Data Type 91
2.12 More about Variable Assignments and Initialization 92
2.13 Scope 94
2.14 Arithmetic Operators 95
2.15 Comments 103
2.16 Named Constants 105
2.17 Programming Style 107
Review Questions and Exercises 109
Programming Challenges 113

7
8 Contents

CHAPTER 3 Expressions and Interactivity 117

3.1 The cin Object 117
3.2 Mathematical Expressions 123
3.3 When You Mix Apples and Oranges: Type Conversion 132
3.4 Overflow and Underflow 134
3.5 Type Casting 135
3.6 Multiple Assignment and Combined Assignment 138
3.7 Formatting Output 142
3.8 Working with Characters and string Objects 152
3.9 More Mathematical Library Functions 158
3.10 Focus on Debugging: Hand Tracing a Program 164
3.11 Focus on Problem Solving: A Case Study 166
Review Questions and Exercises 170
Programming Challenges 176

CHAPTER 4 Making Decisions 183

4.1 Relational Operators 183
4.2 The if Statement 188
4.3 Expanding the if Statement 196
4.4 The if/else Statement 200
4.5 Nested if Statements 203
4.6 The if/else if Statement 210
4.7 Flags 215
4.8 Logical Operators 216
4.9 Checking Numeric Ranges with Logical Operators 223
4.10 Menus 224
4.11 Focus on Software Engineering: Validating User Input 227
4.12 Comparing Characters and Strings 229
4.13 The Conditional Operator 233
4.14 The switch Statement 236
4.15 More about Blocks and Variable Scope 245
Review Questions and Exercises 248
Programming Challenges 254

CHAPTER 5 Loops and Files 263

5.1 The Increment and Decrement Operators 263
5.2 Introduction to Loops: The while Loop 268
5.3 Using the while Loop for Input Validation 275
5.4 Counters 277
5.5 The do-while Loop 278
5.6 The for Loop 283
5.7 Keeping a Running Total 293
5.8 Sentinels 296
5.9 Focus on Software Engineering: Deciding Which Loop to Use 297
5.10 Nested Loops 298
5.11 Using Files for Data Storage 301
5.12 Optional Topics: Breaking and Continuing a Loop 320
Review Questions and Exercises 324
Programming Challenges 329
 Contents 9

CHAPTER 6 Functions 337

6.1 Focus on Software Engineering: Modular Programming 337
6.2 Defining and Calling Functions 338
6.3 Function Prototypes 347
6.4 Sending Data into a Function 349
6.5 Passing Data by Value 354
6.6 Focus on Software Engineering: Using Functions in a
Menu-Driven Program 356
6.7 The return Statement 360
6.8 Returning a Value from a Function 362
6.9 Returning a Boolean Value 370
6.10 Local and Global Variables 372
6.11 Static Local Variables 380
6.12 Default Arguments 383
6.13 Using Reference Variables as Parameters 386
6.14 Overloading Functions 392
6.15 The exit() Function 396
6.16 Stubs and Drivers 399
Review Questions and Exercises 401
Programming Challenges 404

CHAPTER 7 Arrays and Vectors 413

7.1 Arrays Hold Multiple Values 413
7.2 Accessing Array Elements 415
7.3 No Bounds Checking in C++ 427
7.4 The Range-Based for Loop 430
7.5 Processing Array Contents 434
7.6 Focus on Software Engineering: Using Parallel Arrays 442
7.7 Arrays as Function Arguments 445
7.8 Two-Dimensional Arrays 456
7.9 Arrays with Three or More Dimensions 463
7.10 Focus on Problem Solving and Program Design: A Case Study 465
7.11 Introduction to the STL vector 467
Review Questions and Exercises 481
Programming Challenges 486

CHAPTER 8 Searching and Sorting Arrays 495

8.1 Focus on Software Engineering: Introduction to Search Algorithms 495
8.2 Focus on Problem Solving and Program Design: A Case Study 501
8.3 Focus on Software Engineering: Introduction to Sorting Algorithms 508
8.4 Focus on Problem Solving and Program Design: A Case Study 518
8.5 Sorting and Searching vectors 527
Review Questions and Exercises 530
Programming Challenges 531

CHAPTER 9 Pointers 535

9.1 Getting the Address of a Variable 535
9.2 Pointer Variables 537
9.3 The Relationship between Arrays and Pointers 544
10 Contents

9.4 Pointer Arithmetic 548

9.5 Initializing Pointers 550
9.6 Comparing Pointers 551
9.7 Pointers as Function Parameters 553
9.8 Dynamic Memory Allocation 562
9.9 Returning Pointers from Functions 566
9.10 Using Smart Pointers to Avoid Memory Leaks 573
9.11 Focus on Problem Solving and Program Design: A Case Study 576
Review Questions and Exercises 582
Programming Challenges 585

CHAPTER 10 Characters, C-Strings, and More about the string Class 589
10.1 Character Testing 589
10.2 Character Case Conversion 593
10.3 C-Strings 596
10.4 Library Functions for Working with C-Strings 600
10.5 String/Numeric Conversion Functions 611
10.6 Focus on Software Engineering: Writing Your Own
C-String-Handling Functions 617
10.7 More about the C++ string Class 623
10.8 Focus on Problem Solving and Program Design: A Case Study 635
Review Questions and Exercises 636
Programming Challenges 639

CHAPTER 11 Structured Data 645

11.1 Abstract Data Types 645
11.2 Structures 647
11.3 Accessing Structure Members 650
11.4 Initializing a Structure 654
11.5 Arrays of Structures 657
11.6 Focus on Software Engineering: Nested Structures 659
11.7 Structures as Function Arguments 663
11.8 Returning a Structure from a Function 666
11.9 Pointers to Structures 669
11.10 Focus on Software Engineering: When to Use .,
When to Use −>, and When to Use * 672
11.11 Enumerated Data Types 674
Review Questions and Exercises 685
Programming Challenges 691

CHAPTER 12 Advanced File Operations 697

12.1 File Operations 697
12.2 File Output Formatting 703
12.3 Passing File Stream Objects to Functions 705
12.4 More Detailed Error Testing 707
12.5 Member Functions for Reading and Writing Files 710
12.6 Focus on Software Engineering: Working with Multiple Files 718
12.7 Binary Files 720
12.8 Creating Records with Structures 725
 Contents 11

12.9 Random-Access Files 729

12.10 Opening a File for Both Input and Output 737
Review Questions and Exercises 742
Programming Challenges 745

CHAPTER 13 Introduction to Classes 751

13.1 Procedural and Object-Oriented Programming 751
13.2 Introduction to Classes 758
13.3 Defining an Instance of a Class 763
13.4 Why Have Private Members? 776
13.5 Focus on Software Engineering: Separating Class Specification
from Implementation 777
13.6 Inline Member Functions 783
13.7 Constructors 786
13.8 Passing Arguments to Constructors 791
13.9 Destructors 799
13.10 Overloading Constructors 803
13.11 Private Member Functions 807
13.12 Arrays of Objects 809
13.13 Focus on Problem Solving and Program Design: An OOP Case Study 813
13.14 Focus on Object-Oriented Programming: Simulating Dice with Objects 820
13.15 Focus on Object-Oriented Design: The Unified Modeling
Language (UML) 824
13.16 Focus on Object-Oriented Design: Finding the Classes and
Their Responsibilities 826
Review Questions and Exercises 835
Programming Challenges 840

CHAPTER 14 More about Classes 849

14.1 Instance and Static Members 849
14.2 Friends of Classes 857
14.3 Memberwise Assignment 862
14.4 Copy Constructors 863
14.5 Operator Overloading 869
14.6 Object Conversion 896
14.7 Aggregation 898
14.8 Focus on Object-Oriented Design: Class Collaborations 903
14.9 Focus on Object-Oriented Programming: Simulating the Game
of Cho-Han 908
14.10 Rvalue References and Move Semantics 918
Review Questions and Exercises 927
Programming Challenges 932

CHAPTER 15 Inheritance, Polymorphism, and Virtual Functions 939

15.1 What Is Inheritance? 939
15.2 Protected Members and Class Access 948
15.3 Constructors and Destructors in Base and Derived Classes 954
15.4 Redefining Base Class Functions 968
15.5 Class Hierarchies 973
15.6 Polymorphism and Virtual Member Functions 979
15.7 Abstract Base Classes and Pure Virtual Functions 995
12 Contents

15.8 Multiple Inheritance 1002

Review Questions and Exercises 1009
Programming Challenges 1013

CHAPTER 16 Exceptions and Templates 1021

16.1 Exceptions 1021
16.2 Function Templates 1040
16.3 Focus on Software Engineering: Where to Start When Defining Templates 1046
16.4 Class Templates 1046
Review Questions and Exercises 1056
Programming Challenges 1058

CHAPTER 17 The Standard Template Library 1061

17.1 Introduction to the Standard Template Library 1061
17.2 STL Container and Iterator Fundamentals 1061
17.3 The vector Class 1072
17.4 The map, multimap, and unordered_map Classes 1086
17.5 The set, multiset, and unordered_set Classes 1111
17.6 Algorithms 1118
17.7 Introduction to Function Objects and Lambda Expressions 1139
Review Questions and Exercises 1146
Programming Challenges 1150

CHAPTER 18 Linked Lists 1155

18.1 Introduction to the Linked List ADT 1155
18.2 Linked List Operations 1157
18.3 A Linked List Template 1173
18.4 Variations of the Linked List 1185
18.5 The STL list and forward_list Containers 1186
Review Questions and Exercises 1190
Programming Challenges 1193

CHAPTER 19 Stacks and Queues 1197

19.1 Introduction to the Stack ADT 1197
19.2 Dynamic Stacks 1214
19.3 The STL stack Container 1225
19.4 Introduction to the Queue ADT 1227
19.5 Dynamic Queues 1239
19.6 The STL deque and queue Containers 1246
Review Questions and Exercises 1249
Programming Challenges 1251

CHAPTER 20 Recursion 1255

20.1 Introduction to Recursion 1255
20.2 Solving Problems with Recursion 1259
20.3 Focus on Problem Solving and Program Design: The Recursive gcd
Function 1267
20.4 Focus on Problem Solving and Program Design: Solving Recursively Defined
Problems 1268
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different content
 "Bitter sweet," answered the jester. "Call you me counsellor,
uncle? I would give you all right good advice and sharp, if you would
but take it--man, woman, and child."

"Let us hear, let us hear," cried Count Frederick; "then will we

judge whether it be worth the taking. Begin with the lady, cousin, as
in duty-bound."

"Well, then, here's for her counsel," said the jester, laying his
finger on his brow:--

THE JESTER'S ADVICE TO LADIES.

"Flaunt not your beauty in the common eye,

Lest, like hedge flowers, it be not thought worth plucking,
Trust to no young man's tender word or sigh;
For even pigs are gentle when they're sucking.

"Judge of your lover by his deeds to others,

For to yourself he's ever a deceiver.
Mark, girls, your fathers' conduct to your mothers,
And each be, if she can be, a believer."

"Good counsel, cousin! good counsel!" cried Count Frederick, "but

now for another. What say you to the young men?"

"Good faith! uncle, I know not that I have anything to say,"

answered the jester; "for whatever age says, youth will not believe,
and whatever wisdom advises, folly will not follow; grace has gone
out of season with garden rue; and wit, as well as wisdom, has
become the property of fools. Argue me now wisely, with a sleek
young crimson-spotted trout, upon the eminent perdition which
befalls him if he snaps at a gay-looking fly with a hook in its belly;
yet will your trout leap at the bait, and soon be flapping his broad
tail on the bank. If the hook break in his jaws, indeed, he will gain
wit from his wound, and look before he leaps another time--
experience is the scourge that drives us all, admonition but a fool's
blown bladder, that makes a sound where it strikes, but no
impression. Boys will after their own game, as a goshawk after a
partridge--and a pretty pair of heels, or a small delicate hand, most
kissable and sugary, rosy lips set in a white skin, like strawberries in
cream, and eyes that say 'Come, love me,' will any day, about
feeding time, make a lad like that jump at a hook that will draw him
into the frying-pan. Heaven help and mend us all!

"Beauty's a butterfly, and

youth's a boy,
Let him catch it if he can.
When he casts away his toy,
He may learn to be a man."

"Pretty Mistress Bertha wouldn't thank him if she could hear that,"
said Seckendorf, apart to his fellow-knight.

"Mistress Bertha!" answered old Mosbach. "I've a notion the

young cockerel carries his eyes higher than that, and all this notice
of him will spoil him. The other day I saw him looking into the Lady
Adelaide's eyes, and she into his, as if they were drinking love
pledges to one another."

"Pooh! nonsense," answered Seckendorf. "You are always finding

out a nest of cock's eggs, Karl. Have you nothing to say to us, Sir
Jester?" he continued aloud, speaking across the table.

"Good faith! but little," answered the other; "your old man is
worse to deal with than your young one, for he is as weak in the wit
as in the hams, and his brain, like a worn horse-trough, is ever
leaking with watery talk.

"Graybeards and wisdom were married one day;--

'Tis a very long time since then--
But they parted by chance upon the highway
And ne'er came together again.
 "Leave wine, and leave women, graybeard, and leave oaths,
Leave dicing, and jesting, and scoffing;
And thou'lt find thine old wife, dressed in her best clothes,
At thy long journey's end--in the coffin."

"There Seckendorf," cried the Count of Ehrenstein, "you have

enough, methinks. For my part; I will not tempt our friend."

"Then you shall have counsel without asking," answered the

jester, and he went on in his usual rude verse as follows:--

"The noble lord, the just, the true--

Methinks I see him now--
Claims from no vassal more than due--
But gives him more, I trow.

"No stolen swine grunts in his sty,

No plundered goose complains,
No cackling hens against him cry,
His barn no spoil contains.

"Quick he restores what's wrongly got,

Without a suit at law,
His sword has never cut a knot,
His fingers could not draw.

"If such thou art, no danger dread,

In camp, in court, in town,
But if thou'rt not, beware thy head,
For sure thou'lt tumble down."

At the first stanza the Lord of Ehrenstein smiled pleasantly, but as

the jester went on to paint a character, which by no stretch of
human vanity he could attribute to himself, his laugh grew
somewhat grim, and although all the customs of the day required
that he should seem amused with the jester's observations, even
when they hit him the hardest, yet he might have made a somewhat
tart reply in the shape of a joke, which he was very well qualified to
do, if he had not been interrupted before he could speak. Just as the
jester concluded, however, a loud, wild, extraordinary burst of
martial music drowned every other sound at the table: clarions and
trumpets, drums and atabals, sounded all round the hall, in a strain
so peculiar, that ears which had once heard it, could never forget it
again. Count Frederick started, and turned towards the Count,
exclaiming, "Odds life! we are in Africa again. Whence got you this
Moorish music, my lord? I have not heard the like since I was at
Damietta. You must have a whole troop of Moslema."

The Count's cheek had turned very pale, and Ferdinand's eye was
seen wandering round the hall, as if expecting some strange sight
suddenly to present itself.

"In truth, I know not whence these sounds come," answered the
Count, after a moment's pause for consideration; and he then
added, seeing that any further attempt at concealment would be
vain, "It is no ordinary place, this castle of Ehrenstein, my noble
friend. We have strange sights, and strange sounds here. But what
matters it? We are not men to be frightened by unsubstantial sounds
or appearances either. I drink to your health," and filling his cup high
with wine, he said aloud--the music having by this time ceased, "To
Count Frederick of Leiningen!"

His guest immediately answered the pledge, saying, "Health to

the Count of Ehrenstein!" but instantly a loud voice echoed through
the hall, pronouncing in a solemn tone, "Health to the Dead!"

"This is mighty strange!" exclaimed Count Frederick, setting down

his cup scarcely tasted. "Methought I had seen or heard all of
wonderful that this earth can produce, but now I come back to my
own land to witness things stranger still.--This must be Satan's work.
We must get you, good father, to lay this devil."

"Please you, my noble lord," replied the priest, whose face had
turned as white as paper, "I would rather have nothing to do with
him. There is the Abbey hard by, surely the good fathers there could
keep the place free from spirits if they liked it.--It is their business,
not mine, and as I see the lady is rising, by my troth, I will go to bed
too, for I am somewhat weary with our long marches."

"It may be better for us all to do so, too," said Count Frederick;
but his host pressed him to stay longer so earnestly, that he sat
down for a few minutes, while Adelaide and the priest retired from
the hall. The retainers of the two noblemen did not venture to follow
their own inclinations and the priest's example, but, though the Lord
of Ehrenstein pressed the wine hard upon them, all mirth was at an
end, and whispered conversations alone went on, except between
the two counts, who spoke a few words from time to time, in a
louder tone, but evidently with a great effort, and at the end of
about a quarter of an hour, during which there was no further
interruption, Count Frederick rose,--begging his entertainer to
excuse him, for retiring to rest.

All were eager to rise, and to get out of a place where none of
them felt themselves in security; but Ferdinand touched his lord's
arm, as, with a gloomy brow, he was following his guest from the
hall, saying, in a low voice, "What is to be done with all this gold and
silver, my lord? we shall never persuade the sewers to clear it away
to-night."

"I know not," answered the Count, moodily, but aloud. "You must
lock the door, or stay and watch."

Ferdinand fell back, and suffered the stream to pass by him,

meditating thoughtfully upon how he should act. As was not
uncommon in those days, there was a good deal of confusion in his
mind in regard to matters of superstitious belief. Persons of strong
intellect, however rude the education which they had received, were
not easily induced to suppose that beings merely spiritual could have
the powers and faculties of corporeal creatures, and although few
doubted the fact of apparitions, being frequently seen, and even
heard to speak, yet they did not believe in general that they had any
power of dealing with substantial bodies. Thus, when Ferdinand
thought of the events of the preceding night, although he could not
doubt the evidence of his own senses, yet the fact of the banner
having been changed puzzled him a good deal, and in his
straightforward simplicity he asked himself, "If ghosts can carry
away so heavy a thing as a banner and a banner pole, why should
they not take silver tankards and golden cups?" He looked at the
different articles that strewed the tables with a doubtful eye, at first
proposing to move them to a safer place himself, but upon the cross
table were many large silver plates and dishes loaded with
fragments of the meal, and he felt a repugnance to undertake for
any one an office unsuited to his birth. To lock the door and leave
the things to their fate, he could not help thinking might be merely
consigning the valuable stores that were there displayed to a place
from which they were never likely to return--whether above the
earth or under the earth, he did not stop to inquire--and at length,
after a little hesitation, he said, "I will stay and watch. They did me
no harm last night, why should they harm me to-night? I can rest
here as well as in my bed, and I should like to see more of these
strange things.--They are awful, it is true; but yet, what has one to
fear with God and a good conscience,--I will stay."

Just as he came to this resolution, he heard a returning step in

the vestibule, the door leading, to which had been left open behind
the retreating crowd, and the next minute the face of the jester
appeared looking in. "Ha, ha! good youth," he said; "are you going
to stay here, like a bait in a rat-trap, till our friends the ghosts come
and nibble you? I heard what your excellent, good lord said,--a wise
man! an admirably wise man! who understands the craft of princes,
and leaves his followers a pleasant choice, in which they are sure to
get blame or danger, in whatever way they act. What do you intend
to do? lock up the door and leave the cups and tankards for devils to
drink withal? or to wait and bear them company, if they choose to
come and have a merry bout with you?"
 "I shall stay and watch," answered Ferdinand; "I am not a
steward or a scullion, to move plates and dishes, and if I leave them
here Heaven only knows where they will be to-morrow!"

"Then, good faith! I'll stay and watch with you, Sir Ferdinand,"
answered the jester; "two fools are better than one, at any time,
and one by profession and one by taste ought to be a match for a
score or two of spirits, whether they be black, white, or grey."

"I've a notion, Herr von Narren," answered Ferdinand; "that you

have less of a fool in you than many who would be more ashamed of
the name."

"Good lack!" answered the jester, "you do my wit but little justice,
youth. Who would not be a fool, when wise men do such things
every day. Better to profess folly at once, of your own good will,
than to have other men put the cap upon your head. A fool has one
great advantage over a wise man which no one will deny him--a fool
can be wise when he pleases, a wise man cannot be foolish when he
likes. Oh! the bauble for ever; I would not change my motley just
yet for a robe of miniver. But we'll watch, we'll watch, and we'll
make ourselves comfortable too. By my faith! it gets cold of nights,
or else the chilly wing of another world is flapping through this old
hall. Go, get some logs, good youth, and we'll have a fire then; with
our toes upon the andirons, and our chins in our palms. By the
beard of St. Barnabas, we'll tell old stories of strange things gone by,
till the cock shall crow before we know it. You are not afraid to leave
me with the tankards, I suppose, for, on my life, I drink fair with
every man, and have no itch for silver."

"Oh no, I do not fear," answered Ferdinand, "and I'll soon bring
logs enough for the night. A cheerful blaze will do us no harm, and I
shall be glad of your company."

Thus saying, he left the place, and from the great coffer at the
entrance of the lesser hall, he soon loaded himself with sufficient
wood, as he thought, to last the night. When he re-entered the
great hall, he found the jester walking back from the other end
towards the centre, where the fireplace stood; and as he came near,
the young man inquired, "Were you talking to yourself just now,
Herr von Narren?"

"Nay, good sooth, that were waste of words," answered the jester.
"I was peeping through yonder keyhole, and as it is a mighty ghostly
looking door, I thought I might as well tell the spirits not to disturb
us, as we had much to talk about. They took it all in good part, poor
things, and said nothing; though after all it would be but charity to
let them come and have a warm at our good fire, for it must be cold
down stairs, I fancy, and your ghost is thinly clad. Where does yon
door lead to, good youth?"

"To the serfs burying vault," answered Ferdinand, "and then to

the old chapel under the new one."

"Ha, ha! all convenient for the ghosts," said the jester, "but there
must be a number of sad Turks amongst them to make such a noise
with their atabals as they did to-night. There, you reach me down a
lamp, while I lay the sticks. Trust a fool for making a fire, if he do
not make it too large: then he may burn his own fingers, and the
house too. We will put out half the sconces, and so, we shall have
candle-light till the morning, when the sun and the tapers may wink
at each other, like merry maids upon a May-day."

The fire was soon lighted, and the suggestion regarding the
sconces carried into execution; after which, Ferdinand and the jester
drew two stools into the wide chimney, and the latter bringing the
large flagon of wine and two cups from the cross table, set the
beaker down upon the hearth, saying, "We will drink and keep our
spirits up."

"Nay," answered Ferdinand, "I want no wine for that purpose. I

will take one cup, for I have had none to-night, and I have worked
hard during the day, but if I took more, I should sleep and not
watch."

"Ay, young brains are soon addled, like a pigeon's egg," answered
the jester. "And so you are Ferdinand of Altenburg?"

Ferdinand nodded his head, answering, with a smile, "No other."

"You are a bold man," said his companion, "to give me such an
answer."

"How so?" demanded Ferdinand, "I must surely know who I am

myself."

"If you know yourself, you are the first man that ever did," replied
the jester. "Your father was a proper man."

"Indeed! did you know him?" exclaimed Ferdinand.

"Oh, dear no, not at all," said the Herr von Narren, "but my uncle
Frederick told us so at supper. I knew your grand-father and your
great-grandfather, and I was distantly related to his great-
grandfather; for as Adam was the first of my ancestors, and all his
race sprang from Eve, there was some connection between us,
either by blood or matrimony--Do you remember your father?"

"No," answered Ferdinand, "I was but a mere boy when he died."

"Ay, then you were not long acquainted," said the jester. "I
remember mine quite well, and how he used to tickle me with his
beard--that's longer ago than you recollect, or than you could if you
would, for to ask you for a long memory in your short life, would be
like putting a gallon of wine into a pint stoup--But I'll tell you a story,
cousin."

"What is it about?" asked Ferdinand, drinking some of the wine

out of the cup he held in his hand. "Is it a story of fate, or about the
Saracens, or of knightly deeds here in our own land?"

"A little of all, a little of all, cousin," answered the jester. "It's a
Saturday's stew, containing fragments of all things rich and rare,
with a sauce of mine own composing. Now listen and you shall hear.
Once upon a time there was a prince--we'll call him prince for want
of a better name; without offence too, for a prince may be a
gentleman sometimes--well, this prince lived at ease in his own land-
-for you see he had neither wife nor child to vex him--and a very
merry prince he was. Well might he be so, too, for everybody did
just what he liked, and he drank the best wine and ate the best
meat, and slept upon good goose-feathers which he had not the
trouble of plucking; and then, moreover, he had a jester who was fit
to make any heart gay. Besides this jester, he had a brother, a wise
man and a thoughtful, full of all sorts of learning; for they wished to
make a bishop of him, but he loved the sword better than the coif,
and all he learned in the convent was Latin and Greek, and reading
and writing, and Aristotle, and Duns Scotus, and to love nobody
better than himself."

"Ha!" exclaimed Ferdinand, beginning to think that he perceived

some drift in the man's tale, but he made no observation, and the
jester continued.

"Well, the prince loved his brother very much, and they lived
together in the same castle, and passed their time pleasantly; they
hunted together, and they made a little war, and then they made a
little peace; and while the men at arms played at mutton-bones in
the court-yard, the two lords played at chess in the hall--and I can
tell you, that though the brother, won the first game, the prince won
the second, and the jester stood by and laughed. Merrily passed, the
time, and if men would but be contented in this world, life would be
like a summer day, but the brother was always urging the prince to
this war or that, for the glory of their house, as he called it; and
sometimes he went himself, and sometimes he stayed at home to
take care of the castle, while the prince followed his advice; and
then the brother one day thought it would be a good thing for the
prince to go and visit Jerusalem, and that it would be honourable, as
he knew something of hard blows and of leading armies, to help the
knights hospitallers and other sagacious men who were fighting for
the pure pleasure of the thing, to get lands which they could not
keep when they had got them. And the prince thought it a very good
plan; and as he had got a great number of chests full of money, he
went away to sow it in the fields of Syria, and to see if it would grow
there. As he had a multitude of stout young men, too, who always
required bleeding in the summer time, he took them with him, but
as his brother was of a cold constitution, he left him at home to keep
house. Now the prince having neither wife nor child, his dear brother
was his heir."

"I see," said Ferdinand. "Go on, Herr!"

"Before they went," continued the jester, "the brother had a good
deal of talk with some of the prince's followers, and told them how
much he loved their dear lord. He did not say that he wished him
dead; oh dear, no, that was not the way at all; but he told them all
that he would do if he were prince, and how he would promote
them, and left Sir Satan, the king of all evil imaginations, to deal
with their consciences as he might find expedient. Well, the prince
went away, and took with him his jester as his chief counsellor,
though he never took his counsel either, for if he had he would have
staid at home. But so they went on up by the Boden Sea, and then
by the Vorarlberg and through the Tyrol, kissing the Emperor's hand
at Inspruck, and then came to Venice, and there they had an
audience of the Duke; and at Venice they staid a long time, for there
was a fair Venetian lady that the prince loved passing well--" and the
jester paused, and gazed thoughtfully into the fire for several
moments.

"That has nothing to do with my tale, however," he continued, at

length. "The prince went on, and after long journeying, he came to
the place whither he was going; and though it was once a land
flowing with milk and honey, very little honey and no milk was to be
found there then. So, to keep down their appetites, he and his
followers took to fighting in real earnest; one day, however, a certain
officer of the prince, and a great friend of his brother's, brought him
word that there were a number of Moslem in a valley not far from
the castle where they were, and that if he would go out with his
men, while the knights of the hospital guarded the castle, he might
have them all as cheap as gudgeons. The prince had some doubts of
his friend, and sent out for better intelligence, but finding that all
that he said seemed very true, he got upon horseback, and sallied
forth with his people. About three or four miles from the castle,
however, he was suddenly surrounded and attacked on all sides by a
number of the Moslem, of whom his officer had quite forgotten to
tell him, though they had been watching there since daybreak.
Nevertheless he fought tolerably well, considering he was a prince,
and he and his men might perhaps have got out of the trap, by the
force of impudence and a strong arm, if his friend the officer had not
come behind him just then and struck him a gentle stroke, with
something sharp, in the neck, about the place where the gorget
joins the cuirass. Upon that the prince incontinent tumbled headlong
off his horse; the Moslem closed in on all sides, and with their sharp
scimeters sent the heads flying about like pippins shaken off a tree.
All were killed or taken except one, who got through and galloped
away, first carrying the news of the defeat to the knights of St. John
in the castle, and then to the prince's brother at home."

"This was of course the traitor who murdered his lord," exclaimed
Ferdinand, who had listened with ever-growing interest.

"Oh dear, no," replied the jester; "his friends the Moslem kept
him, but thought he would be safer in two pieces, and so they
separated his head from his shoulders."

"A very wise precaution," answered Ferdinand, "the true way of

recompensing traitors. And what became of the jester? He was
taken prisoner, I suppose?"
 "Yes, he was," answered his companion. "But now listen; I am
coming to the most curious part of my story, and that is the history
of the prince's followers after they were dead. One clear, moonlight
night, I have heard say, just as they were all lying in the rocky
valley, where they had fallen, and their bones, well picked by the
wild beasts of that country, were shining white amongst the bushes
and large stones, there came suddenly amongst them a tall thin
figure, like a shadow on the wall, through which you could see the
rocks, and the branches, and the round-faced moon, just as if it had
been the horn-plate of a lantern; and it stooped over the bones, and
looked at them, and counted them one by one, and then it said to
each fleshless head, separately,--'The man whose insinuations
brought about your death, has strangled me in the vaults of his
castle, though he knew that I was innocent. Rise up, then, all that
were true to their prince, and come, let us to his brother's house,
and plague him night and day,--at his board, and in his bed. Let us
give him no rest so long as he remains upon the earth!'

"The moment he had spoken, slowly rising out of the ground,

came a number of thin, shadowy figures, like himself, and they
mounted calmly into the air, and floated away towards this land, just
as you see a cloud rise out of the west, and soar slowly along,
casting a shadow as it flies. Where they went to, and what they did,
let the wise say; I know not. Only this I know, and that I heard from
one who saw it, that the prince's followers, a great many years after
they were killed and lying on the dry Syrian ground, rose up, man by
man, each just like his own living self, and came away to their own
land to torment their good lord's bad brother. One, indeed, remained
behind, but he was the man who smote his prince in the neck when
he was contending with the infidels; but doubtless the Moslem
pickled him, for he was worth preserving, and salt meat keeps better
than fresh, you know, Sir Ferdinand."
 CHAPTER XII.

Ferdinand's teeth were set hard, and his hands clasped tight
together as the jester's story ended, and for a moment or two he did
not speak; but at length he inquired, "And how long was it ago that
the good lord fell?"

"Oh, a long while," answered his companion, "long enough for

young men to grow old, and for old men to wither and rot. Some
twenty years ago or more. Lackaday how few twenties there are in
life. Twenty and twenty are forty, and twenty are sixty: how few see
the fourth twenty! Who sees the fifth? The first begins in the infant,
with a passion for milk; all mouth and no wit; and ends in the youth
with a love for sweet ankles and for cherry lips; all heart and no
brains. The second starts on his course like a swallow catching
insects, and ends like a slough-hound upon the track of a deer:
ambition flies before and distances him still. Then begins another
twenty, with the hard brain and the hard heart; your man of
manifold experiences, who finds no pleasure in pippins, and is
mailed against the darts of a dark eye. He must have solid goods,
forsooth! and so chooses gold, which will not decay; but, good faith!
it matters little whether it be the possession which decays, or the
possessor, whether the gilded coin rots, or the fingers that clutch it:
the two part company all the same. Then comes the fourth twenty,
often begun and seldom ended; and we go creeping backward, as if
we would fain run away from the other end of life; top please as,
straws offend us; we stumble at the same mole-hills that tripped up
our infancy. Time rubs off from the score of memory what
experience had written; and when the sorrowful soft gums have
eaten their second pap, death takes us sleepy up and puts us quietly
to bed. It was twenty years ago, good youth,--ay, that it was,--and
twenty years is one of those strange jumps that are more wisely
taken backwards than forwards."

"Methinks," said Ferdinand, "that though the time is so long, I

know something of this story, too--". But before he could add more,
a slight sort of creaking noise was heard proceeding from the end of
the hall, near the chair of state. Ferdinand, whose face was already
in that direction, and the jester who suddenly turned round, saw the
small door which has been so often mentioned open slowly,
exposing the mouth of the passage beyond.

"Ah, who have we here?" cried the jester. "Some of our friends
from over the sea, I suppose;" but no one appeared, and all was
silent. Both the watchers rose, and gazed for a minute or two
towards the door; Ferdinand grasping the cross of his sword, but the
jester showing no sign either of alarm or surprise.

"By my faith!" he exclaimed, at length, "I will see what is beyond,

there. Will you come with me youth, or shall I go alone?"

"I should think from the tale you have told," answered Ferdinand,
"that you know your way right well without guidance. But I will go
with you, whatever is there--I have been once, and will not be
stopped from going again."

"Come along, then," answered the jester. "Let us each take a

lamp, cousin, for the dead must lack lights, as they always choose to
walk in darkness. Why is a ghost like a flagon of wine?"

"Nay, I know not," answered Ferdinand, "and to say truth, I am in

no jesting mood just now."

"Because it comes out of the vault at midnight," answered the

jester, "and where it enters there it scatters men's wits about. Happy
he who has none to scatter. But come along, cousin, we'll soon see
whether our spirits are equal to theirs--I feel rather queer, but a
mole wouldn't mind it, for he's accustomed to holes in the earth."

Thus saying, he led the way to the door, and entered the long
narrow passage, Ferdinand following, and each carrying a lamp. The
jester's young companion, though busied with many other thoughts,
watched his movements closely, in order to obtain a confirmation or
refutation of the suspicions which his tale had excited.

Those suspicions, however, were strengthened by all that the

young man remarked, "Damp, damp and chilly, as a rich man's
heart," murmured the jester, as he advanced; and then, as if his
knowledge of the passages which they were following was not of a
few hours' growth, he laid his hand upon the door, at the farther
end, and without hesitation drew it towards him, choosing at once
the way which it really opened. He next passed on down the stone
steps, without a moment's pause to consider, merely turning round
and saying, "Take care of your lamp, cousin, for a light extinguished
in this world is not easily lighted again, whether it be love's lamp or
life's. A puff puts them out, but a puff won't bring them in again. By
the mass! the stones are somewhat slippery, and as much out of
repair as a fool's head or a spendthrift's purse. I must mind my way;
for here, as on ambition's ladder, a small slip would make a great
tumble."

"By my faith! you seem to know your way right well, Herr von
Narren," said Ferdinand, "better than I do, methinks."

"Ay, ay, folly finds the straight road, while wisdom is looking for
the short cut," answered the jester. "One can't well miss their way
when there is but one. But there seem no ghosts here, except the
spirit of Mistress Mildew, and she is very prevalent. We shall lose our
time, and get no payment for chilling our bones, if we get no better
apparition than this green slime. I would give a great deal to see a
ghost. I never met with one in all my travels."
 "Perhaps you may be gratified to-night," rejoined Ferdinand, "for
here they wander, if anywhere."

"If anywhere!" exclaimed the jester, "did any one ever hear such
heretical unbelief? We know that the church supports them,
because, I suppose, the poor things are too thin and unsubstantial
to stand of themselves. However, here we are at the bottom; praised
be Heaven's mercy in not bringing us there sooner! And here is a
door. Now, marry, you and other men of shrewd wits would
doubtless be looking for another, but I take the one that stands
before me, the sunshine of my darkness teaching me that that which
is at hand is always nearer than that which is far off. Now let us see,
it should be pulled this way, by the look of the lock and the hinges,
but if it be locked, what then?" and he paused for a minute or two
seeming to consider curiously the question before he proceeded to
ascertain the fact.

"Come, come, Herr von Narren," said Ferdinand, "you know it

opens this way well enough, and doubtless it is not locked, and if it
be, I have a key that will open it."

"What! then you come hither often," said the jester, "no wonder
you are less afraid of haunted places than the rest."

"I do not come here often," said Ferdinand, somewhat vexed at

the incautious admission he had made, "I have been here but once
in my life before, and even that I do not wish mentioned," and
stretching forth his arm, he pulled back the door, before which his
companion was apparently inclined to hold a long parley.

"Bless the lad's heart!" cried the jester, "he seems to think that his
light words will stay in a fool's head for an hour. My brain is not bird-
lime, boy, to catch your fluttering things, and put them in the trap.
But now, what place is this?" and he took a step forward and looked
round, holding up the lamp in his hand.
 "This is the Serf's Burial-Vault," answered Ferdinand, in a low
voice, remembering, with a sensation of awe that he could not
overcome, the strange and fearful sights which he had there beheld.

"Hold up your lamp," said the jester, in a grave tone, "I wish to
see around me."

But the darkness, as before, was too thick to be pierced for any
distance by the feeble rays of the two lamps, and the next moment,
to his surprise, the young man heard his companion demand aloud,
"Where art thou, Walter?"

"Here!" answered a deep tone instantly; and following the sound,

the jester advanced direct towards the column, to which the
skeleton was bound by the chain. There he paused, and gazed upon
it, as if that had been the object he sought; and the emotions which
he experienced, whatever they were, seemed to overpower him, and
make him forget for the time the presence of his companion. His
eyes filled with tears, "Honest, and faithful, and true," he cried, "and
was this the fate reserved for thee? All could be forgiven but this--
This cannot, if there be justice on earth or in heaven," and bending
down his head, he slightly raised the bony fingers in his own, and
pressed his lips upon the mouldering joints.

There was a faint sound, as of sobbing loud, but Ferdinand's

strange companion took no notice of it, and continued gazing upon
the skeleton for several minutes, with a look of deep and intense
thought in his eye, as it wandered up and down the fleshless limbs.
Then suddenly turning away, he said, "Come on," and striding
forward to the further side of the vault, he passed through the
archway into the crypt or lower chapel. Taking no notice of several
of the monuments on either side, and only giving a glance to the
coffins, he went straight to the tomb of grey marble, on which was
sculptured a lady in the attitude of prayer, and there kneeling for a
few moments by the side, he seemed to busy himself in silent
devotions. After which, rising he turned to Ferdinand, and said, in a
mild but no sportive tone, "It is done. Go back to the hall, good
youth, and wait for me there. I will not be long, and nothing will
annoy you by the way."

Ferdinand might think it all strange, but yet the words of his
companion seemed to have a power over him which he could not
resist, and turning back he retrod his steps to the hall, where, after
having closed the door, he seated himself before the fire to wait for
the jester's return.

Light-hearted youth, that season of great powers and small

experiences, may feel strong and deep emotions, but their influence,
on the corporeal frame at least, is not very permanent. Weary with a
long day's exertion, and having had little rest for the three or four
nights preceding, Ferdinand's eyes felt heavy; and that pleasant
languor which precedes sleep stole over his limbs. He wished to
remain awake; but yet he leaned back for support against the stone-
work of the wide chimney; and in a few minutes he nodded, woke
up again, and then fell into sound slumber. He was awakened by a
heavy hand grasping his shoulder; and looking round he saw the
jester standing beside him, with the fire in its last embers, on the
hearth, and the lamps burning dim.

"I must wake you, cousin," said his companion. "For we shall soon
have Madam Morning winking at us with her old grey eye. Sleep is
better than waking for some good reasons, but it must come to an
end, coz!"

"Is it so late?" asked Ferdinand. "I thought that I had just closed
my eyes!"

"Yes, that is the blessing of youth," said the jester; "he thinks not,
either sleeping or waking. He dreams while he is waking, and forgets
while he is sleeping, and therein has he the two best gifts that man
can covet--to dream and to forget."
 "I doubt not, from all I see," answered the young man, "that
there are many things you would wish to forget, were it possible."

"Hark ye, cousin," said the jester; "one thing we had both better
try to forget, to-wit, that we have been in those vaults together. I
have a secret of yours, you have one of mine. We will each keep
what we have got, and give it away to nobody, for that would be
thriftless."

"Nay, I have nought to tell," answered Ferdinand; "though

perhaps something to inquire, Herr von Narren. I may suspect, and I
do; but I can do no more than suspect. But one thing I must ask;
what you came here for? as I can know of no evil to my lord without
preventing it, otherwise I am a traitor!"

"Why, what evil can I do?" asked the jester, with a smile; "what
power have I? Is the fool's bauble equal to a baron's sword? Good
faith! I will go to the wars, and turn out a great conqueror.--I intend
your lord no harm, cousin."

"But you said there was something not to be forgiven," replied

Ferdinand.

"Nor will it," said his companion, somewhat sternly; "if there be
justice in Heaven; but to Heaven I leave it; and in its own good time
I doubt not to see vengeance fall where it ought. What is it that you
suspect?"

"That you were the follower of the late Count of Ehrenstein,"

answered Ferdinand, frankly; "the jester you mentioned in the tale
you told; and that even now you seek to revenge the Count's
death."

His companion laughed aloud. "How thy wits jump!" he said; "but
in one way, like an ill-broken colt, they jump too far. I seek not to
avenge that Count's death; and by all that I hold sacred, I myself
will never attempt it; so let that satisfy thee, good youth."
 "And yet, perhaps, I ought to inform the Count of who you are;"
replied the young man, thoughtfully.

"That you cannot do," answered the jester; "and if you believe
that the tale I told applies to your lord and his brother, you neither
will nor ought. Vipers have viper's eggs--rogues serve rogues; and
the blood in your veins would cry out against you, if you were to
make your mind the bondsman of a felon. If you think my tale is
true, quit this household in silence, for your own honour; if you do
not believe the tale to be applicable here, remain in silence. But if
you would needs speak, I will seal your lips with one word."

"Ay! what is that?" asked Ferdinand, in some surprise.

"Adelaide!" answered the jester, fixing his keen eyes upon him.
"Is there nothing, good youth, that you seek to conceal as well as
myself; nay, far more than I do? for I have nought to fear--you
much. I care not; but that it would sadden merry meetings, and
break off gay intercourse, if your good Count should know all that
you know, and more.--Indeed, I promise you, that ere I depart from
this neighbourhood, he shall hear the whole tale. He would less dare
to wag a finger against me, protected as I am, than jump from the
top of the keep; but I must choose my own time and my own way to
speak, and it must not be now."

Ferdinand had coloured high when the name of Adelaide was

pronounced, and now he remained silent while his companion went
on in a tone so different from that which he generally used in his
jester's capacity. An instant after, however, the other suddenly
resumed his ordinary manner, and exclaimed, "So that is settled
between the two fools who sat up all night watching for that which
did not come.--Marry, had we liked it, cousin, we might have proved
ourselves the wise men of the party; for with plenty of wine and
good cheer, we had wherewithal to be merry and wise. Now,
however, we are sorry fools; for we have neither emptied the flagons
nor cleared the dishes, and vinegar will be cheap in the market if all
that wine stands there much longer."

"It may serve as a bribe to bring some of the knaves in by

daylight, to clear away the tables," answered Ferdinand. "There is
more than one amongst them who would sell his own soul for a
flagon of strong drink."

"Then is his soul dirt cheap, or a very bad one," answered the
jester; "but, on my life, I believe the market price of men's souls is
half a florin; for day by day we see them sold for less. The twinkle of
a girl's eyes is current coin against such commodities; the pottle-pot
drives a thriving trade in the mart of spirits; and two small pieces of
ivory spotted with black, have nearly emptied the world's fold of its
true sheep. But there comes the morning. See the panes of glass in
the casement are looking grey, we shall soon have the sun up, red
and blear-eyed like a drunkard who has sat up all night with the
stoup. I'll hie me to bed, for my wit will want activity, and, good
faith! it is getting somewhat weak in the knees."

"It must be a heavy task to be ever ready with a jest, even when
the heart is sad," said Ferdinand.

"What! a heavy task to find light wit?" exclaimed the jester. "No,
good youth; let a man but look at life as he ought, and the burden is
easily borne. All things here are but jests; some sour, some sweet;
some light, some heavy. If we cannot laugh with, we can laugh at;
and but get your wit into a cantering habit, and he'll forget his grave
paces and trip lightly along the road. Habit, habit, habit, cousin!
everything is habit in this world. What is that makes the man eat
what the child rejects? Custom. What makes us endure a load of
clothes that Heaven never intended us to wear? Custom. Put a pair
of tawny leather shoes upon a child's bare feet, and he will stumble
over the rushes on the floor; yet, see how gaily the youth will trip
along, as if he had been born into the world booted and spurred.
The eye and the ear, the tongue and the nose, all have their habits.
Go into a strange land, and you will split your sides at the odd
dresses of the people. Stay there a year, and you will think your own
countrymen as comical. The blast of the trumpet cracks a lady's
ears; ask the knight and his war horse if ever they heard sweeter
music. Good sooth! I do believe, if men ate dirt and ashes for a
month, they would think them better than stewed ducks or a
brawn's head; and thus with me, though jesting be a sorry trade
enough when the heart is full or the stomach empty, yet, either from
lack of continence, or discretion, I began early, and now the jest
always gets the better of the lamentation, and finds vent first. But
look at the red light on the floor. It is time for night fowls to roost.
Give you good morning, cousin Ferdinand, I am away to my pallet."

CHAPTER XIII.

The morning was dull and heavy, though fully risen, when
Ferdinand of Altenburg was summoned to the Count's chamber; but
by that time he could bear the tidings to his lord that all had been
cleared away from the hall at the sacrifice of the wine which had
been left there.

"Enough was left, indeed, to render the knaves half drunk," he

added; "but it had the effect of making them swear, by all they held
sacred, that they will never shun the hall again, if it were haunted by
whole troops of goblins."

"We shall not need to try them, Ferdinand," replied the Count.
"We must change our plan, good youth. We must not have our food
poisoned by doubts and fears."
 The Count spoke thoughtfully, pausing when he had done; and
Ferdinand replied, "I am glad you have taken such a resolution; my
good lord. It is true, I fear these things not; but still it is high time
that something should be done to inquire into this matter, or to
remove it. You have yourself now heard, and I have seen strange
things, of which, I trust, some holy man, some priest of a good and
saintly life, may be able to free us."

"No, no," replied the Lord of Ehrenstein, "we will have no priests,
lad, nor monks either. They can do nought in this or aught else, but
in crafty policy, where the hundred-headed and perpetual monster
sets all her everlasting wits to work. I know their ways right well, for
I was bred to be one of them.--No, no! We will have no priests to
meddle and to babble here, and tell the broad world that I was
plagued with spirits at my very hearth. That were an old woman's
remedy, and I will not submit myself to such were there none other
in the world. Not so, not so will we set to work; but for the future
we will take our meals in separate parties: some in the lesser hall,
some in the two rooms on either side--but what makes you look so
dull, as if your mind were roaming to other things?--You were not
disturbed, you say?"

"Oh no, my lord, this last night I saw nothing," answered

Ferdinand; "but I am weary and feel heavy eyed, having slept but
little for several nights."

"Well, hie thee to bed then for a while," replied the Count; but he
was not yet satisfied; for there were signs rather of thought than of
slumber in the young man's face; and with suspicions, aroused of he
knew not well what, he resolved to watch him more carefully.

The day passed nearly without events. The whole party seemed
relieved, when they found that the haunted hall was no more to be
visited. The Count and his noble guest walked for a great part of the
morning on the battlements, in earnest conversation; the knights
and soldiers amused themselves with the sports and games of the
day in the courts and chambers, and the hour of noon brought with
it the usual meal. During the whole morning, Adelaide and Ferdinand
did not meet; and even at dinner, by the Count's arrangement, the
young man was sent to superintend another room, where a table
was spread for some of the chief officers of both households. One
glance as he passed through the hall was all that he obtained, and
he thought that Adelaide's eyes looked anxious. Count Frederick was
standing on one side of the lady, and his young follower, Martin of
Dillberg, on the other, as the lover crossed the hall; and on the face
of Dillberg there were smiles and sweet looks, which made
Ferdinand's breast feel warm with sensations he had never before
experienced. Doubt or suspicion, in regard to Adelaide herself, he
could not entertain; but yet jealousy has many stages, and
Ferdinand hated Count Frederick's follower heartily from that
moment. He felt--or fancied that they were rivals, and perhaps, in
the whole range of bitter emotions, there is none more painful than
that which we endure, when we know that even for a time a rival
has the ear of her we love. At the meal, he tried to be cheerful as
well as courteous, and though it cost him a great effort to conceal
his uneasiness, yet his manner was so pleasing to all, that he rose
high in the opinion of Count Frederick's train, and even at the table,
almost within his own hearing, comparisons were made between
him and Martin of Dillberg not very favourable to the latter.

"I love him not," said one; "I never have; and the more I see of
him the less I like him. Were he like this young squire, one could
understand our lord's favour for him."

"Ay," answered an elder man to whom he had been speaking,

"our lord will rue that favour one of these days. He is cunning and
false, ever making his own tale good, and seeking to injure others. I
never saw one yet, who was so artful and malicious when he was
young, that did not commit some treachery before he was old."

"Ay, the Count is beginning to know him, I believe," rejoined the

first, "saw you not how he chid him for the falsehood he told of
Sigismond. He would have done better to send him away at once;
but he bears with him because his father was a good soldier and an
honest man."

"Ay, and his mother a devil incarnate," answered the other. "She
broke his father's heart, betrayed his honour, and ruined him; and
this youth is her very image."

In such comments, more than one at the table indulged very

freely; but Ferdinand heard them not, for he was conversing
somewhat eagerly with one of Count Frederick's younger knights,
though the subject was of no greater interest than the history of the
jester. Ferdinand sought for information to confirm or remove the
suspicions he entertained, but he could obtain little, and indeed his
companion did not seem disposed to communicate much. "I was
with a different band," he said, in answer to one of the young man's
questions, "when this man joined the Count."

"Then he did join him in the Holy Land?" asked Ferdinand.

"I believe so," was the reply, "but I know nought as certain. He
might have known the Count before."

"I have heard he saved your leader's life," said the young man.

"Yes, so they say," rejoined the knight. "I was not present, and
know nothing of it."

All further questions were equally fruitless, and Ferdinand turning

the conversation to the subject which the others had been
discussing, inquired, "Who is Martin of Dillberg, whom your lord
seems also to love right well?"

"Nay, that is a mistake," answered the knight. "He shows him

favour, it is true; but I have twice seen the question hang in the
balance whether my lord would not strike his head off, once for
taking a jewel off a dead man's hand, and once for betraying
counsel. But he is as cunning as a fox, and raised a doubt, by one
means or another, as to whether he did not intend to carry the ring
to the widow. The other fault was forgiven on the score of youth,
but with a warning, that if he so offended again, death would be his
doom without reprieve."

"Perchance he is valiant in arms," said Ferdinand; "I have ever

heard that Count Frederick will forgive much to gallant men."

His companion smiled and shook his head, saying, "He is no great
seeker of renown, this youth. Yet he is brave after a certain fashion
too. There are some men, and he is one of them, who would risk ten
times the danger of a battle-field, to accomplish a small matter
cunningly. He seems to enjoy his own art so much, that if it costs his
life he must practise it, especially if it be to the injury of others."

"A pleasant comrade in a band like yours," rejoined Ferdinand;

and there the conversation dropped.

The meal was drawing near its conclusion, when some noise was
heard in the adjoining hall, of a different kind from that which had
preceded, though in those days, as often at present, the hour of
dinner was a noisy one. The Count of Ehrenstein's voice could be
distinguished asking questions with angry vehemence, and every
now and then another answering, while the tones of Count Frederick
joined in from time to time even more sharply.

"What is the matter in there, Henry?" asked Ferdinand, as one of

the sewers passed through, bearing some dishes.

"A party of Venetian traders, Sir, have been stopped, and

plundered beyond Anweiler," replied the man, "and it seems they
had gold with them belonging to Count Frederick; so they have sent
up to seek redress and help. One of them has been killed, they say."

"Who has done it?" asked the young gentleman. "I thought such
bands had been put down."
 "Oh, it is the Baron of Eppenfeld," said the sewer; "he will never
give up that trade; and his place is so strong, it will be difficult to
force him."

Thus saying, he went on, and the thoughts of all present turned
to the results that were likely to ensue from the event that had just
occurred. "Count Frederick will not be long out of the saddle,"
observed one of his attendants; "it is not well to pull the beard of an
old lion."

"I doubt we shall have enough here to right the affair," rejoined
an old soldier; "it is unlucky that one-half of the band marched on."

"But the Count of Ehrenstein will not suffer his friend to go

unaided," answered Ferdinand. "He can call out two hundred men at
arms."

"That would indeed be serviceable," said the knight, "and

doubtless he will do it; for I have heard that this gold belonged to
the late Count, and was found safely treasured in a castle of the
Knights' Hospitallers on the coast."

Ferdinand was about to answer, when old Seckendorf put in his

head, exclaiming, "Here, here, Ferdinand, the Count would speak
with you;" and instantly rising, the young man followed into the
neighbouring hall. He found the two Counts apparently much
excited, speaking together eagerly, and a tall grave looking elderly
man in foreign garments standing beside them, occasionally joining
in their conversation, which went on for some time after Ferdinand
of Altenburg had entered.

At length the Count of Ehrenstein turned towards him, saying,

"Here is an occasion for you, Ferdinand. The Baron of Eppenfeld has
waylaid these merchants on their way hither,--from good information
of their coming it would seem, but how obtained, Heaven knows. He
has seized all their baggage, and in it treasure belonging to me. It is
judged but courteous to suppose that he is ignorant, that I am
interested, and therefore, instead of going in arms to demand
reparation at once, I send to claim that all be instantly restored to
these noble merchants, and that compensation be given for the
death of one of their valets and the wounds of another: that
compensation to be awarded by myself and Count Frederick here.
You shall be my messenger; take with you ten men at your choice,
and depart at once, so that you be back before morning. If
Eppenfeld will restore all and make compensation, well; if not, defy
him in my name and in that of Count Frederick. The task is one of
honour, though of some danger; but I know it will not be less
pleasant to you on that account."

"Thank you, my good lord," replied Ferdinand; "but let me know

my errand fully. If the Baron seeks to delay his reply, how am to act?
It is now one of the clock, ride as hard as I will, I shall not reach his
castle gates till five; and he may say that he will give me an answer
in the morning."

"Stay not an hour," replied the Count. "I would not have you, or
any of your troop, either break bread or taste wine within his gates,
till the answer is given. If he says Yes, you may refresh yourselves
and the horses. If he says No, return at once, and rest at Anweiler. If
he seeks delay, give him half an hour, and tell him such are our
express commands. Now away, good youth, to make ready. You
must all go armed."

"I will do your will to the best, my lord," answered Ferdinand, and
with a glance to the pale cheek of Adelaide, he was turning to leave
the hall, when Count Frederick called him back, and drawing him to
the window, said, in a low voice, "I would fain have you, my dear
lad, discover, if possible, how this worthy knight obtained intelligence
of the merchants' journey. I must leave the means to yourself; but I
have my reasons for the inquiry--I fear this may be a dangerous
expedition for you," he added.
 "More full of danger than honour, my good lord," answered
Ferdinand. "Small chance of fair fighting: much of being caught like
a rat in a trap. But I will do my best, and have nought but to obey."

Thus saying, he left the hall, not daring to turn his eyes to
Adelaide again; and the party he left soon broke up, Count Frederick
saying he had a vow to perform at the chapel of the Virgin, and that
he would ride out to fulfil it between that hour and supper time.

Choosing his men from those on whom he could best depend,

Ferdinand descended for a moment to the court, gave orders for the
horses to be saddled, and all prepared without a moment's delay,
and then mounted to his own chamber to arm himself in haste. He
had nearly done, and heard gay voices speaking on the battlements
far below, when someone knocked gently at his door.

"Come in," cried the young man; and Bertha appeared, with a
face half frightened, half playful.

"Your lady wishes to speak with you for a moment before you go,
Sir Scapegrace," said the girl in a low tone. "She is in the corridor
below, and all the rest are out of the way for a minute or two, so
make haste;" and without more words she hastened away, leaving
the door ajar.

Ferdinand lost no time; but, as ever is the case when one

attempts to abridge a necessary process, one thing went wrong, and
then another, so that he was longer than he would have been had
he been less in haste. At length, however, all was complete; and
hurrying down, he found Adelaide waiting anxiously near the door of
her own apartments, with Bertha at a little distance towards the top
of the great stairs. As soon as she saw him, the lovely girl sprang
towards him.

"Oh, Ferdinand," she said, "I have longed to speak with you all
the morning; but the castle has been so full, that it would have been
madness to attempt it; and now you are going whence you may,
perchance, never return. At all events, you cannot be back in time to
do what is required."

"Fear not for me, dear one," answered Ferdinand, "neither

imagine that I will linger for a moment by the way, if Adelaide has
aught to command me."

"Nay, it is not I who command," replied his beautiful companion

with a faint blush, "it is Father George who requires that you and I
together shall be at the chapel to-night, some time between
midnight and dawn."

"Indeed!" said Ferdinand, "does he explain for what object?"

"No. Three or four words written in a billet, closely sealed, were

all the intimation I have had," answered Adelaide.

"And would you go if it were possible, dear girl?" inquired her

lover.

"I will do whatever he directs," replied the lady.

"Then, if there be a means of any kind, I will be back;" said

Ferdinand. "Do not retire to rest till all hope of my coming is over for
the night; but, as perchance, I might be detained, it were better to
send down Bertha to the good priest to let him know, that if not
there to-night, we will come to-morrow night without fail, if I be
alive and free."

As he spoke, Bertha raised her hand suddenly as a warning, and

Adelaide was drawing back to her own apartments; but Ferdinand
detained her, saying, "Do not seem alarmed--'tis our own hearts
make us fear. I may well bid you adieu as I should any other lady;"
and bending his head over her hand, he kissed it, saying aloud,
"Farewell, lady--God shield you ever!"
 "Farewell, Ferdinand," said Adelaide, in a tone that somewhat
wavered; and, at the same moment, Bertha drew nearer, and Martin
of Dillberg entered the corridor from the great stairs. His eyes were
turned instantly towards the two lovers, and although Bertha was by
this time close to them with waitingmaid-like propriety, yet the
youth's lip curled with a smile, of not the most benevolent aspect.

"Farewell, pretty Bertha," said Ferdinand, as soon as he saw

Count Frederick's follower; and then, passing him with very slight
salutation, he hurried away, while Adelaide retired at once to her
own chamber. The men and horses were not yet prepared; and as
Ferdinand was standing armed in the court waiting for their
appearance, the Count, with his guest, the priest, and the jester,
passed by. The Count's eye rested on him, but he did not address
him; and as the party walked on, the young man heard the Lord of
Ehrenstein reply to some question of Count Frederick's: "Yes, he is
always prompt and ready--brave as a lion, too, fearing nothing,
living or dead; but there has come over him to-day a sort of dull
gloom which I do not understand."

Ferdinand heard no more; and in five minutes after he was in the

saddle, and at the head of his troop, wending onward on his
expedition. Crossing the valley, he followed the course of the
opposite hills, as if he were journeying to Dürkheim, till he had
passed the Abbey about two miles, where a small village,
commanding a beautiful view of the basin of the Rhine, presented
itself; and turning through it to the right, he was pursuing his way,
when a loud voice from a blacksmith's forge called him by name;
and he checked his horse for a moment.

"Whither away, Sir? whither away?" asked Franz Creussen,

coming forth with his enormous arms bare to the shoulders.

"To Eppenfeld," answered Ferdinand, "the Baron has waylaid

some merchants bringing gold to the Count; and I am sent to ask
him to give it up,--I cannot stay to tell you more, Franz, but doubt I
may stay longer where I am going, and perchance need arms as
strong as yours to get me out."

"Likely enough," replied the giant; "when come you back, if they
will let you?"

"As fast as my horse can carry me," answered the young man,
and galloped on, along one of the narrow hill paths that led towards
Anweiler, with an unrivalled view of the whole Palatinate below him
on the left, and, on the right, the mountains of the Haard, with their
innumerable castles, abbeys, and monasteries, crowning every peak,
and barring every gorge. When he reached the road from Landau to
Zweibrücken, near Anweiler, instead of following it far, he turned
away again before he had gone on a quarter of a mile, in the
direction of Weissenburg, and entered a dark and gloomy looking
valley, where rocks and trees were far more plentiful than churches
or human habitations. Closing in on either side, the high hills left but
a narrow space for the dell as it wound on, till at length, at a spot
where the basin extended a little, a tall rock rose up in the centre,
covered with wood wherever the roots could find earth to bear
them, and crowned with walls and towers above. Ferdinand gave his
horse the spur, and in a few minutes more stood before the gates of
Eppenfeld.
 CHAPTER XIV.

Before the small chapel in the wood, below the castle of

Ehrenstein, there was, as I have said, an open space of about half
an acre. The trees encroached upon it here and there, rendering the
boundary-line broken and irregular, detracting nought from the
sylvan beauty of the scene. On the contrary, the variety was
pleasant to the eye; and the old oaks and beeches, which, starting
out before their fellows, obtruded on the soft dry turf, rendered the
sight more agreeable by depriving it of all formality. It looked like a
space for fairy revels; and in truth, though the fathers, if they had
seen any of the little good people present, might have sent them
roughly to some other quarters, took no slight pleasure, as was
commonly the case with the monks, in the charms of the spot where
they had fixed one of their buildings, and would rather have forfeited
a great deal than have cut down one of the trees which formed the
great ornament of the place. The varied colours of the spring, the
summer, and the autumn, afforded much delight to the good old
men. The sunshine, streaming through the green leaves, was like
the return of the summer of life to the winter of their age; and it
was the boast of the Lord Abbot--though he was not otherwise than
fond of venison--that neither stag, nor roe, nor fallow-deer, had ever
been slaughtered in those woods by his command. Thus the wild
creatures of the forest, who have more sense than we give them
credit for, looked upon the wood, within two or three hundred yards
of the chapel, as a place of refuge, a sort of sanctuary; and the open
space between the trees and the building as a play-ground for their
evening hours. The beams of the full day, however, were pouring
over the blades of grass, and tinging with bright yellow the beech
leaves above, when Count Frederick of Leiningen, with a small party
behind him, drew in his rein at the chapel door. A groom sprang to
his stirrup, and, dismounting more lightly than from his age one
would have judged possible, he entered the chapel and bent his
knee for some moments before the altar, in prayer; then rising, he
advanced towards the door of the little wing inhabited by Father
George, and, after knocking at it with his knuckles, opened it and
entered, beckoning the jester to follow. The good priest was seated
at a table reading, but he rose, when, by air and manner, more than
even by dress, he perceived the high rank of his visitor. For a
moment or two neither of the three spoke, and the eye of the monk
ran from the face of Count Frederick to that of the jester, resting
upon the latter long and steadfastly, with a sort of inquiring look, as
if he recognised features which he had seen in times of old, and yet
had some difficulty in assuring himself that they were the same
which he had beheld before the scorching blast of time had passed
over them.

Count Frederick was the first who spoke, saying, "You do not
remember me, good father, though we have met often in early days,
and more than once some ten years ago; but I can easily forgive
your forgetfulness, for, good faith, the suns of Syria and Africa are
not the greatest beautifiers of man's person, and the change must
be somewhat rueful. You are little altered, since last I saw you; more
silver than sable in your hair now, it is true, but still the features are
the same."

"I remember you well, my good lord," replied the priest; "though
you are greatly changed, I own. Yet here is one I should remember
better, methinks; for, if my eyes deceive me not strangely, we have
met more often;" and as he spoke he laid his hand upon the jester's
arm.

"I know not which is the greatest deceiver," cried the jester, with
a laugh; "a man's eyes or his ears; the one cheats him more often,