The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1867-04-17

there was bu6 one feminine heart in
the whole court that would leap to
see him vanquished-and that heart
was beating beneath the bodice of
the fair prize herself.
He took it very coolly-he always
did take matters coolly; but while he
abated not one jewel in the splendor
of his horses and armor, not without
q strong conviction on his own part
that he must win, if he only did his
best. These imperturbable, resolute
champions are the most dangerous
adversaries.
And whilst the whole palace was
alive with hustle and shouting, with
the din of armor, the flashing of
torches, and the discord of many
voices, how still and quiet were those
two in the shade of the pine forest,
with the spring bubbling softly up at
their feet, and the evening star she'd
ding it's rays calmly down upon their
pale, loving faces.
Hand-in-hand, with many O pretty
oath and foolish VOW between, had
they talked over the coming tour
nament, and the chances of victory
for him whose arm was nerved by
the smiles of his beloved. OF course,
at first she would not hear of his
entering for the prize. She would
never endanger her dear Karls life
forsooth, not she! and he must give
her up and not think about her any
more, and be satisfied with her as
surance that she could never, never
forget him; and O.: course, if he had
taken her at her word, she would
have been infinitely disgusted, and
rated him as low as he would have
deserved. Then, on cutting short
all this kind of thing, rather brusque-
~, but in sufficiently pleasant
manner, the subject came to be
more practically discussed, and the
archduchess did not scruple to ex-
press her high opinion of the Land
graves prowess, and intense dread
that he would prove the conquerer
and winner of the prize. Doubtless,
before the lance of whomsoever the
Alsatian went down, the knight who
laid that lance in rest would obtain
Clothilde's hand. Must not Karl
reserve his forces as much as posi-
bic for this formidable antagonist,
30 that the result of the tournament
should indeed be q duel between the
two wearers of the violet? And
then, could the Count of the Fen
but come into the struggle n fresher
man than the Landgrave of Ehen-
helm, what doubt of victory and
subsequent happiness? With n wo-
mans enviable faculty of talking
herself into any given opinion in
less than ten minutes, and her i'm
plicit faith that the man she loves
has only to attempt it, and he must
succeed in any and every enterprise,
Clothilde soon found herself tri-
umphantly anticipating the result
of the very contest she had so much
dreaded; nay, before the increasing
darkness warned them it was time to
part, she had taken such Jump
into the future as to have settled in
her own mind the very dress she
meant to bo married in, and even
sundry subsequent arrangements, in
which the unconscious Karl was to
bear an obedient, unassuming part.
But the evening star ere this was
high in the heavens, and under the
shadow of the gloomy pines, the
night, rs the German says, was
"blacli as iwolf's mouth" Mary
of Burgundy resembled the strict old
dame in the nursery ballad
"-of Northumberland,
Who kept her daughter in her hand"
rigidly enforcing certain rules, which
neither family nor household dared
venture to disobey. It was not good
TO offend the house of Burgundy.
Strong and fiery, like the wines Of
their dukedom, their blood boiled
up quickly, but took long time to
cool down. Nobody dreamt of dis
putting the Empress authority
least of all the Emperor. 1t was
high time to part. A hurried SEN
tence-a warm.pressure of the hand
two heads bowling nearer and nearer
each other-something. that would
have been a whisper, had it not
terminated in q sweeter assurance
still, and Clothilde was fastening
away through the darkness to the
edge of the pine-forest, whilst her
lover remained like statue at the
spring, listening to catch the last
echo of her football.
But another football caused Karl
to start rs if he was shot, and crouch
ing down to the earth, to put his
ear on its surface and listen for IN
instant in nm agony of suspense.
No! there was no mistaking the long