"All is safe," said he; "I am quite sure we may talk of our affairs without any danger."

"Could there be anyone listening at the doors?" inquired George.

"It is truly said every rogue is a coward," replied Paolo.

"Not every rogue, for you are not a coward, Paolo," said George; "besides this is not cowardice, it is prudence."

"We can speak Latin or Greek," replied Paolo, impatiently, "and that will puzzle any listener." "And are you sure that no one here" began George.

"Who can?" demanded Paolo, answering the halffinished sentence. "Not our pupil, young Hubert, it is well for him that he is born rich and a lord, for he has no brains; not little Guy, though take him all in all, he may be said to be the sense-carrier of all the Pibracs, past, present, and to come; nor yet the baroness, she adores learning, as Indians do the sun, at a reverential distance; still less is it the old lord, who prides himself on not even knowing how to read. As to the servants, you do not imagine them capable of thinking that there is any other language in existence, save Provencal, so here goes for the Latin."

Seeing that there were to be no lessons, Jacques repented of the useless haste he had made to get under the bed, and with the feeling of a naturally generous and ingenuous mind, he could not help experiencing a certain degree of remorse, at a position which obliged him to overhear a conversation which the interlocutors seemed anxious should be private.

with us will in no way surprise him. Think, Paolo, in this very room, the baroness has a casket of jewels which I heard the old lord say one day was worth more than a million, without counting the chest filled with gold." "Well, but how are we to get at them?" interrupted Paolo.

"That is the difficulty," said George.

:

It

"It is easy enough," replied Paolo, "listen the president takes all the robust young men of the castle with him, leaving behind only the old men and the women, whom we can easily manage. Such an accurate observer as I am lets no circumstance, however small or trivial, escape him. Now I have observed that all the people here have the habit of sleeping with the keys outside their doors, the old Pibrac amongst the rest. is but one turn of the key and we have them prisoners. The baroness, a Parisian by birth, has learned late hours at Paris, but she suffers no one to wait up for her except old Cadette; and every one once under lock and key, we can pass through the old woman's room in here, and hide ourselves in this immense press," and as he spoke, Paolo opened the walnut wardrobe, in which were hung the silk gowns and court-dresses of the baroness.

"Yes," said George, who had listened to the plan with the greatest attention. "But if she should awake and sing out?"

"As to that, I should not be long stopping her mouth," added he, in a tone which made Jacques shudder in his hiding place, and made him feel strangely tempted to rush out and seize the wretches by the throat, but the boy remembered just in time that the odds were fearfully against him, and that the greatest discretion and caution was necessary, successfully to counteract the villany of these wretches.

The remembrance of the flattering appellation "rogue," which they had bestowed on each other, and a few words he had overheard soon, however, riveted his attention. As to the precaution of the pilgrims in speaking Latin, this was no difficulty in his way, for daily, throughout a whole year, Jacques had, under the friendly cover of the bed, listened to the Greek and Latin lessons given at first by Pierre Burel, afterwards by the president, and for some months by these two men; and so well had the fuller's son profited by them, that he was able to understand every word that was said. His only fear was lest he should be seen, and he crouched still further under the bed; but the two pilgrims, secure in their conviction that all the people of the house were engrossed with the president, did not trouble themselves with further search, than that already made in the two adjacent apartments, and continued their colloquy at their

"Yes," said George, "but how is it to be done with such a host of servants all alert and vigilant?" "Everything in good time to him who does but know how to bide his time," interrupted Paolo. "That was my answer to the observation you then made. Thanks to my sagacity and perseverance, here we are now at the goal of our wishes. You are just returned from Citte, is everything ready for our embarkation?"

"Everything," replied George; "the master of the vessel which is to carry us off will not set sail for eight

V.

“WHAT shall I do? oh, what shall I do?” cried Jacques, in an agony under the bed. 'Oh, the monsters," added he, wiping the drops from his brow, "to rob, to murder those who have shown them such hospitality, those who for six months have fed them and loaded them with benefits-but what shall I do? What shall I do?" repeated he, whilst a sudden shivering succeeded the burning heat into which he had been thrown. "May God direct me! If I go and denounce them no one will believe me-what proof can I give of what I advance? I shall not be listened to. I shall be laughed at, or turned out, perhaps, and either this very night or some other they will execute their horrible design. Oh, Father who art in heaven," added the boy, praying from the bottom of his heart; "my God, who givest strength to the feeble, wisdom to the simple, come to my help; counsel me, oh, inspire me, show me how to save this good lady who is so kind, so christian-like, teach me what I am to do."

When Jacques had offered up this prayer, he was about to emerge from his hiding-place, when the sound of approaching steps made him draw back his head, and the baroness entered accompanied by her two children and the house-keeper, Madame Cadette. "Has Jacques been found?" inquired the lady, as she entered. "No, madame, and if I might venture to speak," said Cadette.

"I would forbid this good-for-nothing little creature from entering the doors of the castle; for"I will have nothing bad said of Jacques," said Guy, interrupting the housekeeper; "he makes such nice kites for me."

"I only wish the kites would carry him off with them somewhere out of this."

"Cadette, it is very wrong to suspect this boy," said the baroness, in a severe tone. "His father is an honest man, and the son of an honest man can never be a rogue."

On hearing the accusation, which at first he had not understood, but which the defence explained to him, Jacques was on the point of bounding from his hidingplace, but he immediately felt that this would be his ruin, and that his position under the bed would confirm all Mademoiselle's suspicions. In childlike simplicity of faith he prayed to God to render him invisible, and it would seem as if his prayer was heard, for the rest of the day passed without either Hubert or Guy, who never left the room, perceiving him.

Night came on, and Jacques had as yet struck on no plan of action, and he began to despair as the time approached. From his hiding-hole he had seen Guy put to bed, had heard the tender kiss imprinted on the brow of the child by the mother, and these gentle words, "Soft be thy slumbers, my child, and may to-morrow's dawn rise smilingly upon thee."

the key; but take care," added he, in a whisper, "the rascals are armed."

"I care not for that," said the old lord, “villains are always cowards."

With these words he took the key from Jacques, opened it and, as he had anticipated, found the two pilgrims, pale, trembling, and half dead with fear. The unhappy wretches threw themselves on their knees, and begged for mercy.

"No mercy for such wretches," said the Baron de Pibrac, as he ordered his people to bind them and confine them in the dungeon of the castle; adding, "and tomorrow they shall be sent to Toulouse to stand their trial." The baroness who, during all this scene, stood in breathless amazement, now turned to Jacques for an explanation.

"I will tell you all, Madame, but first," said he, throwing himself on his knees in the middle of the room, "I must humbly ask pardon of you, my lady, and of you, my lord, and of you also young gentlemen, for the liberty I have taken of being present unknown to anyone but master Guy, when master Pierre Burel, or my lord the president, or the pilgrims, were giving the young gentlemen lessons."

"Of being present? When? How? Where?" demanded Hubert.

And now Jacques heard the old Lord de Pibrac retire to his apartment, merely closing the door as usual; he heard the servants one after the other retire, the baroness come into her room with Cadette, and gradually every sound was hushed in the interior of the castle.

Then, by means of a light which was kept burning all night in the room of the younger Pibrac, Jacques, now breathless with anxiety, saw the two pilgrims steal in, open the press and slip into it, leaving the door ajar for air and a free passage out, and all this unnoticed by either of the women, who were busily engaged, the one undressing, and the other talking. Hardly were the two men ensconced behind the dresses, when a circumstance occurred of which neither they nor Jacques had dreamed; though on the instant, the boy saw that it must hasten the catastrophe and seal the fate of the baroness. Mademoiselle Cadette appeared, a light in one hand and a dress in the other; she laid the lamp on the table, and was approaching the wardrobe to hang up her mistress's dress, when, with one of those instincts which are always the work of a superior nature, Jacques was in a moment from under the bed, and had locked the press, and taken out the key before Cadette perceived him; but no sooner did she perceive him, than she uttered a piercing scream which brought her lady to her side; by that time Jacques had disappeared.

"What is the matter?" exclaimed the baroness, as she beheld Cadette, pale and agitated, her eyes fixed on the door, which Jacques had left open behind him.

"Jacques--Jacques! I am right, madam; I always said Jacques was the thief."

"And what has he stolen?" demanded the baroness. But before Cadette could recover herself sufficiently to answer, the servants rushed in, saying to the astonished baroness, "Where are the thieves, my lady? Little Cujas told us some men had got into your room.' Before she could speak: the old Lord de Pibrac hurried into the room, followed by Jacques bearing a light. "To the press!-to the press!" said the boy. "Do you mean that the villains are in the press?" said the old lord, drawing the sword half out of its scab. bard, and rushing forward.

"Yes, indeed, my lord," said Jacques, "and here is

"Under the bed!" repeated the astonished domestics. "Yes, there it was I used to steal all that I ever stole in my life-let dame Cadette say what she likes--a little Greek and Latin, and I was there again this morning when the two pilgrims entered, not to give lessons, but that they might get one from me. But oh, my lady, do not for this think yourself wrong in encouraging learned men; I verily believe that it is to your love of learning and the respect I saw you had for it, that I owe my desire to be something more than a mere clodpole. Well, I listened attentively to the lessons given to my young lords, till I remembered them all, and though I cannot speak Latin like master Pierre Burel, I understand enough to know all that these villains said, who little knew I was under the bed all the time they were hatching together the most dreadful plot. I tremble even still, when I think of the danger you have escaped. Yes, my lord, these wretches, these terrible pilgrims were plotting to murder the iady, and make off with her jewels, after they had shut up all the servants in their rooms, as well as my Lord de Pibrac; and they were to hide themselves in the press till everyone was asleep." 'Mercy on me," said Cadette. "And I was in the very act of going to put up my lady's robe!"

"So then," said the baroness; "it is to this young creature's fidelity and presence of mind that we owe our lives." And she turned to express to him her grateful feeling, but as she turned, she saw him stagger, and but for her arms now extended to receive him, he would have fallen to the ground.

"The excitement has been too much for the poor boy, or it may be exhaustion from want of food. Remember, he has been all day under that bed."

Refreshments were now loudly called for by the Lord de Pibrac, while the baroness bathed his temples, and moistened his lips, intermingling her cares with maternal caresses.

But now joy was very near producing the same effect again upon poor Jacques; for after a few words, between the baroness and the old lord, it was announced to the boy, that he was, for the future, to live at the castle as preceptor to the young gentlemen in Greek and Latin, and to have his own ardent thirst for knowledge gratified, by being allowed to share the lessons of any other masters given to them.

"

"Do you like this plan, my boy?" said the baron. 'Like it," said Jacques; "I could die of joy. What will my mother say?" and the child began to laugh and cry at one and the same moment.

"Both father and mother will be dead of fright, if you do not go home and ease their minds, little Cujaus." "Cujas, and not Cujaus, if you please," said Jacques, as he ran out before the old housekeeper.

We have heard how Cujas learned Latin and Greek-the first elements of law were taught him by Arnoul Ferrier, professor at Toulouse, for whom Cujas always evinced the most affectionate regard; and the knowledge he imbibed from him became, as it were, the germ afterwards so fully developed by the efforts of his own genius, and his persevering ardour in study. After filling for some time the office of preceptor to the president's children-one of whom, our young acquaintance Guy, was afterwards the celebrated Chancellor Pibrac-in 1547, Cujas, then twenty-seven years of age, began to give lectures on the institutes, and a little later being summoned to Valence by Bertrand de Simiane, Lieutenant-general in Dauphiné, he gave great eclat to the university of that town. Honours flowed in upon him. Charles the Ninth made him honorary counsellor to the Parliament of Grenoble. Henry the Third by letters patent issued in 1574, conferred upon him a small pension, with the reversion of the first vacant office.

During the whole time of the league, his fidelity to Henry the Fourth remained unshaken. The dangers to which he was thus exposed, with the grief that he felt at the evils to which his country was open, are supposed to have hastened his death. It took place at Borges, the 4th of October, 1590, when he was was about seventy years of age.

Cujas was of a low stature-his body square-built-his voice clear and strong-his beard was of a lustrous black, and he wore it very long. From early habit he studied, lying on his face and hands on the floor, with his books scattered around him. He recovered, and gave to the world a part of the Theodosian code, wrote a commentary on the Consuetudines Feudorum, or books on Fiefs, and on some of the Decretals. Instead of the semibarbarous jurisprudence of the early interpreters, he substituted that of the most polished age of Rome, and those who succeeded him have been able to do little more than to confirm his views. In fact, Cujas was not only a learned man; he was what is far better, a man of profound sagacity. It is by no means uncommon to find writers who, in all sciences, have been able to master some isolated parts; but to embrace the whole in one comprehensive view, to ascend to the fundamental principles from which all others are derived, and to condense in brief maxims the substance of all the consequences deducible from those principles is a power which has been given but to a privileged few. All the jurisconsults of Europe, indeed, are agreed in considering him as the first and greatest of the interpreters of the law, one whom none can equal, much less surpass in the art of teaching and expounding it. "Cujas," said d'Aguesseau, "has spoken the language of law better than any modern, and perhaps as well as any ancient. During the thirty years he taught, pupils flocked to him from all parts of Europe, and there issued from his school magistrates of the first order, and able ministers and negotiators, whose talents proved highly serviceable to their country; whilst others carried to the bar and the bench the knowledge which they had acquired from him, and contributed essentially to the great progress which jurisprudence made in the succeeding century. Many of these men, like Scaliger and the brothers Pithon, became his most intimate friends."

Such were the general features of a life entirely devoted to the public good, and the tranquil tenor of which was

THE FOREST.

DIAMOND DUST.

greater than him, to be considered as great; but he that A MAN who succeeds to his father's reputation must be

succeeds to his father's riches will have to encounter no such deduction.

And sought by the old oak's mossy stems for the violets sweet and blue:

When we gathered the drooping hawthorn-branch, with blossoms so pure and fair,

That we thought it would twine in a lovely wreath for some youthful bride to wear.

may remain of the highest value.

THE devil's heartiest laugh is at a detracting witticism. Hence the phrase, "devilish good" has sometimes a literal meaning.

A MAXIM is sometimes like the seed of a plant, which the soil it is thrown into must expand into leaves, and flowers, and fruit.

EVERYTHING We add to our knowledge adds to our

In fancy we saw the good shaft fly after the flect dun-deer, Or heard the songs that so blithely rose o'er the outlaw's kingly cheer.

O, the fresh, pure scent of the emerald turf, and glad elastic glow,

That thronged each pulse as we felt the breeze through the ferny dingles blow!

The forest! the forest! in summer-time, we mused in its leafy bowers,

With no voice around but the honey-bee's, 'mid the linden's clustered flowers;

And we wondered not in those dreamy days that the poet's earnest line

Told how the bright elves revelled there in the silvery moonlight time:

But we watch'd for them at twilight hour, in the depths of the dewy glade,

Till we almost thought the blades of grass with their tiny forms were sway'd!

The forest! the forest! in autumn hours, we bounded with step of glee,

To seek for the brown and glossy nuts, on the dark green hazel-tree

Thinking the while that no sceptred king could be more proudly crowned,

Than the stately trees that so bravely stood in their regal robes around.

And we loved to hear the mournful tones of the viewless wind's low sigh,

As it wept to see the bright year pass with its fading glories by.

No enjoyment can be transitory; the impression which it leaves is permanent; and what is done with diligence and effort communicates a hidden force, of which we cannot say how far its influence may reach.

THOSE who have nothing to do always do more than they ought.

VIOLENT blowing at a small fire is as likely to extinguish as to increase it.

THE judgment clarified by charity may be compared to the bee, that finds honey where wasps and hornets gather little but poison.

POWER is more frequently coveted with a view to the correction of the faults of others than of our own.

SLANDER is more accumulative than a snowball. It is like a salad, which everyone will season to his own taste or the taste of those to whom he offers it.

THE poet sings of the deeds that shall be. He imagines the past; he forms the future.

GREAT principles are at the bottom of all things; but to apply them to daily life, many little rules, precautions, and insights are needed.

He who persists in genuineness will increase in adequacy.

Ir is an ill cure for life's worst ills to have no time to feel them.

PERHAPS the greatest charm in books is, that we see in them that other men have suffered what we have.

THE love of nature is a help to holiness. Revive within those who have wrought folly the remembrance of sounds and scenes in which they delighted with innocent delight, and you show them that they have been with God, and God with them.

FORTUNE and the sun make insects shine.
OTHERS Sometimes appear to us more wrong than

To every heart that hath fondly loved in its sylvan halls to dwell;

It comes through the mist of bygone years like a fair and sunny gleam,

Like a gentle thought of our early years, when life was a happy dream!

them.

No man is so confidential as when he is addressing the whole world. Therefore, we find more comfort for sorrow

in books than in social intercourse.

To work insatiably requires much less mind than to work judiciously.

DEEP is the joy of social silence when we speak not with the loved, but feel their presence.

WHAT a man has learned is of importance; but what he is, what he can do, what he will become, are more significant things.

EVERYTHING human has an outlet into infinity.