"'"Quick, Gertrude!" A gleam of white shot over them, and a piercing shriek mingled with one long resounding crash, and the glittering crystal was plunged into the valley below, leaving nothing but bare jagged rocks and stunted shrubs, where all was smooth and white but a moment before. Months after, the bones of the fair English girl were buried here,' continued friar Le-Bon.
"'And her husband?' I asked.
"'They brought him here, and it was terrible to see his agony. When he grew stronger, we sent a novice with him to England; it would not do to trust him by himself.'
"'You do not mean to say that his reason was gone?' I asked.
"'He was never rational after that morning,' replied the friar; 'muttering and moaning, and repeating the name of Gertrude constantly. Carl left him with his friends, and we have never heard if he recovered.'
"'And the lady?' asked pastor Ortler.
"'On calm, still days, and just before an avalanche,' said the kind friar, 'her image is always seen standing upon the loftiest height, beckoning with her white taper fingers to some one below.'
"Entertained with so much hospitality, we were loath to leave the friendly hospice, only for the pastor's anxiety to reach home. Down into the sweet valley of the Megringen, and northward by Grindenwald and Thun, and up the steep heights over which falls the white foam of Reichenbach; and farther on towards the crystal Rosenlani, and the tall, still Engel Horner, we came to a little village cradled in security beneath the towering hills; the church-spire glancing in the sunlight, and the simple cottagers jubilant in welcoming home their beloved pastor.
"At the door of the pastor's home we were met by a sweet-browed woman with a lovely infant in her arms, crowing and laughing as the father kissed it over and over again; while a boy of ten and a girl of six summers, ran with open arms to greet him.
"'You stayed so long, papa.'