Page:Storys (sic) of The wild huntsman.pdf/8

 THE FORCE OF CONSCIENCE.

A DANISH TALE.

the centre of the dark and gloomy forest of Soroe, in Denmark, was a miserable looking hovel, inhabited only by Francis, the surveyor of the forest, and his daughter Juliana. Nothing can be imagined more melancholy than the situation of this lonely hut: far from any other habitation, and surrounded as it was on all sides by tall, thick trees, it seemed a spot fitted only for a wretch who would shun all communion with his fellow.men, and yet that roof sheltered a lovely flower; though

Juliana was only ten years old, when her father first brought her to the forest. She had no recollection of her mother, but in her infancy she had been the constant companion and plaything of the Countess Ulrico, with whom her father lived as courier. This lady was the widow of a Danish nobleman, in whose family Francis had been