



Produced by David Widger





DIARY AND NOTES OF HORACE TEMPLETON,

Late Secretary Of Legation At --------.

By Charles Lever,

Author Of "Harry Lorrequer," "Knight Of Gwynne," Etc. Etc.

In Two Volumes. Vol. II.

Second Edition.

London: Chapman And Hall, 186 Strand.




HORACE TEMPLETON.



CHAPTER I.

The Ortl'er is the Mont Blanc of the Tyrol, and seen from Nauders, a
village on a green, grassy table land, more than four thousand feet
above the sea, can well bear comparison with the boldest of the Swiss
Alps. Nauders itself, a type of a Tyroler village, is situated in a wild
and lonely region; it has all the picturesque elegance and neat detail
of which Tyrolers are so lavish in their houses, and, like every other
Dorf in this country, has its proud castle standing sentry over it.
The Barons of the Naudersberg were men of station in olden times, and
exacted a tribute over a tract extending deep into the Engadine; and
now, in this great hall, whose chimney would contain the heaviest
diligence that ever waddled over the Arlberg, a few Nauders notabilities
are squabbling over some mysterious passage in a despatch from Vienna,
for it is the high court of the district, while I wait patiently without
for some formality of my passport. To judge from their grave expressions
and their anxious glances towards me, one would say that I was some
dangerous or suspected personage--some one whose dark designs the
government had already fathomed, and were bent on thwarting. If they did
but know how few are, in all likelihood, the days I have yet to linger
on, they would not rob me of one hour