Memorials and Other Papers, vol 2 | Page 4

freaks of many a better fellow than any I now see
before me."
Saying this, he bowed with a mock solemnity all round to the crowd,
which, by this time, had increased in number and violence. Those who
were in the outermost circles, and beyond the distinct hearing of what
he said, had been discussing with heat the alarming confirmation of
their fears in respect to Holkerstein, or listening to the impassioned
narrative of a woman, who had already seen one of her sons butchered
by this ruffian's people under the walls of the city, and was now
anticipating the same fate for her last surviving son and daughter, in
case they should happen to be amongst the party now expected from
Vienna. She had just recited the tragical circumstances of her son's
death, and had worked powerfully upon the sympathizing passions of
the crowd, when, suddenly, at a moment so unseasonable for the officer,
some imperfect repetition of his words about the provost martial and
the rope passed rapidly from mouth to mouth. It was said that he had
threatened every man with instant death at the drum-head, who should
but speculate on assisting his friends outside, under the heaviest
extremities of danger or of outrage. The sarcastic bow and the inflamed
countenance of the officer were seen by glimpses further than his words
extended. Kindling eyes and lifted arms of many amongst the mob, and
chiefly of those on the outside, who had heard his words the most
imperfectly, proclaimed to such as knew Klosterheim and its temper at

this moment the danger in which he stood. Maximilian, the young
student, generously forgot his indignation in concern for his immediate
safety. Seizing him by the hand, he exclaimed,
"Sir, but a moment ago you warned me that I stood on the brink of
treason: look to your own safety at present; for the eyes of some whom
I see yonder are dangerous."
"Young gentleman," the other replied, contemptuously, "I presume that
you are a student; let me counsel you to go back to your books. There
you will be in your element. For myself, I am familiar with faces as
angry as these--and hands something more formidable. Believe me, I
see nobody here," and he affected to speak with imperturbable coolness,
but his voice became tremulous with passion, "whom I can even esteem
worthy of a soldier's consideration."
"And yet, Colonel von Aremberg, there is at least one man here who
has had the honor of commanding men as elevated as yourself." Saying
which, he hastily drew from his bosom, where it hung suspended from
his neck, a large flat tablet of remarkably beautiful onyx, on one side of
which was sculptured a very striking face; but on the other, which he
presented to the gaze of the colonel, was a fine representation of an
eagle grovelling on the dust, and beginning to expand its wings--with
the single word Resurgam by way of motto.
Never was revulsion of feeling so rapidly expressed on any man's
countenance. The colonel looked but once; he caught the image of the
bird trailing its pinions in the dust, he heard the word Resurgam
audibly pronounced; his color fled, his lips grew livid with passion; and,
furiously unsheathing his sword, he sprung, with headlong
forgetfulness of time and place, upon his calm antagonist. With the
advantage of perfect self-possession, Maximilian found it easy to parry
the tempestuous blows of the colonel; and he would, perhaps, have
found it easy to disarm him. But at this moment the crowd, who had
been with great difficulty repressed by the more thoughtful amongst the
students, burst through all restraints. In the violent outrage offered to
their champion and leader, they saw naturally a full confirmation of the
worst impressions they had received as to the colonel's temper and

intention. A number of them rushed forward to execute a summary
vengeance; and the foremost amongst these, a mechanic of Klosterheim,
distinguished for his herculean strength, with one blow stretched Von
Aremberg on the ground. A savage yell announced the dreadful fate
which impended over the fallen officer. And, spite of the generous
exertions made for his protection by Maximilian and his brother
students, it is probable that at that moment no human interposition
could have availed to turn aside the awakened appetite for vengeance,
and that he must have perished, but for the accident which at that
particular instant of time occurred to draw off the attention of the mob.
A signal gun from a watch-tower, which always in those unhappy times
announced the approach of strangers, had been fired about ten minutes
before; but, in the turbulent uproar of the crowd, it had passed
unnoticed. Hence it was, that, without previous warning to the mob
assembled at this