She had
not forgotten her husband's dream. She went to the cardinal-archbishop
to beg the consecration of a little burial-plot at the foot of the
greatest of the beeches of Azan. That wise and brave prince of
the church consented with words of tender consolation, and promised
his aid in the pursuit of the criminals.
"Eminence," she said, weeping, "you are very good to me. God will
reward you. He is just. He will repay. But my heart's desire is
to follow my husband's dream."
So the body of the old botanist was brought back to the shadow of
the great beech-trees, and was buried there, like the bones of a
martyr, within the sanctuary.
Is this the end of the story?
Who can say?
It is written also, among the records of Belgium, that the faithful
forester disappeared mysteriously a few weeks later. His body was
found in the forest and laid near his master.
Another record tells of the trial of Prince Barenberg and Count
Ludra before a court martial, The count was sentenced to ten years
of labor _on his own estate._ The death-sentence of the prince
was commuted to imprisonment _in some unnamed place.
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