Page:German Stories (Volumes 2–3).djvu/418

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228
The Spectre Bride.

As to the servant who attended her at Paris, that circumstance is inexplicable, unless it is supposed that the devil assists in lengthening the term of her sufferings, which is the more likely, as it seems that she has never yet made an attempt on any one who has not readily been misled. With regard to the old chaplain, I understood that he had been involved in the story, inasmuch as he had betrothed this formidable lady to her second lover, for whom the former had been so basely deserted. As to the Duke’s name being called aloud, the midnight illumination of the church and the rest, no one could give me any satisfactory intelligence. Nor did the people venture to say by what means the fiery dance on the mountain had been caused, or what conclusions were to be drawn from it. However, you will perceive that this legend of the bridal spectre coincides admirably with both the stories which I have narrated; the beautiful Camilla may have had a near relation whose form was assumed and raised from the grave by the revenante, by whom, and not by the living heiress, Felippo may at first have been seduced. At all events, if such explanation will not suffice, I am unable to offer any better key.