Page:The German Novelists (Volume 2).djvu/402

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392
Popular Traditions.

directing my hand in the motions of the mirror, which fortunately had been placed aright. At first only small strange forms cast their reflexions over the surface of the mirror; when at length, in the direction of the south, there arose one so enchantingly sweet and lovely before my eyes!—Oh my good master! father! she sat looking so beautiful and angelic, amidst the blooming orange bowers, in the soft moonlight which shed its beams upon the lofty pines that crowned the heights above——

“I see your eyes sparkle with delight;” interrupted the old man, in a tone of displeasure; “you ought rather to take shame and sorrow to yourself, for having dared to dabble in any forbidden species of witchcraft, than to display the least feeling of exultation. Let me hear you describe what follows, with a becoming degree of seriousness and regret;—what farther appeared?”

With the humility of a repentant offender, the Professor cast his eyes upon the ground, and in a lower tone said, “It was, indeed, Agnes! she was splendidly attired, and was again seen walking by moonlight leaning on Ludibert’s arm. I concealed my features cautiously, at a distance, to prevent them from falling upon the mirror. Next, you yourself, Sir, suddenly appeared in the garden; and on the mirror’s surface the pale and sorrowful cast of your features was plainly visible. Seized with alarm, lest you too