should catch sight of Agnes, I ran to the glass, beheld my own distorted features reflected there; and bursting into a thousand fragments the wonderful instrument fell from my trembling grasp.”
“I know it all, as well as if it happened to day,” said the white-headed Rhenfried; “yet amidst all the images that floated before my eyes I could distinguish no one; clouds of heart-sprung tears concealed them from view. For at that time I had not fully resigned myself to the will of God: I lay weeping upon my bed, but suddenly I heard a light whispering as if it had said in my ear, ‘Rise, unhappy father; in Nordenholm’s house it is known what is become of thy daughter.’ I obeyed, and doubtless it was no good spirit, which had so whispered me in my chamber. Then when I came and found you labouring under such excessive terror, you know well that I retired without speaking a single word, and never more alluded to the appalling and mysterious subject. Long afterwards, however, a heavy weight seemed to oppress my soul; from which you may learn, my poor deluded friend, how very critical and dangerous a pursuit it is, that can involve in its forbidden operations even the peace of the innocent, who would willingly resist its incantations to their last breath.”
Meanwhile they again began to hear the voice of the strange lodger above stairs, mingled with sobs
S 5
