d not till it streamed out
as bright and as clear as ever.

But still the air was hot and sultry, and no cool breath blew upon him;
and if he looked off for a moment from his book, the fair form of the
tempter stood again beside him in silver light; the cold water sparkled
close to his lips; and trees with shady boughs waving backward and
forward over fresh green grass, and full, in every spray, of
singing-birds, seemed to spring up around him. For a little moment his
step faltered; but as his lamp streamed out its light, all the vain
shadows passed away: and I heard him say, as he struck his staff upon the
ground, "I have made a covenant with my eyes;" and even as she heard it,
the tempter passed away, and left him to himself. Scarcely was she gone,
before he passed by the door of a beautiful arbour. It was strewn with
the softest moss; roses and honeysuckle hung down over its porch; light,
as from a living diamond, gleamed from its roof; and in the midst of its
floor, a clear, cool, sparkling stream of the purest water bubbled ever
up from the deep fountain below it. Now, as this lay on the road,
Gottlieb halted for a moment to look at it; and the light of his lamp
waxed not dim, though he thus stayed to see it; the book of fire, too,
spoke to him of rest, and of halting by "palm-trees and wells of water;"
and as he looked, he read in letters of light over the door-way--

Faithful pilgrim, banish fear,
Thou mayst enter safely here:
Rest for thee thy Lord did win;
Faithful pilgrim, enter in.

Then Gottlieb rejoiced greatly, and cast himself gladly upon the mossy
floor, and bent down his parched lips to drink of the cool spring which
bubbled up before him.

Now, whilst he was resting safely here, I turned to see how it fared with
the others who had set out with him from the porch, for they had not got
as far as Gottlieb.

The first of them was Irrgeist; and when I looked upon him, he was
drawing near to the place where Gottlieb had fallen in with the tempter.
Irrgeist was walking quickly on--so quickly that, at the first glance, I
thought he would soon be by the side of Gottlieb. But, upon looking more
closely, I saw that Gottlieb's steps had been far more steady and even
than those with which Irrgeist was pressing on; for Irrgeist's lamp
burned but dimly, and gave him no sure light to walk in. Very near to
the place where Gottlieb had met with her, the tempter stood beside
Irrgeist. He was not