alike enable Nicaeus to place her in her father's arms, and
allow him to join in the great struggle for his country and his creed.
The letter was written with firmness, but tenderly. It left, however,
on the mind of Iduna an impression of the desperate resolution of the
writer.

Now it so happened, that as this unhappy lady jumped from her couch, and
paced the room in the perturbation of her mind, the wind of her drapery
extinguished her lamp. As her attendant, or visitor, had paid her
last visit for the day, there seemed little chance of its being again
illumined. The miserable are always more unhappy in the dark. Light is
the greatest of comforters. And so this little misfortune seemed to the
forlorn Iduna almost overwhelming. And as she attempted to look around,
and wrung her hands in very woe, her attention was attracted by a
brilliant streak of light upon the wall, which greatly surprised her.
She groped her way in its direction, and slowly stretching forth her
hand, observed that it made its way through a chink in the frame of one
of the great mirrors which were inlaid in the wall. And as she pressed
the frame, she felt to her surprise that it sprang forward. Had she not
been very cautious the advancing mirror would have struck her with great
force, but she had presence of mind to withdraw her hand very gradually,
repressing the swiftness of the spring. The aperture occasioned by
the opening of the mirror consisted of a recess, formed by a closed-up
window. An old wooden shutter, or blind, in so ruinous a state, that the
light freely made its way, was the only barrier against the elements.
Iduna, seizing the handle which remained, at once drew it open with
little difficulty.

The captive gazed with gladdened feelings upon the free and beautiful
scene. Beneath her rose the rich and aromatic shrubs tinged with the
soft and silver light of eve: before her extended wide and fertile
champaign, skirted by the dark and undulating mountains: in the clear
sky, glittering and sharp, sparkled the first crescent of the new moon,
an auspicious omen to the Moslemin invaders.

Iduna gazed with, joy upon the landscape, and then hastily descending
from the recess, she placed her hands to her eyes, so long unaccustomed
to the light. Perhaps, too, she indulged in momentary meditation. For
suddenly seizing a number of shawls; which were lying on one of the
couches, she knotted them together, and then striving with all her
force, s