he wounds which I gave him were not dangerous in
the slightest degree, that he became a suitor for the lady's hand, and,
alas! that on the very day when she was to have been married to him,
she fell down dead, stricken by what was said to be an attack of
apoplexy."

"Good Heavens!" cried Madame von G----. "No doubt a similar fate was
hanging over my darling child! But how is it that I feel this is so?"

"The voice of the boding Spirit tells you so, Madame," said Dagobert.

"And then," said Madame von G----, "that terrible apparition which
Moritz was telling us of that evening when the Count came in in such a
mysterious way?"

"As I was telling you then," said Moritz, "there fell a crashing blow.
An ice-cold deathly air blew upon me, and it seemed to me that a pale
indistinct form went hovering and rustling across the room, in
wavering, scarcely distinguishable outlines. I mastered my terror with
all the might of my reason. All I seemed to be conscious of was that
Bogislav was lying stiff, cold, and rigid, like a man dead. When he had
been brought back to consciousness, with great pains and trouble, by
the doctor who was summoned, he feebly reached out his hand to me, and
said, 'Soon, to-morrow at latest, all my sorrows will be over.' And it
really happened as he said, though it was the will of Providence that
it should come about in quite a different way to that which we
anticipated. In the thick of the fighting, next morning, a spent ball
struck him on the breast and knocked him out of his saddle. This kindly
ball shattered the portrait of his false love, which he wore next to
his heart, into a thousand splinters. His contusion soon healed, and
since that moment Bogislav has been quite free from everything of an
uncanny nature."

"It is as he says," said the General, "and the very memory of her who
is lost to me does no more than produce in me that gentle sadness which
is so soothing to the heart. But I hope our friend Dagobert will go on
to tell you what happened to us further."

"We made all haste away from A----," Dagobert resumed, "and this
morning, just as day was breaking, we reached the little town of P---,
about six miles from this place, meaning to rest there for an hour or
two, and then come on here. Imagine the feelings of Moritz and me when,
from one of the rooms in the inn, we saw Marguerite come bursting out
upon us, with insanity clearly written on her pallid face. She fell at
Moritz's feet and em