o make to the proposed marriage. The
old man had loved Undine with exceeding tenderness, and it was doubtful
to his mind that the mere disappearance of his beloved child could be
properly viewed as her death. But were it even granted that her corpse
were lying stiff and cold at the bottom of the Danube, or swept away
by the current to the ocean, still Bertalda had had some share in her
death; and it was unfitting for her to step into the place of the poor
injured wife. The fisherman, however, had felt a strong regard also for
the knight: this and the entreaties of his daughter, who had become much
more gentle and respectful, as well as her tears for Undine, all exerted
their influence, and he must at last have been forced to give up his
opposition, for he remained at the castle without objection, and a
messenger was sent off express to Father Heilmann, who in former and
happier days had united Undine and Huldbrand, requesting him to come and
perform the ceremony at the knight's second marriage.

Hardly had the holy man read through the letter from the lord of
Ringstetten, ere he set out upon the journey and made much greater
dispatch on his way to the castle than the messenger from it had made in
reaching him. Whenever his breath failed him in his rapid progress, or
his old limbs ached with fatigue, he would say to himself:

"Perhaps I shall be able to prevent a sin; then sink not, withered body,
before I arrive at the end of my journey!" And with renewed vigour he
pressed forward, hurrying on without rest or repose, until, late one
evening, he entered the shady court-yard of the castle of Ringstetten.

The betrothed were sitting side by side under the trees, and the aged
fisherman in a thoughtful mood sat near them. The moment they saw Father
Heilmann, they rose with a spring of joy, and pressed round him with
eager welcome. But he, in a few words, asked the bridegroom to return
with him into the castle; and when Huldbrand stood mute with surprise,
and delayed complying with his earnest request, the pious preacher said
to him--

"I do not know why I should want to speak to you in private; what I have
to say as much concerns Bertalda and the fisherman as yourself; and what
we must at some time hear, it is best to hear as soon as possible. Are
you, then, so very certain, Knight Huldbrand, that your first wife is
actually dead? I can hardly think it. I will say nothing, indeed, of the
mysterious state in which she may