le to me.

Alas, Minna! as I wept for thee the day I lost thee, so do I now weep
that I can no longer retrace thine image in my soul.

Am I, then, so far advanced into the vale of years? O fatal effects of
maturity! would that I could feel one throb, one emotion of former days
of enchantment--alas, not one! a solitary being, tossed on the wild
ocean of life--it is long since I drained thine enchanted cup to the
dregs!

But to return to my narrative. I had sent Bendel to the little town
with plenty of money to procure me a suitable habitation. He spent my
gold profusely; and as he expressed himself rather reservedly
concerning his distinguished master (for I did not wish to be named),
the good people began to form rather extraordinary conjectures.

As soon as my house was ready for my reception, Bendel returned to
conduct me to it. We set out on our journey. About a league from the
town, on a sunny plain, we were stopped by a crowd of people, arrayed
in holiday attire for some festival. The carriage stopped. Music,
bells, cannons, were heard; and loud acclamations rang through the air.

[Illustration: She blushingly knelt before me, presenting on a silken
cushion, a wreath.]

Before the carriage now appeared in white dresses a chorus of maidens,
all of extraordinary beauty; but one of them shone in resplendent
loveliness, and eclipsed the rest as the sun eclipses the stars of
night. She advanced from the midst of her companions, and with a lofty
yet winning air, blushingly knelt before me, presenting on a silken
cushion a wreath, composed of laurel-branches, the olive, and the rose,
saying something respecting majesty, love, honour, &c., which I could
not comprehend; but the sweet and silvery magic of her tones
intoxicated my senses and my whole soul: it seemed as if some heavenly
apparition were hovering over me. The chorus now began to sing the
praises of a good sovereign, and the happiness of his subjects. All
this, dear Chamisso, took place in the sun: she was kneeling two steps
from me, and I, without a shadow, could not dart through the air, nor
fall on my knees before the angelic being. O, what would I not now have
given for a shadow! To conceal my shame, agony, and despair, I buried
myself in the recesses of the carriage. Bendel at last thought of an
expedient; he jumped out of the carriage. I called him back, and gave
him out of the casket I had by me a rich diamond coronet which had been
intended for the