leborn looked
up angrily at the Knight, scowled at him, stamped, and then shot
upward through the waves like an arrow. His fury seemed to make him
expand into a whale. Again the swans began to warble, to wave their
wings, and to fly; the Knight felt himself borne high over alps and
rivers, till he was deposited in the Castle of Ringstetten, and awoke
in his bed.

He did awake in his bed, just as one of his squires entered the room,
and told him that Father Heilmann was still lingering near the castle;
for he had found him the evening before in the forest, living in a
shed he had made for himself with branches and moss. On being asked
what he was staying for since he had refused to bless the betrothed
couple? He answered, "It is not the wedded only who stand in need of
prayer, and though I came not for the bridal, there may yet be work
for me of another kind. We must be prepared for everything. Sometimes
marriage and mourning are not so far apart; and he who does not
wilfully close his eyes may perceive it." The Knight built all manner
of strange conjectures upon these words, and upon his dream. But if
once a man has formed a settled purpose, it is hard indeed to shake
it. The end of this was, that their plans remained unchanged.

XVIII.--OF THE KNIGHT HULDBRAND'S SECOND BRIDAL

Were I to tell you how the wedding-day at Ringstetten passed, you
might imagine yourself contemplating a glittering heap of gay objects,
with a black crape thrown over them, through which the splendid
pageant, instead of delighting the eye, would look like a mockery of
all earthly joys. Not that the festive meeting was disturbed by any
spectral apparitions: we have seen that the castle was safe from any
intrusion of the malicious water-sprites. But the Knight, the
Fisherman, and all the guests were haunted by a feeling that the chief
person, the soul of the feast, was missing; and who was she but the
gentle, beloved Undine? As often as they heard a door open, every eye
turned involuntarily toward it, and when nothing ensued but the
entrance of the steward with some more dishes, or of the cupbearer
with a fresh supply of rich wine, the guests would look sad and blank,
and the sparks of gayety kindled by the light jest or the cheerful
discourse, were quenched in the damp of melancholy recollections. The
bride was the most thoughtless, and consequently the most cheerful
person present; but even she, at moments, felt it unnatural to be
sitting