When he recovered his reason, he began to think what could have become
of the mirror. For the lady, he hoped she had found her way back as
she came; but as the mirror involved her fate with its own, he was more
immediately anxious about that. He could not think she had carried it
away. It was much too heavy, even if it had not been too firmly fixed in
the wall, for her to remove it. Then again, he remembered the thunder;
which made him believe that it was not the lightning, but some other
blow that had struck him down. He concluded that, either by supernatural
agency, he having exposed himself to the vengeance of the demons in
leaving the circle of safety, or in some other mode, the mirror had
probably found its way back to its former owner; and, horrible to think
of, might have been by this time once more disposed of, delivering up
the lady into the power of another man; who, if he used his power no
worse than he himself had done, might yet give Cosmo abundant cause to
curse the selfish indecision which prevented him from shattering the
mirror at once. Indeed, to think that she whom he loved, and who had
prayed to him for freedom, should be still at the mercy, in some degree,
of the possessor of the mirror, and was at least exposed to his constant
observation, was in itself enough to madden a chary lover.
Anxiety to be well retarded his recovery; but at length he was able to
creep abroad. He first made his way to the old broker's, pretending to
be in search of something else. A laughing sneer on the creature's face
convinced him that he knew all about it; but he could not see it amongst
his furniture, or get any information out of him as to what had become
of it. He expressed the utmost surprise at hearing it had been stolen, a
surprise which Cosmo saw at once to be counterfeited; while, at the same
time, he fancied that the old wretch was not at all anxious to have it
mistaken for genuine. Full of distress, which he concealed as well as he
could, he made many searches, but with no avail. Of course he could
ask no questions; but he kept his ears awake for any remotest hint that
might set him in a direction of search. He never went out without a
short heavy hammer of steel about him, that he might shatter the mirror
the moment he was made happy by the sight of his lost treasure, if ever
that blessed moment should arrive. Whether he should see the lady again,
was now a thought altogether secondary, and postponed to the achievement
of her freedom. He wandered here and there, like an anxious ghost, pale
and haggard; gnawed ever at the heart, by the thought of what she might
be suffering--all from his fault.