Phantastes, A Faerie Romance

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.