Phantastes, A Faerie Romance

"I wonder what has become of him. I want to see him very much. Let me

see; the last time I saw him he was coming out of that old broker's

den, to which, if you remember, you accompanied me once, to look at some

armour. That is fully three weeks ago."

This hint was enough for Cosmo. Von Steinwald was a man of influence in

the court, well known for his reckless habits and fierce passions. The

very possibility that the mirror should be in his possession was hell

itself to Cosmo. But violent or hasty measures of any sort were most

unlikely to succeed. All that he wanted was an opportunity of breaking

the fatal glass; and to obtain this he must bide his time. He revolved

many plans in his mind, but without being able to fix upon any.

At length, one evening, as he was passing the house of Von Steinwald, he

saw the windows more than usually brilliant. He watched for a while,

and seeing that company began to arrive, hastened home, and dressed

as richly as he could, in the hope of mingling with the guests

unquestioned: in effecting which, there could be no difficulty for a man

of his carriage.

***** In a lofty, silent chamber, in another part of the city, lay a form more

like marble than a living woman. The loveliness of death seemed frozen

upon her face, for her lips were rigid, and her eyelids closed. Her long

white hands were crossed over her breast, and no breathing disturbed

their repose. Beside the dead, men speak in whispers, as if the deepest

rest of all could be broken by the sound of a living voice. Just so,

though the soul was evidently beyond the reach of all intimations from

the senses, the two ladies, who sat beside her, spoke in the gentlest

tones of subdued sorrow. "She has lain so for an hour."

"This cannot last long, I fear."

"How much thinner she has grown within the last few weeks! If she would

only speak, and explain what she suffers, it would be better for her.

I think she has visions in her trances, but nothing can induce her to

refer to them when she is awake."

"Does she ever speak in these trances?"

"I have never heard her; but they say she walks sometimes, and once put

the whole household in a terrible fright by disappearing for a whole

hour, and returning drenched with rain, and almost dead with exhaustion

and fright. But even then she would give no account of what had

happened."