in towards
the Kleinseite, and very slowly crept along under the balustrade of
the bridge. This bridge over the Moldau is remarkable in many ways,
but it is specially remarkable for the largeness of its proportions. It
is very long, taking its spring from the shore a long way before the
actual margin of the river; it is of a fine breadth: the side-walks to
it are high and massive; and the groups of statues with which it is
ornamented, though not in themselves of much value as works of art,
have a dignity by means of their immense size which they lend to the
causeway, making the whole thing noble, grand, and impressive. And
below, the Moldau runs with a fine, silent, dark volume of water--a
very sea of waters when the rains have fallen and the little rivers
have been full, though in times of drought great patches of ugly dry
land are to be seen in its half-empty bed. At the present moment there
were no such patches; and the waters ran by, silent, black, in great
volumes, and with unchecked rapid course. It was only by pausing
specially to listen to them that the passer-by could hear them as they
glided smoothly round the piers of the bridge. Nina did pause and did
hear them. They would have been almost less terrible to her, had the
sound been rougher and louder.

On she went, very slowly. The moon, she thought, had disappeared
altogether before she reached the cross inlaid in the stone on the
bridge-side, on which she was accustomed to lay her fingers, in order
that she might share somewhat of the saint's power over the river. At
that moment, as she came up to it, the night was very dark. She had
calculated that by this time the light of the moon would have waned,
so that she might climb to the spot which she had marked for herself
without observation. She paused, hesitating whether she would put her
hand upon the cross. It could not at least do her any harm. It might
be that the saint would be angry with her, accusing her of hypocrisy;
but what would be the saint's anger for so small a thing amidst the
multitudes of charges that would be brought against her? For that which
she was going to do now there could be no absolution given. And perhaps
the saint might perceive that the deed on her part was not altogether
hypocritical--that there was something in it of a true prayer. He
might see this, and intervene to save her from the waters. So she put
the palm of her little hand full upon the cross, and then kissed it
hearti