a
vigor of form that will yield not to the weight of years--that will defy
the pressure of time--and that no malady can impair,--possessed of
wealth having no limit,--and enriched with a mind so stored with
knowledge that the greatest sage is as a child in comparison with
thee,--how darest thou complain or repent of the compact which has given
to thee all these, though associated with the destiny of a Wehr-Wolf?"

"It is of this fatal--this terrible destiny that I complain and that I
repent," answered Wagner. "Still do I admit that the advantages which I
have obtained by embracing that destiny are great."

"And may be far greater!" added the demon, impressively. "Handsome,
intelligent, and rich--all that thou dost require is power!"

"Yes," exclaimed Wagner, eagerly--and now manifesting, for the first
time since the appearance of the fiend in his cell, any particular
emotion: "I have need of _power!_--power to avert those evils into which
my sad destiny may plunge me,--power to dominate instead of being
subject to the opinions of mankind,--power to prove my complete
innocence of the dreadful crime now imputed to me,--power to maintain an
untarnished reputation, to which I cling most lovingly,--power, too," he
added in a slower and also a more subdued tone--"power to restore the
lost faculties of hearing and speech to her whom I love."

Strange was the smile that curled the demon's lips as Wagner breathed
these last words.

"You require power--power almost without limit," said the fiend, after a
few moments' pause; "and that aim is within thy reach. Handsome,
intelligent, and rich," he continued, dwelling on each word with marked
emphasis, "how happy may'st thou be when possessed of the power to
render available, in all their glorious extent, the gifts--the qualities
wherewith thou art already endowed! When in the service of Faust--during
those eighteen months which expired at the hour of sunset on the
thirtieth of July, 1517----"

"Alas!" cried Wagner, his countenance expressing emotions of
indescribable horror; "remind me not of that man's fate! Oh!
never--never can I forget the mental agony--the profound and soul-felt
anguish which he experienced, and which he strove not to conceal, when
at the gate of Vienna on that evening he bade me farewell--forever."

"But thou wast happy--supremely happy in his service," said the demon;
"and thou didst enjoy a fair opportunity of appreciating the value of
the power whic