rance from the dreadful destiny which his weakness
and folly had entailed upon him. The music grew fainter and fainter, and
at the moment when it died away altogether a heavenly and radiant being
rose in the midst of a cloud, an angel, clad in white and shining
garments, and with snowy wings closed, and drooping from its shoulders.
Looking benignly upon the sleeping Wagner the angel said in a soft and
liquid tone, "Thrice hast thou resisted the temptations of the enemy of
mankind: once in thy dungeon at Florence, a second time amidst the
defiles of yon mountains, and now on this spot. He will appear to thee
no more, unless thou thyself summon him. Much hast thou already done in
atonement for the crime that endangered thy soul when, withdrawing thy
faith from Heaven, thou didst accept new life on the conditions proposed
to thee by the agent of Satan; but much more must thou yet do, ere that
atonement will be complete!" The form ceased to speak, and gradually
became fainter and fainter, until it disappeared with its glorious halo
altogether.

Then Fernand awoke, and his dream was vividly impressed upon his memory.

Assuming a kneeling posture, he clasped his hands fervently together,
and said aloud, "Merciful Heaven! be the vision one divinely sent, or be
it but the sport of an imagination fevered by a long night of suffering,
I receive it as an emblem and as a sign of hope and promise!"

He arose. The sun was now high in the heaven, and he hastened to the
shore to perform his ablutions. Refreshed in body with the bath which he
took in the Mediterranean, and in mind with the influence of the vision,
he retraced his way toward the mountains. The range was passed in
safety, and he once more set foot on that section of the island where
Nisida was so anxiously awaiting his presence.

The hour at which Fernand Wagner was accustomed to return after his
periodical excursions beyond the mountains, had long passed; for it will
be remembered that he had fallen asleep and slumbered some time, after
his restoration to human shape and his encounter with the demon. Nisida
was already a prey to the wildest alarms, which were not altogether
untainted with selfishness; for the enemy of mankind had led her to
believe that Wagner had within his reach certain means of enabling her
to quit the island, and she trembled lest death might have intervened to
snatch him away, and thus annihilate the hopes which had been so
insidiously infused in