one for me!"
A cloud now seemed to sweep before Wagner's eyes; denser and more dense
it grew--first absorbing in its increasing obscurity the form of the
demon, and then enveloping the radiant being who still continued to
smile sweetly and benignly upon the sleeping mortal until the glorious
countenance and the shining garments were no longer visible, but all was
black darkness around. And Fernand Wagner continued to sleep profoundly.

Many hours elapsed ere he woke; and his slumber was serene and soothing.
At length when he opened his eyes and slowly raised his head from the
hard pillow which a mass of rock had formed, he beheld the rich red
streaks in the eastern horizon, heralding the advent of the sun; and as
the various features of the island gradually developed themselves to his
view, as if breaking slowly from a mist, he collected and rearranged in
his mind all the details of the strange vision which he had seen. For a
few minutes he was oppressed with a fear that his vision would indeed
prove the delusive sport of his fevered brain; for there seemed to be in
its component parts a wild admixture of the sublime and the fantastic.
The solemn language of the angel appeared strangely diversified by the
intimation that he would find a boat upon the shore, that this boat
would convey him to a place where he was to inquire for a man whose age
was one hundred and sixty-two years, and that this man was the being
destined to save him from the doom of a Wehr-Wolf.

Then, again, he thought that heaven worked out its designs by means
often inscrutable to human comprehension: and he blamed himself for
having doubted the truth of the vision. Feelings of joy therefore
accompanied the reassurance of his soul; and, having poured forth his
thanksgivings for the merciful intervention of Providence in his behalf,
he tarried not even to break his fast with the fruits clustering at a
short distance from him, but hastened to retrace his way across the
mountains, no longer doubting to find the sign fulfilled and the boat
upon the shore. And now these thoughts rose within him. Should he again
behold Nisida? Was the fleet, which he had seen on the previous day,
still off the island? Or had it departed, bearing Nisida away to another
clime?

He expected not to behold either the fleet or his loved one; for he felt
convinced that the angel would not send him back within the influence of
her temptations. Nor was he mistaken, for having trave