ion. Oh, Heaven! Lady Mathilda appeared, advancing in all
the simple grace and beauty which had adorned her when first he saw her
in the Wartburg garden. She looked at him with a glance of the deepest
affection; and the blissfulness of heaven and the most glowing rapture
soared jubilantly forth in ins song, as had been the case on the night
when he vanquished the Evil Thing. With the stormiest enthusiasm the
listeners proclaimed him the victor. The Landgrave and the arbiters
rose, the trumpets sounded. The Marshal took the garland from the
Landgrave's hand to crown the victorious master.

"Then the executioner prepared to do his duty. But when the apparitors
went up to seize the vanquished singer, they found themselves grasping
at a cloud of black smoke, which rose up, rushing and crackling and
suddenly vanished in the air. Heinrich of Ofterdingen had disappeared,
none knew how.

"'The crowd ran wildly hither and thither in confusion, with
consternation and terror on their pale faces. People spoke of
diabolical forms--of unholy enchantment; but the Landgrave assembled
the masters around him, and said:

"'"I now understand what Master Klingsohr meant when he spoke so
strangely and mysteriously on the subject of the singers' contest, and
would on no account undertake the deciding of it himself; and I have
cause to be grateful to him that all has turned out as it has. Whether
it was Heinrich of Ofterdingen who took the place appointed for him in
the arena, or one whom Klingsohr sent in his pupil's stead, matters
not. The contest is decided in your favour, my trusty masters, and we
can now honour the glorious craft of song, and cultivate it to the best
of our ability in peace."

"'Certain of the Landgrave's retainers who had been on warders' duty at
the castle said that, at the very time when Wolfframb of Eschinbach won
the prize and conquered the ostensible Heinrich of Ofterdingen, a
figure much resembling Master Klingsohr had been seen to dash out of
the gateway on a foaming steed.

"'CONCLUSION.

"'Meanwhile Countess Mathilda had gone into the garden of the Wartburg,
and Wolfframb of Eschinbach had followed her.

"'And when he found her there, seated on a flowery bank of moss, with
hands folded in her lap and her lovely head drooping sadly towards the
ground, he threw himself at her beloved feet, unable to utter a word.
Mathilda put her arms about him, and both of them shed hot tear