p abhorrence which again darted
through my heart like a dagger. The strange mood produced by my
excited condition remained a mystery to all; they thought I suffered
from some morbid state of mind, and sought to cheer me and dissipate my
gloomy thoughts. Under the pretext of some service, they sent me to
the _Residence_, where the most brilliant circle was open to me. But
if I had always been shy and bashful, society--especially the approach
of ladies--now produced in me absolute repugnance. The most charming
only seemed to scoff at Biondetta's image which I bore within me. When
I returned to Potsdam, I shunned all association with my comrades, and
my favourite abode was the wood--the scene of those frightful events
that had nearly cost my poor cousin his life. I stood close by the
ruins, and, being impelled by an undefined desire, was on the point of
making my way in, through the thick brushwood, when I suddenly saw
O'Malley, who walked slowly out, and did not seem to perceive me. My
long repressed anger boiled up instantly, I darted upon the major, and
told him in few words, that he must fight with me on account of my
cousin. 'Be it so at once,' said the major, coldly and gravely, and he
threw off his mantle, drew his sword, and at the very first pass struck
mine out of my hand with irresistible force and dexterity. 'We will
fight with pistols,' cried I, wild with rage, and was about to pick up
my sword, when O'Malley held me fast, and said, in a calm mild tone,
such as I had scarcely ever heard from him before: 'Do not be a fool,
my son! You see that I am your superior in fighting; you could sooner
wound the air than me, and I could never prevail on myself to stand in
a hostile position to you, to whom I owe my life, and indeed something
more.' The major then took me by the arm, and gently drawing me along,
proved to me that the captain alone had been the cause of his own
misfortune, since, in spite of every warning, he had ventured on things
to which he was unequal, and had forced the major to do what he did, by
his ill-timed and insulting raillery. I myself cannot tell what a
singular magic there was in O'Malley's words, nay, in his whole manner.
He not only succeeded in quieting me, but had such an effect upon me,
that I involuntarily revealed to him the secret of my internal
condition--of the destructive warfare that was carried on within my
soul. 'The particular constellation,' said O'Malley, when I ha
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