he ground.

"A loud report awoke me from this state of stupefaction. I felt myself
held by the arms of a man, and struggled with all the force of despair,
to free myself. 'Gracious lieutenant, it is I,' said a voice in my
ears. It was honest Paul who endeavoured to raise me from the ground.
I let him have his own way. He would not at first tell me plainly how
all had happened, but he at last assured me, with a mysterious smile,
that he knew better to what unholy acquaintance the major had lured me,
than I could suspect. The old pious Lizzy had revealed every thing to
him. He had not gone to sleep the night before, but had well loaded
his gun, and had watched at the door. When he had heard me cry aloud
and fall to the ground, he had, although his courage failed him a
little, burst open the door and entered. 'There,' he continued in his
mad way, 'there stood Major O'Malley before me, as frightful to look
upon as in the cup of coffee. He grinned at me hideously, but I did
not allow myself to be stirred from my purpose and said: 'If, gracious
major, you are the devil, pardon me for stepping boldly up to you as a
pious Christian and saying to you: 'Avaunt, thou cursed Satan-Major, I
command thee in the name of the Lord. Begone, or I will fire!' The
major would not give way, but kept on grinning at me, and began to
abuse me. I then cried, 'Shall I fire?--shall I fire? and when he
persisted in keeping his place I fired in reality. But all had
vanished--both Major Satan and Mam'sell Belzebub had departed through
the wall!'

"The continued strain upon the mind during the period that had just
passed, together with the last frightful moments, threw me upon a
tedious sick-bed. When I recovered I left Potsdam, without seeing any
more of O'Malley, whose further fate has remained unknown to me. The
image of those portentous days grew fainter and fainter, and at last
vanished all together, so that I recovered perfect freedom of mind,
until here--"

"Well," asked Albert, with the greatest curiosity and astonishment, "do
you mean to say you have lost your freedom again here? I cannot
conceive, why here--"

"Oh," said Victor, interrupting his friend, while his tone became
somewhat solemn, "I can explain all in two words. In the sleepless
nights of the illness, I endured here, all the dreams of that noblest
and most terrible period of my life were revived. It was my glowing
passion itself, that assumed a form--Aurora