--she again appeared to
me--glorified--purified in the fire of Heaven;--no devilish O'Malley
has further power over her--Aurora is--the baroness!"

"How! what!" cried Albert, shrinking with horror. Then he muttered to
himself, "The little plump housewife with the great bunch of keys--she
an elementary spirit!--she a salamander!"--and he felt a difficulty in
suppressing his laughter.

"In the figure," continued Victor, "there is no longer any trace of
resemblance to be found, that is to say, in ordinary life; but the
mysterious fire that flashes from her eyes,--the pressure of her
hand."--

"You have been very ill," said Albert, gravely, "for the wound you
received in your head was serious enough to put your life in peril; but
now I find you are so far recovered that you will be able to go with
me. From the very bottom of my heart I implore you, my dear,--my
beloved friend, to leave this place, and accompany me to-morrow to
Aix-la-Chapelle."

"I certainly do not intend to remain here any longer," replied Victor.
"so I will go with you; however, let this matter first be cleared up."

The next morning, when Albert woke, Victor told him that a strange,
ghostly sort of dream had revealed to him the mysterious word, which
O'Malley had taught him, when they prepared the Teraphim. He thought
that he would make use of it for the last time. Albert shook his head
doubtfully, and caused every thing to be got ready for a speedy
departure, while Paul Talkebarth evinced the most joyful activity by
all sorts of mad expressions. "Zackermanthoe," he muttered to himself
in Albert's hearing, "It is a good thing that the devil Bear fetched
the Irish devil Foot long ago, otherwise there would have been
something wrong now."

Victor, as he had wished, found the baroness alone in her room,
occupied with some domestic work. He told her that he was now at last
about to quit the house, where he had enjoyed such noble hospitality.
The baroness assured him that she had never entertained a friend more
dear to her. Victor then took her hand, and asked her if she were ever
at Potsdam, and knew a certain Irish Major. "Victor," said the
baroness interrupting him hastily, "we shall part to-day, we shall
never see each other again; nay, we must not. A dark veil hangs over
my life. Let it suffice if I tell you that a fearful destiny condemns
me always to appear a different being from the one which I really am.
In the hateful position in w