hall rest in the
vault of my ancestors." When I finished my narration, the Baron
murmured to himself, "Daniel, Daniel, what are you doing here at this
hour?" as he folded his arms and strode up and down the room. "And was
that all, Herr Baron?" I asked, making a movement as though I would
retire. Starting up as if out of a dream, the Baron took me kindly by
the hand and said, "Yes, my good friend, my wife, whom you have dealt
so hardly by without intending it--you must cure her again; you alone
can do so." I felt I was blushing, and had I stood opposite a mirror
should undoubtedly have seen in it a very blank and absurd face. The
Baron seemed to exult in my embarrassment; he kept his eyes fixed
intently upon my face, smiling with perfectly galling irony. "How in
the world can I cure her?" I managed to stammer out at length with an
effort "Well," he said, interrupting me, "you have no dangerous patient
to deal with at any rate. I now make an express claim upon your skill.
Since the Baroness has been drawn into the enchanted circle of your
music, it would be both foolish and cruel to drag her out of it all of
a sudden. Go on with your music therefore. You will always be welcome
during the evening hours in my wife's apartments. But gradually select
a more energetic kind of music, and effect a clever alternation of the
cheerful sort with the serious; and above all things, repeat your story
of the fearful ghost very very often. The Baroness will grow familiar
with it; she will forget that a ghost haunts this castle; and the story
will have no stronger effect upon her than any other tale of
enchantment which is put before her in a romance or a ghost-story book.
Pray, do this, my good friend." With these words the Baron left me. I
went away. I felt as if I were annihilated, to be thus humiliated to
the level of a foolish and insignificant child. Fool that I was to
suppose that jealousy was stirring his heart! He himself sends me to
Seraphina; he sees in me only the blind instrument which, after he has
made use of it, he can throw away if he thinks well. A few minutes
previously I had really feared the Baron; deep down within my heart
lurked the consciousness of guilt; but it was a consciousness which
allowed me to feel distinctly the beauty of the higher life for which I
was ripe. Now all had disappeared in the blackness of night; and I saw
only the stupid boy who in childish obstinacy had persisted in taking
the paper crown wh