he distant plains on which the shadows of evening were settling down, I
felt my eyelids gently yielding to the sweet influence of sleep. Not a
leaf was stirring; the village noises ceased one by one, the last golden
rays of the sun had disappeared, and I dropped into the unconsciousness
of welcome sleep.

Dark night fell on the face of the earth, and then the moon was rising in
all her splendour, when I awoke, I cannot tell why. The wandering scents
of summer air reached me through the open window, fragrant with the sweet
perfume of the new-mown hay. I gazed with surprise, then I made an effort
to rise and open the window, but some obstacle prevented me. To my
astonishment, though my head was perfectly free to move in any direction,
my body was buried in a deep sleep like a lump of lead. Not a single
muscle obeyed my repeated efforts to raise my body; I was conscious of my
arms lying extended near me, and my legs being stretched out straight and
immovable; but my head was swaying helplessly to and fro. My breathing,
deep and regular--the breathing of my body went on all the same, and
frightened me dreadfully. My head, exhausted with its vain efforts to
obtain obedience from the limbs, fell back in despair, and I said, "What!
Is it paralysis?"

My eyes closed. I was reflecting with a feeling of horror upon this
strange phenomenon, and my ears were listening intently to the agitated
beating of my heart, over whose hurried flow of blood the mind had no
power.

"What, what is this?" I thought presently. "Do my own body and limbs
refuse to obey my will? Cannot Caspar Haas, the undisputed lord of so
many rich vineyards and fat pastures, move this wretched clod of earth
which most certainly belongs to him? Oh, what does it all mean?"

As I was thus wondering and meditating I heard a slight noise. The door
of my alcove opened, and a man clothed in some stiff material resembling
felt, such as is worn by the monks in the chapel of St. Werburgh at
Mayence, with a broad-brimmed hat and feather pushed off from the left
ear, his hands buried up to the elbows in gauntlets of strong untanned
leather, entered the room. This gentleman's huge jack-boots came over the
knees, and were folded down again. A heavy chain of gold, with
decorations suspended to it, hung from his shoulders. His tanned and
angular countenance, his sallow complexion, his hollow eyes, bore an
expression of bitterness and melancholy.

This dismal personage traver