;
that I might drag her down with me into the gulf--she who was the sole
light, the sole happiness, the sole heart of my life. Then wept she
again, because I was unhappy. Ah, she was so loving, so kind! To spare
me but one tear, she, and with what transport, would have sacrificed
herself without reserve!

She was, however, far from rightly comprehending my words; she
conceived in me some prince on whom had fallen a heavy ban, some high
and honored head, and her imagination amidst heroic pictures limned
forth her lover gloriously.

Once I said to her--"Mina, the last day in the next month may change
my fate and decide it--if not I must die, for I will not make thee
unhappy." Weeping she hid her head in my bosom. "If thy fortune
changes, let me know that thou art happy. I have no claim on thee. Art
thou wretched, bind me to thy wretchedness, that I may help thee to
bear it."

"Maiden! maiden! take it back, that quick word, that foolish word
which escaped thy lips. And knowest thou this wretchedness? Knowest
thou this curse? Knowest who thy lover--what he? Seest thou not that
I convulsively shrink together, and have a secret from thee?" She fell
sobbing to my feet, and repeated with oaths her entreaty.

I announced to the Forest-master, who entered, that it was my
intention on the first of the approaching month to solicit the hand of
his daughter. I fixed precisely this time, because in the interim many
things might occur which might influence my fortunes; but I insisted
that I was unchangeable in my love to his daughter.

The good man was quite startled as he heard such words out of the
mouth of Count Peter. He fell on my neck, and again became quite
ashamed to have thus forgotten himself. Then he began to doubt, to
weigh, and to inquire. He spoke of dowry, security, and the future of
his beloved child. I thanked him for reminding me of these things. I
told him that I desired to settle down in this neighborhood where I
seemed to be beloved, and to lead a care-free life. I begged him to
purchase the finest estates that the country had to offer, in the name
of his daughter, and to charge the cost to me. A father could, in such
matter, best serve a lover. It gave him enough to do, for everywhere
a stranger was before him, and he could only purchase for about a
million.

My thus employing him was, at the bottom, an innocent scheme to remove
him to a distance, and I had employed him similarly before; for I
must confes