but waved the vessel
gracefully around her head, scattering its contents in glittering
jets, that leaped about her like garlands of the precious diamond.

"'Auriola!' exclaimed the boy, rushing forward as he spoke. 'My own
Auriola--mine, now and for ever!' He threw himself before her, seized
her hand, and in an instant fixed a golden ring upon her taper finger.

"The maiden offered no resistance. But when the passionate Bolko rose
from the ground, and was about to embrace his beloved, she lifted the
ring-decked hand, and, in a voice of touching melancholy, exclaimed--

"'Behold!'

"Bolko followed the direction of her finger. Over the live and
swarming cloud there appeared, now here, now there, the apparition of
the previous evening; only that to-day it was larger and more
distinct, and continued longer to the view.

"Bolko recognised, to his astonishment, the forms of Auriola and
himself.

"'What does this mean?' said Bolko. 'Is it reality or illusion?'

"'Thou beholdest!' answered Auriola. 'The air abhors falsehood, and
reflects nothing but truth.'

"Bolko advanced. Auriola waved the pitcher, and the vision was lost.

"'Wilt thou be constant?' asked the maid. 'Misery is mine if thou
canst forget this day and its betrothal.'

"The eyes of Bolko were fixed in amazement on the air where the
picture had shone so palpable a moment before. He saw not, he heard
not, Auriola, and the agony of the preceding evening tortured his
whole frame. When he recovered his suspended faculties, Auriola was
gone. The usual tranquil, solemn repose, the old desolate gloom,
universally prevailed. The low-lying meadows breathed out their thin
vapours, the more distant ponds were enveloped in mist, and the grey
shadows vanished by degrees from hill and thicket.

"Bolko arrived, agitated and breathless, at his castle gate. He went
at once to the library, where he found, as he expected, his friend and
counsellor.

"'Save me, save me, father!' cried the young lord. 'Thou hast beguiled
me into a compact with a being of another world. Womanly love has
cozened and betrayed me. Passion has overmastered me. I have bound
myself to the Moor Maiden, and am eternally made over to her sorcery.'

"'And wherefore should this frighten you?' replied the hoary chaplain.
'Thou hast done my bidding; and since thou art permitted to destroy a
curse which threatens to annihilate thy race, gratitude, not fear,
should move thee. Yonder Moor Maiden conte