ul recollection.

"And he! where is he?" she asked with an imploring look. "He! Karl!"

The old man looked at her with surprise, as though he thought her senses
were still wavering.

"He carried me off, did he not?" she continued feebly; "or was it a
dream? Was it only a strange dream? No, no! I remember all--how we flew
through the air; and then the rushing waters. Oh! tell me; where is he?"

The bishop now comprehended that she spoke of the witchfinder; and said,
"He is gone for ever, to his last great account."

Magdalena groaned bitterly, and again closed her eyes. But it was
evident that she still retained her consciousness; for her lips were
moving faintly, as if in prayer.

"Is there no hope?" enquired the bishop in a whisper of the physician.
"Nothing can be done?"

"No hope!" replied the leech. "I have done all that medical skill can
do; _I_ can do no more, your highness."

At a sign from the bishop, the physician withdrew.

Shortly after, the dying woman again unclosed her eyes, and looked
around her at the strange room in which she lay. A recollection of the
past seemed to come across her, slowly and painfully; and she again
pressed her feeble hand to her brow.

"Why am I here?" she murmured. "Why do I again see this scene of folly
and sin? O Lord! why bring before my thus, in this last hour, the living
memory of my past transgressions?"

As if to complete the painful illusion of the past, a voice now murmured
"Margaret" in her ear. The poor woman started, turned her head with
difficulty, and saw, kneeling by her side, the heartless lover of her
youth. She gave him one look of fear and shame, and then turning again
her eyes to the bishop's face, exclaimed, "May God forgive me!--Pray for
me, my father!"

"It is I who seek for mercy, Margaret!" cried the Ober-Amtmann. "I who
need thy forgiveness for all the wrong I have done thee!"

"Mercy and forgiveness are with God," said the dying woman solemnly.
"All the wrong thou hast done me I have long since forgiven, as far as
such a sinner as myself can forgive. My time is short; my breath is fast
leaving me. I feel that I am dying," she added after a pause. "Father, I
would make my shrift; and, if God and your reverence permit one earthly
thought to mingle with my last hopes of salvation, I would confide to
you a secret on which depends the happiness of her I love, and you
perhaps might secure her peace of mind. Alas, I cannot speak! O God!
give me s