is dark--I am
afraid! I am afraid of the dark bird! If it come again it will begin to
rend my heart; but if I am ever again strong, fresh and strong, I will
kill it--with my own hands will I murder it! Day and night a wick burns
in my heart; its name is Hate, and the oil that supplies it is
bitterness!

"When shall I be strong again? Do you see how he has misused me; has
fettered me to the sick-bed? Do you hear the children cry? the children
which, through the abuse of the father, have come into the world before
their time, and now will die? Give nourishment to the children, for the
mercy of God, sisters! Let me die, but help the children! Now they are
quiet! Thanks! thanks! Shall I die this morning? No, no, not yet!

* * * * *

"The gulf is so dark! Ah, what an abyss!

"Again comes the black bird; I had fled from him, but he followed me,
tore off my wings, so that I can fly no longer!

* * * * *

"Help me up, I must dress myself! Here, with my handsome attire! haste!
To-night I must appear anew before the public, and be admired; must hear
the clapping of hands and bravos; must see garlands showered before my
feet! See you, sisters; it is so glorious! It is an hour of life! It is
a real burst of joy! See how I glitter--how I beam forth! Listen to the
tempest of applause! How it thunders! But wherefore is it now again so
still?--still and dark as the grave? It was a short joy! Cursed be he
who made it so short!

"Do not look so sternly upon me, foster-father! Am I not already
sufficiently cast down! Your stern look penetrates me. Give me your
hand, that I may lay it on my burning brow. You turn from me! You go!
Oh!

* * * * *

"It is so desolate! The strand has such sharp stones! It is so dreadful
to be wounded against them!

"I will not die! I am so young, have so much strength of life in my
soul! I will not yet go down into eternity! No!

* * * * *

"Who saves me? There come foaming waves!--or are they your white arms,
sisters, which you stretch out towards me? Is it you whom I see like
grey misty ghosts wandering on the corpse coast! Are you then dead? Do
you hear the noise? It is death--it is the black bird which comes!--now
I must fly--fly--fly--or die!"

* * * * *

With a violent effort the delirious woman rose from the bed--took a few
steps, a