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it soon ceases to be that first deep grief. Other and new images throng
in, until, to our sorrow, we experience the vanity of all earthly
things. Therefore I must say: Alas, that our mourning should be of such
short duration!

The lord of Ringstetten experienced this; but whether for his good,
we shall discover in the sequel of this history. At first he could do
nothing but weep--weep as bitterly as the poor gentle Undine had wept
when he snatched out of her hand that brilliant ornament, with which
she so kindly wished to make amends for Bertalda's loss. And then he
stretched his hand out, as she had done, and wept again like her, with
renewed violence. He cherished a secret hope, that even the springs of
life would at last become exhausted by weeping. And has not the like
thought passed through the minds of many of us with a painful pleasure
in times of sore affliction? Bertalda wept with him; and they lived
together a long while at the castle of Ringstetten in undisturbed quiet,
honouring the memory of Undine, and having almost wholly forgotten their
former attachment. And therefore the good Undine, about this time, often
visited Huldbrand's dreams: she soothed him with soft and affectionate
caresses, and then went away again, weeping in silence; so that when he
awoke, he sometimes knew not how his cheeks came to be so wet--whether
it was caused by her tears, or only by his own.

But as time advanced, these visions became less frequent, and the sorrow
of the knight less keen; still he might never, perhaps, have entertained
any other wish than thus quietly to think of Undine, and to speak of
her, had not the old fisherman arrived unexpectedly at the castle, and
earnestly insisted on Bertalda's returning with him as his child. He had
received information of Undine's disappearance; and he was not willing
to allow Bertalda to continue longer at the castle with the widowed
knight. "For," said he, "whether my daughter loves me or not is at
present what I care not to know; but her good name is at stake: and
where that is the case, nothing else may be thought of."

This resolution of the old fisherman, and the fearful solitude that, on
Bertalda's departure, threatened to oppress the knight in every hall and
passage of the deserted castle, brought to light what had disappeared in
his sorrow for Undine,--I mean, his attachment to the fair Bertalda; and
this he made known to her father.

The fisherman had many objections t