ken off this very
evening?" That instant they heard the tread of men passing along the
court-yard, and could see from the window where the officious maiden was
leading them directly up to the fountain, and that they carried levers
and other instruments on their shoulders.

"It is certainly my will," said Bertalda with a smile, "if it does not
take them too long." And pleased with the thought, that a word from her
was now sufficient to accomplish what had formerly been refused with
a painful reproof, she looked down upon their operations in the bright
moonlit castle-court.

The men raised the enormous stone with an effort; some one of the number
indeed would occasionally sigh, when he recollected they were destroying
the work of their former beloved mistress. Their labour, however, was
much lighter than they had expected. It seemed as if some power from
within the fountain itself aided them in raising the stone.

"It appears," said the workmen to one another in astonishment, "as if
the confined water had become a springing fountain." And the stone rose
more and more, and, almost without the assistance of the work-people,
rolled slowly down upon the pavement with a hollow sound. But an
appearance from the opening of the fountain filled them with awe, as it
rose like a white column of water; at first they imagined it really to
be a fountain, until they perceived the rising form to be a pale female,
veiled in white. She wept bitterly, raised her hands above her head,
wringing them sadly as with slow and solemn step she moved toward the
castle. The servants shrank back, and fled from the spring, while the
bride, pale and motionless with horror, stood with her maidens at the
window. When the figure had now come close beneath their room, it looked
up to them sobbing, and Bertalda thought she recognized through the
veil the pale features of Undine. But the mourning form passed on,
sad, reluctant, and lingering, as if going to the place of execution.
Bertalda screamed to her maids to call the knight; not one of them dared
to stir from her place; and even the bride herself became again mute, as
if trembling at the sound of her own voice.

While they continued standing at the window, motionless as statues,
the mysterious wanderer had entered the castle, ascended the well-known
stairs, and traversed the well-known halls in silent tears. Alas, how
different had she once passed through these rooms!

The knight had in the meantim