a lonely and dreamlike current. His friends, too, both of
the water and the air, have resumed their usual peaceful tenor; all will
again proceed with order and tranquillity; and you can travel homeward,
without fear of the flood, whenever you choose."

It seemed to the mind of Huldbrand that he must be in some waking dream,
so little was he able to understand the nature of his wife's strange
relative. Notwithstanding this he made no remark upon what she had
told him, and her surpassing loveliness soon lulled every misgiving and
discomfort to rest.

Some time afterwards, while he was standing with her before the door,
and surveying the verdant point of land, with its boundary of bright
waters, such a feeling of bliss came over him in this cradle of his
love, that he exclaimed:

"Shall we, then, so early as to-day, begin our journey? Why should
we? It is probable that abroad in the world we shall find no days more
delightful than those we have spent in this green isle so secret and so
secure. Let us yet see the sun go down here two or three times more."

"Just as my lord wills," replied Undine meekly. "Only we must remember,
that my foster-parents will, at all events, see me depart with pain; and
should they now, for the first time, discover the true soul in me, and
how fervently I can now love and honour them, their feeble eyes would
surely become blind with weeping. As yet they consider my present
quietness and gentleness as of no better promise than they were
formerly--like the calm of the lake just while the air remains
tranquil--and they will learn soon to cherish a little tree or flower as
they have cherished me. Let me not, then, make known to them this newly
bestowed, this loving heart, at the very moment they must lose it for
this world; and how could I conceal what I have gained, if we continued
longer together?"

Huldbrand yielded to her representation, and went to the aged couple to
confer with them respecting his journey, on which he proposed to set out
that very hour. The priest offered himself as a companion to the young
married pair; and, after taking a short farewell, he held the bridle,
while the knight lifted his beautiful wife upon his horse; and with
rapid steps they crossed the dry channel with her toward the forest.
Undine wept in silent but intense emotion; the old people, as she
moved away, were more clamorous in the expression of their grief. They
appeared to feel, at the moment of separati