on, all that they were losing
in their affectionate foster-daughter.

The three travellers had reached the thickest shades of the forest
without interchanging a word. It must have been a fair sight, in that
hall of leafy verdure, to see this lovely woman's form sitting on the
noble and richly-ornamented steed, on her left hand the venerable priest
in the white garb of his order, on her right the blooming young knight,
clad in splendid raiment of scarlet, gold, and violet, girt with a sword
that flashed in the sun, and attentively walking beside her. Huldbrand
had no eyes but for his wife; Undine, who had dried her tears of
tenderness, had no eyes but for him; and they soon entered into the
still and voiceless converse of looks and gestures, from which, after
some time, they were awakened by the low discourse which the priest
was holding with a fourth traveller, who had meanwhile joined them
unobserved.

He wore a white gown, resembling in form the dress of the priest's
order, except that his hood hung very low over his face, and that the
whole drapery floated in such wide folds around him as obliged him every
moment to gather it up and throw it over his arm, or by some management
of this sort to get it out of his way, and still it did not seem in the
least to impede his movements. When the young couple became aware of his
presence, he was saying:

"And so, venerable sir, many as have been the years I have dwelt here in
this forest, I have never received the name of hermit in your sense of
the word. For, as I said before, I know nothing of penance, and I think,
too, that I have no particular need of it. Do you ask me why I am so
attached to the forest? It is because its scenery is so peculiarly
picturesque, and affords me so much pastime when, in my floating white
garments, I pass through its world of leaves and dusky shadows;--and
when a sweet sunbeam glances down upon me at times unexpectedly."

"You are a very singular man," replied the priest, "and I should like to
have a more intimate acquaintance with you."

"And who, then, may you be yourself, to pass from one thing to another?"
inquired the stranger.

"I am called Father Heilmann," answered the holy man; "and I am from the
cloister of Our Lady of the Salutation, beyond the lake."

"Well, well," replied the stranger, "my name is Kuhleborn; and were I
a stickler for the nice distinctions of rank, I might, with equal
propriety, require you to give me the tit