gh half hidden by a column,
Stood a stately light-haired figure.
And again she looked now upward;
From her sight the Pope had vanished,
All the Cardinals had vanished,
Likewise all the nine-and-eighty
Burning lamps o'er Peter's grave.
"My old dream, dost thou return then?
My old dream, why dost thou haunt me
Even in these sacred precincts?"

The last notes had died out softly,
And the Holy Mass was ended.
"Oh how pale you look, dear lady!"
Said the aged Lady Abbess.
"Take my vial, it will help you,
It contains the finest essence
Which I bought myself in Florence
At the cloister of San Marco."

The procession of the singers
Passed just then before the ladies.
"God in heaven! oh have mercy!
Yes, 'tis he! I know the scar there
On his brow--it is my Werner!"
Dark before her eyes it grew now,
And her heart was beating wildly.
No more could her feet support her,
And the maiden sank down fainting
On the hard cold floor of marble.

SIXTEENTH PART.

SOLUTION AND END.

Innocentius the Eleventh
Was kind-hearted; and his dinner
He had just now greatly relished.
At dessert he still was sitting,
And while luscious fruit enjoying,
Said to Cardinal Albani:
"Who was that young pallid lady,
Who this morning in St. Peter's
Fell upon the floor and fainted?"
Answered Cardinal Albani:
"On this subject just at present
I can give no information;
But the Monsignor Venusto
I will ask, for he knows always
What in Rome is daily happening;
Knows what in salons is gossiped,
What the senators are doing,
What is drunk by Flemish artists,
What is sung by Prima Donnas,
Even what the puppet-show is
Playing on the Square Navona.
There is naught the Monsignore
Can't unravel and discover."
E'en before was served the coffee
(At that time this was a novel
Beverage and rarely taken,
Only on the highest feast-days)
Had the Cardinal already
Learnt the facts. He thus related:
"This pale maiden is a noble
Lady, who has travelled hither
With that German Princess Abbess;
And she saw--most marvellously--
In the church a man this mo