d just left him; and we felicitated
ourselves that we had not come any sooner, for precisely the same
reason. As soon as he comprehended our tastes, he very frankly admitted
that every room in the convent was empty. "There is no one, but these,
on the island. Not a living being, _herr graf_" for these people have
made a count of me, whether or not. Here then were near two hundred
acres, environed by the Rhine, prettily disposed in wood and meadow,
absolutely at our mercy. You can readily imagine, with what avidity a
party of young Parisiennes profited by their liberty, while I proceeded
forthwith to inspect the ladder, and then to inspect the cloisters.
Sooth to say, sentiment had a good deal to do with two of the courses of
a dinner at Nonnenswerth, for so is the island called. The buildings
were spacious, and far from mean; and it was a pleasant thing to
promenade in cloisters that had so lately been trodden by holy nuns, and
see your dinner preparing in a convent kitchen. I could do no less than
open a bottle of "Liebfraumilch" in such a place, but it proved to be a
near neighbour to bonny-clabber.

As the evening closed we took possession of our rooms. Our parlour had
been that of the lady abbess, and A---- had her bed-chamber. These were
spacious rooms and well furnished. The girls were put into the cells,
where girls ought never to be put. Jetty had another near them, and,
these dispositions made, I sallied forth alone, in quest of a sensation.

The intense heat of the day had engendered a gust. The thunder was
muttering among the "seven mountains," and occasionally a flash of
lightning illumined the pitchy darkness of the night. I walked out into
the grounds, where the wind was fiercely howling through the trees. A
new flash illumined the hills, and I distinctly saw the naked rock of
the Drachenfels, with the broken tower tottering on the half-ruined
crag, looked fearful and supernatural. By watching a minute, another
flash exposed Rolandseck, looking down upon me with melancholy
solicitude. Big drops began to patter on the leaves, and, still bent on
sensations, I entered the buildings.

The cloisters were gloomy, but I looked into the vast, smoked, and
cavern-like kitchen, where the household were consuming the fragments of
our dinner. A light shone from the door of a low cell, in a remote
corner of the cloisters, and I stole silently to it, secretly hoping it
would prove to be a supernatural glimmering above