r feet just then flashed on his mind, yet
cared he not to show the seer how much the phantom had disturbed him.

"Idle tales?" said Kelly. "I wot not but half the gay gallants in the
town would give the best jewel in their caps to have one sweet look, one
pretty smile from her cruel mouth. 'Tis but the report of those whom she
hath slighted with loathing and contempt, that hath raised this
apprehension in her disfavour. The churls know not what is hidden
beneath this outward habit of her perverse nature, and she careth not to
discover. Should some youth of noble bearing and condition but woo her
as she deserves, thou shouldest see her tamed, ay, and loving too, as
the very idol of her worship, or I would forfeit my best gift."

"But she hath a lover!" said Rodolf, gravely.

"Peradventure she hath, but not of her own choosing, or mine art fails
me. Look, this figure is the horoscope of her birth. Thou hast some
knowledge of the celestial sciences. The directions are so close worked
that should this night pass and Kate go unwed--indicated by Venus coming
to a trine of the sun on the cusp of the seventh house, she will refuse
all her suitors, and her whole patrimony pass into the hands of a
stranger; but"--he raised his voice with a solemn and emphatic
enunciation--"to-night! look to it! If not thine she may be another's."

The listener's brain seemed on a whirl; thought hurrying on thought,
until the mind lost all power of discrimination. The succession of
images was too rapid. All individuality was gone. He felt as though not
one idea was left out of the busy crowd on which to rest his own
identity. He seemed a mere passive existence, unable either to execute
the functions of thought or volition.

"Go, for a brief space. Thou mayest return at sunset. Yet"--the seer
fixed a penetrating glance on the youth as he retired--"go not nigh the
merchant's dwelling, unless thou wouldest mar thy fortune.
To-night--remember!"

In the dim solitude of his chamber Rodolf sought in vain to allay the
feverish excitement he had endured. He seemed left to the sport and
caprice of a power he could not control. The coursers of the imagination
grew wilder with restraint: he recklessly flung the reins upon their
neck; but this did not tire their impetuosity. His brain glowed like a
furnace; he seemed hastening fast on to the verge of either folly or
madness. He threw himself on the couch, when the voice of Altdorff came
like a winged har