where the eye could not penetrate.

One evening she had lingered longer than usual: she felt unwilling to
depart--to meet again the dull and wearisome realities of life--the
petty cares that interest and animate mankind. She loathed her own form
and her own species:--earth was too narrow for her desire, and she
almost longed to burst its barriers. In the deep agony of her spirit she
cried aloud--

"Would that my path, like yon clouds, were on the wind, and my
dwelling-place in their bosom!"

A soft breeze came suddenly towards her, rustling the dry heath as it
swept along. The grass bent beneath its footsteps, and it seemed to die
away in articulate murmurs at her feet. Terror crept upon her, her bosom
thrilled, and her whole frame was pervaded by some subtle and mysterious
influence.

"Who art thou?" she whispered, as though to some invisible agent. She
listened, but there was no reply; the same soft wind suddenly arose, and
crept to her bosom.

"Who art thou?" she inquired again, but in a louder tone. The breeze
again flapped its wings, mantling upwards from where it lay, as if
nestled on her breast. It mounted lightly to her cheek, but it felt
hot--almost scorching--when the maiden cried out as before. It fluttered
on her ear, and she thought there came a whisper--

"I am thy good spirit."

"Oh, tell me," she cried with vehemence: "show me who thou art!"--a mist
curled round her, and a lambent flame, like the soft lightning of a
summer's night, shot from it. She saw a form, glorious but indistinct,
and the flashes grew paler every moment.

"Leave me not," she cried; "I will be thine!"

Then the cloud passed away, and a being stood before her, mightier and
more stately than the sons of men. A burning fillet was on his brow, and
his eyes glowed with an ever-restless flame.

"Maiden, I come at thy wish. Speak!--what is thy desire."

"Let thought be motion;--let my will only be the boundary of my power,"
said she, nothing daunted; for her mind had become too familiar with
invisible fancies, and her ambition too boundless to feel either awe or
alarm. Immediately she felt as though she were sweeping through the
trackless air,--she heard the rush of mighty wings cleaving the
sky,--she thought the whole world lay at her feet, and the kingdoms of
the earth moved on like a mighty pageant. Then did the vision change.
Objects began to waver and grow dim, as if passing through a mist; and
she found herself again upo