closed violently after him, as if swung by a strong blast of wind.
Schalken and he both rushed to the door, but their united and desperate
efforts could not avail so much as to shake it. Shriek after shriek
burst from the inner chamber, with all the piercing loudness of
despairing terror. Schalken and Douw applied every nerve to force open
the door; but all in vain. There was no sound of struggling from within,
but the screams seemed to increase in loudness, and at the same time
they heard the bolts of the latticed window withdrawn, and the window
itself grated upon the sill as if thrown open. One _last_ shriek, so
long and piercing and agonized as to be scarcely human, swelled from the
room, and suddenly there followed a death-like silence. A light step was
heard crossing the floor, as if from the bed to the window; and almost
at the same instant the door gave way, and, yielding to the pressure of
the external applicants, nearly precipitated them into the room. It was
empty. The window was open, and Schalken sprung to a chair and gazed out
upon the street and canal below. He saw no form, but he saw, or thought
he saw, the waters of the broad canal beneath settling ring after ring
in heavy circles, as if a moment before disturbed by the submission of
some ponderous body.

No trace of Rose was ever after found, nor was anything certain
respecting her mysterious wooer discovered or even suspected--no clue
whereby to trace the intricacies of the labyrinth and to arrive at its
solution, presented itself. But an incident occurred, which, though it
will not be received by our rational readers in lieu of evidence,
produced nevertheless a strong and a lasting impression upon the mind of
Schalken. Many years after the events which we have detailed, Schalken,
then residing far away received an intimation of his father's death, and
of his intended burial upon a fixed day in the church of Rotterdam. It
was necessary that a very considerable journey should be performed by