There was an expression of the deepest sadness upon her
countenance, and as she drew near to the stricken man watching her,
she held out her arms towards him, as if to enfold him. The
Emperor, his horror increasing, made a violent effort to move, but
in vain. He seemed indeed paralysed; his limbs, his muscles,
refused to obey him.

Then suddenly, just as the apparition came close up to him and he
felt, as on the former occasion when he had been visited by her,
that he was going to faint, she turned abruptly and moved away in
the direction of a small side door. This she opened with her
uncanny bunch of keys and without turning her head, disappeared.

At the exact moment of her disappearance the Emperor recovered his
faculties. He was able to move, he was able to speak; his arms,
legs, tongue, obeyed his autocratic will once more. He uttered a
loud terrified cry, which resounded throughout the palace.
Officers, chamberlains, guards, servants, came running to the
gallery, white-faced, to see what had happened. They found their
royal master in a state bordering on collapse. Yet, to the anxious
questions which they put to him, he only replied incoherently and
evasively; it was as if he knew something terrible, something
dreadful, but did not wish to speak of it. Eventually he retired to
his own apartments, but it was not until several hours had passed
that he returned to his normal condition of mind.

The same doctor who had been summoned on the occasion of Wilhelm's
former encounter with the White Lady was in attendance on him, and
he looked extremely grave when informed that the Emperor had again
experienced a mysterious shock. He shut himself up alone with his