The three travellers had reached the thickest shades of the forest
without interchanging a word. It must have been a fair sight, in
that hall of leafy verdure, to see this lovely woman's form sitting
on the noble and richly-ornamented steed, on her left hand the
venerable priest in the white garb of his order, on her right the
blooming young knight, clad in splendid raiment of scarlet, gold, and
violet, girt with a sword that flashed in the sun, and attentively
walking beside her. Huldbrand had no eyes but for his wife; Undine,
who had dried her tears of tenderness, had no eyes but for him; and
they soon entered into the still and voiceless converse of looks and
gestures, from which, after some time, they were awakened by the low
discourse which the priest was holding with a fourth traveller, who
had meanwhile joined them unobserved.

He wore a white gown, resembling in form the dress of the priest's
order, except that his hood hung very low over his face, and that the
whole drapery floated in such wide folds around him as obliged him
every moment to gather it up and throw it over his arm, or by some
management of this sort to get it out of his way, and still it did
not seem in the least to impede his movements. When the young couple
became aware of his presence, he was saying:

"And so, venerable sir, many as have been the years I have dwelt here
in this forest, I have never received the name of hermit in your
sense of the word. For, as I said before, I know nothing of penance,
and I think, too, that I have no particular need of it. Do you ask
me why I am so attached to the forest? It is because its scenery is
so peculiarly picturesque, and affords me so much pastime when, in my
floating white garments, I pass through its world of leaves and dusky