to dispel, in some degree, the gloom of his
otherwise solitary supper.

One evening, the painter and his pupil
were sitting by the fire, having accomplished
a comfortable supper, and had
yielded to that silent pensiveness
sometimes induced by the process of digestion,
when their reflections were disturbed by
a loud sound at the street-door, as if
occasioned by some person rushing forcibly and
repeatedly against it. A domestic had run
without delay to ascertain the cause of the
disturbance, and they heard him twice or
thrice interrogate the applicant for admis-
sion, but without producing an answer or
any cessation of the sounds.

They heard him then open the hall-door,
and immediately there followed a light and
rapid tread upon the staircase. Schalken
laid his hand on his sword, and advanced
towards the door. It opened before he
reached it, and Rose rushed into the room.
She looked wild and haggard, and pale with
exhaustion and terror; but her dress
surprised them as much even as her
unexpected appearance. It consisted of a kind
of white woollen wrapper, made close about
the neck, and descending to the very