death? You ought to think yourself fortunate in meeting with a
customer who, during your life, in exchange for this infinitely-
minute quantity, this galvanic principle, this polarised agency, or
whatever other foolish name you may give it, is willing to bestow on
you something substantial--in a word, your own identical shadow, by
virtue of which you will obtain your beloved Minna, and arrive at
the accomplishment of all your wishes; or do you prefer giving up
the poor young girl to the power of that contemptible scoundrel
Rascal ? Nay, you shall behold her with your own eyes. Come here;
I will lend you an invisible cap (he drew something out of his
pocket), and we will enter the ranger's garden unseen."

I must confess that I felt excessively ashamed to be thus laughed at
by the grey stranger. I detested him from the very bottom of my
soul; and I really believe this personal antipathy, more than
principle or previously-formed opinion, restrained me from
purchasing my shadow, much as I stood in need of it, at such an
expense. Besides, the thought was insupportable, of making this
proposed visit in his society. To behold this hateful sneak, this
mocking fiend, place himself between me and my beloved, between our
torn and bleeding hearts, was too revolting an idea to be
entertained for a moment. I considered the past as irrevocable, my
own misery as inevitable; and turning to the grey man, I said, "I
have exchanged my shadow for this very extraordinary purse, and I
have sufficiently repented it. For Heaven's sake, let the
transaction be declared null and void!" He shook his head; and his
countenance assumed an expression of the most sinister cast. I
continued, "I will make no exchange whatever, even for the sake of
my shadow, nor will I sign the paper. It follows, also, that the
incognito visit you propose to me would afford you far more