escape her snares he will fall into those of another. Oh! I know him;
and I feel in my soul that his fate will be to dally with one and another
in delights and raptures, till the Saints fulfil my heart's chiefest
desire, and he comes to despair and anguish and want, and the scrivener's
wench breaks her heart under my very eyes with pining and sheer shame.
Away, away, Herdegen Schopper! Go forth to joy and to misery! Go-with
your pale black-haired mate. Revel and wallow, till you, who have
trampled on this heart's true love, are brought low--as loathsome in the
eyes of men as a leper and a beggar."

And she shook the dresser so that the precious glass cup which the German
merchants of the Fondaco at Venice had given to my father at his
departing, fell to the floor and was broken to pieces with a loud crash.

We had hearkened to her ravings as though spellbound and frozen; and when
we at last took heart to put an end to her wild talk, lo, she was gone,
and flying down the stairs with long strides.

Herdegen, who had turned pale, struggled to command himself. Cousin
Maud, who had lost her breath with dismay, burst into loud weeping; the
wild maid's curse had fallen heavy on her soul. I alone kept my senses,
so far as to go to the window and look out at her. I saw her walking
along, hanging her head; the serving man carried the lantern before her,
and the Bohemian was speaking close in her ear.

When I came back into the chamber Cousin Maud had her arm round Herdegen,
and was saying to him, with many tears, that the curse of the wicked had
no power over a pious and faithful Christian; yet he quitted her in haste
to seek Ann, who doubtless would have stayed in the next chamber, and
perchance needed his succor. Howbeit the door was opened, and we could