give the Abbot some little chagrin: perhaps the Hermit had offered a
reward for my discovery. However, I knew that Anselmo, though a griping
was a trustworthy man, and I felt safe in his renewed promise. I saw
him depart with great satisfaction, and gave myself once more to
conjectures respecting the strange recluse.

As the next evening I prepared to depart towards the hermitage, I took
peculiar pains to give my person a foreign and disguised appearance. A
loose dress, of rude and simple material, and a high cap of fur, were
pretty successful in accomplishing this purpose. And, as I gave the
last look at the glass before I left the house, I said inly, "If there
be any truth in my wild and improbable conjecture respecting the
identity of the anchorite, I think time and this dress are sufficient
wizards to secure me from a chance of discovery. I will keep a guard
upon my words and tones, until, if my thought be verified, a moment fit
for unmasking myself arrives. But would to God that the thought be
groundless! In such circumstances, and after such an absence, to meet
/him/! No; and yet--Well, this meeting will decide."



CHAPTER IV.

THE SOLUTION OF MANY MYSTERIES.--A DARK VIEW OF THE LIFE AND NATURE OF
MAN.

POWERFUL, though not clearly developed in my own mind, was the motive
which made me so strongly desire to preserve the /incognito/ during my
interview with the Hermit. I have before said that I could not resist a
vague but intense belief that he was a person whom I had long believed