I pointed to the neighbouring stables, and the man nodded his thanks,
remounted his box, and drove off.

I returned to Margrave. A faint smile came to his lips as I placed the
chest beside him.

"Ay, ay," he muttered. "Safe! safe! I shall soon be well again,--very
soon! And now I can sleep in peace!"

I led him into an inner room, in which there was a bed. He threw himself
on it with a loud sigh of relief. Soon, half raising himself on his
elbow, he exclaimed, "The chest--bring it hither! I need it always beside
me! There, there! Now for a few hours of sleep; and then, if I can take
food, or some such restoring cordial as your skill may suggest, I shall be
strong enough to talk. We will talk! we will talk!"

His eyes closed heavily as his voice fell into a drowsy mutter: a moment
more and he was asleep.

I watched beside him, in mingled wonder and compassion. Looking into that
face, so altered yet still so young, I could not sternly question what had
been the evil of that mystic life, which seemed now oozing away through
the last sands in the hour-glass. I placed my hand softly on his pulse:
it scarcely beat. I put my ear to his breast, and involuntarily sighed,
as I distinguished in its fluttering heave that dull, dumb sound, in which
the heart seems knelling itself to the greedy grave!

Was this, indeed, the potent magician whom I had so feared!--this the
guide to the Rosicrucian's secret of life's renewal, in whom, but an hour