the corpse to ashes, upon which the vampire would show itself no more. But
what added infinitely to the horror was the certainty that whoever died
from the mouth of the vampire, wrinkled grandsire or delicate maiden, must
in turn rise from the grave, and go forth a vampire, to suck the blood of
the dearest left behind. This was the generation of the vampire brood.
Lilith trembled at the very name of the creature. Karl was too much in
love to be afraid of anything. Yet the evident fear of the unbelieving
painter took a hold of his imagination; and, under the influence of the
potions of which he still partook unwittingly, when he was not thinking
about Lilith, he was thinking about the vampire.

"Meantime, the condition of things in the painter's household continued
much the same for Wolkenlicht--work all day; no communication between the
young people; the dinner and the wine; silent reading when work was done,
with stolen glances many over the top of the book, glances that were never
returned; the cold good-night; the locking of the door; the wakeful night
and the drowsy morning. But at length a change came, and sooner than any
of the party had expected. For, whether it was that the impatience of
Teufelsbuerst had urged him to yet more dangerous experiments, or that the
continuance of those he had been so long employing had overcome at length
the vitality of Wolkenlicht--one afternoon, as he was sitting at his work,
he suddenly dropped from his chair, and his master hurrying to him in some
alarm, found him rigid and apparently lifeless. Lilith was not in the
study when this took place. In justice to Teufelsbuerst, it must be
confessed that he employed all the skill he was master of, which for
beneficent purposes was not very great, to restore the youth; but without
avail. At last, hearing the footsteps of Lilith, he desisted in some
consternation; and that she might escape being shocked by the sight of a
dead body where she had been accustomed to see a living one, he removed
the lay figure from the couch, and laid Karl in its place, covering him