Rudolph and Alice [pp. 263-275]

1843.]~ ~ ~ Ruoll an lce
and sorrow they could command at their pleasure,
and the most distant futurity could they look into.
In an instant, they could pass from one place to
another-recall the dead, and do many other wonderful works. Now, with great circumspection
and under the seal of strict secrecy, she told her
own experience, and gave her plainly to understand, that her mother's sister, with whom she had
lived during her residence in town, was, herself,
very sklilful in such arts, and had suffered her niece
to see astonishing proofs of her knowledge. Alice's
curiosity was raised to the highest pitch. Unnumbered questions rose from her heart, then one shiver
after another ran over her frame; and again she
would inquire and hang enchanted on the lips of the
cunning re]atress. Gertrude had rightly counted.
Alice's curiosity raised in her a burning desire after
such things; then Gertrude dropped a hint that it
would not be impossible once to see and to witness
such things, (at the most distant hint of this Alice,
shuddering, drew back,) without taking any part in,
them.
" Is this possible?" cried the astonished Alice.
" Whv not h" answered Gertrude. " I will give
you various precautions which you will find limit
their supernatural power. It is truewewe must
be cautious to commit no imprudence, to utter no
sound, not to step over the prescribed limits; the
deepest silence is necessa ry. What can you fear,
he n you see me fresh and healthy, and as good
a Christian a s you are; an d I have al ready been
more than once or twice a witness of these things?
I'ha ve seen sight s of which the relation woul d
ap pea r to you a fable."
This was a new spark thrown on Alice's spirit;
varied and wonde rful pictures floated up and dm ct es d ow n
in h er imagination. What she had so often listened to with the liveliest emotion, while she disbelieved and held them impossible, now seemed
within her g rasp, and she trembled with pow erful
undef ined emotions. She would gladly see these
things, and sometimes this wish would have
spoken; but an indescribable shuddering held her
back; and whenever she was alone with Gertrtude, she wished to avoid the subject, as she found,
by degrees, the strength of her soul vanish away.
Gertrude knew how to awaken this glow to a clear
flame; she permitted Alice to guess she had been
more than a witness of these mysteries, and from
many speeches, and many actions, she showed she
had added to her natural strength, magic art.
From the time of this disclosure Alice felt a
strange awe of her my sterious friend. Then camle
the thought that Gertrude's fame was unstained;
that she had a family; that no one doubted her
beingf a Christian; and by degrees, the feeling wore
away. She did not seek her company, but each
time she saw her, she left herself more and more
tively done.
In a mild evening, the last day o f April, the
l adies sat together b efore t he door of Alice's cottage. Of Rudolph's near return and of all her
preparations, Alice had, until now, spoken with
freedom to her co nfident ial friend. But now her
color began to change; she began to stammer, as
the distant objects became lost i n the twil ight.
Then the bright stars reflected from the mill-stream,
which, behind t he house, with deafeni ng noise, fell
over th e wheel and the n flowed quietly to the sea.
In the wo od s, on the se a sh ore, in the mountains,
it was dark night. Through the dark, the fire-flies,
with still green light, circled before the f riends;
and Gertrude felt Dow s he must play her part in
good earnest. A single word which unintentiona lly slipped from hl her, co"firmed he r in th is determination. It happened, as Alice and h er sel f w ere
sitting deep in t hought -their a ccustomed conversation cut off- that sudden ly, a fire ball from the
bushes on the mountain side, f lew before Gertrude
and lost itself in the mill-stream. "r It is good,"
she said quietly, "I will come." Alice sprun g up,
and moved to a distance from Ger trude.
" What was that f" at last she cried, and signed
t he cross, be fore she vent ured to step n earer to
Ger trude.
"Foolish woman," she answered, quietly, " what
should it be? They invite me to make one at the
first of May."
" On the night of the first of May I" cried Alice,
dreadfully frightened! "And will you go?"
"How can I refuse t You see I have received the
invitation safely; no harm has arisen from it, and
great good may result from its acceptance."
"Will you go there to the Bloclisbery, Gertrude,
where Satan holds his court, where the devils" " Hush," cried Gertrude, laughing, with'a scornful toss of her head. " What a foolish idea, one
may easily see it is from the mouth of silly people
you have heard all these things; people who know
nothing about it. I assure you it is neither so
sinful nor so frightful as you think."
"What, have you already been there 1"
"Once in former years, my aunt took me there
with her."
" Your aunt! was she ever here 1"
",I never saw her. You make me laugh; truly
was she here, and truly not about here did she live.
She camne, apparently, in a common carriage; she
staid with me; at night we had our fire-works,
and no one sawt us.~'
"WBas it on the for~k or on the b~roon ~."
entangl ed in her nets. hoMao,ad
Now was passed the month of March, and al
R,ttdolpli and Alice.
269
1843.]
most the whole of April. Rudolph would come
in twelve days. Alice's heart beat high in joyful
expectation of her beloved husband, the father of
her babes. In Gertrude's breast reigned powerful
and wicked feelings. If she would not again witness their happiness and see it confirmed forever,
what she wished to do must be qllickly and effec
-k.