"I wonder what has become of him. I want to see him very much. Let me
see; the last time I saw him he was coming out of that old broker's
den, to which, if you remember, you accompanied me once, to look at some
armour. That is fully three weeks ago."
This hint was enough for Cosmo. Von Steinwald was a man of influence in
the court, well known for his reckless habits and fierce passions. The
very possibility that the mirror should be in his possession was hell
itself to Cosmo. But violent or hasty measures of any sort were most
unlikely to succeed. All that he wanted was an opportunity of breaking
the fatal glass; and to obtain this he must bide his time. He revolved
many plans in his mind, but without being able to fix upon any.
At length, one evening, as he was passing the house of Von Steinwald, he
saw the windows more than usually brilliant. He watched for a while,
and seeing that company began to arrive, hastened home, and dressed
as richly as he could, in the hope of mingling with the guests
unquestioned: in effecting which, there could be no difficulty for a man
of his carriage.
***** In a lofty, silent chamber, in another part of the city, lay a form more
like marble than a living woman. The loveliness of death seemed frozen
upon her face, for her lips were rigid, and her eyelids closed. Her long
white hands were crossed over her breast, and no breathing disturbed
their repose. Beside the dead, men speak in whispers, as if the deepest
rest of all could be broken by the sound of a living voice. Just so,
though the soul was evidently beyond the reach of all intimations from
the senses, the two ladies, who sat beside her, spoke in the gentlest
tones of subdued sorrow. "She has lain so for an hour."
"This cannot last long, I fear."
"How much thinner she has grown within the last few weeks! If she would
only speak, and explain what she suffers, it would be better for her.
I think she has visions in her trances, but nothing can induce her to
refer to them when she is awake."
"Does she ever speak in these trances?"
"I have never heard her; but they say she walks sometimes, and once put
the whole household in a terrible fright by disappearing for a whole
hour, and returning drenched with rain, and almost dead with exhaustion
and fright. But even then she would give no account of what had
happened."