“They have brought this about,” she murmured, tearing the letter into little pieces, which lighted upon the shrubbery like butterflies. “Yes, it is their work. They have sought by all possible means to draw him into their power, and away from me. And they will succeed, as there are two of them, and the princess sustains them; and I am alone, unsupported. I am entirely alone—alone!”
“If you are alone, then, it is surely your own fault,” said an earnest, solemn voice, and at the same instant a tall form approached from the shrubbery which bordered the side of the garden.
“Cagliostro!” shrieked Wilhelmine, shrinking terrified away. “Oh, mercy upon me, it is Cagliostro!”
“Why are you so frightened, my daughter?” he asked, gently. “Why do you withdraw from me, and cast down your eyes?”
“I thought you were in Courland,” she stammered, confused.
“And whilst you thought me afar, you forgot your sacred oath and holy duty,” he replied, in a harsh, severe tone. “Oh my daughter, the Invisibles weep and lament bitterly over you.”
“I am curious to see these tears,” said Wilhelmine, who had now recovered her self-composure. “Do you think, Herr Magus, any of them could be found in the eyes of Colonel Bischofswerder and his intimate friend Woellner? Do you pretend that they also weep over me?”
“They do not belong to the Invisibles, but the Visibles. But their souls are true and faithful, and would have to mourn over the unhappy one who could forget her vows.”
“Then allow me to say that I abjure these tears, and laugh at the idea that these hypocrites and necromancers weep over me.”
“My daughter, what words are these, and how strangely altered you are! I have come from the far north, and but just alighted from the travelling-carriage. I came at once to see you, and hoped to be greeted joyfully with a kiss of love, and what do I hear instead? Harsh words filled with scorn and mockery, and disobedience against the Invisible Fathers, to whom you have sworn fidelity and submission!”