"How earnest thou to know my name?" she asked, with foreboding shudder.
"Ah, good God!" said the unhappy one; "I am indeed Christian, who once came to thee as a hunter. Dost thou, then, know me no more?"
She knew not, in her horror and deepest compassion, what to say. He fell upon her neck and kissed her. Elizabeth exclaimed, "O God! my husband is coming!"
"Be tranquil," said he; "I am as good as dead to thee. There in the forest my fair one awaits me; the powerful one, she that is adorned with the golden veil. This is my dearest child Leonora. Come hither, my dear, beloved heart; give me too a kiss,—one only,—that I may once again feel thy mouth upon my lips, then I will leave you."
Leonora wept; she clasped close to her mother, who, in sobs and tears, half turned her towards the wanderer; he half drew her to himself, took her in his arms, and pressed her to his bosom. Then he went silently away, and in the wood they saw him speaking with the frightful Woodwoman.
"What is the matter?" asked the husband, as he found mother and daughter pale and dissolved in tears. Neither would answer him.
But the unhappy one was from that day never again seen.
