“'My mother, my father,' were the only words that broke from her lips, and she went back, slowly, for the fright and agony had almost paralyzed her brain and limbs.
“'You were gone a long time,' said her anxious parents, who did not see her face when she entered; 'where is Reinhold?'
“She had no words. The deathly face, the beating heart, and the trembling limbs, told all. She led them to the spot, and the mystery appeared still deeper.
“Seven days Conrad lay in a raging fever. At their close, reason returned, and they learned from him the vision which had so haunted him, and wondered over the strange phase of life, in which action had been involuntary, but dual.
“They buried Reinhold under the tree where he had shot himself, and kept it covered with flowers, watered by tears.
“Poor Rosa returned to her home with her good parents, and pined slowly away. Conrad held his brother's memory sacred, and never breathed words of love to his affianced. 'She will be his in Heaven,' he said, as he walked with his sister one day to his grave; and when the Summer flowers faded they made another beside it, for Rosa went to join Reinhold, and to guard, with tender love, Conrad and Marie.”
Krepsel rose from the chair. The hours were waning.
“We can have but one more,” said the leader, “and from whom shall it be?”
“From Berthhold,” cried several voices.
“I have seen his eyes full of strange, weird tales to-night,” said one.