“And he! where is he?” she asked with an imploring look. “He! Karl!”
The old man looked at her with surprise, as though he thought her senses were still wavering.
“He carried me off, did he not?” she continued feebly; “or was it a dream? Was it only a strange dream? No, no! I remember all—how we flew through the air; and then the rushing waters. Oh! tell me; where is he?”
The bishop now comprehended that she spoke of the witchfinder; and said, “He is gone for ever, to his last great account.”
Magdalena groaned bitterly, and again closed her eyes. But it was evident that she still retained her consciousness; for her lips were moving faintly, as if in prayer.
“Is there no hope?” enquired the bishop in a whisper of the physician. “Nothing can be done?”
“No hope!” replied the leech. “I have done all that medical skill can do; I can do no more, your highness.”
At a sign from the bishop, the physician withdrew.
Shortly after, the dying woman again unclosed her eyes, and looked around her at the strange room in which she lay. A recollection of the past seemed to come across her, slowly and painfully; and she again pressed her feeble hand to her brow.
“Why am I here?” she murmured. “Why do I again see this scene of folly and sin? O Lord! why bring before my thus, in this last hour, the living memory of my past transgressions?”