fall. We instantly called to the workmen to stop, and ordered the horses to be unfastened from the ropes; but the question now was, how we were to get the guest out of the tottering building without betraying all. My friend was so agitated by fear that she could hardly stand; I do not know how, but I mustered courage enough to determine to call him myself. Let him conjecture what he will, thought I, so he be once rescued. I accordingly ran to his chamber, and knocked at the door, and when I heard him move I quickly withdrew ; but, as I saw nothing of him, I knocked again; the 'come in,' which he called out lustily, frightened me away again; I now felt the floor begin to shake under me. In my terror, I forced open the door, and was about to enter, when he approached me with a light. He may, I dare say, have taken me in my white dress for a ghost, or for a nun come back again, but I was very glad to see him up, and to hear him follow me, as I hastened back again. He continued to pursue me till I got into a little court at some distance; I returned by a shorter way to the workmen, and upon my giving them a sign that the stranger was in safety, the old walls with a tremendous crash fell in. I took care not to be seen by him again, as he might have recognized me, and that would have betrayed our roguery; but I would not willingly experience the anxiety of that night's adventure again."

“And is it then really possible," exclaimed the coun

THE SPECTRE UNMASKED.

sellor, clasping his wife to his breast, "thou didst really venture into the tottering and nearly falling building to become a protecting angel to that stranger?”

"

Oh, there was nothing to wonder at,” replied the

lady;
"the danger overcame every other consideration.
But really I do not understand this—am I betrayed?
you look at me, my love, with such particular affection,
and the professor there is laughing again like a wild
man-what does all this mean?"

"You shall soon know," replied the counsellor. “ While you were absent, I told the professor, for the sake of convincing him of the error of his incredulity, how once a protecting spirit had conducted me out of a house, which I had no sooner quitted than it fell down; and now I find that this spirit was no other than that dear angel, who soon after began to accompany me through life in a corporeal form-my Antonia.”

66

"How," exclaimed the lady, were you then that

commissioner?"

Exactly. Ettmüller, who was unwell at the time, commissioned me to execute that business for him."

66

Oh, this is indeed delightful," embracing her husband affectionately.

“The professor would indeed now triumph, if these brave Cosaks had not embraced your cause against his unbelief."

"You may give up my cause," said his wife smiling.

"I had very good grounds for my foreboding respecting the visit of this night. My brother, as you know, is with the Prussians in the neighbourhood. He sent me, this morning, a letter for his wife, with a secret injunction to deliver it this evening to a Cosak who would ask for it; but if no one came I was to burn it directly. The address on it was, I conclude, merely to deceive. The Cosak was true to his commission, and had the letter and something to drink besides. My brother will excuse himself for making this a secret to you."

"Bravo! admirable!" shouted the professor; " and so can all visions and marvellous stories be elucidated, I doubt not."

"I heartily agree with you," said the lady, "and can fulfil your expectation on the spot as to your holy graal. You may remember I told you my story originated in my seeing that, and now in justice I must return to it. The amtman, my friend's husband, was quite inconsolable for the loss of his treasures; for though we had preserved the greater part in safety, yet we had not saved all, for we poor ignorant folks could not appreciate the inestimable value of some of the old pottery; but nothing grieved him so much as the loss of one vessel of inconceivable rarity; and my friend, who was heartily tired of his endless lamentations, wrote to me to get something antique like it for her directly, which might banish from his mind the recollection of his loss. I knew not where to find

such a curiosity; and so, that nothing might be wanting on my part, I went to our potter, or, as he chose to call himself, to the master modeller, and ordered, according to a design I gave him, a cup to look as like an antique as was possible. The man was highly flattered by the commission, and must needs put his name and title at length on the vase, which of course rendered it useless for my purpose; he was therefore obliged to begin it over again, and I failed not to enjoin him from putting his name, as the vase was intended to pass for the work of a master who had been dead more than a thousand years. Nevertheless, as I now find, he must have promised himself immortality from his labours, as he could not refrain from inserting his initials at least, under the handle, to hand them down to posterity."

"The devil!” cried the professor, with rather a clouded

brow.

"So it is," continued the lady. "Look here, as I read it, your inscription proves Adam Stephen Graal

did it.'

The counsellor burst out into a laugh, but the professor

would not give up his graal yet. "You jest, madam! Ay, ay, this is all an invention of your own. Very good, upon my word."

“It is perfectly true, nevertheless,” replied she; you may convince yourself by my friend Graal's first essay, which I fortunately have preserved, and where the

inscription is legible at full length. I shall be happy to present you with it as a new curiosity for your museum.'

A general laugh from every one present put an end to the conversation; and they all unanimously agreed neither to be superstitious themselves, nor to blame credulity too hastily in others.