and sometimes she closed her weary eye, and tears hung on her eyelashes.

"It was on a quiet evening, we alone as usual; I came overwhelmed with conflicting feelings, because I was wanting in all the qualifications of a hypocrite; my heart rebelled against the opposition which threatened to destroy my life.

"The wings of the windmill went round beneath the evening sky; it seemed like a mockery of all my thoughts and deeds, that everlasting monotony of the beating of wooden wings, that interminable game of those arms stretching out in vain.

"I was more daring, she softer than usual; she would even on that day deny me the right of devout exercise. Then I assumed the stern tone of a spiritual bridegroom, and she obeyed hesitatingly; the spirit of grace seemed to have left her, she seemed to be seized with a tremor before the might of passion, with rapture into which her own beauty transported her. And, indeed, I thought her more beautiful than ever on that day; pious words died upon her lips; I covered them with glowing kisses, and folded her in my arms.

"The spiritual bride had become a mortal woman, the grey ashes of penitence had been wafted away by all the winds of heaven, and the Vulcan of earthly affection had obstructed the Paradise of those Saints with red-hot lava.

"She released herself from my arms, and rushed, sobbing, upon her knees before the prie dieu, to which she clung convulsively.

"I explained to her that, from that day, I should look upon her as my betrothed, and begged her to accept my heart and hand.

"She looked up at me with a glance full of emotion and love, as it appeared to me, for she uttered no word, nor did she rise from her knees.

"With equal decision, however, I told her that we must both leave the circle of saints, that for long already my heart had rebelled against the doctrine of sanctity and this playing with sin; that I no longer believed in the marriage of souls, but that now I perceived the goal of that love which takes possession of the entire man, in giving up mind and body.

"Then the penitent arose, and, with clasped bands, gazed at me with a look of pity.

"'There is one atonement for sin,' said she, 'if the right spirit of sanctity dwells within us; but he who renounces that spirit is lost; he destroys the bond of the community of souls, for this and for the next life.'

"'Paulina,' cried I, 'you have heard my offer, and you would still thus refuse to be mine?'

"'Why shall marriage,' replied she, 'not be the pillar of lasting communion of souls? Even our principal children of light, even the Witnesses of the Revelation are united, and gladly would I traverse the path of life with you. But never shall I sacrifice the incorruptible to the corruptible! You shut yourself out from the companions of our union, as soon as you release yourself from our faith. Then I shall no longer be your spiritual bride, and it would be impious to become your earthly wife.'

"I still spoke to her in the imploring language of passion; I folded her ardently in my arms, she did not repel me, yet she remained cold, and the pupils of her eyes dilated with a strange wandering light.

"'You are too agitated to-day,' I said to her. 'Recover yourself, I will come again to talk more quietly.'

"'It will not make any difference,' said she, coldly. 'I have sinned, I know it, but for such sin there is forgiveness; I will go to him who occupies a high position in the spiritual kingdom, to the perfect man; I will confess to him, and he will pardon my guilt! But there is no atonement for those who draw back from the earnestness of sanctification, and return into the darkness of the world and their ruin, because the shadow of death, will fall upon them, and they are faithless and have succumbed to the devil. Return to us,' she cried, imploringly, 'then I will be your wife upon earth, as some day in heaven; believe once more in the sanctification which you have impiously desecrated with unbelief, because the acknowledgment of the truth has power to sanctify everything.'

"'Never,' said I now. 'I shall not return, and just as little shall I tolerate that my wife be sanctified by the witnesses and angels.'

"She replied that she should never separate herself from a community in which she had found her soul's eternal salvation.

"My heart seemed to be pierced and torn; was it possible that she, in whom I had found the delight of my life, was lost to me? Was it credible that now we parted coldly and distantly?

"It had become late; I descended the dark staircase of the house, when I heard a merry, childish voice, and touched a nurse's dress in passing.

"'The little Salden?' asked I.

"'Yes, my Herr,' was the reply.

"I stroked the hair and cheeks of the little one, who seemed to nestle against her companion in alarm.

"'Do not be afraid,' said I, 'go play with your dolls; it is the same game that the saints indulge in with theirs.'

"As I descended the stairs still farther, I heard above me another surreptitious chuckle, followed by cheerful laughter.

"During a sleepless night, the late occurrences impressed themselves with glowing characters into my soul--the intoxication of bliss, and the anguish of renunciation--and hastening down from a brightly-illumined hill, I followed a woman wandering through chasms from one dark abyss to another; her tattered robe caught on every thorn, but her beautiful form gleamed from the depths below.