to do here? Liesli would not certainty return again. I determined upon pursuing her, but where should I find her amidst this throng of half a million of people—and in the middle of the night too? I had happily succeeded in escaping from the claws of the Frenchman and the police—but no where could my eyes in any direction meet the form of Liesli. Fatigued and half dead with exhaustion, I returned home, with my prize under my arm.
My landlord’s family, who had also been to witness the grand spectacle, had just returned: I showed them the shawl, and related how I had obtained it. The wife and daughters held up their hands in wonder and admiration at the splendour of the pattern and fineness of the texture. In their estimation it was worth at least a thousand ducats, and they congratulated me upon my good fortune. But at this I was only the more melancholy and alarmed, particularly as they went on praising the real Turkish texture, its softness, and the tasteful arrangement of colours which it displayed, for now I felt convinced that the noble and graceful creature that had been thrown into my arms by the crowd, had not been my Liesli; for, how could that poor girl, who, but a short twelvemonth before, had held her hands before her eyes to avoid the sight of the precipice, which, when contemplating her helpless situation, seemed to yawn before her, how, I say, could she have come to be the owner of such a splendid article? How, indeed, could she have come here at all?
I could hardly close my eyes the whole of the night. At one moment I wished to persuade myself that it was indeed Liesli whom I had seen; then again, I would fain have wished it might be a mistake; for, were it herself, no doubt she was either become the wife of some very rich man, or else she had acquired the dreadful art of selling her angelic charms—but no! I exclaimed to myself—I will not entertain such a thought for a moment—it is not possible!—That young girl—that innocent creature, who but twelve months ago, so
E 3
