door. They all followed the direction of her hand, and what was their surprise-the river had swelled to a sea-the isthmus was overflowed. The water-spirits had served Undine by arranging themselves as a guard around her knight. She laughed as they surveyed it with dismay; and when Hildebrand turned upon her, and saw the radiance of her beauty, he ceased to regret that he was a prisoner.

Many days passed, and the flood still continued; and then even weeks passed by. But the knight felt no impatience, for Undine amused him daily, hourly, with the variations of her spirits, the liveliness of her impressions, the variety of her ideas. There was, indeed, a want of reasonableness in her joy and in her sadness; and there was little sympathy with others; for she would be gay when all the rest were sad, and sad when all the rest were gay; and her impressions, though lively at the moment, were not permanent in their effects; for she would be melted at the softness of an evening twilight, and yet be harsh in her expressions as soon as

the beauty had passed; she would be enlivened by the glow of the morning, but it would give her no buoyancy to bear the ensuing cloud. And though she had so many ideas, they were not in a continuous chain; they turned to no account; they formed no view of any subject, tending to a useful end. But the knight used his soul so little, he did not perceive these deficiences.

These successive weeks of intercourse had so filled his mind with the image of Undine, not another thought gained entrance; and he only wished the flood to subside, that he might obtain a priest to marry them. One evening, when he was saying this, there was a knock at the door. They started in great surprise, and on opening the door, a priest walked in. He was dripping wet, and very much frightened, and told a confused story of spirits in the wood, and of being immersed in the flood, and of his relief in seeing a light, and his thankfulness in having fallen among christians.

He was soon restored to his senses, and to a

comfortable state, by the hospitality of the fisherman and his wife. They told him he had come in good time to celebrate the wedding, and Hildebrand and Undine were so impatient, that the old woman hunted up some wax tapers, and brought out the beautiful rings, which she had taken from Undine's necklace on the night of her arrival, and the priest gave the lovers to each other with brief and solemn words.

Undine was silent during the ceremony, but it was not long before her wild spirits broke forth again, and she began to play all sorts of childish tricks, and not only on her bridegroom and her foster parents, but even on the old priest. The old woman sighed deeply, that even the sacred ceremony of marriage did not make Undine thoughtful and serious, and the knight himself was troubled. He winked, made signs, reproved in words, but in vain. She indeed took notice of his reproofs, and would look thoughtful and tremble, but immediately some mad thought would rush into her mind and drive her into some mischievous prank, ten times

worse than before. At last the priest said to her very seriously—"Sweet Undine, we all love thy merriment, but thou must learn to put thy soul in tune, that it may always vibrate in harmony with that of thy husband." "Soul!" said Undine, "but what if one happens to have no soul?" The priest was silent, his piety was shocked, and they all gazed at her almost with shuddering. She saw this and burst into a flood of sad, but no longer passionate tears. "A soul must be something very dear," she said; "but oh! how heavy! "Dearest Undine," said the knight, "what is it oppresses thy sweet spirit?"

"Thou hast made me immortal," she replied; "is it the coming soul that thus overwhelms me?" And clinging to him like a child to its parent, she drew her veil over her face. The knight caressed her with his voice, as if she were an alarmed infant, and begged them all to leave her. The old folks blessed them, and also the priest; who added, “I have wedded you to a charming, but a wonderful creature; I recommend to you prudence, love, and faith." And they left him to soothe her to sleep.