" I cannot tell how it was, but upon hearing him
speak thus, I was seized with such a fit of foolish rage that I fairly
trembled. On a sudden the entire fellow, with his bedizened coat, his
big feet, his snuff, his big nose, and everything about him, became
odious to me. Quite beside myself, I seized him by the breast of his
coat and said, "Home with you, Porter, on the instant, or I'll send
you there in a way you won't like!" At these words the Porter was
more than ever convinced that I was crazy. He gazed at me with evident
fear, extricated himself from my grasp, and went without a word,
looking reproachfully back at me, and striding toward the castle,
where he reported me as stark, staring mad.
But after all I burst into a hearty laugh, glad in fact to be rid of
the pompous fellow, for it was just the hour when I was wont to carry
my nosegay to the arbor. I clambered over the wall, and was just about
to place the flowers on the marble table, when I heard the sound of a
horse's hoofs at some distance. There was no time for escape; my Lady
fair was riding slowly along the avenue in a green hunting-habit,
apparently lost in thought. All that I had read in an old book of my
father's about the beautiful Magelona came into my head--how she used
to appear among the tall forest-trees, when horns were echoing and
evening shadows were flitting through the glades. I could not
stir from the spot.
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