"You can yet have it. A stroke of the pen, and you snatch therewith
the poor unhappy Mina from the claws of the villain into the arms of
the most honored Count--as observed, only a stroke of the pen."
My tears burst forth with fresh impetuosity, but I turned away and
motioned to him to withdraw himself. Bendel, who, filled with anxiety,
had traced me to this spot, at this moment arrived. When the kind good
soul found me weeping, and saw my shadow, which could not be mistaken,
in the power of the mysterious gray man, he immediately resolved, was
it even by force, to restore to me the possession of my property;
and as he did not understand how to deal with such a tender thing, he
immediately assaulted the man with words, and, without much asking,
ordered him bluntly to return my property to me. Instead of an answer,
he turned his back to the innocent young fellow and went. But Bendel
up with his buckthorn cudgel which he carried, and, following on his
heels, without mercy, and with reiterated commands to give up the
shadow, made him feel the full force of his vigorous arm. He, as
accustomed to such handling, ducked his head, rounded his shoulders,
and with silent and deliberate steps pursued his way over the heath,
at once going off with my shadow and my faithful servant. I long heard
the heavy sounds roll over the waste, till they were finally lost in
the distance.
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