E. BUNNETT
CHAPTER VIII
The Day after the wedding
The fresh light of the morning awoke the young married pair. Undine
hid bashfully beneath her covers while Huldbrand lay still, absorbed
in deep meditation. Wonderful and horrible dreams had disturbed
Huldbrand's rest; he had been haunted by spectres, who, grinning at
him by stealth, had tried to disguise themselves as beautiful women,
and from beautiful women they all at once assumed the faces of
dragons, and when he started up from these hideous visions the
moonlight shone pale and cold into the room; terrified he looked at
Undine on whose bosom he fell asleep and who still lay in unaltered
beauty and grace. Then he would press a light kiss upon her rosy lips
and would fall asleep again only to be awakened by new terrors.
After he had reflected on all this, now that he was fully awake, he
reproached himself for any doubt that could have led him into error
with regard to his beautiful wife. He begged her to forgive him for
the injustice he had done her, but she only held out to him her fair
hand, sighed deeply, and remained silent. But a glance of exquisite
fervor, such as he had never seen before, beamed from her eyes,
carrying with it the full assurance that Undine bore him no ill-will.
He then rose cheerfully and left her, to join his friends in the
common apartment.
He found the three sitting round the hearth with an air of anxiety,
as if they dared not venture to speak aloud.
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