To rebel against the mandate was impossible; but obedience would render me the executioner of my wife.

My will was strong, but my limbs refused their office.
"She returned with a light; I led the way to the chamber; she looked round her; she lifted the curtain of the bed; she saw nothing.
"At length, she fixed inquiring eyes upon me.

The light now enabled her to discover in my visage what darkness had hitherto concealed.

Her cares were now transferred from my sister to myself, and she said in a tremulous voice, "Wieland! you are not well: What ails you?
Can I do nothing for you ?" "That accents and looks so winning should disarm me of my resolution, was to be expected.

My thoughts were thrown anew into anarchy.