But he, in a few words, asked the bridegroom to return with him into the castle; and when Huldbrand stood mute with surprise, and delayed complying with his earnest request, the pious preacher said to him-- "I do not know why I should want to speak to you in private; what I have to say as much concerns Bertalda and the fisherman as yourself; and what we must at some time hear, it is best to hear as soon as possible.

Are you, then, so very certain, Knight Huldbrand, that your first wife is actually dead?
I can hardly think it.

I will say nothing, indeed, of the mysterious state in which she may be now existing; I know nothing of it with certainty.

But that she was a most devoted and faithful wife is beyond all dispute.

And for fourteen nights past, she has appeared to me in a dream, standing at my bedside wringing her tender hands in anguish, and sighing out, 'Ah, prevent him, dear father! I am still living! Ah, save his life! Ah, save his soul!' "I did not understand what this vision of the night could mean, then came your messenger; and I have now hastened hither, not to unite, but, as I hope, to separate what ought not to be joined together.