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PHANTASIES: |
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in her face, he passed on to the mightiest charm he knew. Suddenly the lady turned and walked out of the door of her reflected chamber. A moment after, she entered his room with veritable presence; and, forgetting all his precautions, he sprang from the charmed circle, and knelt before her. There she stood, the living lady of his passionate visions, alone beside him, in a thundery twilight, and the glow of a magic fire.
"Why," said the lady, with a trembling voice, " didst thou bring a poor maiden through the rainy streets alone?"
" Because I am dying for love of thee; but I only brought thee from the mirror there."
"Ah, the mirror!" and she looked up at it, and shuddered. "Alas! I am but a slave, while that mirror exists. But do not think it was the power of thy spells that drew me; it was thy longing desire to see me, that beat at the door of my heart, till I was forced to yield."
"Canst thou love me then?" said Cosmo, in a voice calm as death, but almost inarticulate with emotion.
" I do not know," she replied [sadly; " that I cannot tell, so long as I am bewildered with enchant- |
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