Page:Hoffmann's Strange Stories - Hoffman - 1855.djvu/97

 nerves, whilst his lips burned under the kisses of the enchantress. Suddenly he saw rise up behind her Dapertutto, dressed in red, who presented to him an iron pen, saying:—"Write and sign!" At the same time, a little vein in the left hand of Erasmus burst, and the blood flowed.—"Sign, my beloved," murmured Giulietta. The work was about to be accomplished—Erasmus had dipped the pen into his blood, and leaned over to write, when a white figure came out of the floor, and placed itself between him and Giulietta.

"In the name of the Saviour," said the figure, sobbing, "do it not."

It was the shade of his mother! Erasmus threw the pen on the ground, and tore up the writing. Immediately the eyes of Giulietta threw out blood-red flames; her beautiful face decomposed, and her whole body became covered with greenish sparks. Erasmus Spicker made the sign of the cross, and Giulietta and Dapertutto vanished grumblingly in a whirlwind of sulphurous smoke, which extinguished the light. The poor man remained long in a faint. At the break of day, a fresh breeze re-animated him; he went back to his wife, whom he found still in bed, She held out her hand to him, and said, "Poor friend, I have learnt this night in a dream, the adventure which deprived thee of thy reflection in Italy. I pity and pardon thee. The power of the demon is great, but God is stronger than he. I hope that now the charm is destroyed, for I have prayed for thee all night long. Here, take this mirror and look."

Erasmus grew pale. The glass did not reproduce his face; and he let it fall. "Ah!" continued his wife, "it appears that thou has not done sufficient penitence. Well, my dear husband, thou must go back to Italy, and seek for thy reflection. Some good saint will perhaps force the devil to give it back to thee. Kiss me, Erasmus, and mayst thou have a good journey! When thou shalt have become a perfect man again, thou mayst come back to thy home; and thou shalt receive a good welcome."