Page:The New Monthly Magazine - Volume 095.djvu/265

258 your herald in the other world, I must e'en take upon myself the office; but you will repent it. … We shall soon meet again."

He is ordered away, and the young knight is called on.

The king became suddenly as white as a corpse; he foamed at the mouth with rage, and his hand grasped the hilt of his sword. In another moment he had drawn it from its scabbard, and, like a maniac, he rushed upon the prisoner, who stood immovable and laughing scornfully. But Drost Peder sprang forward and forced himself between the prisoner and the enraged monarch.

The king’s fury seemed calmed in a moment; he returned the sword slowly to its scabbard; but at the same time he cast a withering look on the noble Drost.

The king’s adventure with the beautiful somnambulist is a curious scene: he is exceedingly terrified by the visions which she relates while in a state of deep slumber and perfect unconsciousness. Duke Waldemar’s imprisonment—the Lady Inge’s solitary, dreamy existence in her father’s remote castle, until the stirring events of the times draw her into active life and participation in some wild scenes—the struggles in her mind between patriotic feelings and duty to her father—the murder-scene, and many others, are extremely well described. "Prince Otto of Denmark” is a shorter work, but one also of great interest. There are many striking scenes in it; but of one in particular we may give an outline, though it is too long to give a translation of it.