"Lady," said he, with a warning gesture, "you are in peril!" "Peril!"
she exclaimed. "And of what nature?"
"There is a certain maiden," replied the magician, "who has come out
of the realm of mystery, and made herself your most intimate
companion. Now, the fates have so ordained it, that, whether by her
own will or no, this stranger is your deadliest enemy. In love, in
worldly fortune, in all your pursuit of happiness, she is doomed to
fling a blight over your prospects. There is but one possibility of
thwarting her disastrous influence."
"Then tell me that one method," said the lady.
"Take this veil," he answered, holding forth the silvery texture.
"It is a spell; it is a powerful enchantment, which I wrought for her
sake, and beneath which she was once my prisoner. Throw it, at
unawares, over the head of this secret foe, stamp your foot, and cry,
'Arise, Magician! Here is the Veiled Lady!' and immediately I will
rise up through the earth, and seize her; and from that moment you
are safe!"
So the lady took the silvery veil, which was like woven air, or like
some substance airier than nothing, and that would float upward and
be lost among the clouds, were she once to let it go. Returning
homeward, she found the shadowy girl amid the knot of visionary
transcendentalists, who were still seeking for the better life. She
was joyous now, and had a rose-bloom in her cheeks, and was one of
the prettiest creatures, and seemed one of the happiest, that the
world could show.
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