"Erica!" cried a voice at this moment from the wood--a voice which thrilled her whole frame. "My Erica!"
She not only looked towards the wood now, but sprang forwards; but her eyes were so dazzled by having gazed at the sun that she could see nothing. Then she remembered how many forms the cunning demon could assume, and she turned back thinking how cruel it was to delude her with her lover's voice, when instead of his form she should doubtless see some horrid monster. She turned in haste, and laid her hand on the latch of the door, glancing once more at the horizon.
There was now no sun at all. The burnish was gone from every point of the landscape, and a mild twilight reigned.
One good omen had vanished; but there was still enchantment around, for again she heard the thrilling "Erica!"
There was no huge beast glaring through the pine stems, and trampling down the thicket; but instead, there was the figure of a man advancing from the shadow into the pasture. "Why do you take that form?" said the trembling girl, sinking down on the bench. "I had rather have seen you as a bear. Did you not find the axe? I laid it for you. Pray--pray, come no nearer."
"I must, my love, to show you that it is your own Rolf. Erica, do not let your superstition come for ever between us."
She held out her arms--she could not rise, though she strove to do so. Rolf sat beside her--she felt his kisses on her forehead--she felt his heart beat--she felt that not even a spirit could assume the very tones of that voice.
"Do forgive me," she murmured; "but it is Mid-summer Eve, and I felt so sure----"
"As sure of my being the demon as I am sure there is no cruel spirit here, though it is Midsummer Eve. Look, love! see how the day smiles upon us!"
And he pointed to where a golden star seemed to kindle on the edge of the sea. It was the sun again, rising after its few minutes of absence.
"I saw two just now," cried Erica--"two suns. Where are we, really? And how is all this? And where do you come from?"
And she gazed, still wistfully, doubtfully, in her lover's face.
"I will show you," said he, smiling. And while he still held her with one arm, lest in some sudden fancy she should fly him as a ghost, he used the other hand to empty his pockets of the beautiful shells he had brought, tossing them into her lap.