I seized my hat, and was about to leave the house, when I heard a sudden noise at the street-door, and a flurry of agitated steps up the stairs. Immediately afterward, the door of the room was thrown violently open, and Astræa rushed in, pale and disheveled. She was evidently in a state of great alarm and consternation, and turning wildly round, beckoned me to see that the door was made fast. She could not speak, drawing her breath hysterically, like a person laboring under the effects of a serious fright. "Tranquilize yourself, Astræa," I cried; "there is nothing to fear here. What is it? What has alarmed you?" "It is _he_," she replied, fixing her eyes wildly upon me--"_he_ is coming." "Who?" "He who has been upon our track ever and ever--who has never quitted us--who never will leave us till we are dead." I did not dare to ask in words, but I asked with my eyes if it was the dwarf she meant. "Ay, it is he. Be calm. It is your turn now to show your strength of mind--to show whether you value the life I have devoted to you. I hoped to have concealed this from you. We have suffered enough, and I hoped to have hidden from you what I have suffered. But it is too late now. Hush! O God!--that was his voice. You do not hear it--I do! It rings through and through my brain. He is here--he has followed me. If you ever loved me--and I know you did once!--prove it to me now. Go into the next room, and promise me to stay there whatever happens. Listen; but speak not--stir not. He is on the stairs!--will you not give me your promise? Trust all to me--rely on me--be sure of me. Let go the door--he is here!" I made no answer, but conveying to Astræa by a searching look that it was my purpose to watch the issue, I withdrew by one door, while the dwarf entered by the other. His voice, as he approached her, sounded in my ears like the hiss of a serpent. "I have found you, then, at last--and alone, Astræa!" "Why do you follow me thus?" exclaimed Astræa, who stood motionless in the centre of the room, making a great effort to appear bold and calm, but shuddering in every fibre beneath. "Why do I follow you? What should I do else?" "Live like other men. Seek occupation--any thing, rather than plunge your own life and mine into this eternal horror." "Have I not occupation? Am I not attending you every where? Have I not enough to do in waiting upon you from place to place?" "Abandon that fiendish mockery, and speak like a human being. What is it you want?" The dwarf coiled himself up at this question, as if he were distilling all the venom out of his black heart into the answer.