The gate opened, and then closed immediately behind them; whereupon Bertha perceived with surprise, that they had to cross a small lake of the purest water, wherein the moon and stars were reflected in all their loveliness. A bark came, self-impelled, floating towards them, in which they took their places, and were gently ferried across. Bertha perceived immediately, on the ramparts and towers, the waving and fragrance of the tall white flowers of which her brother had spoken with her when he lay on his sick-bed. Now she understood for the first time the full force of his descriptions, when she was sailing on the tranquil waters of that lake, with the odours of those white flowers bathing her temples and floating around her. From the building within came the sound of harps and cymbals, as if in friendly salutation; and when the two voyagers had disembarked, and begun to walk through the long vaulted halls, those pleasant sounds became always louder and more articulate. Every room was illuminated, but with a mild pensive light; for it was from the reflection of the full moon, by mirrors so contrived, that her rays were multiplied and cast without shadow on every object. At last, entering into a great hall with Gothic arches, Bertha perceived whence had arisen that music with which her senses had before been refreshed and delighted. This apartment was filled with wonderful mechanism, such as no artisan could imitate. Golden rings, self-moved, turned round their endless circles, and as they touched each other, produced the most exquisite melody. These rings also set in motion the cymbals, and awoke the harp-strings, which were stretched, like a magical net-work, between the pillars. Bertha was now able to imagine how that damsel must have been soothed into refreshing sleep, as her brother had described; she too, having seated herself on a soft couch, soon lost herself in pleasant dreams; from which, if at times she half awoke, she beheld and heard those magic rings circling around her, and the tranquil eyes, with their moonlike radiance, of the watchful Druda. CHAPTER XIV. How the Lady Bertha was left alone in the Druda’s castle. Henceforward Bertha’s life in the castle was spent as if in the threshold between two worlds, one while occupied with childish plays, and at another with gleams of higher wisdom, derived from sources mysterious and far remote. As her brother rode up now and then to the gates, she spoke with him from the ramparts, told him of all the wonders that she had beheld, and how happily she now lived. He, on the other hand, rejoiced, that her cheeks wore the rose of health, contrasting with the white flowers by which she was there surrounded; and so they always parted from each other in hope and confidence.