As he lay in his narrow bed that night, he conjured the Almighty by every petition he could think of, to permit her to return, if only for a moment, and allay his bitter fears by one means or the other. But no answer came to his prayer. No sound nor sight came out of the darkness to afford him the consolation of knowing that his prayer had reached the Throne. His Heavenly Father had deserted him; he was a child left out in the darkness and the cold; left to find his way home by himself. If he wandered from the beaten track, who could blame him? No helping hand was stretched out to guide him; no light appeared in the distance to show him the way; he must penetrate the Mysteries of Nature by himself, and as best he could. Once or twice during that long night, the Professor fancied he saw a faint, tremulous movement of the curtains that hung round his bed--thought he heard a whisper penetrate the air;--but he listened, and strained his eyes in vain--nothing more rewarded his rapt attention. “Leonora! my beloved!” he said, in a low voice, as he sat up in bed, and tried to pierce the gloom with his mortal vision; “Leonora! come to me--speak to me! Tell me the truth! I will not be angry now! I know we all have sinned, and you were but mortal like myself--only solve these doubts. If you were innocent of wronging me--if that bitter blow was a foul injury to your faith to me, I will bear the purgatory it will bring me, thankfully, only to know that you are dwelling in the Light of God! And if it was only an act of justice--if, in the heat of your youth and carelessness, you were unfaithful to your marriage vow, I forgive you, my Beloved,--I forgive you from my heart, and will tell you so, as soon as we meet in another world. Only come to me, my wife--only look at me! whisper one word of affection, and I shall live and die, content!” So the poor lover and husband raved, only to be answered by silence and gloom. Leonora was there! He felt it, but he had not sufficient power by himself, to enable her to manifest her spiritual presence to him. If Steinberg would not sit with him, he must find some one else--for he could not stand the suspense and anxiety much longer.