affairs, and remove, by her countenance, any suspicions which might arise
from the presence of Hermione, as the beautiful Persian was generally
called. The countess Waldstetten carried her complaisance so far, as to
be present on almost all occasions, whether in the laboratory or library,
when the Baron of Arnheim received lessons from, or pursued studies with,
the young and lovely tutor, who had been thus strangely substituted for
the aged Magus. If this lady's report was to be trusted, their pursuits
were of a most extraordinary nature, and the results which she sometimes
witnessed were such as to create fear as well as surprise. But she
accordingly vindicated them from practising unlawful arts, or overstepping
the boundaries of natural science. A better judge of such matters, the
Bishop of Bamberg himself, made a visit to Arnheim, on purpose to witness
the wisdom of which so much was reported through the whole Rhine country.
He conversed with Hermione, and found her deeply impressed with the truths
of religion, and so perfectly acquainted with its doctrines, that he
compared her to a doctor of theology in the dress of an Eastern
dancing-girl. When asked regarding her knowledge of languages and science,
he answered that he had been attracted to Arnheim by the most extravagant
reports on these points, but that he must return confessing 'the half
thereof had not been told unto him.'

"Meantime a marked alteration began to take place in the interviews
between the lovely tutor and her pupil. These were conducted with the same
caution as before, and never, so far as could be observed, took place
without the presence of the countess of Waldstetten, or some other third
person of respectability. But the scenes of these meetings were no longer
the scholar's library, or the chemist's laboratory;--the gardens, the
groves, were resorted to for amusement, and parties of hunting and
fishing, with evenings spent in the dance, seemed to announce that the
studies of wisdom were for a time abandoned for the pursuits of pleasure.