XIV. Night Visions

THE sun had gone down, and the clouds lay low on the valley of the Rhone. The wind blew from the south across the mountains; it was an African wind, a wind which scattered¹ the clouds for a moment, and then suddenly fell. The broken clouds hung in fantastic forms upon the wood-covered hills by the rapid Rhone. They assumed the shapes of antediluvian² animals, of eagles hovering³ in the air, of frogs leaping over a marsh⁴, and then sunk down upon the rushing stream and appeared to sail upon it, although floating in the air. An uprooted⁵ fir-tree was being carried away by the current, and marking out its path by eddying⁶ circles on the water. Vertigo⁷ and his sisters were dancing upon it, and raising these circles on the foaming⁸ river. The moon lighted up the snow on the mountain-tops, shone on the dark woods, and on the drifting clouds those fantastic forms which at night might be taken for spirits of the powers of nature. The mountain-dweller saw them through the panes⁹ of his little window. They sailed in hosts before the Ice Maiden¹⁰ as she came out of her palace of ice. Then she seated herself on the trunk of the fir-tree as on a broken skiff, and the water from the glaciers¹¹ carried her down the river to the open lake.

“The wedding guests are coming,” sounded from air and sea. These were the sights and sounds without; within there were visions, for Babette had a wonderful dream. She dreamt that she had been married to Rudy for many years, and that, one day when he was out chamois hunting, and she alone in their dwelling¹² at home, the young Englishman with the golden whiskers sat with her. His eyes were quite eloquent¹³, and his words possessed¹⁴ a magic power; he offered her his hand, and she was obliged to follow him. They went out of the house and stepped downwards¹⁵, always downwards, and it seemed to Babette as if she had a weight on her heart which continually grew heavier. She felt she was committing a sin against Rudy, a sin against God. Suddenly she found herself forsaken¹⁶, her clothes torn by the thorns, and her hair gray; she looked upwards¹⁷ in her agony, and there, on the edge of the rock, she espied¹⁸ Rudy. She stretched out her arms to him, but she did not venture to call him or to pray; and had she called him, it would have been useless, for it was not Rudy, only his hunting coat and hat hanging on an alpenstock, as the hunters sometimes arrange them to deceive the chamois. “Oh!” she exclaimed in her agony; “oh, that I had died on the happiest day of my life, my wedding-day. O my God, it would have been a mercy and a blessing¹⁹ had Rudy travelled far away from me, and I had never known him. None know what will happen in the future.” And then, in ungodly despair, she cast herself down into the deep rocky gulf²⁰. The spell was broken; a cry of terror escaped her, and she awoke.

The dream was over; it had vanished. But she knew she had dreamt something frightful²¹ about the young Englishman, yet months had passed since she had seen him or even thought of him. Was he still at Montreux, and should she meet him there on her wedding day? A slight shadow passed over her pretty mouth as she thought of this, and she knit her brows; but the smile soon returned to her lip, and joy sparkled in her eyes, for this was the morning of the day on which she and Rudy were to be married, and the sun was shining brightly. Rudy was already in the parlor²² when she entered it, and they very soon started for Villeneuve. Both of them were overflowing²³ with happiness, and the miller²⁴ was in the best of tempers, laughing and merry; he was a good, honest soul, and a kind father.

“Now we are masters of the house,” said the parlor-cat.