CHAPTER IX.
HOW THE KNIGHT TOOK HIS YOUNG WIFE WITH HIM.
When Huldbrand awoke from his sleep on the following morning, and missed his beautiful wife from his side, he began to indulge again in the strange thoughts, that his marriage and the charming Undine herself were but fleeting and deceptive illusions.

But at the same moment she entered the room, sat down beside him, and said: "I have been out rather early to see if my uncle keeps his word.

He has already led all the waters back again into his own calm channel, and he now flows through the forest, solitarily and dreamily as before.
His friends in the water and the air have also returned to repose: all will again go on quietly and regularly, and you can travel homeward when you will, dry-shod." It seemed to Huldbrand as though he were in a waking dream, so little could he reconcile himself to the strange relationship of his wife.

Nevertheless he made no remark on the matter, and the exquisite grace of his bride soon lulled to rest every uneasy misgiving.

When he was afterward standing before the door with her, and looking over the green peninsula with its boundary of clear waters, he felt so happy in this cradle of his love, that he exclaimed: "Why shall we travel so soon as to-day?
We shall scarcely find more pleasant days in the world yonder than those we have spent in this quiet little shelter.