A deep
slumber crept heavily on the cavalier, but the merchant's daughter still
haunted him: sometimes snatched away from his embrace just as a rosy
smile was kindling on her lips; at others, she met him with frowns and
menace, but ere he could speak to her she had disappeared. Then was he
tottering on the battlements of some old turret, when a storm arose, the
maiden crept to his side, but in an instant, with a hideous crash, she
was borne away by the rude grasp of the tempest. He awoke, with a
mortifying discovery that the crash had been of a somewhat less
equivocal nature. A cabinet of costly workmanship lay overturned at his
feet, and a rich vase, breathing odours, strewed the floor in a thousand
fragments.
The noise brought up several of the college servitors; to rid himself
from the annoyance he ascended the roof, then protected by low
battlements, and leaded, so that a person might walk round the building
and pursue his meditations without interruption.
On this day, teeming with events, Dr Dee had been too closely engaged in
parish duties to give heed to these love fancies, and even had he been
ever so free to exercise his judgment in the matter, it is more than
likely Rodolf would not have opened to him the proceedings then afoot.
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