I must confess that I felt excessively ashamed to be thus laughed at by the grey stranger.  I detested him from the very bottom of my soul; and I really believe this personal antipathy, more than principle or previously-formed opinion, restrained me from purchasing my shadow, much as I stood in need of it, at such an expense.  Besides, the thought was insupportable, of making this proposed visit in his society.  To behold this hateful sneak, this mocking fiend, place himself between me and my beloved, between our torn and bleeding hearts, was too revolting an idea to be entertained for a moment.  I considered the past as irrevocable, my own misery as inevitable; and turning to the grey man, I said, “I have exchanged my shadow for this very extraordinary purse, and I have sufficiently repented it.  For Heaven’s sake, let the transaction be declared null and void!” He shook his head; and his countenance assumed an expression of the most sinister cast.  I continued, “I will make no exchange whatever, even for the sake of my shadow, nor will I sign the paper.  It follows, also, that the incognito visit you propose to me would afford you far more entertainment than it could possibly give me.  Accept my excuses, therefore; and, since it must be so, let us part.”

“I am sorry, Mr. Schlemihl, that you thus obstinately persist in rejecting my friendly offer.  Perhaps, another time, I may be more fortunate.  Farewell!  May we shortly meet again!  But, a propos, allow me to show you that I do not undervalue my purchase, but preserve it carefully.”

So saying, he drew my shadow out of his pocket; and shaking it cleverly out of its folds, he stretched it out at his feet in the sun—­so that he stood between two obedient shadows, his own and mine, which was compelled to follow and comply with his every movement.

On again beholding my poor shadow after so long a separation, and seeing it degraded to so vile a bondage at the very time that I was so unspeakably in want of it, my heart was ready to burst, and I wept bitterly.  The detested wretch stood exulting over his prey, and unblushingly renewed his proposal.  “One stroke of your pen, and the unhappy Minna is rescued from the clutches of the villain Rascal, and transferred to the arms of the high-born Count Peter—­ merely a stroke of your pen!”

My tears broke out with renewed violence; but I turned away from him, and made a sign for him to be gone.

Bendel, whose deep solicitude had induced him to come in search of me, arrived at this very moment.  The good and faithful creature, on seeing me weeping, and that a shadow (evidently mine) was in the power of the mysterious unknown, determined to rescue it by force, should that be necessary; and disdaining to use any finesse, he desired him directly, and without any disputing, to restore my property.  Instead of a reply, the grey man turned his back on the worthy fellow, and was making off.  But Bendel raised