"
She was equally ready. In a moment I had on the cloak. Falling
below the knee, with its rich trimming of sables, and enriched with
gold, it became me excellently. So clad I made my way up and down
with a cheerful heart.
That was Goethe, perhaps fifty years later. His mother also related
the incident to Bettina Brentano;--"There, skated my son, like an
arrow among the groups. Away he went over the ice like a son of the
gods. Anything so beautiful is not to be seen now. I clapped my
hands for joy. Never shall I forget him as he darted out from one
arch of the bridge, and in again under the other, the wind carrying
the train behind him as he flew." In that amiable figure I seem to
see the fulfilment of the Resurgam on Carl's empty coffin--the
aspiring soul of Carl himself, in freedom and effective, at last.
[THE END]
End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of Imaginary Portraits
by Walter Horatio Pater
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