He thought it had been there ever since he
had fainted, and dropped again in a deeper swoon than before. Karl saw him
fall, and the truth flashed upon him that the wicked artist took him for
what he had believed himself to be when first he recovered from his
trance--namely, the vampire of the former Karl Wolkenlicht. The moment he
comprehended it, he resolved to keep up the delusion if possible. Meantime
he was innocently preparing a new ingredient for the popular dish of
horrors to be served at the ordinary of the city the next day. For the old
servant's were not the only eyes that had seen him besides those of
Teufelsbuerst. What could be more like a vampire, dragging his pall after
him, than this apparition of poor, half-frozen Lottchen, crawling across
the roof? Karl remembered afterwards that he had heard the dogs howling
awfully in every direction, as he crept along; but this was hardly
necessary to make those who saw him conclude that it was the same phantasm
of John Kuntz, which had been infesting the whole city, and especially the
house next door to the painter's, which had been the dwelling of the
respectable alderman who had degenerated into this most disreputable of
moneyless vagabonds.
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