“Between man and a shadow,” said the shadow; for he could not help
saying so.
It was really most remarkable how very much he had become a man in
appearance. He was dressed in a suit of the very finest black cloth, polished
boots, and an opera crush hat, which could be folded together so that
nothing could be seen but the crown and the rim, besides the trinkets, the
gold chain, and the diamond rings already spoken of. The shadow was, in
fact, very well dressed, and this made a man of him. “Now I will relate to
you what you wish to know,” said the shadow, placing his foot with the
polished leather boot as firmly as possible on the arm of the new shadow of
the learned man, which lay at his feet like a poodle dog. This was done, it
might be from pride, or perhaps that the new shadow might cling to him,
but the prostrate shadow remained quite quiet and at rest, in order that it
might listen, for it wanted to know how a shadow could be sent away by its
master, and become a man itself. “Do you know,” said the shadow, “that in
the house opposite to you lived the most glorious creature in the world? It
was poetry. I remained there three weeks, and it was more like three
thousand years, for I read all that has ever been written in poetry or prose;
and I may say, in truth, that I saw and learnt everything.”
“Poetry!” exclaimed the learned man. “Yes, she lives as a hermit in great
cities. Poetry! Well, I saw her once for a very short moment, while sleep
weighed down my eyelids. She flashed upon me from the balcony like the
radiant aurora borealis, surrounded with flowers like flames of fire. Tell me,
you were on the balcony that evening; you went through the door, and what
did you see?”
“I found myself in an ante-room,” said the shadow. “You still sat opposite
to me, looking into the room. There was no light, or at least it seemed in
partial darkness, for the door of a whole suite of rooms stood open, and they
were brilliantly lighted. The blaze of light would have killed me, had I
approached too near the maiden myself, but I was cautious, and took time,
which is what every one ought to do.”
“And what didst thou see?” asked the learned man.
