for you know this thing will follow me to the ends of the earth ' but there came no answer , and i thought that i had imagined his voice when i heard it before and all the while i knew the spirit might take on his voice , if i thought too long and too hard on roemer , and that would drive me mad , madder than i already was the peace continued the sky was growing light i heard carts upon the road behind me , and saw that the fields were coming alive to the right and the left indeed , coming to the top of a rise i saw the colonial city below me , and i breathed a great sigh now one of these carts approached , a small rickety wooden cart , laden with fruit and vegetables for market , and driven by two pale-skinned mulattoes , and they did stop and stare at me , at which point i said on my best french that i needed their help and god would bless them if they gave it to me and then remembering that i had money , or had had , i went into my pockets for it , and gave them several livres which they took with gratitude , and i climbed upon the tail of the cart i lay back against a great heap of vegetables and fruits , and went to sleeping , and the cart rocked me and knocked me about , but it was as if i were in the most luxurious coach then as a dream overcame me , as i imagined i was back in amsterdam , i felt a hand touch mine a gentle hand it patted my left hand and i lifted my right to touch it in the same gentle manner , and opening my eyes , and rolling my head to my left , i beheld the burnt and blackened body of deborah peering at me , bald and shriveled with only her blue eyes alive , and the teeth grinning at me from behind her burnt lips i screamed so loud i frightened the drivers of the cart and the horse but no matter , i had fallen off onto the road their horse ran away , and they could not stop it , and they were soon gone way ahead , and over the rise i sat cross-legged , crying , 'you damnable spirit ' what is it you want of me ' tell me ' why do you not kill me ' surely you have it in your power if you can do such things '' no voice answered me but i knew that he was there looking up , i saw him , and in no horrible guise now merely the dark-haired one again , in the leather jerkin , the handsome man i had seen twice before very solid he appeared , so that even the sunlight fell on him , as he sat idly on the fence at the edge of the road he peered down at me , thoughtfully , it would seem , for his face was all blank and i found myself staring at him , studying him as if he were nothing to fear and i perceived something now which was most important for me to understand the burnt body of deborah , it had been illusion1 from within my mind , he had taken this image and made it bloom my double , that too had been illusion ' it was as perfect as my reflection in a mirror and the other demon follower whom i fought - his weight had been an illusion and of course the corpses had been real , and they were corpses and nothing more but this was no illusion , the man sitting on the fence it was a body which this thing had made 'aye , ' he said to me , and again his lips did not move and i understand why for he could not yet make them move 'but i shall , ' he said 'i shall ' i continued to peer at him perhaps in my exhaustion , i had lost my wits but i knew no fear and as the morning sun grew brighter , i saw it shine through him1 i saw the particles of which he was made swirling in it , like so much dust 'dust thou art , ' i whispered , thinking of the biblical phrase but he had at that very instant begun to dissolve he went pale and then was nothing , and the sun rose over the field , more beautiful than any morning sun that i have ever seen had charlotte waked7 did charlotte stay his hand7 i can not answer i may never know i reached my lodgings here less than an hour later , after meeting with the agent and speaking again to the innkeeper , as i related to you before and now it is long past midnight by my good watch , which i set by the clock in the inn at noon today and the fiend has not left the room for some time for over an hour , he has come and gone in his manly shape , watching me he sits in one corner and then in another , once i spied him in the looking glass peering out at me stefan , how does the spirit do such things ?