 At the Circus of Night, the villagers are amazed and delighted by the entertainment.Despite his wife's concerns over their wayward daughter Rosa's attraction to the handsome Emil, the Bürgermeister takes her to the circus and, at the gypsy woman's invitation, visits its hall of mirrors where he sees in one, called "The Mirror of Life", a vision of a revived Count Mitterhaus, which causes him to collapse.Frightened by this event, Schilt tries to flee with his family from the blockaded village with the circus dwarf Michael as their guide, only to be abandoned by him in the forest and mauled to death by Emil, whose shapeshifting form is a black panther.