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But the elaborate scheme designed and executed by this girl, with the help of the Castlemans and myself, all of whom Max had no reason to distrust, would have deceived any man. Max, though simple and confiding where he trusted, judging others' good faith by his own, was shrewd for his years, and this plan of Yolanda's had to be faultless, as it really was, to mislead him.
The Castlemans did not offer to move, but Yolanda, springing to her feet, said, "Come," and led the way. The upper end of the garden, as I have told you, was on the banks of the Cologne at a point where it flowed into the castle moat. The castle wall, sixty feet high at that point, bordered the west side of the garden. The moat curved along the right side, and the river flowed past the upper end.
Each evening supper was a little fête followed by a romp of amusement, songs, and childish games in the frau's great parlor. The Castlemans, Max, and I made several excursions into the mountains. Yolanda and Twonette were in ecstasy at the mountain views, which were so vividly in contrast with the lowlands of Burgundy.
"I might answer with another question how can you have such a friend? A woman who has cast off every restraint, every consideration of decency and yet is able to persuade a daughter of the Castlemans to make her an intimate! Possibly she is an honest fanatic. Dr. Perrin tells me she was the wife of a brutal farmer, who mistreated her.
During the time that Castleman was buying his silks, the members of our little party grew rapidly in friendship. In culture, education, and refinement, the Castlemans were far above any burghers I had ever known. Franz and his wife, though good, simple people, were not at all in Castleman's class. They felt their inferiority, and did not go abroad with us, though we supped daily with them.
After a few minutes Yolanda started to walk up the garden path and Max followed her, leaving the Castlemans and me under the arbor. Yolanda, still pouting, carried Caesar on her shoulder, lavishing caresses on the bird that excited Max's bitterest envy. Max spoke at intervals, but she answered only to the bird. After many futile efforts to make her speak, he said:
Could it be that the proud Castlemans of Castleman County had needed it also? If that guess at her inmost soul was correct, then what a drama was her meeting with me! A person who despised money, who had proven it by grim deeds and this a person of her own money-worshipping sex! What was the meaning of this phenomenon this new religion that was challenging the priesthood of Mammon?
She might have received her information from Twonette, who, Franz said, was acquainted with Mary of Burgundy; but even had Yolanda heard of the ring, the fact would not have helped her to know it. After our first evening with the Castlemans we got on famously together.
"You promised, Sir Max, that you would show no anger when you learned who I was, and you said you would neither lie, steal, nor commit murder." The Castlemans stood near by, and the duchess and I joined them, forming an admiring group. Max did not reply. He held out his arms to the girl, and she ran to them. So closely did he hold her that she could hardly move.
I spoke to her in Walloonish, and she was so pleased that she seemed to nestle toward me. In the midst of an animated conversation she suddenly became silent, and I saw her watching Max's hand. I thought she was looking at his ring. It was the one that Mary of Burgundy had given him. Several days passed, during which we saw the Castlemans frequently.
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