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Updated: June 19, 2025
I went to the castle to ask him to join the noble militia, and he let me see the lady about whom so much has been said. She had excellent reasons, baroness, for veiling her lovely face, for whoever had seen her mother's pictures would have recognized her at once. When Count Vavel goes into battle to help defend our fatherland, he must leave the royal maid in a mother's hands.
At a very interesting point in his recital he was unceremoniously interrupted by the challenging call of the outposts: "Halt! who comes there?" Vavel hastened from the tent, flung himself on his horse, and galloped in the direction of the call. The patrol had stopped an armed man who would not give the password, but insisted that he had a right to enter the camp.
"What, baroness? You wish to go to the castle now?" "Yes, now this very moment in these clothes! I have no one to ask what I should or should not do, and he needs me." When his emissary had departed, Count Vavel began to reflect whether he had not been rather hasty. Had he done right in giving to the world his zealously guarded secret?
Katharina obeyed without an instant's hesitation. After a while the metal casket began to glow in the midst of the flames. It became red, then a pale rose-color, while a thin cord of vapor trailed through the keyhole. "The little garments are burning," whispered Vavel, "and the documents, and the portraits, and the heap of worthless money.
You will excuse me, therefore, if I take the liberty to doubt your assertion in this case, and request you to prove that my suspicions are at fault. Without this proof I will not move from this spot." "Then I am very sorry for you, Herr Colonel," returned Count Vavel, "but I shall be compelled to leave you and your suspicions in possession of this spot."
At this hour, as may be supposed, every soul in the manor was still sound asleep. Only the guards on watch at the gate demanded: "Halt! Who comes there?" On learning that the intruder was a "friend," they allowed him to waken the porter, who thrust his frowzy head from the half-open door to ask, in surprise, what was wanted. "Is the Herr Colonel at home?" inquired Count Vavel.
Vavel moved swiftly to her side, and, looking down upon her with his burning eyes still filled with tears, asked in an unsteady voice: "What do you want, Marie? Tell me what you wish me to do." Marie softly took his hand in both her own, and said tremulously: "I want you to give me a companion a mother. I want some one to love, a woman that I can love, one who will love me and command me.
As it was after midnight when Ludwig Vavel learned of the danger which threatened Marie, he could not, even if he had set out at once, have reached the Hansag before noon of the following day, by which time De Fervlans and his demons would have accomplished their errand. Therefore nothing short of a miracle could save the maid.
"And who is she? What is she to Count Vavel?" "She is not your rival, my pretty sister Katinka; she is neither wife nor betrothed to Count Vavel nor yet his secret love." "Then she must be his sister or daughter." "No; she is neither sister nor daughter." "Then what is she? Not a servant?" "No; she is his mistress." "His mistress?" "Yes, his mistress as my queen is my mistress." "Ah!"
"I must whisper the secret in your ear; I have often overheard important secrets listening at the keyhole or while hiding under a bed, and what I have done another may be doing." Vavel bent his head so that Master Matyas might whisper the important information in his ear. The words were few, but they served to restore Vavel to a cheerful mood.
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