If, however, you condemn my action, you will refuse to grant my
request, and generously continue to care for the lad in your own way.
The decision I leave to you."
Count Vavel was forced to capitulate. The baroness's action--taking into
her household the woman who had been repulsed by all the world--was so
praiseworthy, so sublime, that nothing could approach it. That same day
he sent the lad with Frau Schmidt to the manor, and herewith the
correspondence between himself and the baroness ceased. There was no
further subject for argument.
And yet, Count Vavel could not help but think of this woman. Who was
she?
He had sought to learn from his foreign correspondents something
concerning the Baroness Katharina, but could gain no information save
that which we have already heard from the county physician: disappointed
love and shame at her rejection had driven the youthful baroness to this
secluded neighborhood.
This reason, however, did not altogether satisfy Count Vavel. Women,
especially young women, rarely quit the pleasures of the gay world
because of one single disappointment.
And for Count Vavel mistrust was a duty; for the reader must, ere this,
have suspected that the count and the mysterious man of the Rue
Mouffetard were identical, and that Marie was none other than the child
he had rescued from her enemies.
Pages:
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166