"
She distorted her face as she had described, and turned it toward
Ludwig, who said hastily: "Don't--don't do that, Marie."
"Is it not all the same to you whether I am ugly or pretty?" she
retorted. Then, as if to soften the harshness of her words, she added:
"Even if I were ugly, would you love me--as the fakir loves his Brahma?"
* * * * *
Ludwig continued his correspondence with the learned Herr Mercatoris. He
always dictated his letters to Marie. No one in the neighborhood had yet
seen his own writing. Therefore, it would have been impossible for him
to ask the pastor anything relating to the baroness without Marie
knowing it. In one of his letters, however, he inquired how the mother
of the lad he had once had in his care was conducting herself at the
manor, and was informed that the woman had disappeared--and without
leaving any explanation for her conduct--a few days after the eclipse of
the moon. The baroness had been greatly troubled by the woman's going,
but would not consent to having a search made for her, as she had taken
nothing from the manor.
This incident made Count Vavel believe that the woman had secretly
joined the band of robbers, and that there would be another attempt made
sometime to break into the manor.
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