Part 20 (1/2)

The fortnight that followed was one of rejoicing throughout Nideck. The Count gained with wonderful rapidity, and for a week past he had moved about the Castle with a buoyancy and contentment of demeanor which only Odile and the old steward could recall having seen in him long years before, ere the dead witch had yet entwined him in the meshes of her baneful spell.

Even the grim, melancholy Sebalt had become grotesquely gay, and he discontinued his matinal post on the Altenberg, feeling, no doubt, that he had contributed not a little to his master's recovery. As for Sperver, he was radiant, and he would come to my chamber late at night, after I had left Odile, and as we sat over our bottles we would discuss for the fiftieth time the circ.u.mstances of my stay within the Castle.

During the earlier stages of the Count's convalescence I repaired each morning to his chamber, where I invariably found Odile arrived before me, and as the Count was fond of reading, which served to wear away the period of his enforced inactivity, Odile and I would share for hours together the reading of ”Garin the Lorrainer,” which was one of his favorite romances.

The extent of my contentment may be imagined. Whenever I glanced up from my book as it became necessary to turn a page, I invariably met Odile's eyes fastened upon my face, and speaking the whole language of love and contentment, and when she in turn a.s.sumed the reading, I found myself lost in a world of reverie and speculation as I continued to study her beautiful face, which was always a revelation to me, no matter how long it remained before my gaze.

Oh, the delight of all this! How I pity you crabbed misanthropes who know not the richness of a loving woman's endearments!

I had determined, with Odile's sanction, to broach the subject of our betrothal to the Count as soon as his health would permit it.

Meanwhile, our hours at table were spent in laying plans for our future.

I was sanguine of success in my avowal, for added to the Count's desire of seeing his line perpetuated,--which lay nearest his heart,--I knew that he felt, though how deservedly I leave it to the reader to determine, that I had been instrumental in restoring him to health.

These considerations, combined with his invariable desire to secure to his daughter her slightest wish or whim, I believed would be sufficient to ensure the consummation of my desire. Moreover, with my beloved champion beside me, I felt strong enough to overcome the opposition of the universe.

But the future still held something in store, and as it often happens when we fancy ourselves beyond the reach of an adverse Fate, we may in reality be standing within the shadows of the Valley of Darkness.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE BOAR HUNT.

”You must be ready to start with the Count in an hour,” exclaimed Sperver, as he stood on my threshold before the sun had yet risen.

”Sebalt and Becker came in late last night, famished, and covered with mud, and they have reported a wild boar's tracks near the Leidenthal. I will lend you whatever clothes you need, but be quick, for there's only breakfast between us and the start.”

I got up, and taking a hasty plunge in the icy water beside my bed, which served to drive the vapors from my brain, I half dressed myself, and followed Sperver to his room.

”The beaters found game worthy of our powder,” continued Gideon. ”They brought back a dried clump of bog-mud with an enormous hoof-print in the middle of it. If the Count's carbine misses fire, we must stand in well beside him this time, though he always grudges the fatal shot to any arm but his own.”

I paid little heed to his words, busied as I was in accommodating myself to my borrowed garments, and I presently emerged from the chamber dressed in a leather hunting-jacket, cap, and long gaiters which reached to my hips; a carbine and long hunting-knife completed my outfit.

”If I only had you for a couple of weeks on the forest patrol, I would make a first-cla.s.s shot out of you,” said Sperver with a grin. ”As it is, I suppose you know as much about a gun as a pike does of mountain climbing.”

”Just about!” I laughed. ”However, I'm fortunately in such good company that it will make little difference whether I can tell the muzzle from the stock, or not.”

”There's something in that,” he returned; ”and as there are to be ladies in the party you may find other employment as agreeable as the killing of animals,” and he looked at me with a dry twitching of his mouth.

I made no reply to this beyond rather a grim smile, and a moment later we reached the dining-room. I found the Count dressed in hunting-costume, seated at the table, on which Tobias was placing the last dishes for the breakfast. He complimented me on my professional appearance, and added that, judging from externals, a little practice was all that was necessary to make me an accomplished huntsman.

I looked in vain for Odile as I entered the room, but she presently appeared in a close-fitting habit which became her marvellously well, sparkling with health and freshness, and bearing in one hand her long skirt, and in the other a pearl-handled crop. A pistol with a heavy barrel was thrust beneath her belt, more for ornament, I fancied, than for service.

”Ha! Odile!” cried her father, as she greeted us and took her seat at the table, ”the mere sight of your rosy cheeks and lithe step puts new life into me! It's a pleasure to look at you. Isn't it so, Monsieur Gaston?” then, as Odile grew crimson with confusion, the Count perceived his blunder, and began to busy himself with the dishes before him. The next moment I caught Odile's eye, as she stole an amused glance at me, and I nodded a quick affirmative, without violence to my conscience.

The meal pa.s.sed with narratives of hunting exploits by the Count, who delighted in recalling his past experiences, often discontinuing his meal to ill.u.s.trate by att.i.tudes and gestures his combats with the different animals of the regions round about. Odile and I proved good listeners, though, perhaps, as one sometimes hearkens to a strain of music, the better to indulge his own reflections.

Breakfast finished, we went down into the courtyard. A dozen horses stood saddled just inside the princ.i.p.al gate. Sebalt, in his leather dress, with his double-coiled horn strapped across his back, and a heavy cowhide whip in his hand ready to strike, held a score of dogs in leash, that were baying and tugging at their bonds in excited antic.i.p.ation of the part they were to play in the day's sport. Joy gleamed in every line of his goat's face as his long deferred desire was now about to be realized. Gideon, who held the Count's horse, looked more himself than I had seen him since the death of poor Lieverle; he seemed to have recovered much of his wonted good spirits.

I pushed aside the groom who stood beside Odile's horse, and she sprang from my hand into the saddle. Then I, in turn, mounted my horse, and moved abreast of Odile and the Count.