we heard the first birds singing in the woods, the pretty
creature rose and dried her eyes, and gave me her hand to say good-bye;
and when at the door she turned round to nod to me again, she looked so
lovely that I looked after her, as if I had been her lover myself, and
ran to the window to see her pass through the little gate, and walk
towards the wood to wave my hand to her again. The day was dawning
gradually over the trees, that all stood still, as if asleep, till the
dew fell, and then they began to stir in the morning air. To this
moment I can remember how I felt, as I put out my hot head to cool the
fever in it, and let the fresh breeze blow over my hair. 'God be
praised! who gave that poor girl the sense and courage to go at once,
and make an end of it!' I thought one moment, and the next--'But has
she a right to go? If that be true about the oath she took, and the
conscience-marriage, can she--can any woman--go and leave her husband
as though her life were still her own to dispose of?' Yet at every step
she was taking farther out into the wide world and farther from the
castle, I felt the weight on my heart loosening, and I imagined that if
only my poor dear boy were safe never to set eyes on her again, all
might yet be well, and we might leave the rest to Providence.

"She must have got a good start by the time our people began to be
stirring about the stables and the farm-buildings, and my master never
got up till several hours later. I always was the earliest in the
house, and had more than enough to do and to look after, but that
morning I could think of nothing at all; my head was dazed, everything
seemed running in it at once--I took a whole hour to plait up my poor
wisps of hair before I could make up my mind to leave the room. For I
thought I should meet the count, and if he were to ask for Mamsell
Gabrielle, I was sure to stammer and hesitate, and very likely to
confess the whole. However, I could not hold out any longer, I wanted
so much to go and see what my poor Count Ernest was about. I went along
on tiptoe, and slowly up the stairs. My legs shook as though I had
grown to eighty in a single night.

"I listened at the door of his room, and hearing nothing, I softly
opened it and went in. The room was empty, and the bed untouched; but
he must have spent the night here, for the candles were burned down to
their sockets. It all looked so sad, it made me begin to cry again, as
I went about setting t