hat will
she do with it?

"Jocrisse also informs me that Themire is quite bewitched with the
amiability of the maid who has been intrusted to her care. If this
be true, then matters are in a bad way. If this is not another of
Themire's schemes, but actual sympathy, if this girl, whose
remarkable loveliness of character (even Jocrisse is compelled to
praise her) has won the piquant little Amelie's place in her
mother's heart, then it will be more difficult to separate Themire
from the girl than to win her from her lover."

This was a solitary ray of sunshine amid the threatening clouds which
enveloped Ludwig. He continued to read with rapidly beating heart:

"I must know to a certainty what Themire proposes to do. To-day I
sent her a message by a trusty courier, informing her that I should
be at a certain place at an appointed time--that I wanted her to
meet me and deliver into my hands the treasures she now holds. She
will have an excellent excuse for leaving the manor. Our troops are
approaching Steiermark, and have already crossed the Hungarian
border. Thus it will seem as if she fell by accident into the hands
of the enemy.

Vavel's heart almost ceased to beat. The letter shook in his trembling
hands.

"I shall not, however," he continued to read, "depend on the fickle
mood of a woman, who may be swayed by a tear or a love-letter. If
Themire does not appear with the maid and the documents at the
designated spot to-morrow evening, then I shall ride with my troop
to the manor. My troop, as you know, belongs to the 'Legion of
Demons,' and they do not know the definition of the word
'impossible'! If Themire of her own free will delivers the
treasures into my hands, I shall thank her becomingly. If, however,
she fails to meet me, I shall take the maid and the documents by
force."

Vavel did not notice that the firelight by which he was reading the
letter had begun to grow dim; he believed the characters on the page
before him were swimming in a blood-red mist.

"And now," the letter went on, "I come to my instructions to you,
general. You will move with your division toward the southern
shore of Lake Neusiedl, and cut off the way of our fugitives toward
the Tyrol. There is also another task which you must undertake. The
mysterious maid, once she is in our