, and was loth to
accept his hospitality, yet stayed of my own will, though I knew not
certainly whether I was free to go. My host hated me, yet tolerated my
presence--if indeed he would not have enforced it--for the sake of
having me at hand if he thought fit to crush me. When he appeared that
morning, I thanked him ironically for restoring me to liberty. He only
uttered his harsh crackling laugh in reply, and regarded me with a
pretended disdain which failed to conceal his hatred and his longing to
penetrate my mind and learn what indeed was between me and his Countess.
In such men, especially when they have an evil suggester like the
Captain at their ear, jealousy is a madness, and no assurances--nay, not
even oaths--of innocence will be taken by them as truth. But his pride
made him feign contempt for me, and he had nothing to say to me that
day. Neither had the Captain, whose manner toward me merely reverted to
what it had been at first. I saw my former place made ready at the
table, and took it. The Count and his friend talked of their sports and
the affairs of the estate, and not one word of the Countess was spoken.
Having eaten, they went off to ride, leaving me to amuse myself as I
might. The air of the chateau seemed the freer for their absence, but
still it was to me a sinister place, and an irreligious place too, for,
though the Count and his friend were Catholics, I had not seen the sign
of a chaplain or of any religious observance since I had crossed the
drawbridge. So I prepared myself for a dull yet anxious day, and lounged
about the hall and court-yard as the places where I might best hope to
find out something from the domestics of the house.

As I paced the stones of the court-yard, I became aware that a certain
maidservant had been obtruding upon my view with a persistency that
might be intentional. I now regarded her, as she stood in a small
doorway leading to the kitchen. She was a plump, well-made thing, with a
wholesome, honest face, but the sluttishness of her loose frock, and of
a great cap that hung over her eyes, were too suggestive of the
scullery. As soon as she saw I noticed her, she put one finger on her
lip, and swiftly beckoned me with another.

I strolled carelessly over, and stopped within a foot of her, pretending
to readjust my sword-belt.

"Monsieur," she said in an undertone, "you are desired to be in your
chamber this afternoon at four o'clock."

I glanced at the girl in wond