rranean midnight.

From the interior of the building resounded heavy thuds and the din of
grinding as of machinery in perpetual motion which made the very
foundations of the rocks quiver. On the bridge stood another armed man
with whom the new arrivals exchanged watchwords and the same thing was
done at the door of the stone building where the old man made the girl
stop.

"Now Anicza," said he, "while I go in, you sit down on that stone bench
and wait for me."

"Why cannot I go into the house as well?" enquired the girl,
impatiently.

"No more of that. Once a year we come here and every time you ask again
if you can come in, and every time I tell you that cannot be. And now I
tell you once more: _it cannot be_--and there's an end on't."

"But why may others go in and I not?"

"Why--why! because you are a girl, of course. Leave me in peace. Women
have no business in there, they are always so inquisitive, want to know
everything and then blab it all out--it is their nature so."

"I'm not like that."

"And then whoever enters here has to swear a frightful oath that he
will divulge nothing that he sees. I myself shudder all over when I have
to repeat it; it is not fit for the mouth of a woman."

"As if _I_ were afraid of any oath!" cried the girl defiantly. "I would
say any thing that a man might say."

"Don't be a fool, Anicza. A girl cannot come in here, because everyone
has to strip himself stark naked before he goes out, before the
watchman, and then dress himself again. So you see it won't do."

This difficulty appeared insuperable even to the iron will of Anicza. It
was a test even she could not submit to. She stamped her foot with rage
and uttered again and again the word Dracu, which in Roumanian means
nothing less than his highness the devil himself.

Old Onucz and the watchman thereupon laughed heartily, and the same
instant the iron door of the building opened and the girl exclaimed
joyfully: "Fatia Negra!"

Onucz and the watchman immediately tore their caps from their heads. It
was, indeed, Fatia Negra.

How could he get hither invisibly through all the ambushes set for him?
Who could tell? Who had the courage to ask him? Not even Anicza. All she
thought of at that moment was to rush forward, fall upon the neck of her
mysterious lover and cover his eyes and mouth, which the mask left
exposed, with kisses.

"Let Anicza come in!" said the black-masked man, "I'll answer for her,
and she shall, l