m of
them again on the highroad as he had done once before.

A cold shudder ran through Henrietta's limbs at that accursed name. That
Fatia Negra! She had already begun to forget him. And thus old memories
began to revive, and at last her excited imagination began to fancy that
there was some sort of connecting link between Szilard and Fatia Negra,
between the dearest and the most terrible of beings! What if her
rejected lover had avenged himself by publicly shaming her! It was with
such anxieties as these that the young wife went to sleep in her lonely
chamber.

Early next day she received a visit from the priest.

All the time the army of guests was going in and out of the castle
gates, he never came near the place, but now he hastened to exchange a
few words with the lady of the house. And Henrietta was very glad that
he had come.

"I bring you news of Fatia Negra and of other things also," said the
priest, as soon as he was alone with the lady.

Henrietta was instantly all attention.

"Yesterday the famous butterwoman who dwells at Dupe Piatra came to open
her soul to me in a very difficult matter. This woman, as the whole
country-side knows, is a famous quack and a preparer of such specifics
as it is unlawful for one man to give to another. Formerly she was
visited by multitudes of people suffering from every sort of
ill--especially girls. More than once she has paid dearly for her
quackery, for the county authorities apprehended her for poisoning, and
clapped her into jail for some years. Since then she has grown more
cautious and does not care about seeing everyone in her lonely little
forest hut, especially since I impressed upon her severely what a heavy
load she was burdening her conscience with by turning the secret healing
forces which Nature had implanted in the herbs of the field, to the
destruction of ignorant humanity. Yesterday, then, this woman came to
me (and it is a very rare thing to see her among men) and informed me
that last night Fatia Negra had visited her."

Henrietta shuddered all over. So he was as near as that!

"The medicine-woman said that the mask requested her to prepare poison
for him that would be sure to kill. She said she would not as she had no
wish to fall again into the hands of the county authorities. He promised
her money, he showed her a lot of ducats. She told him it wouldn't do.
Then he drew forth a pistol, pressed the barrel to her temples, and
threatened instantl