she
scrambled; and the colonel wrung his hands in a despair that lost none
of its bitterness; nay, time and these vain efforts only added to his
anguish.

One evening, under the quiet sky, in the midst of the silence and peace
of the forest hermitage, M. Fanjat saw from a distance that the Baron
was busy loading a pistol, and knew that the lover had given up all
hope. The blood surged to the old doctor's heart; and if he overcame the
dizzy sensation that seized on him, it was because he would rather
see his niece live with a disordered brain than lose her for ever. He
hurried to the place.

"What are you doing?" he cried.

"That is for me," the colonel answered, pointing to a loaded pistol on
the bench, "and this is for her!" he added, as he rammed down the wad
into the pistol that he held in his hands.

The Countess lay stretched out on the ground, playing with the balls.

"Then you do not know that last night, as she slept, she murmured
'Philip?'" said the doctor quietly, dissembling his alarm.

"She called my name?" cried the Baron, letting his weapon fall.
Stephanie picked it up, but he snatched it out of her hands, caught the
other pistol from the bench, and fled.

"Poor little one!" exclaimed the doctor, rejoicing that his stratagem
had succeeded so well. He held her tightly to his heart as he went
on. "He would have killed you, selfish that he is! He wants you to die
because he is unhappy. He cannot learn to love you for your own sake,
little one! We forgive him, do we not? He is senseless; you are only
mad. Never mind; God alone shall take you to Himself. We look upon
you as unhappy because you no longer share our miseries, fools that we
are!... Why, she is happy," he said, taking her on his knee; "nothing
troubles her; she lives like the birds, like the deer--"

Stephanie sprang upon a young blackbird that was hopping about, caught
it with a little shriek of glee, twisted its neck, looked at the dead
bird, and dropped it at the foot of a tree without giving it another
thought.

The next morning at daybreak the colonel went out into the garden to
look for Stephanie; hope was very strong in him. He did not see her,
and whistled; and when she came, he took her arm, and for the first time
they walked together along an alley beneath the trees, while the fresh
morning wind shook down the dead leaves about them. The colonel sat
down, and Stephanie, of her own accord, lit upon his knee. Philip
trembled with