new
household in splendid style. The ladies were to follow me. It was four
years ago. The Duke of Alva then lived as viceroy in Brussels, and this
nobleman held my mistress in high esteem, nay had even twice paid us the
honor of a visit. His aristocratic officers also frequented our house,
among them Don Luis d'Avila, a nobleman of ancient family, who was one
of the duke's favorites. Like the Marquis d'Avennes, he was no longer in
his early youth, but was a man of totally different stamp; tall, strong
as if hammered from steel, a soldier of invincible strength and skill,
a most dreaded seeker of quarrels, but a man whose glowing eyes and
wonderful gift of song must have exerted a mysterious, bewitching power
over women. Dozens of adventures, in which he was said to have taken
part, were told in the servant's hall and half of them had some
foundation of truth, as I afterwards learned by experience. If you
suppose this heart-breaker bore any resemblance to the gay, curly-haired
minions of fortune, on whom young ladies lavish their love, you are
mistaken; Don Luis was a grave man with close-cut hair, who never wore
anything but dark clothes, and even carried a sword, whose hilt, instead
of gold and silver, consisted of blackened metal. He resembled
death much more than blooming love. Perhaps this very thing made him
irresistible, since we are all born for death and no suitor is so sure
of victory as he.

"The padrona had not been favorably disposed to him at first, but
this mood soon changed, and at New Year's he too was admitted to small
evening receptions of intimate friends. He came whenever we invited him,
but had no word, no look, scarcely a greeting for our young lady. Only
when it pleased the signorina to sing, he went near her and sharply
criticised anything in her execution that chanced to displease him.
He often sang himself too, and then usually chose the same songs as
Fraulein Anna, as if to surpass her by his superior skill.

"So things went on till the time of the carnival. On Shrove-Tuesday
the padrona gave a large entertainment, and when I led the servants and
stood behind the signorina and Don Luis, to whom her excellenza had long
been in the habit of assigning the seat beside her niece, I noticed that
their hands met under the table and rested in each other's clasp a long
time. My heart was so full of anxiety, that it was very hard for me
to keep the attention so necessary on that evening--and when the n