hurried away after the
servant, but his father held him back, looked in his face without
saying a word, and then suddenly folding him in his arms, they stood
for a moment heart to heart. After that I saw no more; my eyes were
running over, and everything was swimming before me. By the time I had
got them dry again--and that was not easy--the room was empty, and only
the paper on the table was there to tell me that it had not been all a
dream."

"How I felt as I got down the winding staircase, you may fancy,
Sir;--when I had found the door again, groping about with my trembling
hands, and stepped out of the dark into the broad daylight again, I
felt as if it were a quite new world I was coming to. I heard the
horses' hoofs on the pavement of the court, and I saw from the window
father and son galloping over the bridge together, while the light
carriage that was going to fetch our Gabrielle, was driving gaily after
them in the morning sunshine."

"Yes, Sir, and it was a pretty sight to see: that poor thing that had
stolen out of the house by the back-gate, before daybreak, and all
alone, coming back joyfully by the light of noonday, driving over the
great drawbridge, and her master on his grand horse, riding proudly by
her side, and him leaping from his saddle, to open the carriage-door,
and give her his arm to lead her up the steps!

"And there was a still finer sight to be seen eight days after, when
there was a fine wedding at the castle. They were married in the great
saloon, and the dinner was downstairs in the hall; and there sat Count
Henry at the master's table, with his beautiful young wife, and her
brother; and all of us dined at the other table, with flowers and
wreaths all over, and the band from X. playing in the gallery. They
danced till long past twelve o'clock, and the young countess danced
with every one, from the steward to the assistant ranger, and it was
talked of all over the country, ever so long after. But to me, sir, the
best of all was wanting, and I cannot say that I felt really happy for
a single moment. For my dear Count Ernest had not returned with them
that morning, and I had not even been able to take leave of him!--And
all the time the band was playing, I could not keep from thinking of
him, at sea, on his way to Sweden, in that cold night, hearing nothing
but the salt waves beating against the ship, and the rough winds
blowing.

"When the wedding gaieties were over, everything in the