s affection had
cooled off, and for a long time now he had not had any communication
with her. Heartbroken at this treatment, though still devotedly attached
to him, she gradually pined away, and complete neglect of her health
finally brought her to her death-bed. Before she died, however, she
wrote a letter of farewell to him, which she entrusted to Wilhelm to
deliver as soon after her death as possible.

Arrived at the castle where the baron lived, he found his lordship
unable to give him any attention that day, as he was engaged to fight a
duel, and was busy settling up his affairs in preparation. Wilhelm was
requested to remain until a more convenient season. On the following
morning, while the company were seated at breakfast, the baron was
brought back in a carriage, seriously wounded.

As the surgeon came out from attending him, the band hanging from his
pouch caught Wilhelm's eye; he fancied that he knew it. He was convinced
that he beheld the very pouch of the surgeon who had dressed his wounds
in the forest, and the hope, so long deferred, of again finding his
lovely Amazon struck like a flame through his soul.

The abbe entered from Lothario's chamber, and said to Wilhelm, "The
baron bids me ask you to remain here to share his hospitality, and, in
the present circumstances, to contribute to his solacement."

From this hour our friend was treated in the house as if he belonged to
it.

"We have a kindness to ask of you," said Jarno, the baron's confidential
companion, to Wilhelm one morning. "The violent, unreasonable love and
passionateness of the Lady Lydia only hinder the baron's recovery. She
must be removed by some means. His wound requires rest and calmness; you
see how she tortures him with her tempestuous anxieties, her
ungovernable terrors, her never-drying tears. Enough! Our doctor
expressly requires that she should quit us for a while; we have
persuaded her to pay a visit to a lady, an old friend of hers; it will
be your task to escort her, as you can best be spared."

"I willingly undertake the charge," said Wilhelm, "though it is easy to
foresee the pain I shall have to suffer from the tears, the despair, of
Lydia."

"And for this no small reward awaits you," said Jarno. "Fraulein
Theresa, with whom you will get acquainted, is a lady such as you will
rarely see. Indeed, were it not for an unfortunate passage between her
mother and the baron, she would long since have been married to his
lo