is perplexity.

One afternoon the sound of a trumpet drew him to his window. On looking
out, he beheld a division of cavalry riding along the highway toward the
village. They were dragoons, as their glistening helmets indicated.

When the troop drew near to the village, the band struck up a lively
mazurka, and to this spirited march the soldiers made their entry into
Fertoeszeg. Ludwig could see through his telescope how the men were
quartered in the houses in the village; and in the evening, after the
retreat had been sounded, he also saw that the windows of the hitherto
unused wing of the manor were brilliantly illuminated. Evidently the
officers in command of the troop had taken up their quarters there,
which was proper. The armed guard on duty at the manor gates verified
this supposition.

Count Vavel might now feel perfectly sure that no robbers would attempt
to break into the manor; they were too cunning to come prowling about a
place where cavalry officers were quartered.

And with the arrival of the troop another danger had been averted. Now
Baroness Katharina would not break into the Nameless Castle and despoil
Count Vavel of something which Satan Laczi could not, with all his
cunning, have restored to him--his heart!

Count Ludwig did not trouble himself further about the manor. He was
convinced that enough gallant cavalrymen were over yonder to entertain
the fair mistress, so that she would no longer wait for any more
tiresome philosophizing from him.

Every evening he could hear the band playing on the veranda of the
manor, and very often, too, the merry dance-music, which floated from
the open windows until a late hour of the night. They were enjoying
themselves over yonder, and they were right in so doing.

How did all this concern him?

In one respect, however, the soldiers taking up their quarters in
Fertoeszeg concerned him: they exercised daily on the same road over
which it was his custom to take his daily drive with Marie. In order to
avoid meeting them, he was obliged to change the hour to noon, when the
soldiers would be at dinner.

Several days after the arrival of the troop at Fertoeszeg, the officer in
command paid a visit at the Nameless Castle--a courtesy required from
one who was familiar with the usages of good society. At the door,
however, he was told by the groom that Count Vavel was not at home. He
left his card, which Henry at once delivered to his master, who was in
his stud