aden destiny has buried here with me. I know that you
are unhappy, and that I am the cause of it."

"For heaven's sake, Marie! who has given you such fancies?"

"The long, weary nights! Oh, how much I have learned from the darkness!
It was not merely caprice that prompted me to ask you once what death
meant. Had you questioned me more fully then, I should have confessed
something to you. That time, when you rescued me from death, you gave my
name to Sophie Botta, who also took upon herself my fate. I don't know
what became of her. If she died in my stead, may God comfort her! If
she still lives, may God bless and help her to reign in my stead! But
give me the name of Sophie Botta; give me the clothes of a working-girl;
give me God's free world, which she enjoyed. Let me become Sophie Botta
in reality, and let me wash clothes with the washerwomen at the brook.
If Sophie and I exchanged lives, let the exchange become real. Let me
learn what it is to live, or--let me learn what it is to die."

In speechless astonishment Count Vavel had listened to this passionate
outburst. It was the first time he had ever heard the gentle girl speak
so excitedly.

"Madame," he said with peculiar intonation, when she had ceased
speaking, "I am now convinced that I am the guardian of the most
precious treasure on this terrestrial ball. Henceforward I shall watch
over you with redoubled care."

"That will be unnecessary," proudly returned the young girl. "If you
wish to feel certain that I will patiently continue to abide in this
Nameless Castle, then make a home here for me--bring some happiness into
these rooms. If I see that you are happy I shall be content."

"Marie, Marie, the day of my perfect happiness only awaits the dawn of
your own! And that yours will come I firmly believe. But don't look for
it here, Marie. Don't ask for impossibilities. Marie, were my own
mother, whom I worshiped, still living, I could not bring her within
these walls to learn our secret."

"The woman who loves will not betray a secret."

For an instant Ludwig did not reply; then he said:

"And if it were true that some one loves me as you fancy, could I ask
her to bury herself here--here where there is no intercourse with the
outside world? No, no, Marie; we cannot expect any one else to become an
occupant of this tomb--the gates of which will not open until the trump
of deliverance sounds."

"And will it be long before that trump sounds, Ludwig?"