'When he came out of the garden yesterday evening,' answered the steward, 'he merely took his gun and sporting pouch from the dining room, spoke a few words to the countess, and then rushed like a madman down the mountain. Since then I have seen no more of him. Something very disagreeable must have happened to him, for no one could look upon his face without terror.'
'You must relate to me the conversation which Megret had with Mac Donalbain,' said the governor; and then turning to the steward he asked him, 'is my daughter yet awake?'
'All is yet still in the chamber of the countess,' answered the latter.
'Let her be awakened,' commanded the governor. 'The breakfast waits for her.'
The steward departed, and the governor returned with Arwed to the lower hall. There, for a long time, they walked up and down the room together. Arwed dreaded lifting the veil under which the trouble was concealed, and his uncle, who remarked his reluctance, had not courage to repeat his request. Meanwhile the breakfast was brought in. The governor silently filled the goblets, looked occasionally toward the door, sighed, seized the cup mechanically and raised it to his lips, and then set it down again without drinking.
'Am I not like a child who is trembling with fear in anticipation of a ghost story?' he at length said, with a forced jest. 'Courage! narrate it Arwed.'
Arwed was about to obey, when an anxious movement was heard without, and, pale as death, the steward re-entered with a billet in his hand.
'The countess is nowhere to be found,' stammered he. 'Her bed has not been disturbed. She was in the garden late last evening, and sent her chambermaid to bed.'
'What is that?' cried the governor rushing upon the steward. 'What holdest thou there?'
'A billet for your excellency,' answered the latter, 'I found it in the chamber of the countess.'