Gabrielle at once assented. The Baron took a shawl which was lying on the sofa, and wrapped it carefully about her slender figure. Then they left the room together.
The Castle-garden was still and solitary as ever, but its summer glory had long departed from it. The thick canopy of leaves, which had enclosed it in deep shade, was fast thinning. The mighty limes stood half bare, stripped of their foliage, and the moonlight fell full and clear on the stretch of greensward at their feet. The Nixies' Well babbled and rippled on; the fountain splashed and threw aloft its white veil of spray; and the two, to whom the voice of its waters had whispered so fateful a message, stood once again by its brink, within reach of its glittering shower.
Raven looked down at his companion with mingled tenderness and melancholy.
"The nixies' vengeance has overtaken me, after all," he said, in a low tone. "Why did I venture to jest at them and their magic spell? I have not visited the place since that day; but to-night I seemed drawn to it irresistibly. I felt I must see the fountain once again."
Gabrielle started at his last words.
"Once again? What do you mean, Arno? Why do you say that?"
Her words were eager, prompted by a quick, anxious misgiving.
Arno smiled, and passed his hand caressingly over the girl's fair hair.
"You must not be so timorous. I only mean that shortly, in the course of a few days, I shall leave the Castle and this town. The blow you believed to be impending has fallen on me, my child. This morning I ceased to be Governor of the province."
"So they have driven you to the last extremity," said Gabrielle, sadly. "You have resigned?"