“Now, tell what has happened in your life since we last met,” said the count’s friend as their horses stepped out abreast. “Has your heart been touched by the beauty of any maiden?”
Once He Thought He Saw Them
Then the count told him about his coming wedding with a young lady he had never seen, but who was said to be very lovely.
In this way they entered one of the loneliest and most thickly wooded passes in the mountains.
All this happened in the days when bands of robbers lived in woods, and when ghosts were said to haunt old castles.
As the count turned to speak to his companion, suddenly from out the woods there sprang a small band of robbers who immediately attacked them.
They made a brave fight, but were nearly overcome by numbers when the count’s retinue of servants came riding up. The robbers fled at sight of them, but not until they had given the count a dreadful wound.
He was carried back to the nearest town through which he had so joyfully ridden such a short while before. A priest, who was also quite a doctor, was brought to his bedside, but everyone knew that the poor young count’s moments were few to live in this world.