Without giving her time to reply, he continued:
"Do you know where you are? Are you aware that the ground on which you stand shakes beneath your feet? Do you realize that these walls open; that people disappear if they prove an obstruction; and that here human life is a thing of nought, when it interferes with a single drop of pleasure?"
"What fearful things you are telling me," exclaimed the Countess at length, "why do you wish to terrify me?"
"Because I see that you are innocent and pure, and that you know not what you may expect here. You cannot have been here long."
"Only a few hours," replied the Countess.
"And you did not spend your childhood here, or you could not look as you do now," continued the old man.
"My childhood was spent at Holstein; I have been Count Hoym's wife for several years, but I have lived in the country."
"Then I suppose you do not know much about your husband?" said the old man, shivering. "I pity you, for you are beautiful and innocent as a lily, and now a herd of savage beasts are going to trample on you. 'Twere better had you bloomed and shed forth your perfume in God's desert."
He became silent and thoughtful. Anna moved a few steps nearer to him.
"Who are you?" she inquired.