"I believe you, monsieur! I feel that myself as I have never done before, and I am bound that you shall remain at Nideck and accompany me on my first boar hunt."
"Nothing would give me greater pleasure, monsieur," I replied. "Though an entire novice in the art, I shall doubtless gain much by employing my powers of observation."
"And furthermore," continued the Count, "your reward for this greatest of all services which you have performed for me shall be whatever you may require that lies within my gift!"
"Monsieur," I replied, bowing low, "your generosity overwhelms me. However, we will discuss the matter of compensation at a future time, when your strength will better admit of it. At present let me say that the existing state of affairs is an ample reward for anything I may have been able to accomplish in your behalf." And meanwhile I wondered if the Count realized the significance of his promise as I reflected upon the recompense I was presently to seek at his hands.
As his malady left him, I found the master of Nideck a changed man. His features, which had at first aroused only a sentiment of repugnance in me, slowly resumed their natural expression, and became dignified and even handsome. His generosity and kindness exceeded anything I had before experienced, and everything that Knapwurst had declared in his master's favor was realized to the utmost. From liking I grew to loving him, as I felt indeed I must have done if only as the author of Odile's being.
The fortnight that followed was one of rejoicing throughout Nideck. The Count gained with wonderful rapidity, and for a week past he had moved about the Castle with a buoyancy and contentment of demeanor which only Odile and the old steward could recall having seen in him long years before, ere the dead witch had yet entwined him in the meshes of her baneful spell.
Even the grim, melancholy Sebalt had become grotesquely gay, and he discontinued his matinal post on the Altenberg, feeling, no doubt, that he had contributed not a little to his master's recovery. As for Sperver, he was radiant, and he would come to my chamber late at night, after I had left Odile, and as we sat over our bottles we would discuss for the fiftieth time the circumstances of my stay within the Castle.
During the earlier stages of the Count's convalescence I repaired each morning to his chamber, where I invariably found Odile arrived before me, and as the Count was fond of reading, which served to wear away the period of his enforced inactivity, Odile and I would share for hours together the reading of "Garin the Lorrainer," which was one of his favorite romances.
The extent of my contentment may be imagined. Whenever I glanced up from my book as it became necessary to turn a page, I invariably met Odile's eyes fastened upon my face, and speaking the whole language of love and contentment, and when she in turn assumed the reading, I found myself lost in a world of reverie and speculation as I continued to study her beautiful face, which was always a revelation to me, no matter how long it remained before my gaze.
Oh, the delight of all this! How I pity you crabbed misanthropes who know not the richness of a loving woman's endearments!