"Ha, Gaston, what are you doing?" cried Sperver.
"Nothing. I am only looking at the strangers' horses."
"Oh, yes, the Wallachians! I saw them in the stable this morning. They are fine creatures."
The horsemen departed at full speed. The curtain in the tower window dropped.
CHAPTER VII.
MARIE LAGOUTTE RELATES HER EXPERIENCE.
When I again saw Odile her expression was one of complete wretchedness; her swollen eyes told me that she had been weeping long, and her extreme pallor and weariness cut me to the heart.
"My dear mademoiselle," I said to her, with forced cheerfulness, "we must not be despondent. The turning-point of the malady must soon arrive, and this crisis safely passed, we may expect to see the Count in as good health as before."
She looked at me with an expression of gratitude for my wish to console her, but underlying it, I felt there was a quiet conviction to the contrary, and I realized the weakness of my position when I reflected that she might very probably be possessed of facts, unknown to me, which entirely disproved my words.