“She gave me one of her cunning smiles and disappeared.
“So I passed the night trying to get sleep on some rugs which had been provided for my bed. In the morning Telka brought my breakfast.
“‘Courage!’ she said. ‘His Excellency is about to start, and your release will come soon. It is lucky he did not suspect you were lying here so snug.’ She laughed, and left me without another word. But in about an hour she returned and beckoned me to come out. Bleisst was waiting, and they conducted me back to my former prison room. My joy at getting there with the hope of escape was so great that I feared Telka’s sharp eyes might notice it. I feigned to be so upset and ill by the night I had passed that I could only go to bed. By this I hoped to avoid a visit from the Count, and certainly I was left to myself all day. Towards evening Telka came in and told me that the Count had accompanied Rallenstein from the Geierthal that morning, but was expected back that night. I still pretended to be very ill, and could see that the girl was quite unsuspicious of any idea of escape being so near at hand. I kept her with me for some time, then, as the critical hour approached, begged her to leave me for a good long sleep. Left alone I made ready for my departure, and the rest you know. Ah, those terrible days! Can I ever thank my preserver enough for all you have risked for me?”
In listening to her story I had not noticed that for some time past a storm had been gathering. It now burst over us with a violence peculiar to those regions of mountainous woodland. The words deprecating her gratitude, which was, however, delightful enough to me, were drowned in a terrific thunderclap which burst over us. The rain came down so violently, the wind swept round us in such gusts, that we became concerned for Strode’s welfare, exposed as he was to their full fury. But he returned a cheery, “All right! Don’t worry about me,” to my entreaty that he would come into shelter. There was one thing, however, that the plucky fellow could hardly battle with, and that was the intense darkness that had enveloped us. Not to be stopped altogether, he jumped down from his seat, ran to the horses’ heads and led them on as well as he could. Our progress was now necessarily slow, but it was something to keep moving at all, and Strode was resolved that we should not stop. We watched anxiously for some indication of a break in the storm, but its fury continued unabated, indeed it seemed to increase.
“This is madness, Strode!” I shouted. “Make the horses fast and come inside.”
Not he. The rain would not melt him, he was determined to get us across the frontier by the morning, and we were yet miles from the little town where we had planned to change horses. So we went on for a while in the full pelting of the storm. Suddenly a great flash of lightning seemed to sweep the road just in front of us. The horses reared in terror, then swerved, and, before Strode could prevent it, one side of the carriage sank into a ditch at the roadside.
“Sit still!” Strode cried. But I had jumped out to lighten the vehicle. Each taking a horse’s head, we soon had the carriage on the level again. “We can’t go on in this,” I expostulated. As I spoke another great flash showed us a house standing near the road a few yards farther on. I called Strode’s attention to it, and insisted that we should seek refuge there till the storm was over; and, as the result proved, it was lucky I overruled him. Between us we led the horses up to the building, which proved to be a deserted and dilapidated wayside lodge.
“At least there is perfect shelter here,” I said as I assisted the Fräulein to alight and hurried her into the tumble-down place.
A ruinous shed stood beside the house and this afforded some sort of shelter for the horses. We gave them corn and made them as comfortable as we could. Then I took some food and a bottle of wine from the carriage, and ran back to the house. By the aid of the lantern we were just preparing to make the best of our wretched quarters when Strode rushed in with a more perturbed look than I had thought him capable of. He caught up the lantern and extinguished it, checking my exclamation with,—
“Quick! Help me to bar the door. They are after us! Hark! They are outside!”