The Countess Ottilie resumed her hood and sat down again by the fire. Wallenstein, anticipating no long interruption, understood that she would contrive to remain incognita while he admitted this stranger to a short audience.
Nigel Charteris entered.
As he came forward into the full light the Duke of Friedland started perceptibly.
"It is an omen! The circle, the oval, and the arc once more!" he muttered.
"Ah! Major-General! So your star mounts! Whilst mine flickers in a far-off sky."
"I had thought to have found your Grace alone, Duke!" said Nigel, casting a glance at the hooded lady.
"She is like yourself and myself a chance traveller to Znaim. I know her. She is a friend before whom one may speak freely. What of the war?"
Nigel told briefly what was known in Vienna, what he guessed that Wallenstein already knew.
The lady spread out her long slender fingers to the fire. Nigel saw them without regarding them. He could not see her face, nor was he concerned to try. She was Wallenstein's affair.