Immediately after breakfast Miss Brunel went over to the inn, and there she found Hans Halm and his daughter.
"Grete," she said, "could you go to the Feldberg to-day?"
"Yes," said Grete.
"Could you be ready to start by twelve o'clock?"
"My father's wagen has gone to Donaueschingen, mademoiselle," she said.
"The Count will lend us a carriage, and you must come with me."
The matter having been arranged, she returned to the Count, and told him of her intention, firmly and quietly. A week previous he would have laughed, and pooh-poohed the notion; now he was excessively courteous, and, though he regretted her decision, he would do everything in his power, &c.
"Will you let Hermann come with us as far as the Feldberg?"
"I devote Hermann entirely to your service for a week—a month—as long as you choose," said the Count.
English Polly was got up from the kitchen—where she had established a species of freemasonry between herself and the German servants—to assist in the packing; and while she and Mrs. Christmas were so engaged, Annie Brunel sate down, and wrote these lines on a slip of paper: