"I am sorry to be troublesome to you by my presence, but you are _not_ well, _mein Fraeulein_. You are alone, and a stranger here, and the village is half an hour's distance from this spot. You will therefore accept my assistance, and the assurance that I will not be troublesome to you a moment longer than is actually necessary." Quietly, as if a refusal were unheard of, he took her arm, like that of a child, to lead her, but this had a truly alarming effect upon Gertrud. As if stung by a snake, she could not have started more fearfully, nor shrunk back with greater horror. With almost a cry she tore her hand out of his, and Hermann seemed suddenly to behold a changed being before him. Nothing more of the "child" was to be seen; her figure, as she stood before him, drawn up to her full height, had something commanding and powerful about it. So mysterious was this commanding glance, that any one else would have quailed before it, as with a tone and expression which perfectly electrified the Count, she cried, threateningly-- "Do not touch me, Count Arnau. I will not accept of your assistance!" She turned away, took the road to the village and disappeared behind the bushes. Hermann stood motionless, looking after her, but the next minute anger had overcome his silent astonishment. Never had the young Count been treated so, never so insulted, and here--when, for the first time in his life he had approached any one with warm sympathy, had for the first time diverged from his indifferent character! How could this girl dare to behave so to him? And wherefore? He laughed aloud bitterly. "H'm, well now, I can understand that Eugen would not care to demean himself in her eyes! He is not the man to have much influence upon a nature which can act in this way, just after it has experienced such humiliation. She would have withered him with that look!" The thunder, becoming ever louder, and the frequent flashes of lightning, put an end to the Count's observations, and warned him to make the best of his way back to the Castle, which he had scarcely reached before heavy drops began to fall. An hour later--the storm was over, but the rain still fell in torrents. In the Castle the last preparations were being completed for the great ball, which was to take place that night. Eugen came back from the village, pale, excited, and wet through, and at once hastened to Hermann's room. They had some conversation, and the servants, hurrying backwards and forwards, heard their voices raised loudly in dispute, and also noticed that Herr Reinert came out of the Count's room with a remarkably grave and displeased air, so that they imagined some scene, not of the pleasantest nature, had taken place between them.