'poor child! He'll never be your Harald. He takes whatever chance throws in his way, and as you happen to be here----' 'And if I should not happen to be here,' she said, laughing merrily; 'if I should not be here for the sake of the baroness, but the baroness for my sake, and if I should not go away again, but remain here forever?----' At that moment Harald came suddenly into the avenue in which we were walking up and down. He started when he saw me alone with the girl. 'Miss Marie,' he said, 'I believe my aunt wants you.' And when the girl had left us, he came up to me and said, hissing the words through his white teeth: 'What did you tell her, old one?'--'That you cheat her, Harald.'--'I shall twist your neck for that,' he said, and the vein swelled on his forehead. 'Better that than to break the poor thing's heart.'--'Listen, old one,' he said, 'what if I meant it in good earnest this time? What if I am really tired of this wild life, which must, after all, lead me sooner or later to the devil? What if I want to marry the girl?'--'Is she of noble birth?' said I, Harald laughed: 'She is a tailor's daughter. I shall have to put a goose and the shears in my coat of arms.'--'If she is not of noble birth,' I said, 'you will never marry her, and at best it would only be one cruel act more. The poor creature would die amid the gibes of your friends, like a hunted stag under the teeth of the dogs. Send the girl home; I beseech you, Harald, rather to-day than to-morrow. And the old baroness, too,' I added. He looked at me with open eyes, and laughed and said: 'You are less clever than I thought, old one.' Then he turned his back on me and went singing into the castle.