"And the comedy was played out. Next morning the old lady and the valet were not to be found, and none of us has ever heard or seen anything of either of them; none of us has learnt where they came from and who they were. This only was certain, that the old lady was as little the baron's aunt as I was his mother. The servants laughed and the baron laughed, although they had carried off as much plate and clothing as they could manage; but I did not laugh, and there was somebody else who did not laugh. The poor dear child! At first she would not believe it that the baron had deceived her so badly. She walked about with open, fixed, and tearless eyes, and when she met me she looked so sad, so anxious and grieved; it wrung my heart. Alas! I could not help her! I could only weep with her, and that I did as soon as the poor child had recovered from her first horror and found tears once more. We were now often together, for since that night Harald cared less for Miss Marie. He rode out every day, and now the gentlemen also came back to the castle, as of old, and the former life began once more. Harald became wilder and more reckless than I had ever seen him, and the servants avoided him wherever they could. Perhaps he wished to silence his conscience or make up for lost time; who knows? "One evening, when the gentlemen were again at the castle--it was about seven o'clock, and they had been at table since three--Miss Marie was in my room, where she now spent most of her time, when Harald suddenly came in. I saw at the first glance that he was drunk. His face was all aglow, and his eyes shone like those of a wildcat. When he saw Marie, who had started up at his entrance, frightened, he laughed and said: 'Do I find you here, my dove? I have looked all over the house for you. Come, pet, I want to introduce you to my friends; one you know already--but you must be quite nice and polite, you hear?' "Marie had turned pale as death when he said this, and was trembling in all her limbs. I saw how she moved her lips to reply, but she did not produce a sound. I could not bear it any longer.