"Yes. Well, she has a little son. When the mother was taken to prison, the little lad was turned away from every door, was beaten and abused by the other children, until at last he fled to the marshes, where he ate the young shoots of the reeds, and slept in the mire. The nameless count discovered with his telescope the little outcast, and wrote to me to have him taken to Frau Schmidt, where he would be well taken care of until his mother came back." By this time the tears were running down the baroness's cheeks. "Poor little lad!" she murmured brokenly. "Your story has affected me deeply, Herr Pastor." Then she summoned her steward, and bade him fill a large hamper with sweets and pasties, and send it to Frau Schmidt for the poor little boy. "And tell Frau Schmidt," she added, "to send the child to the manor. We will see to it that he has some suitable clothes. I am delighted, reverend sir, to learn that my tenant is a true nobleman." "His deeds certainly proclaim him as such, your ladyship." "How do _you_ explain the mystery of the veiled lady?" "I cannot explain it, your ladyship; she is never mentioned in our correspondence." "She may be a prisoner, detained at the castle by force." "That cannot be; for she has a hundred opportunities to escape, or to ask for help." Here the surveyor managed to express his belief that the reason the lady wore a veil was because of the repulsiveness of her face. At this, a voice that had not yet been heard said, at the lower end of the table: "But the lady is one the most beautiful creatures I ever saw--and quite young." Every eye was turned toward the speaker. "What? Audiat? How dares he say such a thing?" demanded the vice-palatine. "Because I have seen her." "You have seen her? When did you see her? Where did you see her--her whom no one yet has seen?" "When I was returning from college last year, _per pedes apostolorum_, for my money had given out, and my knapsack was empty. I was picking hazelnuts from the bushes in the park of the Nameless Castle, when I heard a window open. I looked up, and saw in the open sash a face the like of which I have never seen, even in a picture." "Ah!" ejaculated the baroness. "Tell us what is she like. Come nearer to me." The clerk, however, was too bashful to leave his place, whereupon the baroness rose and took a seat by his side. "She has long, curling black hair," he went on. "Her face is fair as a lily and red as a rose, her brow pure and high, with no sign of the branding-iron. Her mouth is small and delicate. Indeed, her entire appearance that day was like that of an angel looking down from heaven." "Is she a maid or a married woman?" inquired one of the company. A maid, in those days, was very easily distinguished from her married sister. The latter was never seen without a cap. "A young girl not more than fifteen, I should say," was the reply. "A cap would not suit her face."