TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold is denoted by =equals=. Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book. [Illustration: colophon] THE TWO COUNTESSES _THE “UNKNOWN” LIBRARY_ THE “UNKNOWN” LIBRARY. 1. =MLLE. IXE.= By LANOE FALCONER. 2. =STORY OF ELEANOR LAMBERT.= By MAGDALEN BROOKE. 3. =MYSTERY OF THE CAMPAGNA.= By VON DEGEN. 4. =THE FRIEND OF DEATH.= Adapted by MARY T. SERRANO. 5. =PHILIPPA.= By ELLA. 6. =THE HOTEL D’ANGLETERRE.= By LANOE FALCONER. 7. =AMARYLLIS.= By ΓΕΩΡΓΙΟΣ ΔΡΟΣΙΝΗΣ. 8. =SOME EMOTIONS AND A MORAL.= By JOHN OLIVER HOBBES. 9. =EUROPEAN RELATIONS.= By TALMAGE DALIN. 10. =JOHN SHERMAN, and DHOYA.= By GANCONAGH. 11. =THROUGH THE RED-LITTEN WINDOWS.= By THEODOR HERTZ-GARTEN. 12. =BACK FROM THE DEAD.= By SAQUI SMITH. 13. =IN TENT AND BUNGALOW.= By AN IDLE EXILE. 14. =THE SINNER’S COMEDY.= By JOHN OLIVER HOBBES. 15. =THE WEE WIDOW’S CRUISE.= By AN IDLE EXILE. 16. =A NEW ENGLAND CACTUS.= By FRANK POPE HUMPHREY. 17. =GREEN TEA.= By V. SCHALLENBERGER. 18. =A SPLENDID COUSIN.= By MRS. ANDREW DEAN. 19. =GENTLEMAN UPCOTT’S DAUGHTER.= By TOM COBBLEIGH. 20. =AT THE THRESHOLD.= By LAURA DEARBORN. 21. =HER HEART WAS TRUE.= By AN IDLE EXILE. 22. =THE LAST KING OF YEWLE.= By P. L. MCDERMOTT. 23. =A STUDY IN TEMPTATIONS.= By JOHN OLIVER HOBBES. 24. =THE PALIMPSEST.= By GILBERT AUGUSTIN THIERRY. 25. =SQUIRE HELLMAN, and Other Stories.= By JUHANI AHO. 26. =A FATHER OF SIX.= By N. E. POTAPEEKO. 27. =THE TWO COUNTESSES.= By MARIE EBNER VON ESCHENBACH. THE TWO COUNTESSES BY MARIE EBNER VON ESCHENBACH TRANSLATED BY MRS. WAUGH NEW YORK CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY 104 & 106 FOURTH AVENUE COPYRIGHT, 1893, BY CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY. _All rights reserved._ THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS, RAHWAY, N. J. [Illustration: Decorative image] THE TWO COUNTESSES. COUNTESS MUSCHI. SEBENBERG CASTLE, November, 1882. The shooting season is over; all our guests have left the castle; we are as dull as ditch water, and I at length have time to write to you, dear Nesti.