"
"I'm not like that."
"And then whoever enters here has to swear a frightful oath that he
will divulge nothing that he sees. I myself shudder all over when I have
to repeat it; it is not fit for the mouth of a woman."
"As if _I_ were afraid of any oath!" cried the girl defiantly. "I would
say any thing that a man might say."
"Don't be a fool, Anicza. A girl cannot come in here, because everyone
has to strip himself stark naked before he goes out, before the
watchman, and then dress himself again. So you see it won't do."
This difficulty appeared insuperable even to the iron will of Anicza. It
was a test even she could not submit to. She stamped her foot with rage
and uttered again and again the word Dracu, which in Roumanian means
nothing less than his highness the devil himself.
Old Onucz and the watchman thereupon laughed heartily, and the same
instant the iron door of the building opened and the girl exclaimed
joyfully: "Fatia Negra!"
Onucz and the watchman immediately tore their caps from their heads. It
was, indeed, Fatia Negra.
How could he get hither invisibly through all the ambushes set for him?
Who could tell? Who had the courage to ask him? Not even Anicza. All she
thought of at that moment was to rush forward, fall upon the neck of her
mysterious lover and cover his eyes and mouth, which the mask left
exposed, with kisses.
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