I advised her to keep the
secret in her own bosom and to close her door against Fatia Negra. Oh, I
know the fellow! It is good to guard against him but it is not advisable
to scratch him. He is no ordinary man. And now putting together all this
with the confession of the Dupe Piatra milk-woman, I have a strong
suspicion that Fatia Negra wants to poison the herdsman's bear."
"I will not allow it," interrupted the baroness emphatically.
"We shall scarcely be able to prevent it, my lady, for how can we warn
the dwellers in the mountain hut of their danger? It is of no use
sending a letter for they cannot read. We cannot entrust the secret to
anyone, for no living soul in these parts would dare to convey any
message to the disadvantage of the mysterious Fatia Negra. I myself dare
not do it. I too am afraid of him. I am sure that if he found it out,
and he is sure to do so, my days would be numbered."
"Yet I know someone who will take this message to the hut of Juon Tare."
"Not your ladyship, I hope?"
"No. Even if I knew my way among these mountains I would not venture to
expose myself to the perils of such a journey after my last experience;
since then I have grown timid and nervous. But I know of one who will
hasten to take it, who will not be afraid, and who will show no mercy to
him before whom everyone else trembles."
The priest did not guess to whom Henrietta alluded, yet he himself had
once told her ladyship that Black Mask had a sweetheart to whom he had
been married, not before a priest indeed, but in the sight of Heaven,
and that this woman was very jealous and very brave.
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