At first, indeed,
we were much alarmed, and fancied that every bone in his body was out of
joint, but now we can look on it merely as soldiers' luck. To-morrow
he'll be up no doubt, and the day after to-morrow we shall all be
dancing."
Henrietta had never removed her eyes from her husband's face during this
narration, and it was plain from his looks that he was not proud of his
adventure and did not want it talked about. "Why do you frighten my wife
to death?" he said. "It is a mere trifle. Let me remain for a whole
night in cold wet wraps, and to-morrow I shall be all right. And now,
enough of the stupid business. And will you please, Henrietta, look
after my guests while I lie here in swaddling bands? All I want is a
couple of days of rest and then I shall be on my legs again."
Towards midnight Henrietta disappeared from among her guests and went to
enquire after Leonard; but she found his chamber door locked, and
received no answer to her gentle enquiries, from which she gathered that
Leonard was still dozing. She did not want to disturb him, and as her
husband's guests, judging by the noise they made, had evidently begun to
amuse themselves in real earnest after her departure, she did not return
to them, but hastened to her own chamber.
How amazed was she to find Anicza there closeted with Clementina!
The Roumanian girl had been awaiting Henrietta for some time, and
Clementina thought it quite natural to conduct her into her mistress's
sleeping-room, imagining that there was some monetary transaction
between them, of which the baron and the domestics need know nothing.
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