In
order that she might not be bored by waiting, Clementina entertained her
for a whole hour with a hair-raising account of the hunting accident,
with which the whole castle was full. Anicza let the other talk on
without so much as a hint that she had a still more hair-raising and
terrific tale to tell of the night just past than ever Miss Clementina
had.
As soon as Henrietta perceived Anicza, she politely requested Clementina
to be so good as to leave them to themselves, a request which Clementina
very naturally regarded as incomprehensible; and, of course, the instant
she had crossed the threshold, she diligently took up her position
before the keyhole. She was, however, furious to discover that
Henrietta proceeded, more prudently than speakers on the stage who
regularly allow themselves to be overheard by eaves-droppers, for she
drew together the heavy damask curtains of the alcove and retired behind
them with Anicza, so that neither prying eyes nor listening ears could
find anything there to satisfy their inquisitiveness.
"It almost succeeded!" said the Roumanian girl impatiently, beginning
her story at the end instead of at the beginning.
"Only almost?" repeated the dissatisfied Henrietta.
"So far the game is neither over nor lost."
"Did Fatia Negra appear at the hut in the ice valley?"
"Pardon, my lady, but please never mention that name before me, for on
hearing it everything I look upon grows red, and every limb of my body
begins to tremble.
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