61:2 THE BLACK MASK. 



and in the present instance, the intruder might, had he so wished it, 

 have supped and rested for the night and gone out on his journey on 



the morrow, without one question as to whence he came or whither ht- 

 TIT 

 should go. 



But such evidently was not his intention, for either not under- 

 standing, or, if he understood, not caring to comply with the hints 

 which were given him, to seat himself below the daes, he boldly 

 advanced to the upper end of the apartment, where the baron and his 

 daughter were seated upon a platform slightly elevated above the 

 surrounding vassals and bondsmen, who were assembled in considerable 

 numbers. The stranger did not wait until the baron had addressed him, 

 but at once said, " The Graf von Sobenstein claims your hospitality here, 

 baron ; hunting with the imperial suite I lost my way in the forest, 

 and unable to regain my companions, I esteem myself fortunate to have 

 reached such an asylum." To this speech, which was made in the 

 Hungarian language, the baron replied by welcoming after the friendly 

 fashion of his country ; and then added, in a somewhat severe tone : " A 

 Hungarian, I suppose." " A Hungarian by birth," answered the count, 

 colouring deeply, "but an Austrian by title." To this there succeeded 

 a short pause, when the baron again said, " You were hunting with the 

 emperor how crossed you the Danube ? no boat could stem the 

 current now." The count, evidently offended at the question of his host 

 replied, coldly, " On the drift ice." " On the drift !" cried the baron, 

 aloud. "On the drift ice!" echoed his daughter, who had hitherto 

 sat a silent, though attentive listener to the dialogue. The count, who 

 had all along spoken with the air of a superior to one beneath him in 

 rank and station, deigned not to enter into any explanation of a feat, the 

 bold daring of which warranted incredulity. This awkward feeling of 

 some moments duration was dispelled by the entrance of a vassal, who 

 came in haste to inform the baron, that some person who had left the 

 opposite shore of the Danube, had been carried down upon the drift; 

 he had ever since been in search of him along the bank, below the 

 rocks, but in vain. This was enough the count repressed the rising 

 feeling of anger that his own short and startling assertion should be 

 questioned, and suffered the baron to press him down upon a seat 

 beside him, and soon forgot, amid the kind inquiries of the baron's 

 daughter, his former cold and distant demeanour ; he gradually became 

 more and more free and unconstrained in manner ; and at last so effec- 

 tually had the frank and hospitable air of the baron, and the more 

 bewitching naivete and simplicity of his daughter gained upon the 

 good opinion of their guest, that throwing off his reserve, a feeling 

 evidently more the result of education and habit, than natural, he 

 became lively and animated delighted his host by hunting adventures, 

 and stories of the mistakes and awkward feats of the Austrian nobles 

 in the field, (a grateful theme to a Hungarian,) and captivated the fair 

 Adela, by telling of fetes and gay carnivals in Vienna, to all of which, 

 though an utter stranger, she felt a strong and lively interest in, when 

 narrated by one so young and handsome, as he who now sat beside her. 

 He also knew many of the baron's old friends and acquaintances, who 

 had taken up their residence at the Austrian court ; and thus conversing 

 happily together, when the hour of separation for the night arrived, 

 they parted pleased with each other, and inwardly rejoicing at the event 



which had brought about the meeting. 



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