324 Life of Count Ritmford. 



Countess, as she went half-way up the mountain, "try- 

 ing to make herself a little more comfortable, put her 

 stockings (horribly wet, as were mine, with all the rest of 



our thines) on a bush to dry. A mischievous cow ran 



u u 



away with one, champing it to pieces ; so that when 



we came down from the summit we found the poor 

 Countess with but one stocking, mourning the loss of 

 the other. My father's man, taking off one of his, 

 supplied the place of it, but not without difficulty to 

 make it fit in her much smaller, more delicate shoe." 

 The Count himself, who had made the ascent before, 

 did not escape without a fall and a roll over the rocks, 

 which afforded amusement to his daughter. They had 

 a pretty adventure at their resting-place in being enter- 

 tained by two peasant-girls, who, having two chalets 

 half-way up the mountain, weie sent there to watch the 

 cows that were pastured there in midsummer. 



The party returned pleased and renovated to Mu- 

 nich; the American girl growing more reconciled to 

 her lot, and anticipating with more relish the court 

 routine of another winter. But her trials were not 

 over. Her friend the Countess was accustomed to 

 dine once a week with her mother, the Countess of 

 Lerchenfeld. Miss Sarah being now for the first time 

 invited to join her friend, obtaining the consent of her 

 father, went, and unexpectedly, as she implies, found 

 Count Taxis of the party. She represents her father as 

 habitually afraid or suspicious of the intrigues of ladies, 

 and that he was thus prompted on the next day to 

 make a visit to the Countess of Lerchenfeld, where he 

 learned who had been his daughter's companion at 

 dinner. He chose to regard the affair as a female 

 conspiracy, and the following day brought him to the 



