And taking her guitar, Natalie struck some joyous accords; but Count Paulo lightly laid his hands upon the strings so as to silence them, and drawing the tips of her fingers to his lips, with a slight shaking of his head, he said: “Not now, my charming poetess, I am not worthy of hearing you.”
“And it is late,” added Cecil, coming as it were to the aid of his master.
The count rose. “Yes, you are right--it is late,” said he, “and I must not longer keep Natalie from her slumber. Come, my sweet child, you must retire; you must sleep, that your brow may beam with blooming freshness to-morrow!”
Natalie made no answer; with a light sigh she mechanically took the count’s offered arm.
Cecil preceded them with the lantern in his hand. Thus they proceeded up the alley leading to the villa, all three silent and thoughtful. The sky had become obscured, a black cloud intercepted the light of the moon, and Natalie’s charmed garden was suddenly wrapped in gloom.
A cold shudder ran through her delicate frame.
“A feeling of anxiety has come over me!” she whispered, clinging close to the count’s side.
“Poor child!” said the count. “Are you already oppressed with fear?”
“What if the wall should give way, and bad people should intrude into our garden! Ah, Marianne says that misfortune lurks everywhere in the world, lying in ambush for those who think themselves safe, destroying their happiness, and making them wholly miserable; and people only laugh and rejoice that another man’s hopes have been wrecked! Ah, and I have felt so secure in my happiness! If misfortune should now actually come--if these walls should prove not high enough to keep it off! Ah, Paulo, protect me from lurking misfortune!”
They had now arrived at the door of the villa. Paulo pressed the trembling young maiden with paternal tenderness to his breast, and, lightly touching her forehead with his lips, he said: “Good-night, my love! Sleep gently, and be not anxious! So long as I live, misfortune shall never approach you! Rest assured of that!”
Thus speaking, he led her into the house, where Marianne was waiting to accompany her to her chamber.
Natalie silently followed her, but before entering her room she once more turned, and, pressing her fingers to her lips, wafted kisses in the air toward her friend.