“If you should do that, Leonore; if even for love of me you could become a traitress, I would kill myself, but ere I died I would curse you and invoke heaven’s vengeance upon you!  But why conjure up such terrible pictures!  I know that my Leonore would be incapable of treachery, and that, during this week of separation, no word, no look, no hint, will betray that her mind is anxious and that some care oppresses her.”

“I swear to you that by no word, no look, no hint will I betray anything,” she said solemnly.  “I swear that I will not even attempt to guess your secrets, in order not to be disturbed by them.  But one question more, dearest.  I shall give an entertainment to-morrow.  Count Andreossy, Colonels Mariage and Schweitzer, Captain de Guesniard, and the two Counts von Poldring will be present, as well as Generals Berthier and Massena, and several men who are prominent in aristocratic Austrian society.  Will you not attend my reception?  Will you not come to-morrow?”

“No,” he replied, “no, I cannot attend gay entertainments now.  My week of exile begins from this hour, and the first festival for me will be when I again clasp you in my arms.  And now, dearest, let me go.  This last kiss on your eyes—­do not open them until I have left you; for your eyes exert a magic power, and if they are gazing at me I shall not have courage to go.  Farewell, my beloved star, farewell, and when you rise for me once more, may it be for the radiant hour of a reunion, unshadowed by fresh pangs of parting.”

He pressed a last lingering kiss upon her eyes.  She submitted and sat quietly with closed lids and clasped hands until the door had closed behind him and the sound of his steps died away in the anteroom.

Then she slipped from the divan upon her knees, and, raising her hands to heaven, cried:  “I thank Thee, oh God, I thank Thee.  He is not one of the conspirators; he has no share in these plans; for he is not coming to the entertainment to-morrow, and therefore does not belong to those who have their secret appointment with me.  Oh, God be praised for it, and may He guard and protect him in all his enterprises!  I do not wish to know them; I will not investigate them.  Thou, oh God, canst shield and defend him.  Thou alone!”

CHAPTER IV.

BARON VON MOUDENFELS.

Colonel Mariage, alone in his room, was pacing restlessly up and down, with his eyes fixed intently, almost anxiously, upon the door.

“The appointed hour has come and he is not here,” he murmured in a low tone.  “Has suspicion been roused, and have they arrested him?  Oh, God forbid! then we should all be lost, for we are all compromised, and letters from me, also, would be found among his papers.”

At this moment the door was softly opened and the servant announced “Baron von Moudenfels.”