Carmilla

"'She did not look up,' said the young lady, plaintively.

"'The Countess had taken off her mask, perhaps, and did not care to show

her face,' I said; 'and she could not know that you were in the window.' "She sighed, and looked in my face. She was so beautiful that I

relented. I was sorry I had for a moment repented of my hospitality, and

I determined to make her amends for the unavowed churlishness of my

reception.

"The young lady, replacing her mask, joined my ward in persuading me to

return to the grounds, where the concert was soon to be renewed. We did

so, and walked up and down the terrace that lies under the

castle windows.

"Millarca became very intimate with us, and amused us with lively

descriptions and stories of most of the great people whom we saw upon

the terrace. I liked her more and more every minute. Her gossip without

being ill-natured, was extremely diverting to me, who had been so long

out of the great world. I thought what life she would give to our

sometimes lonely evenings at home.

"This ball was not over until the morning sun had almost reached the

horizon. It pleased the Grand Duke to dance till then, so loyal people

could not go away, or think of bed.

"We had just got through a crowded saloon, when my ward asked me what

had become of Millarca. I thought she had been by her side, and she

fancied she was by mine. The fact was, we had lost her.

"All my efforts to find her were vain. I feared that she had mistaken,

in the confusion of a momentary separation from us, other people for her

new friends, and had, possibly, pursued and lost them in the extensive

grounds which were thrown open to us.

"Now, in its full force, I recognized a new folly in my having

undertaken the charge of a young lady without so much as knowing her

name; and fettered as I was by promises, of the reasons for imposing

which I knew nothing, I could not even point my inquiries by saying that

the missing young lady was the daughter of the Countess who had taken

her departure a few hours before.

"Morning broke. It was clear daylight before I gave up my search. It was

not till near two o'clock next day that we heard anything of my

missing charge.

"At about that time a servant knocked at my niece's door, to say that he

had been earnestly requested by a young lady, who appeared to be in

great distress, to make out where she could find the General Baron

Spielsdorf and the young lady his daughter, in whose charge she had been

left by her mother.