doctor."

"Come, I see you are a very wise, sensible woman."

These words were exchanged at the door of my tower. At this moment
Sperver appeared at the end of the gallery, followed by his friend
Sébalt.

"Fritz!" he shouted, "I have got news to tell you."

"Oh, come!" thought I, "more news! This is a strange condition of
things."

Marie Lagoutte had disappeared, and the huntsman and his friend entered
the tower.




CHAPTER VIII.


On the countenance of Sperver was an expression of suppressed wrath, on
that of his companion bitter irony. This worthy sportsman, whose woeful
physiognomy had struck me on my first arrival at Nideck, was as thin and
dry as a lath. His hunting-jacket was girded tightly about him by his
belt, from which hung a hunting-knife with a horn handle; long leathern
gaiters came above his knees; the horn went over his shoulder from
right to left, the wide-expanded opening under his arm; on his head a
wide-brimmed hat, with a heron's plume in the buckle. His profile, coming