and there--no!--yes!--there is Bianca."

I brought my eyeglass to bear upon the point indicated just in time
to catch sight of a female head, which was thrust out through the open
window for an instant, and then withdrawn with great celerity.

"Ah," sighed the count, "it is you who have driven her away. I ought to
have remembered that she would be frightened at seeing a stranger. And
now she will not show herself again, I fear. Come; I will take you home.
Confess now--is she not more beautiful than you expected?"

"My dear sir, I had hardly time to see whether she was a man or a woman;
but I am quite willing to take your word for it that there never was
anybody like her."

"If you would like to wait a little longer--half an hour or so--she
_might_ put her head out again," said the young man, wistfully.

"Thank you very much; but my sister will be wondering why I do not come
to take her down to the _table d'hote_. And besides, I am not in love
myself, I may perhaps be excused for saying that I want my dinner."

"As you please," answered the count, looking the least bit in the world
affronted; and so he pulled back in silence to the steps of the hotel,
where we parted.

I don't know whether Von Rosenau felt aggrieved by my rather
unsympathetic reception of his confidence, or whether he thought it
useless to discuss his projects further with one who could not or would
not assist him in carrying them out; but although we continued to meet