“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.
“There could be no doubt, notwithstanding the
slight inaccuracy, that our young friend had turned
up; and so she had. Would to heaven we had lost
her!
“She told my poor child a story to account for
her having failed to recover us for so long.
Very late, she said, she had got to the housekeeper’s
bedroom in despair of finding us, and had then fallen
into a deep sleep which, long as it was, had hardly
sufficed to recruit her strength after the fatigues
of the ball.
“That day Millarca came home with us. I
was only too happy, after all, to have secured so
charming a companion for my dear girl.”
The Woodman
