Countess Gisela; From the German of E. Marlitt (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. Silence reigned in the room. Jutta ventured no word in reply. In the look which she cast upon the invalid, there was, indeed, something like shyness and a sudden terror at her own temerity. She walked to and fro several times, ?her little feet glided as noiselessly over the worn floor as though they sunk into thick carpets; only the mysterious silk dress rustled as it brushed past the furniture. But without, the tempest raged furiously around the old towers. The few leaves left upon the moaning trees came rattling against the window- panes with the driving snow, and the shutters of the windows, high up in the roof of the tower, banged helplessly backwards and forwards. Suddenly, in the midst of this universal uproar, a human voice was heard shouting loudly. The fores1house was not as entirely secluded in summer as might have been imagined. The narrow road, over which Sievert had gone with such difficulty, led at about thirty paces distance past the northern side of the house and over the easy ascent and descent of the mountain, directly toward A, uniting at the mountain's base with the highroad to the town. It thus shortened the road between Neuenfeld and the town by at least half a mile. This fact, and the delicious coolness of the forest, caused the path to be tolerably frequented in warm weather. The villagers passed and repassed, and often stopped to talk with Sievert, or to undertake some little commission for him in the town. On very hot days, travellers in their carriages would forsake thdusty highroad for this secluded way, and, in the peace and green twilight of the forest, forget the uneven ground beneath their horses' feet. The inhabitants of the forest- house were, it is true, reminded of this vein of human life only by the occasional sounds o...