Maria Felicia (the Last Mistress of Hlohov); A Story of Bohemian Love Volume 285, (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1898 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER III MARIA FELICIA, galloping ahead of her chivalrous attendants, dashed up the precipitous "Deep Road" and out of the city through the Imperial Gate. She did not look around to see if the rest were following or were satisfied with the direction she was taking; it seemed that she either had forgotten them entirely or that she did not care whether they were pleased or not. Leaving her escorts to entertain themselves, she rode forward, regardless of all that was going on around her, even of the beautiful morning just awakening. The little skylark soaring above her head and pouring forth his melody, the budding bushes and flowers sparkling with dew, the gold-tinted cloud in the pale blue sky--all the charms of a spring morning had not the power to arouse her. Quietly, with downcast eyes, she sat in the saddle, and her face, which had beamed with happy blushes in the ball-room, was now veiled with thoughtful pallor. Probably the Countess, lost in her reverie, would have gone on and returned to Prague without favoring her attendants with one word or look, had not her horse, frightened by a dog whose master was herding sheep in the distance, suddenly reared up. Aroused from her dreams, she looked up, and while the cavaliers anxiously surrounded her to see if she was hurt, she looked about as though she had yet to recollect where she was, how she came to be there, and who was talking to her. Her eyes wandered to the horizon, girded by a mountain belt, and with that scene her life and usual sprightliness suddenly returned. Her eyes beamed, the blood tingled in her veins, a strong desire pulsated within her to fly over those green meadows, budding forests, clear rivers glittering in the transparent atmosphere, to rise to the peaks of those...