"
Still in anxiety lest the postilion should begin to blow his horn
again, I listened at the window, but all was quiet outside. "Let him
blow!" I thought, undressed myself, and got into the magnificent bed,
where I seemed to be fairly swimming in milk and honey! The old linden
in the court-yard rustled, a rook now and then flew off the roof, and
at last, completely happy, I fell asleep.
CHAPTER VI
When I awoke, the beams of early morning were shining on the green
curtains of my bed. At first I could not remember where I was. I
seemed to be still driving in the coach, where I had been dreaming
of a castle in the moonlight, and of an old witch and her pale
daughter.
I sprang hastily out of bed, dressed myself, and, looking about my
room, perceived in the wainscoting a small door, which I had not seen
the night before. It was ajar; I opened it, and saw a pretty little
room looking very fresh and neat in the early dawn. Some articles of
feminine apparel were lying in disorder over the back of a chair, and
in a bed beside it lay the girl who had waited upon me the evening
before. She was sleeping soundly, her head resting upon her bare white
arm, over which her black curls were straying. "How mortified she
would be if she knew that the door was open!" I said to myself, and
I crept back into my room, bolting the door after me, that the girl
might not be horrified and ashamed when she awoke.
Pages:
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358