"A feeling of anxiety has come over me!" she whispered, clinging close
to the count's side.
"Poor child!" said the count. "Are you already oppressed with fear?"
"What if the wall should give way, and bad people should intrude into
our garden! Ah, Marianne says that misfortune lurks everywhere in the
world, lying in ambush for those who think themselves safe, destroying
their happiness, and making them wholly miserable; and people only laugh
and rejoice that another man's hopes have been wrecked! Ah, and I
have felt so secure in my happiness! If misfortune should now actually
come--if these walls should prove not high enough to keep it off! Ah,
Paulo, protect me from lurking misfortune!"
They had now arrived at the door of the villa. Paulo pressed the
trembling young maiden with paternal tenderness to his breast, and,
lightly touching her forehead with his lips, he said: "Good-night, my
love! Sleep gently, and be not anxious! So long as I live, misfortune
shall never approach you! Rest assured of that!"
Thus speaking, he led her into the house, where Marianne was waiting to
accompany her to her chamber.
Natalie silently followed her, but before entering her room she once
more turned, and, pressing her fingers to her lips, wafted kisses in the
air toward her friend.
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