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 some young man to her and her husband’s care as warmly as she would her own person. There was no doubt that the interesting harper had caused the disagreement between the Countess and her father; for her, at least, the mystery concerning the young lady’s love and the father’s anger was now solved.

With a second bow and a hypocritical glance at the thoughtful harper, she folded the letter and respectfully laid it on a table.

“May God grant our gracious mistress constant health and a long rule over us,” she sighed, reverently folding her hands, and turning her eyes to heaven. “How pleased my husband will be when he hears what a kind and beautiful mistress we now have, and how graciously she surprised us by sending such a precious guest to our Palace. I wonder where he is staying so long; perhaps he went to the woods to get a roast for Sunday. But first I must beg pardon if the young gentleman does not find things here as he is used to having them in Prague. Of all forgotten and forsaken places, ours is the last; if we