"What, already!" her husband cried. "You sly creature. You have been keeping this up your sleeve. What is it?"
"A diamond tiara," was the cool reply. "The one you said you could not afford last Christmas."
"Mon Dieu!" her husband gasped. "I shall be ruined."
"You will be ruined if you do not give it to me," Madame Mildau replied, "for in that case I should leave you. I couldn"t live with a liar."
Her husband wrung his hands. He implored her to choose something else, but it was of no avail, and within two hours Madame Mildau had visited the jeweller and the tiara was hers.
The eventful day came at last, and Madame Mildau, escorted by her husband, attended one of the most popular b.a.l.l.s of the season. She did not wear her tiara. There had been several highway jewellery robberies in the neighbourhood of late, and she pleased her husband immensely by leaving her diamonds carefully locked up at home.
"You are prudence itself," he said, gazing at her in admiration. "And as a reward you shall dance all the evening whilst I look on and admire you."
But soon Madame Mildau could dance no longer. She had a very bad headache, and begged her husband to take her home. M. Mildau was very sympathetic. He was very sorry for his wife, and suggested that she should take some brandy. She readily agreed that a little brandy might do her good, and they took some together in their bedroom, after which madame"s husband remembered little more. He had a vague notion that his wife was rolling his neck-handkerchief round his forehead in the form of a Turkish turban, and patting him on the cheeks and smilingly wishing him a thousand pleasant dreams, and then--all was a blank. He might as well have been dead. With madame it was otherwise. The headache was, of course, a ruse. The brandy she had given her husband had been well drugged, and no sooner had she made sure it had taken effect than she snapped her daintily manicured finger-tips in the air, and retiring to her dressing-room, changed the dress she was wearing for one ten times more costly and beautiful--a dress of rose-coloured gauze, upon which a drapery of lace was suspended by agraffes of diamonds. A wreath of pale roses, that seemed to have been bathed in the dew of the morning, the better to harmonize with the delicate complexion of her lovely face, nestled in her hair, and above it, more magnificent than anything yet seen in Innsbruck, and setting off to perfection the dazzling l.u.s.tre of her yellow curls, the tiara of diamonds.
After a final survey of herself in the gla.s.s, she slipped on her cloak, and stole softly out to join her intimate friend, the Countess Linitz, who was also going to the ball. All things so far had worked wonderfully well; not even a servant suspected her. In order to avoid trusting her secret to anyone in the house, she had employed a stranger to hire an elegant carriage, which was in waiting for her at a discreet distance from the front door. The ball at which Madame Mildau soon arrived with her friend was much more to her liking than the one to which she had been previously escorted by her husband. The music was more harmonious, the conversation more amiable, the dresses more elaborate, and, what was more important than all, Madame Mildau"s success was even more instantaneous and complete. The whole room--host, guests, musicians, even waiters--one and all were literally dumbfounded at the extraordinary beauty of her face and costume, to say nothing of her jewels. Such an entrancing spectacle was without parallel in a ballroom in Innsbruck; and when she left, before the entertainment was over, all the life, the light, the gaiety went with her.
But it was at the third ball, to which the same equipage surrept.i.tiously bore her, that Madame Mildau"s enjoyment and triumphs reached their zenith; and it was only towards the close of that entertainment--when she felt, by that revelation of instinct which never deceives women on similar occasions, that it was time to depart; that the brilliancy of her eyes, no less than the beauty of her dress, was fading; that her lips, parched with fatigue, had lost that humid red which rendered them so pretty and inviting, and that the dust had taken the beautiful gloss off her hair--that she experienced, for the first time, a sentiment of uneasiness in reviewing the rashness of her conduct. How was it possible, she asked herself, to prevent a casual acquaintance--her friends she could warn--letting out in conversation before her husband that she had been to these b.a.l.l.s. And supposing he thus got to know of her deceit, what then?
This idea--the idea of being found out--with all its consequences, rose before her. Her exhausted imagination could find nothing to oppose it, nothing to relieve the feeling of depression which took possession of her, and she almost felt remorse when she threw herself into her carriage. It was a very dark night, cold and windy, and she was only too thankful to nestle close into the soft cushions at her back, and bury her face in the warm fur of her costly wrap. For some minutes she remained absorbed in thought; but it was not long before the monotonous rumble, rumble of the carriage produced a sensation of drowsiness, from which she was rudely awakened by the sound of a cough. Glancing in the direction from whence it came, to her utmost dismay and astonishment she saw, seated in the opposite corner of the vehicle, a young man of good, if somewhat peculiar appearance, and extremely well dressed. Madame Mildau instantly took in all the disadvantages of her situation, and, overwhelmed by the imprudence of her conduct, exclaimed in a tone in which dignity and terror struggled for mastery, "Sir, what audacity!"
"Yes, indeed, what audacity!" the stranger replied, affecting to be shocked. "What pride! What a love of display!" and he rolled his big eyes at her and bared his teeth.
"But, sir," Madame Mildau cried in horror, concluding that the unknown was a madman, "this is _my_ carriage. I beg you will depart--I beseech you--I command you. I will summon my servants."
"That will be a vain waste of valuable breath," replied the young man coolly. "You may call your servants--but there is only one, and he is mine. He will not answer you."
"Where am I, then? How infamous!" exclaimed Madame Mildau, and she burst into tears. "Oh, how cruelly punished I am!"
"It is true, madame, you will be punished for having been agreeable, gay, and brilliant to-night without the consent of your husband; but at present he knows nothing about it, for at this moment he reposes in the sleep of the just, confident that you are enjoying the same repose close to him. As to yourself, madame, why this fear? You will have nothing to dread, I a.s.sure you, from my indiscretion; but, as you may be aware, there is no fault, however small, that has not its expiation. Nay, do not weep. Am I so ugly? Why should you dread me so, madame? I am a great admirer of your charms, desirous to know you better. Nay, have no suspicions as to my morality--I am no profligate. I came to the ball to-night for quite another purpose."
"Sir, I understand you. You are employed by my husband. A spy!
Detestable!"
"Stop, madame," the stranger said, laying his hand gently on hers.
"Debase not the dignity of man by imagining for one instant that there is anyone who would lend himself so readily to act the odious part you impute to me. I am no spy."
"In Heaven"s name, then," Madame Mildau exclaimed, "what brings you here? What do you want? Who are you?"
"One at a time, madame," the young man e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed. "To begin with, it was those diamonds of yours--those rings on your soft and delicate fingers, those bracelets on your slender rounded wrists, that necklace and pendant on your snowy breast, and over and above all that splendid tiara on your matchless hair. It was the sight of all those bright and gleaming stars that attracted me, just as the light of a candle attracts a moth. I could not resist them."
"Then you--you are a robber!" stammered the lady, ready to faint with terror.
"Wrong again!" the young man said; "I admire your jewels, it is true, but I am no thief."
"Then, in mercy"s name, what are you?" demanded the lady.
"Well!" the stranger replied, speaking with a slight snarl, "I am a man now, but I shall soon change."
"A man and will soon change?" Madame Mildau cried; "oh, you"re mad, mad--and I"m shut up in here with a lunatic! Help! help!"
"Calmly, calmly," the stranger exclaimed, lifting her hands to his lips and kissing them. "I"m perfectly sane, and at present perfectly harmless. Now tell me, madame--and mind, be candid with me--why don"t you love your husband?"
"How do you know I don"t?" Madame Mildau faltered.
"Tut, tut!" the young man said. "Anyone could see that with half an eye.
Besides, consider your conduct to-night! Answer my questions."
"Well, you see!" Madame Mildau stammered, having come to the conclusion that even if the man were not mad it would be highly impolitic to provoke him, "I"m so much younger than he is. I"m only twenty-three, whereas he is forty-five. Besides, he detests all amus.e.m.e.nts, and I love them--especially dances. He is too fat to----"
"Are you sure he is fat? Will you swear he is fat?" the stranger asked, grasping her hands so tightly that she screamed.
"I swear it!" she said, "he is quite the fattest man I know."
"And tender! But no, he can"t be very tender!"
"What questions to ask!" Madame Mildau said. "How do I know whether he is tender! Besides, what does it concern you?"
"It concerns me much," the young man retorted; "and you, too, madame.
You asked me just now a question concerning myself. Your curiosity shall be satisfied. I am a werwolf. My servant on the box who took the place of your employe is a werwolf. In an hour the metamorphosis will take place. You are out here in the Wood of Arlan alone with us."
"In the Wood of Arlan!"
"Yes, madame, in the Wood of Arlan, which is, as you know, one of the wildest and least frequented spots in this part of the Tyrol. We are both ravenously hungry, and--well, you can judge the rest!"
Madame Mildau, who regarded werwolves in the same category as satyrs and mermaids, was once more convinced that she had to deal with a lunatic, but thinking it wisest to humour him, she said, "I shouldn"t advise you to eat me. I"m not at all nice. I"m dreadfully tough."
"You"re not that," the young man said, "but I"m not at all sure that the paint and powder on your cheeks might not prove injurious. Anyhow, I have decided to spare you on one condition!"
"Yes! and that is?" Madame Mildau exclaimed, clapping her hands joyfully.
"That you let me have your husband instead. Give me the keys of your house, and my man and I will fetch him. Did you leave him sound asleep?"
"Yes!" Madame Mildau faltered.
"In other words you drugged him! I knew it! I can read it in your eyes.
Well--so much the better. Your foresight has proved quite providential.
We will bind you securely and leave you here whilst we are gone, and when we return with your husband you shall be freed, and my man shall drive you home. The key?"
Madame Mildau gave it him. With the aid of his servant--a huge man, well over six feet and with the chest and limbs of a Hercules--the stranger then proceeded to gag and bind Madame Mildau hand and foot, and lifting her gently on to the road, fastened her securely to the trunk of a tree.
"Au revoir!" he exclaimed, kissing her lightly on the forehead. "We shan"t be long! These horses go like the wind."
The next moment he was gone. For some seconds Madame Mildau struggled desperately to free herself; then, recognizing the futility of her efforts, resigned herself to her fate. At last she heard the clatter of horses" hoofs and the rumble of wheels, and in a few minutes she was once again free.
"Quick!" the stranger said, leading her by the arm, "there"s not a moment to lose. The trans.m.u.tation has already begun. In a few seconds we shall both be wolves and your fate will be sealed. We"ve got your husband, and, fortunately for you, he is as you described him, nice and plump. If you want to take a final peep at him, do so at once; it"s your last chance."
But Madame Mildau had no such desire. She moved aside as her husband, clad in his pyjamas and still sleeping soundly, was lifted out of the vehicle and placed on the ground, and then, hurriedly brushing past him, was about to enter the carriage, when the young man interposed.