We had reached the square; the dancing seemed to have become more frenzied; and there was no sign of Ilse. Someone trod on my heel and my shoe came off. I stopped and stooped. He was just behind me. I told him what had happened.

“I’ll get it.”

He stooped but it wasn’`t there; and the crowd was so great that we were jostled along.

“Now,” he said, ‘you have lost both a cousin and a shoe. ” His eyes gleamed suddenly.

“What next will you lose?”

I said quickly: “I must go back to the house.”

“Allow me to escort you.”

“You, you have come for the excitement of all this. I don’t want to take you away from it.”

“That would be quite impossible. The excitement of this night is where you are.”

I was really frightened. I must get away. Common sense urged me to.

“I must get back.”

“If that is what you really want then you must. Come with me.”

I limped along beside him.

“How far is the house?” he asked.

“It’s about a mile from the centre of the town.”

“I dare say the road is bad. None of the roads are good in these parts. Something should be done about it. I have a horse in the inn yard there. You shall ride with me as you did on another occasion.”

I assured myself that it would be very difficult walking minus a shoe so I went with him to the inn yard and there was the horse; he placed me on it as he had done on that other occasion and we started off.

He didn’`t speak as we went along; he held me firmly against him and my excitement was almost unendurable. I felt I was living in a dream but I suddenly suspected that we were not going towards the house.

I pulled away from him.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll know soon.”

“You said you were going to take me back to Ilse.”

“I said no such thing.”

“You said if that was what I wanted.”

“Exactly, but it’s not what you want. You don’t want me to take you back and say ” Here is your cousin, just as you left her apart from the loss of one shoe of course. “

“Put me down,” I commanded.

“Here! We’re in the forest. You’d be lost. It’s not the night for young ladies to be about alone.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Surprises are almost more amusing than the expected.”

“You are taking me away somewhere.”

“We are not very far from my hunting lodge.”

“No,” I said firmly.

“No.”

“No? But you really did enjoy your last visit.”

“I want to go straight back to my cousin’s house. How dare you try to take me away against my will.”

“Be truthful, Lenchen. It’s not against your will. Remember the wishbone? You wished that we should meet again, didn’`t you?”

“Not, not like this.”

How else? “

“This is so irregular.”

“You are talking like those aunts of yours.”

“How could you know? You`’ve never met them.”

“My dear little Lenchen, you told me so much on that night. Do you remember? You sat there with the blue velvet robe about you and you talked and talked.

You were so disappointed when we said good night. “

And you didn’`t even come to say goodbye. “

“But it was not goodbye.”

“How could you know that?”

“I did know it. I was determined that we should meet again. It would have been such a tragedy if we had not.”

“You are talking to lull me to security. I want to go back. I must go back to my cousin.”

He stopped the horse; and suddenly he kissed me; it was the strangest kiss I had ever received. But then who had ever kissed me before?

Father on the forehead; mother on both cheeks; a peck once on my return from Aunt Caroline; Aunt Matilda did not kiss at all; she had heard that it was not a practice to be unnecessarily indulged in as it was a means of passing on germs. But this kiss seemed to drain me of all resistance; it made me feel exalted and expectant all at once. It was cruel and yet tender; it was passionate and caressing.

I drew away and said shakily, “Take me back at once.”

“You should not have been turned out on the Night of the Seventh Moon,” he said; and he laughed rather cruelly, I thought; his eyes gleamed through the mask and the horns made him look like a Viking raider.

I said angrily: “Whom do you represent tonight?”

“Just myself,” he replied.

“You seem to have the impression that you are some invader who can seize women and carry them off and behave as you like.”

“And don’t you think I can?” He put his face close to mine, laughing.

“No,” I cried fiercely.

“Not with me. Perhaps with some but not with me.”

“Lenchen,” he said, ‘do you swear that that is not what you want? “

“I don’t understand you.”

“Swear by the moon, by the seventh moon, that your great est wish is for me to take you back to your cousin’s house.”

“But of course you must...

He brought his face closer to mine.

“It is dangerous to swear by the seventh moon.”

“Do you think I’m afraid of fairy stories or of you?”

“You are more afraid of yourself, I think.”

“Will you please say clearly ^what you mean.”

“Lenchen, I have thought of you constantly since that night when we supped together and it ended there.”

“How could you possibly think it could end any other way?”

“Easily-and so did you.”

“I.. I do not indulge in such adventures, I assure you.”

“The assurance is unnecessary. I know it.”

But of course you cannot say the same. Such adventures are commonplace with you. “

“There has never been an adventure like that one. You made it unique and now here we are again. Lenchen, stay with me. Don’t ask me to take you back to your cousin’s house.”

“I must. She will be frantic with anxiety.”

“Is that the reason the only reason?”

“No. I want to go back because...

“Because you have been brought up by the nuns, but if I were your husband you would be very happy riding off alone with me.”

I was silent.

“It’s true, Lenchen,” he cried.

“They have instilled these ideas into you. You have chosen the path of respectability or at least it has been chosen for you; and no matter what ecstasy, what joy, what pleasure I could give you, it would always be incomplete unless you were my wife.”

“You are talking nonsense,” I said.

“Please take me home.”

“It could have been so perfect,” he said.

“I know that, and it must not be less than perfect. Lenchen,” he went on sadly, ‘there has never been such a night as that when we met. I dreamed of it; every time the mist fell I wanted to ride out and look for you. It was absurd, wasn’`t it? But you want to go home so I will take you. “

He turned the horse and we rode in silence. I was held tightly against him and I was happy. I knew now that I loved him. He had excited me as no other person ever had or I was sure ever could; but when he turned the horse towards the village I loved him because although I was inexperienced I was conscious of an almost uncontrollable desire which he held in check by tenderness for me and which seemed to me the very essence of romance and that was what told me that I loved him.

I could hear the shouts of revellers as we approached the town; I saw the glow from the flares; one or two people passed us couples mostly, on their way to the forest. We did not go right into the Altstadt but skirted it and I directed him to my cousin’s house.

He sprang out of the saddle and lifted me down; as he did so for a few seconds he held me in his arms and kissed me tenderly this time.

“Good night, little Lenchen.”

I felt an impulse to tell him that we must meet again, that it was because I was worried about Ilse that I wanted to go in. But it wasn’`t only that. I did not know who he was; I did / know, though, that it was not unusual for him to take a woman to the hunting lodge; I knew that the silk nightdress and the blue velvet robe had probably been put there for one of them, and that he had intended that I should provide him with the same brief amusement as others had.

But my guardian angel had saved me and now I had saved myself unwillingly, reluctantly, it was true, but I knew that I was right.

He did not suggest another meeting. He let me go; and before I reached the porch I heard his horse’s hoofs on the road.

Ilse dashed out of the house.

“Helena! Whatever has happened?”

I told her the story. I had lost her. I had lost my shoe. One of the revellers had brought me home.

“I’ve been beside myself,” she cried.

“I couldn’'t think what to do for the best. I roamed about looking for you, then I thought I had better come back here and get a search-party together.”

“It’s all right now. Ilse. I was worried about you. I came back as soon as I could.”

“You must be exhausted.”

Exhausted! I was exhilarated and depressed, exultant and frustrated.

My feelings were in a whirl.

She looked at me oddly.

“Go to bed,” she said, ‘and I’ll bring you up some hot milk. It’ll make you sleep. “

Nothing could make me sleep that night.

I lay there going over it all. The words he had said; the implications; he had wanted to take me to the hunting lodge. I wondered if Hildegarde was there.

And then as I went over every detail I said to myself: I’ve lost him now. This is the second time. I shall never see him again.

One thing I knew was that all my life I should be haunted by him. I should never forget him.

I slept late next morning for I had only dozed fitfully throughout the night until dawn and then fallen into a deep slumber.

The sun was streaming into my room when I awoke and a great sadness descended on me. He had gone; he had explained as clearly as he could that since I could not be his companion of a night or so it was better that we should part.

I dressed lethargically and took breakfast on the little terrace at the back of the house but I had little appetite. I said I would go for a walk into the town during the morning and perhaps do a little shopping for Ilse.

When I returned to the house Ilse came to the door. There was a strange look on her face, as near to excitement as I had ever seen her.

She said, “There is a visitor to see you.”

“A visitor?”

“Count Lokenberg.”

I stared at her.

“Who on earth is that?”

“Go and see.” And she drew me towards the sitting-room, opened the door and pushed me forward. She shut the door on us so that we were alone, which seemed a strange thing for her to do. At home I should not have been left alone with a man-and here the codes of behaviour were as strict as those at home-perhaps more so.

But already I had seen him. He looked incongruous in this little room; he filled it with his presence.

“I’ve discarded my headdress,” he said.

“I hope you recognize me without it.”

“You Count Lokenberg! What are you doing here?”

“I am sure Aunt Caroline would be shocked at your manner of greeting a visitor, and you usually set such store on not shocking her.”

I felt the colour rising in my cheeks and I knew my eyes were sparkling, I was so happy.

“I can’t think where Ilse is,” I stammered.

“Obeying orders.” He took my hands.

“Lenchen,” he said, “I’ve been thinking of you all night. And you, have you been thinking of me?”

“Almost all night,” I admitted.

“I did not sleep till dawn.”

“You wanted to come with me, didn’`t you? You were calling out for me to abduct you and carry you away to the lodge. Confess it.”

“If it could have happened and then not have happened and could have been a sort of dream . “

“Impossible, my darling. But you were frightened, and that was the last thing I wanted. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted anything . but you must be equally eager and willing. It’s no use otherwise.

You must want to come to me as much as I want you to. “

“Is that one of your conditions?”

He nodded.

I said: “You didn’`t tell me who you were.”

“Siegfried sounded so much more to your taste.”

“And then Odin or Loke. And all the time you are this count.”

“A hero or a god is more impressive than a count.”