Now and then he would offer a branch to Madame.

At length, as though by previous arrangement with Madame, the countess led Fitzgerald around to the other side of the chateau, so that Madame and Maurice were alone.

Immediately the smile, which had rested on her lips, vanished.
Her companion was gazing mountainward, and cogitating.

How fared those in Bleiberg?
"What a beautiful world it is!" said a low, soft voice close to his ear.
Maurice resumed his berry picking.
"What exquisite tints in the skies!" went on the voice; "what matchless color in the forests!" Maurice plucked a berry, ate it, and smacked his lips.

It was a good berry.
"But what a terrible thing it would be if one should die suddenly, or be thrown into a windowless dungeon, shut out from all these splendid reaches ?" Maurice plucked another berry, but he did not eat it.