Christine of the hills

We dined upon a little grass bank of the island named Incoronata, in a clearing of the woods, where the soft night wind breathed cool upon our faces, and the rustle of the leave...

“Yes, excellency, four years passed from the going of little Christine from Sebenico until the day I found her again. You may have heard tell in the city how that I, when youth...

“I must have continued in my occupation for some hours, excellency, when at last I found Christine. My walk had carried me across the island to that north-westerly point of it w...

of some little learning, and her mother was a musician of rare gifts. Had I thought upon it, this remembrance would have led me to discern the double nature which was then my st...

“It was late in the afternoon, excellency, when the boatman put me ashore among my own people. I had learnt from him in crossing that Ugo Klun and Christine had sailed from the...

“What befell Christine and Ugo upon their wedding journey will best be told as a plain tale, excellency,” said the admirable Barbarossa, taking up the thread of his narrative as...

“It was almost dark in the little forest of pines when Ugo jumped from his horse and knocked upon the door of the hut of Orio. The shepherd himself gave answer, coming out with...

“There was but one little window in the hut of Orio, and so well did this lie in the shadow of the trees that the sun’s rays hardly searched the room in which Christine slept. Y...

“The steward lumbered off his horse and raised the girl in his arms. She lay with her white face hidden by the rushes at the roadside; but now the Count could see it, pale as it...

“The white room, excellency, was, until a year ago, the only chamber in the house of Paul Zaloski which was set apart for the entertainment of women. Elsewhere, the many rooms w...

“Here, then, excellency, is the little Christine whom the Count saw as he stood at the edge of the bower and gazed upon the scene with surprised eyes. Not until the capering Han...

“You have told me, signor, that you know neither Jajce nor her mountains. May it be my privilege, if you are of a mind to see the wonders of this incomparable land, to be your c...

“I lay that night in one of the barrack-like rooms of the château, excellency; but on the following afternoon, the Count being gone to Livno, I found myself alone with Christine...

“Signor, I did not take Christine back to Zlarin, as you may well imagine. Rather, I laughed away her scruples, telling her that she was worthy of any man’s love, and that it wa...

“A word from Hans had carried us from the house, but the great measure of his news we had while we drew our cloaks about us, and armed ourselves with the guns which stood always...

“The hamlet which he pointed to was known as Trenak, a little settlement of six houses in the hollow of the woods. No sooner were his words spoken than I had great joy of them,...

“I have told you, excellency, how it was that I myself knew of the Count’s wish with regard to Christine. Yet I was careful to keep my counsel, and I found to my content that no...

“There is a proverb in our tongue, excellency, which says that he who relies upon another’s table is apt to dine late. The misfortune which fell upon the house of Jézero in the...

“‘There is your city, little Christine. What? You have no eyes for it? You are tired, you say. _Accidente_, but that is a misfortune, little one. Who knows where we shall get a...

“Christine had left Jézero exactly eighteen months before it was given to me to see her again, excellency. Think not that I had put her from my mind. Far from it. She was to me...

“I found Christine neither at the Café des Trois Mousquetaires nor at that address in the Singer Strasse which the priest had given me. The very question, put to Albert Dietz, t...

“The boy soldier, Lieutenant Gerold, was, I found, known everywhere in Vienna by the name of ‘Zol.’ It had begun by his brother officers calling him ‘Sol,’ from the blaze of gol...

“I had found a lodging during my six weeks’ sojourn in the capital, at a little Italian hotel in the Kohl Market. These six weeks had brought winter to us, and the snow lay whit...

“Christine was quite blind to the admiration which moved about her path. Now that she had taken the bolder step, and knew that another moment would bring her face to face with C...

“The curtain fell at the great Opera House, and the audience sprang to its feet to summon the performers. Noble and merchant, prince and peasant, _grande dame_ and _grisette_, r...

“She had come out of the theatre with her victory fresh upon her. The change from the glare of lights and the clamour of voices to the darkness of the streets and her own solitu...