She heard in silence, and bade the servant leave her as soon as he had ministered to her wants.

Then she wrote a short letter to her father, telling him that she had left him, since he had no place for her in his heart, and that she had gone to the one man who seemed ready both to love and to protect her.

This missive she folded, sealed, and laid in a prominent place upon the table addressed to the count.
She made a small bundle,--very neatly, for she is clever with her fingers,--and put on a dark travelling dress, in the folds of which she sewed such jewels as were small and valuable and her own.

She would take nothing that her father had given her.

In all this she displayed perfect coolness and foresight.
The castle became intensely quiet as the evening advanced.