And now, as I approach that part of my narrative which possesses the
deepest interest for myself, I hesitate--hesitate and draw back before the
great mystery in which it is involved. I ask myself what interpretation
the world will put upon facts for which I can vouch; upon events which I
myself witnessed? I cannot prove those events. They happened over fifty
years ago; but they are as vividly present to my memory as if they had
taken place yesterday. I can only relate them in their order, knowing them
to be true, and leaving each reader to judge of them according to his
convictions.
It was about the middle of the second week in June. Hartmann had been about
six weeks at Bruehl, and all was going on in the usual dull routine, when
that routine was suddenly broken by the arrival of three mounted
dragoons--an officer and two privates--whose errand, whatever it might be,
had the effect of throwing the whole establishment into sudden and unwonted
confusion.
I was out in the grounds when they arrived, and came back at midday to find
no dinner on the table, no cook in the kitchen; but a full-dress parade
going on in the courtyard, and all the interior of the Chateau in a state
of wild commotion.
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