Then I'd cut flowers and meet them on the road somewhere and give
the bouquet to the child. There was never any escort; a footman and a
driver. The little one was always greatly pleased, and she would call
me Hans. I was in love those days." Grumbach laughed with bitterness.
"Yes, even I. Her name was Tekla, and she was a jade. I wanted to run
away, but I had no money. I had already secured a passport; no matter
how. It was the first affair, and I was desperately hurt. One day a
Gipsy came to me. I shall always know him by the yellow spot in one of
his black eyes. I was given a thousand crowns to tell him which road her
highness was to be driven over the next day. As I said, I was mad with
love. Why a Gipsy should want to know where her highness was going to
ride was of no consequence to me. I told him. I was to get the money the
same night. It was thus that her highness was stolen; it was thus that I
became accessory before the fact, as the lawyers say. Flight with a band
of Magyar Gipsies; weary days in the mountains, with detachments of
troops scouring the whole duchy. Finally I escaped. A fortune was
offered for the immediate return of the child. At the time I believed
that it was an abduction for ransom. But no one ever came forward for
the reward.
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