They
account for so much, you know."
"That is exactly my opinion," I said. "She has been brought here against
her will."
"Most probably. This is not a cheerful place, as you see. We have five
months of ice and snow, and for four months are practically cut off from
civilization and see no new face."
"Terrible!" I gasped, glancing round at those dark stone walls that
seemed to breathe an air of tragedy and mystery. The old castle had, I
supposed, been turned into a convent, as many have been in Germany and
Austria. Back in feudal times it no doubt had been a grand old place.
"And have you been here long?" I asked.
"Seven years only. But I am leaving. Even I, used as I am to a solitary
life, can stand it no longer. I feel that its cold silence and
dreariness will drive me mad. In winter the place is like an ice-well."
The fact that the Baron was ruler of Finland amazed me, for I had
half-expected him to be some clever adventurer. Yet as the events of the
past flashed through my brain, I recollected that in Rannoch Wood had
been found the miniature of the Russian Order of Saint Anne, a
distinction which, in all probability, had been conferred upon him.
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