Chapter 21: Unaccountable

⁠​​​‌​​​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‌‌​‌​‌​​​​​​​​​​​​‌‌‌​​​‌‌‌‌​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌‌​⁠A moment—and a turning point in a life!

The countess was "herself" again, as she called it. "Thank God!"

The Ammergau episode—with all its tragic consequences—belonged to the past. To-day, under the emotional impressions and external circumstances at that luckless castle, where everything conspired against her, she had thought seriously of breaking with her traditions and the necessities of life, fa