DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70302#0381
LOUISA, OR LADY OF THE HAY-STACK. 341
tion of the empress, was to be ingenuous and sincere.
On this condition alone, he had offered her his best ser-
vices, but as she had deceived him, he would now aban-
don her to the consequences of her imposture. She was
much confused, and the Count having risen as if to de-
part, she held him by his clothes, threw herself at his
feet, and with many tears, said she had much to relate,
but could not proceed in the presence of M. de Neny’s
secretary. When that gentleman had withdrawn, she
again fell on her knees, and entreated the Count to take
pity on her, confessed that she had'deceived him in the
account of her embarkation at Hamburgh, but called
Heaven to witness, that all she had said concerning her
residence in Bohemia, was true to the minutest circum-
stance. She then told anew the story of her departure,
in the following manner:
When the priest came to take her from her house in
Bohemia, he said he was going to conduct her to a con-
vent in France. The little which she had heard from Ca>
tharine and her Mama, taught her to consider a convent
as a frightful prison from which there was no escape.
This idea operated with such force on her mind, that she
formed the design of delivering herself by flight from
such captivity. No opportunity for executing this plan
presented itself, till her arrival at Hamburgh, where her
alarm was so much increased by the sight of the sea and
the ships, that the night preceding the day fixed for her
departure, she rose from Catharine’s side as she slept,
made a small parcel of some linen, took the blue purse
with the three pictures, and one hundred ducats given
her by the stranger, and at day-break, left the city.
She walked a long time, till, exhausted with fatigue, she
took refuge in the barn of a farmer, and there fell asleep.
Here she was discovered by the owner, who struck with
her
tion of the empress, was to be ingenuous and sincere.
On this condition alone, he had offered her his best ser-
vices, but as she had deceived him, he would now aban-
don her to the consequences of her imposture. She was
much confused, and the Count having risen as if to de-
part, she held him by his clothes, threw herself at his
feet, and with many tears, said she had much to relate,
but could not proceed in the presence of M. de Neny’s
secretary. When that gentleman had withdrawn, she
again fell on her knees, and entreated the Count to take
pity on her, confessed that she had'deceived him in the
account of her embarkation at Hamburgh, but called
Heaven to witness, that all she had said concerning her
residence in Bohemia, was true to the minutest circum-
stance. She then told anew the story of her departure,
in the following manner:
When the priest came to take her from her house in
Bohemia, he said he was going to conduct her to a con-
vent in France. The little which she had heard from Ca>
tharine and her Mama, taught her to consider a convent
as a frightful prison from which there was no escape.
This idea operated with such force on her mind, that she
formed the design of delivering herself by flight from
such captivity. No opportunity for executing this plan
presented itself, till her arrival at Hamburgh, where her
alarm was so much increased by the sight of the sea and
the ships, that the night preceding the day fixed for her
departure, she rose from Catharine’s side as she slept,
made a small parcel of some linen, took the blue purse
with the three pictures, and one hundred ducats given
her by the stranger, and at day-break, left the city.
She walked a long time, till, exhausted with fatigue, she
took refuge in the barn of a farmer, and there fell asleep.
Here she was discovered by the owner, who struck with
her