The Gray Nun | Page 3

in which my partner had
dismissed me betrayed a pair of powerful masculine fists! My
shoulders, on which she had come down so vigorously ached as if they
were broken, and I was still unable to conquer entirely a peculiar
sensation of uneasiness. But while I was pursuing my investigations the
clock struck twelve, the company unmasked, and gaily flocked toward
the Supper rooms. I felt particularly entitled to refreshments, and in the
course of my indulgence in the good things of my selection, my
faintness--which was more astonishing to my robust, muscular young
self than any carnival joke in the world could have been--passed off
completely. I was as happy and lively as before, and enjoyed the
remainder of the ball as much as I had the beginning. I tried to dismiss
the episode from my mind. For a few days I felt a dull pain in my
shoulders, which annoyed me at night also, and disturbed my sleep.
The image of the nun haunted me, and the sombre, penetrating eyes

were present to me in my very dreams. This vexed me, and I mentally
abused the royal gentleman in every key who had pushed his joke
rather too far.
A week passed, and the court chamberlain issued invitations for the
third masked ball at the palace. I purchased a sailor's dress, and on the
evening of the ball tripped up the marble stairs in the best of spirits. It
had in the meanwhile occurred to me that I had perhaps imbibed too
much, and that the prince in nun's clothing had perhaps observed my
condition, and made me his victim for that reason. But I rejected that
proposition. In the first place, I had not taken much to drink; certainly
two or three glasses of champagne and lemonade were not worth
mentioning when I remembered what quantities of alcohol I had
frequently absorbed in my university days in Germany. I was a brave
boon companion, and capable of consuming a great deal. So how
should a few paltry little glasses make me so unsteady on my feet as to
collapse in dancing a fast gallop? Absurd! I was sure enough of myself,
and sufficiently well brought up in social customs, to know how much
one may drink at a court ball. No--I was convinced that I had not been
intoxicated, but on this occasion I resolved to exercise special caution,
and to be strictly temperate, in the event of the disguised perpetrator of
pranks again attempting to make the German stranger the butt of his
impudence. This time he should meet his match; I would keep my head
clear and my feet steady enough to venture a dance with him. The
constantly suspicious attitude of my mind, to be sure, interfered with
my pleasure very considerably. I was in a too observant mood to float
on the topmost wave of enjoyment, and besides an extraordinary
disquietude had seized upon me, a contraction about the heart that was
quite new to me, such as sensitive people undergo before a storm or in
anticipation of momentous changes of fortune. I wandered about
restlessly. Numerous though the merry masks that flitted around me,
that nun's indescribable black eyes did not appear, and no effort was
made to involve me again as the hero of another frolic. Time was
dragging heavily. I glanced at my watch, and wished the supper hour
might be near. The finger only pointed to half past eleven, so that I
must still possess my soul in patience for half an hour. It was a lovely,
mild, moonlight night; the doors to the tapestried passage and the

colonnade had been thrown open, and I concluded to take a breath of
the fragrant air and a rapid view of the illuminated town in its festive
brilliancy of a carnival night.
A female pierrot dances past me with Don Juan, and, with a laugh,
throws a handful of confetti in my face. I retaliate--a few phrases are
exchanged--I look after her for a moment--and then turn to the entrance
of the corridor, to get out into the colonnade.
I am rooted to the ground!
Standing aside in a corner, on the very same spot as before, is my nun,
staring at me with the same unfathomable eyes as a week ago!
Where had she come from?
Out of the ground? Or had she slipped in through the door during my
banter with the pierrot?
She had come through the door, of course.
I am utterly amazed. The same costume. The same joke. How clumsy
of the prince to repeat himself, I am inclined to ignore the impertinent
young gentleman, and pass him proudly by--yet--strange--again I am
attracted irresistibly, as by a supernatural power, held by those black
orbs. I am quite certain