"Ah my poor child," Elisabeth murmured. "No matter how she tries, she cannot forget the terrible sights she beheld at too young an age."
"I think the distress she felt today was my fault," Sandra confessed. "Whenever I venture too far from the villa for her comfort, Rosalinda becomes frightened. Knowing that, today I made the further mistake of telling her I saw a bear." Sandra then told her mother, as she had not told Rosalinda, the entire story.
"The bear ran out of the trees right into the path of my horse," she said. "When I pulled hard on the reins, the bear ran off again, back into the forest. Only then did I notice that the path just ahead had crumbled away in a rockfall, so there was no longer a path there at all, but only a dangerous gap that opened into a deep ravine. It was almost as if the best intended to warn me and, having done so, he then left the vicinity."
"How very peculiar," said Elisabeth when she heard this tale.
"Even stranger was my horse's reaction," Sandra said. "It did not tear up in fright as you would expect a horse to do when it suddenly comes upon a bear. It simply stopped when I pulled on the reins and then stood there quietly until the bear was gone from sight."
"An angel must have been watching over you, keeping you from harm," Elisabeth said. "Or perhaps it was your dear father's doing. You mentioned seeing an eagle." Elisabeth's gaze moved from Sandra's face to the portrait of her husband, Gioliamo Ricci had been painted with an eagle perched upon his wrist. He had insisted on the inclusion of his family emblem, though certain people at the court of Monteferro, criticizing the picture when it was finished, had whispered most unkindly of ambition that soared as high as an eagle.
"Oh, Mother, please," Sandra said, laughing at this notion, "do you imagine that in heaven father had obtained the power to command the eagles as they fly?"
"I can think of no other explanation for what happened," said Elisabeth with a sniff of offended dignity. "I trust you will have the good sense not to ride that way again."
"I think it's far more likely the bear was an angel in disguise," Sandra said gently. Well aware of her mother's undying devotion to the memory of Gioliamo Ricci, Sandra hid her amusement at her parent's romantic notion as best she could. And she did not say she would not ride the dangerous path again. She was not going to make a promise she could not keep.
Lucian stayed at Gerutinr for three days more, resting from his long journey and holding private discussions with Elisabeth and her faithful companions, Leonardo and Linda. Sandra did not overhear anything they said on those occasions. She suspected her mother of taking extra care to be sure that Sandra, and especially Rosalinda, would not be privy to conversations that might cause them distress.
On the day after Lucian departed, Sandra again went riding alone. At this time year, each such excursion was precious to her, for the weather was growing steadily colder. Soon snow would make venturing into the mountains impossible. Sandra choose the route she had taken on the day when she had seen the bear. Just before she reached the curve in the path where the ground had fallen away, she dismounted and walked to the edge to contemplate the ravine below.
"I was right," she said aloud. "From the direction in which I was coming, I could not have seen the rock fall until I was on top of it. Until it was too late for me to stop. That bear saved my life. It's a good thing I told Leonardo about the break in the path, so he could warn the men-at-arms, though I don't think any of them is likely to come this way."
Clutching her horse's reins more firmly and still on foot, she led the animal from the dangerous spot. Soon the path widened again and Sandra remounted, springing onto the horse's back with ease. A little father on she payed, listening intently and peering into the wilderness of gray rocks and almost leafless trees.
"I thought I heard something." She told the horse. "Whatever it was, it's gone now. Perhaps it was only the wind, or the sound of running water from a nearby stream."
A short distance farther down the path, she stopped for a third time.
"What was that I saw, moving through the trees? Could it be my friend the bear again? If only I knew where his cave is, I think him for what he did for me. Oh, how Rosalinda would shiver if I were to tell her about that idea!"
Seeing not the slightest trace of a bear, Sandra continued homeward without further incident. In fact, she saw few animals or birds. The small creatures were already burrowing in for the winter and most of the birds had flown south to warmer climes. Coming out of the hills and nearer to Gerutinr, Sandra could see that the tilled fields across which she was riding were stripped of their harvest as humans, too, prepared for the long, cold months ahead. When she glanced back at the mountains she noticed a banner of icy-white cloud streaming across the sky, and she knew the snows would not be long in coming.
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~To be continued~
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RED
Romansa"Sweet Sandra," he said. "I want you to promise you will tell no one that you have seen me. It is vitally important that no one knows I am here." "I promise." She said at once. "But-----" "Not another word," he said. "I saw you come here...
