Original subtitles

chapter three well i really never

thought i'd have to

speak directly into the camera again but

here we are we followed the cortege with

our eyes until it was swiftly lost to

sight in the misty wood

and the very sound of the hooves and the

wheels died away in the silent night air

nothing remained to assure us that the

adventure had not been an illusion of a

moment but the young lady

who just at that moment opened her eyes

i could not see

for her face was turned for me but she

raised her head

evidently looking about her and i heard

a very sweet voice

asking complainingly where is mama

our good madame perez answered tenderly

and added some comfortable assurances

i then heard her ask where am i what is

this place

and after that she said i don't see the

carriage and matzka where is she

madame answered all her questions

insofar as she understood them

and gradually the young lady remembered

how the misadventure came about

and was glad to hear that no one in or

in attendance on the carriage was hurt

and on learning that her mama had left

her here till her return in about three

months

she wept i was going to add to my

consolations to those of madame perez

when mademoiselle de la fontaine placed

her hand upon my arm

saying don't approach one at a time is

as much as she can at present converse

with

a very little excitement would possibly

overpower her now

as soon as she is comfortably in bed i

thought i will run up to her room and

see her

my father in the meantime had sent a

servant on horseback for the physician

who lived about two leagues away and a

bedroom was being prepared for the young

lady's reception

the stranger now rose and leading on

madame's arm walked slowly over the

drawbridge and into the castle gate

in the hall servants waited to receive

her and she was conducted forthwith to

her room

the room we usually sat in as our

drawing room is long

having four windows that looked over the

moat and drawbridge

upon the forest scene i had just

described it is furnished an old carved

oak with large carved cabinets and the

chairs are cushioned with crimson

utrecht velvet

the walls are covered with tapestry and

surrounded with great gold frames the

figures being as large as life

an ancient very curious costume and the

subjects represented

are hunting hawking and generally

festive it is not too stately to be

extremely comfortable

and here we had our tea for with his

usual patriotic leanings

he insisted that the national beverage

should make its appearance regularly

with our coffee and chocolate

grape soda and cookies we sat here this

night with candles lighted

we're talking over the adventure of the

evening madame perez

de la fontaine were both of our party

the young stranger had hardly laying

down

in her bed when she sank into a deep

sleep and those ladies had left her in

the care of a servant

how do you like our guest i asked as

soon as madame entered

tell me all about her i like her

extremely answered madam

she is i almost think the prettiest

creature i ever saw

creature is right about your age and so

gentle and nice

she is absolutely beautiful through the

mademoiselle who had peeped in for a

moment into the stranger's room and such

a sweet voice

added did you remark a woman in the

carriage after it was set up again who

did not get out

inquired mademoiselle but only looked

out from the window

no we had not seen her she then

described a hideous woman

dressed in black who is gazing all the

time from the carriage window

nodding and grinning derisively towards

the ladies with gleaming eyes and large

eyeballs and her teeth set as if in a

fury

do you remark what an ill-looking pack

of men the servants were asked madam

yes said my father who had just come in

ugly fellows as i ever beheld in my life

i dare say they were worn out with too

long traveling sid madam

besides looking wicked their faces were

so strangely lean

and sullen i'm very curious i own but i

dare say the young lady will tell you

all about it tomorrow

she is sufficiently recovered i don't

think she will said my father with a

mysterious smile

and a little nod of his head as if he

knew more about it than he cared to tell

us

this made us all the more inquisitive as

to what had passed between him and the

lady in the black velvet

in the brief but earnest interview that

had immediately preceded our

her departure we were scarcely alone

when i entreated him to tell me

he did not need much pressing there is

no particular reason why i should not

tell you she expressed a reluctance to

trouble us with the care of her daughter

saying she was in delicate health and

nervous but not subject to any kind of

seizure

she volunteered that nor any illusion

being in fact perfectly sane

very odd to say all that i interpolated

it was so unnecessary

at all events it was said he laughed and

as you wished to know all that passed

which was indeed very little i tell you

she then said

i am making a long journey of vital

importance she emphasized the word

rapid and secret i shall return for my

child in three months

in the meantime she will be silent as to

who we are

whence we came and whether we are

traveling this is all she said

she spoke very pure french when she said

the word secret

she paused for a few seconds looking

sternly her eyes fixed on mine

i fancy she makes a great point on that

you saw how quickly she was gone

i hope i have not done a very foolish

thing in taking charge of the young lady

for my part i was delighted i was

longing to see and talk to her

and only waiting till the doctor should

give me leave you who will live in towns

can have no idea how great an event the

introduction of a new friend is in such

a solitude as surrounded us

the doctor did not arrive till nearly

one o'clock but i could no more have

gone to my bed and slept

then i could have overtaken on foot the

carriage in which the princess in black

velvet had driven away

when the physician came down to the

drawing room it was to report very

favorably upon his patient

she was now sitting up her pulse quite

regular apparently perfectly well

she had sustained no injury and the

little shock to her nerves had passed

away quite harmlessly

there could be no harm certainly in my

seeing her if we both wished it

and with this permission i sent

forthwith to know whether

she would allow me to visit her for a

few minutes in her room the servant

returned immediately to say she desired

nothing more

you may be sure i was not long and

availing myself of this permission

our visitor lay in on one of the

handsomest rooms in the schloss

it was perhaps a little stately there

was a somber piece of tapestry opposite

the foot of the bed representing

cleopatra

with the asps to her bosom the other

solemn classic scenes were displayed

a little faded upon the other walls but

there was gold carving

and rich and varied color enough in the

other decorations of the room

to more than redeemed gloom of the old

tapestry there were candles at the

bedside

she was sitting up her slender pretty

figure enveloped in the soft silk

dressing gown

embroidered with flowers and lined with

thick quilted silk

which her mother had thrown over her

feet as she lay upon the ground

what was it that as i reached the

bedside and had just begun my little

greeting

struck me dumb in a moment and made me

recoil a step or two before her

i will tell you i saw the very face

which had visited me in my childhood at

night

which remained so fixed in my memory and

on which i had for so many years

so often ruminated with horror when no

one suspected of what i was thinking

it was pretty even beautiful and when i

first beheld it

were the same melancholy expression but

this almost

instantly lighted into a strange fixed

smile of recognition

there was silence of fully a minute and

then at length she spoke

i could not how wonderful she exclaimed

twelve years ago i saw your face in a

dream and it has haunted me ever since

wonderful indeed i repeated overcoming

with an effort the horror that had for

the time suspended my utterances

12 years ago in vision or reality i

certainly saw you

i could not forget your face it has

remained before my eyes ever since

her smile had softened whatever i had

fancied strange on it was gone

and it and her dimpling cheeks were now

delightfully pretty and intelligent

i felt reassured and continued more in

the vein which hospitality indicated to

bid her welcome

and to tell her how much pleasure her

accidental arrival had given us all

and especially what a happiness it was

to me i took her hand as i spoke

i was a little shy as lonely people are

but the situation made me eloquent

and even bold she pressed my hand she

laid hers upon it

and her eyes glowed as looking hastily

into mine she smiled again

and blushed she answered my welcome very

pretty

i sat down beside her still wondering

and she said

i must tell you my vision about you it

was so very strange that you and i

should have had

each of the other so vivid dream that

each should have seen

i you and you me looking as we do now

when of course we were both mere

children

i was a child about six years old and i

awoke from a confused and troubled dream

and found myself in a room unlike my

nursery wayne scott clumsily in some

dark wood and with cupboards and

bedsteads and chairs and benches placed

about it

the beds were i thought all empty and

the room itself without anyone but

myself in it and i

after looking about me for some time and

admiring especially an iron candlestick

with two branches which i should

certainly know again

crept under one of those beds to reach

the window but as i got from under the

bed

i heard someone crying and looking up

while i was still upon my knees

i saw you most assuredly you as i see

now

a beautiful young lady with golden hair

and large blue eyes

and lips your lips you

as you are here your looks won me i

climbed onto the bed and put my arms

about you

and i think we both fell asleep i was

aroused by a scream

you were sitting up screaming i was

frightened and slipped down upon the

ground and it seemed to me lost

consciousness for a moment and when i

came to myself i was again in my nursery

at home

your face i have never forgotten since i

could not be misled by mere resemblance

you are the lady whom i saw then it was

now my turn to relate my corresponding

vision

which i did to the undisguised wonder of

my new acquaintance

i don't know which should be most afraid

of the other she said again smiling

if you were less pretty i think i should

be very much afraid of you being as you

are

but being as you are and you and i both

so young i feel only that i have made

your acquaintance

12 years ago and have already a right to

your intimacy

at all events it does seem as if we were

destined from our earliest childhood to

be friends

[Music]

i wonder whether you feel as strangely

drawn towards me as i do to you

i have never had a friend shall i find

one now

she sighed and her fine dark eyes gazed

passionately on me now the truth is

i felt rather unaccountably towards the

beautiful stranger

i did feel as she said drawn towards her

but there was also something of

repulsion

in this ambiguous feeling however the

sense of attraction immensely prevailed

she interested me and won me she was so

beautiful and so indescribably engaging

i perceived now something of langer

and exhaustion stealing over her and

hastened to bid her good night

the doctor thinks i added that you ought

to have a maid to sit up with you

tonight one of ours is waiting and you

will find her a very useful and quiet

creature

how kind of you but i could not sleep

yeah

because she can't i never could with an

attendant in the room

i shan't require any assistance and

shall i confess my

weakness i am haunted with a terror of

robbers our house was robbed once and

two servants murdered

so i always lock my door it has become a

habit

and you look so kind i know you will

forgive me i see there is a key in the

law

she held me close in her pretty arms for

a moment and whispered in my ear

good night darling it is very hard to

part with you

but good night tomorrow but not early i

shall see you again

she sank back on the pillow with a sigh

and her fine eyes followed me with the

fond and melancholy gays

and she murmured again good night dear

friend young people like and even love

on impulse

i was flattered by the evident though as

yet undeserved fondness

she showed me i liked the confidence

with which she at once received me

she was determined that we should be

very near friends the next day came and

we met again

i was delighted with my companion that

is to say

in many respects her looks lost nothing

in daylight she was certainly the most

beautiful creature i had ever seen

and the unpleasant remembrance of the

face presented in my early dream had

lost the effect of the first unexpected

recognition

she had confessed that she had

experienced a similar shock on seeing me

and precisely the same faint antipathy

that had mingled with my

admiration of her we now laughed

together over our

momentary horrors this entire thing is a

tongue twister this is fun

thank you for listening see you for

chapter four

very soon okay bye