Adriana alluded to a little trick which her companions had put upon her. Three weeks before, they played one day at blindman’s buff upon a very extensive lawn, which was surrounded on all sides by gravel walks, where there was no breakneck place to fear. It was expressly settled that they should not go beyond the lawn, and that whoever passed its limits, should be looked upon as caught, and submit to be blinded accordingly.
It was Adriana who was blinded, and on the faith of their agreement, she went quietly groping about for almost a quarter of an hour; meantime, the other rogues all passed the lawn, and mischievously left her to seek them in vain. When she found out the trick she was almost angry, and even Madame D’Hernilly reproached the others gravely for having broken their express agreement.
Ernestina proposed that they should play at a game, the movements of which do not require much activity; it is blindman’s buff with the wand. “What is that?” cried Valeria. “Oh,” said the frolicksome Ernestina, “I will soon shew you.”
They hastened to gather from the banks of a little rivulet which ran through a garden laid out in the English taste, a pliant branch of a weeping willow; they stripped it of all its leaves, and left it about a foot and a half long. They were proceeding to draw lots to ascertain in the usual way who should be blinded; when Ernestina, who was very good-natured, offered of her own accord to take the disagreeable part of the blind one: the others accordingly put a bandage over her eyes, and made sure that she could not see, when they gave her the wand to hold. Each of the others then took hold by turns of the opposite end of the wand, they put it to their lips and whispered a few words, endeavouring at the same time to disguise their voices. Ernestina who had proposed the game, and who was supposed to be well acquainted with it, became the victim of her good-nature, for she remained a long time unable to guess at any of the whisperers; she was lucky enough, however, to succeed at last, and each of the others were obliged to submit to be blinded in their turn.
Adriana shewed a good deal of cleverness at this game, and managed for a long time to avoid being caught; at last, the one who was blinded contrived by a little sly trick to make her betray herself. She threw her off her guard, and in her surprise, she spoke without disguising her voice; she was consequently immediately recognised, and triumphantly seized. It was Ernestina who played this trick, which Adriana resolved should not pass unrevenged, and accordingly she made use of every effort to catch Ernestina, who being the cleverest of the party contrived for a long time to escape. Adriana might easily have seized upon Adela, or Valeria, but it was Ernestina only that she wished to catch, and at last she succeeded.