The girl's heart was beating quick with ecstasy. She looked at herself in the glass, and uttered a cry of joy.
"Say that I gave them to you because I love you. I never had a maid who pleased me half as much. Does this prove it?" and she put her lips to Dionetta's face. The girl's eyes filled with tears, and she kissed Adelaide's hand in a passion of gratitude.
"I love you, Dionetta, because you love me, and because I can trust you."
"You can, my lady. I will serve you with all my heart and soul. But I have done nothing for you that any other girl could not have done."
"Would you like to do something for me that I would trust no other to do?"
"Yes, my lady," eagerly answered Dionetta. "I should be proud."
"Not a soul, my lady, if you command me."
"I do command you. It is easy to do--merely to deliver a note, and to say: 'This is from my mistress.'"
"Oh, my lady, that is no task at all. It is so simple."
"Simple as it is, I do not wish even your grandmother to hear of it."
"She shall not--nor any person. I swear it."
In the extravagance of her gratitude and joy, she kissed a little cross that hung from her neck.
"You have made me your friend for life," said Adelaide, "the best friend you ever had, or ever will have."
She sat down to her desk, and on a sheet of note-paper wrote these words:
"I cannot sleep until I wish you good-night, with no horrid people around us. Let me see you for one minute only.
Placing the sheet of note-paper in an envelope, she gave it to Dionetta, saying:
"Take this to Mr. Almer's room, and give it to him. It is nothing of any importance, but he will be pleased to receive it."
Dionetta, marvelling why her lady should place any value upon so slight a service, went upstairs with the note, and returned with the information that Christian Almer was not in his room.
"But his door is open, my lady," she said, "and the lamps are burning."
"Go then, again," said Adelaide, "and place the note on his desk. There is no harm, child; he cannot see you, as he is not there, and if he were, he would not be angry."
Dionetta obeyed without fear, and when she told her mistress that the note was placed where Christian Almer was sure to see it, Adelaide kissed her again, and wished her "Good-night."