The Masked Lover

Leon of Costa meets a mysterious woman at a masked ball who refuses to take off her mask. She does, however, agree to meet him again, but sets a date several weeks after the ball. The lovelorn man first has to sign an obligation that he will fulfil all the necessary conditions and will not attempt to search for this unknown woman after their meeting. He is taken to a strange house with his eyes blindfolded. The couple make passionate love in the bedroom with the lights off and then the woman disappears. The following day the unknown woman writes Leon a letter explaining that, after her experiences with her late husband, a selfish and coarse man, she never wants to have another but only yearns for one thing - to bear a child. After some time she sends Leon half a ring and tells him that she has given birth to a daughter. Costa, deeply unhappy, volunteers for the army and deliberately tries to get himself killed. Badly wounded, he finds himself at the castle of the countess Lenka Rossetti who recognises him as the father of her child. While he is recovering, Costa realises that he now loves her and her daughter Leonka. Since his feelings are returned, Lenka finally tells him that she is his lost masked lover and Leonka is his daughter.