He was silent. It was as if she poured forth an ocean of infinite love with every word, and that its waves rolled over him.
The lawn on the farther side of the Castle, sloping gently down to the park, now opened before his gaze. There stood the weather-beaten socket of the G.o.ddess Diana"s pedestal. Regina had collected the pieces and put them together again, but the torso had been beyond her strength to lift, and it lay in the gra.s.s, while the head, with its blank white eyes, looked down on it. A few steps farther on, a dark four-cornered patch stood out in relief from the emerald turf. That was the spot where he had first seen her busily employed in digging a grave for her seducer, whom every one else refused to bury.
"I left it as it was--in memory of me," she said apologetically, pointing to the turned-up clods that, now overgrown with gra.s.s, had joined and formed a bank.
Then they walked on towards the undergrowth that surrounded the cottage like a thick hedge.
"And I have mended the gla.s.s roof too," she said.
"Ah! indeed!"
Their eyes met for a moment, and then they both quickly looked in front of them again. There was an aspect of peaceful welcome about the little house. Its window panes had caught a ray of the departing sunlight, while all else lay buried in deepest shadow.
A sense of contentment at being at home, and of gladness that this was his home, overcame him, and for a moment allayed his gnawing restlessness.
"Go," he said, "and cook me something for supper; I am hungry and exhausted after a long ride."
He remembered his horse for the first time, and wondered where it had galloped to. Then the next instant he forgot it again.
"And make yourself neat," he continued. "I should like you to look your best when you come to table."
"Yes, _Herr_--I"ll try."
They separated in the vestibule. He went into the sitting-room, and she to her kitchen. He threw himself with a deep sigh on the sofa, that creaked beneath his weight. Everything seemed the same as on the night he had left it, except that the curtain had been taken away from the corner by the stove, and the couch removed; the portrait of his grandmother, too, had disappeared. The shot which grazed Regina"s neck had proved its final destruction, and reduced it to ribbons.
One of the windows was open. The strange perfume of fermenting earth, which to-day he could not get out of his nostrils, flooded the apartment. But here it might possibly come from a lime heap, which had been shovelled up at the gable end of the house.
From minute to minute his unrest increased. Why shorten for him and her the all too scanty time? He could tolerate solitude no longer, and got up with the intention of going into the kitchen, but when on the threshold he saw her cowering on the hearth with naked shoulders, mending her jacket by the firelight,--he retreated, shocked. But in a few seconds she came herself to open the door to him, fully dressed.
"Is there anything I can do for you, _Herr_?" she asked respectfully.
"Show me where you have repaired the roof," he replied, not being able to think of anything else to say. He praised her work, without looking at it. Then he took up a position on the hearth and stared at the tongues of flame in the grate. By this time it was nearly dark, and the firelight flickered on the rush walls.
"I"ll help you to cook," he said.
"Ah, _Herr_! You are laughing at me," she answered. But her face lighted up with pleasure.
"What am I to have for supper?"
"There isn"t much in the house, _Herr_. Eggs and fried ham--a fresh salad--and that"s all."
"I shall thank G.o.d if I----" he stopped abruptly.
He had nearly betrayed the secret of which as yet she had no suspicion, and she should not, must not, suspect anything. Till the dawn of to-morrow her felicity should last.
"Very well, make haste," he laughed, while his throat contracted in anxious suspense, "else I shall expire of hunger."
"The water must boil first, _Herr_."
"All right, we"ll wait, then." He squatted on one of the wooden boxes.
"And, Regina," he went on, "come here; do you know I am not satisfied with your appearance even now? Your hair----"
"I"ve not had time to comb it yet, _Herr_."
"Comb it now at once, then."
She flashed at him a look of shy entreaty.
"While you are here, _Herr_?" she asked hesitatingly.
"Why not? Have you become prudish all in a minute?"
"It wasn"t that----"
"Then don"t stand on ceremony."
She went into the far corner of the apartment, where her bed stood, and with a quick movement loosened the floating wealth of tresses till they hung below her hips. In the middle of her combing, aware that his eyes were fixed on her in admiration, she suddenly spread out her arms, as if overcome with shame and joy, and threw herself on her knees by the bed, burying her face in the pillows.
He waited silently till she got up. When her hair was done she went to the hearth and busied herself among the pots and kettles, without looking at him.
"Tell me, Regina, what have you been doing with yourself all this time?"
She shook her head. "Bockeldorf was the same as ever; besides the grocer and his wife, I never saw a single soul. During the floods I didn"t go once down to the village. As I told you in my letter, I had to starve for a time, but I didn"t mind. And then, during the last few weeks, some letters have come, from Wartenstein, and Konigsberg too--and to-day one--from----"
"Ah, never mind! I"ll look at them later, when you"ve brought some light."
What concern had he with the outer world to-day, when he had burnt the bridges that connected him with his past, and nothing remained of all he had suffered and lived through?
Then when the supper table was spread, and the lamp shone at him from Regina"s hand, he crossed over with her to the sitting-room.
"You have not laid a place for yourself," he remarked.
"May I, _Herr_?"
"Of course you may."
"And, _Herr_, what wine?"
He drew a long breath--"None!"
And so once more they sat opposite each other in the soft lamp-light, as they had so often done on winter evenings, when the snow was driven against the window panes, and gales shook the roof and rattled in the beams. Now grey moths flapped gently to and fro, bringing with them into the room whiffs of the balmy outer air, and the rising moon, which was full for the first time since Easter, shimmered through the young foliage.
He pushed his plate away. Not a morsel could he eat. The precaution of leaving the wine in the cellar had done no good, for the excitement he had wished to shun was, notwithstanding, creeping over him. He took a stolen glance at Regina, and trembled. Her eyes rested on him in such a transport of happiness, that she seemed oblivious of everything in heaven and earth, except the fact that he was sitting near her. Every trace of sorrow and distress had vanished from her face as if by magic.
Its curves had taken a new roundness, a new freshness bloomed in her cheeks. But what struck him as most lovely in her, was the languorous, yielding tenderness of her whole being, as if she had loosened herself from the trammels of earth and floated in s.p.a.ce.
"Regina," he whispered. His heart seemed throbbing violently in his throat. A voice of warning rose within him, saying, "Take care. Be on your guard--this is the last time she will lead you into temptation."
"The last time!" came a melancholy echo.