What was said by those glowing eyes, what was
expressed by those lips trembling with excitement, could not be mere
sport. There is only one name for the emotion which urges a woman to
risk so much for a man; and if Count Vavel guessed the name, then there
was nothing for him to do but offer his arm to the lady and say:
"Come, baroness, we will go together."
When the count assisted his veiled companion into the carriage, and took
his seat by her side, not even Henry could have told that it was not his
young mistress from the castle who was going to drive, as usual, with
her guardian.
It was with a singular feeling that Count Vavel looked at the woman
beside him, to whom he was bound for one hour by the strongest, most
dangerous of ties. Only for one hour! For this one hour the woman
belonged to him as wholly, as entirely as the soul belongs to the living
human being. And afterward? Afterward she would be no more to him than
is the vanished soul to the dead human being.
The carriage had arrived at the boundary of the neighboring village,
where the usual turn was made for the homeward drive, and they had not
yet seen any one.
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