Part 12 (2/2)
”I thank you, Herr Rojanow.” Hartmut smiled with an irony which he made no attempt to conceal. He was master of the situation now, and thought to remain so.
”Would you rather go around?” he asked. ”It will take us more than an hour and here we will be across in a minute or two. You need not doubt the strength of my arms, and I am sure footed; it is not at all a dangerous place to cross.”
”I agree with you,” was the quiet answer, ”and for that reason I will essay to cross it alone.”
”Alone? That is impossible, Fraulein.”
”To step through a forest brook? I do not consider that an especially difficult achievement.”
”But the water is deeper than you believe. You will be wet through and through, and besides--it is really impossible.”
”A wetting will do me no harm, for I do not take cold easily. Pray lead the way and I will follow.”
That was clear enough and sounded so peremptory that further remonstrance was impossible. Hartmut bowed without speaking, and stepped at once into the water, his high hunting boots serving him good purpose.
He was right enough, the water was deep and swift, and the stones were so slippery that he found it difficult enough to set his foot firmly on them. He had a slight sneer on his lips as he stepped upon the opposite bank and turned to wait for the girl whom he was so anxious to protect, but who rejected all his advances so proudly. Would she venture or would the first step terrify her and force her to call him back? No, she had gathered up her skirts and followed without hesitation, notwithstanding the fact that her silk stockings and thin low shoes afforded no protection whatever. She stepped slowly and carefully on the stones over which he had just gone, until she came to the middle of the stream.
Here, while the strong man's foot had been able to find a safe resting place, the woman's smaller one sought in vain for a secure support on the slimy stones. Her high heels were as much in her way as her gown, the edges of which were already thoroughly drenched. Her courage forsook her for the moment, she made several false steps, then stood perfectly quiet and cast an involuntary glance toward the opposite bank, where Hartmut stood watching her in silence, resolved to raise no hand toward her a.s.sistance until requested to do so. Perhaps she read this in his eyes and it gave her back her strength. With a look of decision on her face she gave up all further search for a secure stepping stone, and planted her foot firmly on the pebbly bottom of the stream, and a second later, thoroughly wet now, she clutched the low bough of a tree in preference to Hartmut's outstretched hand, and drew herself up on the further bank. Then turning with dripping garments, to her guide, said:
”We will go on, if you please. We cannot be very far from Furstenstein.”
Hartmut gave no syllable of reply, but a feeling akin to hate rose within him as he looked at this woman who preferred such great discomfort rather than come into closer contact with him even for a moment.
This proud, spoiled man whose dazzling personality won all hearts, felt the humiliation which had been forced upon him most keenly, and execrated within himself the chance which had brought about this meeting.
They went on as rapidly as possible now, and Hartmut cast a glance, from time to time, at the slender, silent figure with its heavy bedraggled skirts, the drippings from which marked their course by a long line of moisture. He kept an attentive eye on the woods on either side; this dark forest road must come to an end some time.
His course had been the right one after all, which at least was some slight satisfaction to him. After a few minutes he came to an elevation which afforded him a view of the region round about. Yonder, across a sea of forest trees, rose the towers of Furstenstein, and at the foot of the hill on which he stood a broad carriage road was plainly visible, and this road, winding through a part of the forest, led directly to the foot of the castle hill.
”Yonder is Furstenstein,” said he, as he turned and spoke to the young girl for the first time since they had left the stream. ”It is about half an hour's walk from here, though.”
”O, that is nothing. I am grateful to you for guiding me so successfully, but the way is very plain now, and I will trouble you no longer.”
”I am subject to your orders,” said Hartmut coldly. ”If you desire to dismiss your guide so summarily, he will no longer force himself upon you.”
The lady felt the reproof implied in his words. After a man had spent a couple of hours in her service, he did deserve something more than a contemptuous dismissal, even though she had found it necessary to keep him at a distance.
”I have taken too much of your time already,” she said, unbending a little. ”You have introduced yourself to me, Herr Rojanow, and I must, in return, tell you my name before I say good morning--Adelheid von Wallmoden.” Hartmut drew a short breath, and a fleeting red colored his face as he repeated, slowly:
”Wallmoden!”
”Are you familiar with the name?”
”I have heard it, but not here, in--in North Germany.”
”Very probable; that is my husband's home, and mine, too.”
Rojanow's face showed extreme surprise as he heard this young girl, whom he had taken as a matter of course, for unmarried, speak in so matter-of-fact a tone about her husband, but he bowed, and said most courteously:
”I beg your pardon, my dear madame, for mistaking you for a girl, but I could not know you were married. And I now know that I have never had the honor of meeting your husband. The only one of the name with whom I was ever familiar, was a gentleman now past middle life. He belonged to the diplomatic service, and his name, if I do not mistake, was Herbert von Wallmoden.”
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