ed by an old one. The composition of the letter, and the sense
that the thing was done, made her stony to Alvan.

On the introduction of Colonel von Tresten, whose name she knew, but was
dull to it, she delivered him her letter with unaffected composure,
received from him Alvan's in exchange, left the room as if to read it,
and after giving it unopened to Marko, composedly reappeared before the
colonel to state, that the letter could make no difference, and all was
to be as she had written it.

The colonel bowed stiffly.

It would have comforted her to have been allowed to say: 'I cease to be
the rival of that execrable harridan!'

The delivery of so formidable a cat-screech not being possible, she stood
in an attitude of mild resignation, revolving thoughts of her father's
praises of his noble daughter, her mother's kiss, the caresses of her
sisters, and the dark bright eyes of Marko, the peace of the domestic
circle. This was her happiness! And still there was time, still hope for
Alvan to descend and cut the knot. She conceived it slowly, with some
flush of the brain like a remainder of fever, but no throbs of her
pulses. She had been swayed to act against him by tales which in her
heart she did not credit exactly, therefore did not take within herself,
though she let them influence her by the goad of her fears and angers;
and these she could conjure up at will for the defence of her conduct,
aware of their shallowness, and all the while trusting him to come in the
end and hear her reproaches for his delay. He seemed to her now to have
the character of a storm outside a household wrapped in comfortable
monotony. Her natural spiritedness detested the monotony, her craven soul
fawned for the comfort. After her many recent whippings the comfort was
immensely desireable, but a glance at the monotony gave it the look of a
burial, and standing in her attitude of resignation under Colonel von
Tresten's hard military stare she could have shrieked for Alvan to come,
knowing that she would have cowered and trembled at the scene following
his appearance. Yet she would have gone to him; without any doubt his
presence and the sense of his greater power declared by his coming would
have lifted her over to him. The part of her nature adoring storminess
wanted only a present champion to outweigh the other part which cuddled
security. Colonel von Tresten, however, was very far from offering
himself in such a shape to a girl that h