here else could she hope to rid
herself of the nightmares that oppressed her except where she was
permitted to see the man from whom nothing could separate her, no matter
how cruelly he repulsed her?

The only suitable place for her, he thought, was the cloister. No man, he
believed in his boundless vanity, could satisfy the woman who had once
received in his love.

He should learn the contrary! He should hear--nay, perhaps he should
see--that she was still desired, in spite of the theft which he had
committed, in spite of the cruelty with which Fate had destroyed the best
treasure that it had generously bestowed.

The recruiting officer was certainly a handsome man and, moreover, of
noble birth. Her father wished to have him for a son, and would forgive
her if she gave him the hand for which he shed.

So let him be the one who should take her to Brussels, and to whom she
would give the right of calling himself her husband.

Here her brow contracted in a frown, for the journey on which she was to
set out with him would lead not only to the Netherlands, but through her
whole life, perhaps to the grave.

Deep resentment seized upon her, but she soon succeeded in conquering it;
only the question what she had to give her suitor in return for his loyal
love could not be silenced. Yet was it she who summoned him? Did he not
possess the knowledge of everything that might have deterred another from
wooing her? Had she not showed him more than plainly how ill he had
succeeded in gaining her affection? If, nevertheless, he insisted upon
winning her, he must take her as she was, though the handsome young man
would have had a good right to a heart full of love. Hers, so long as the
gouty traitor lived who had ruined her whole existence, could never
belong entirely to another.

Once she had preferred the handsome, stately dancer to all other men.
Might not this admiration of his person be revived? No--oh, no! And it
was fortunate that it was so, for she no longer desired to love--neither
him nor any one else. On the other hand, she resolved to make his life as
pleasant as lay in her power. When what she granted him had reconciled
her father to her, and she was in Brussels, perhaps she would find
strength to treat Pyramus so that he would never repent his fidelity.

In the afternoon she longed to escape from the close rooms into the fresh
air, and turned her steps toward Prebrunn, in order to see once more the
little castle