utmost haste, he exultingly repeated in a low tone
again and again: "I love her! And she returns my love! And we will
never part."

His first thought was to seek Ada. The mantilla, which he must return,
afforded the pretext. After several inquiries he found her apartments,
which were next to those occupied by the mistress of the house. Ada's
maid opened the door and looked at him in surprise when he gave her the
package and asked if he could see Mrs. Burgess.

"She has a headache, and probably won't be up to-day," was the curt
answer, with which the door was closed in his face. This was a
disappointment, and he felt very unhappy and forsaken. Yet he
endeavoured to combat these feelings and mingled with the other guests.
At noon he exchanged a hurried greeting with Frau Von Jagerfeld, who
looked at him intently, but said nothing when he avoided her glance.
In the afternoon he walked to Marktbreit and through the villages on
the neighbouring hills, but the longing of his heart soon drove him
back to the castle, where for hours he paced patiently up and down the
pillared hall upon which most of the rooms occupied by the visitors
opened. In the evening the guests again assembled at a banquet.
Bergmann hoped that Ada would be present, and he was not disappointed.
The summons to the meal had been given for the third time, nearly all
the other members of the house-party were in the drawing-room when
Ada's door at last opened. Karl rushed forward and held out his hand
to her. She started, paused an instant on the threshold, then hurried
past him without turning her head, and swiftly vanished.

Karl stood as if he were turned to stone, gazing after her retreating
figure; then forgetting the banquet and everything else, he hastened to
his room and wrote Ada a letter, in which he repeated all the
expressions of love lavished upon her during the preceding night, and
begged for an explanation of her recent conduct. This missive he gave
to Ada's maid, with the urgent request to deliver it to her mistress
that very evening before she retired. Then he went out to try to
conquer his agitation by a walk in the park, and when he thought that
he had regained his composure, he returned to the drawing-room to see
and to talk with Ada. The meal was over, gaiety reigned throughout the
various groups, and a storm of reproaches for his absence from the
table assailed him on all sides. But he looked in vain for Ada. She
had ret