entreated
him to put off an amusement which was no longer in place, and which at
the present moment no one could enjoy. She reminded him of what ought to
be done for the boy who had been saved, and for his preserver.

"The surgeon will do whatever is right, no doubt," replied Edward. "He
is provided with everything which he can want, and we should only be in
the way if we crowded about him with our anxieties."

Charlotte persisted in her opinion, and made a sign to Ottilie, who at
once prepared to retire with her. Edward seized her hand, and cried, "We
will not end this day in a lazaretto. She is too good for a sister of
mercy. Without us, I should think, the half-dead may wake, and the
living dry themselves."

Charlotte did not answer, but went. Some followed her--others followed
these: in the end, no one wished to be the last, and all followed.
Edward and Ottilie found themselves alone under the plane-trees. He
insisted that stay he would, earnestly, passionately, as she entreated
him to go back with her to the castle. "No, Ottilie!" he cried; "the
extraordinary is not brought to pass in the smooth common way--the
wonderful accident of this evening brings us more speedily together. You
are mine--I have often said it to you, and sworn it to you. We will not
say it and swear it any more--we will make it BE."

The boat came over from the other side. The valet was in it--he asked,
with some embarrassment, what his master wished to have done with the
fireworks?

"Let them off!" Edward cried to him: "let them off! It was only for you
that they were provided, Ottilie, and you shall be the only one to see
them! Let me sit beside you, and enjoy them with you." Tenderly,
timidly, he sat down at her side, without touching her.

Rockets went hissing up--cannon thundered--Roman candles shot out their
blazing balls--squibs flashed and darted--wheels spun round, first
singly, then in pairs, then all at once, faster and faster, one after
the other, and more and more together. Edward, whose bosom was on fire,
watched the blazing spectacle with eyes gleaming with delight; but
Ottilie, with her delicate and nervous feelings, in all this noise and
fitful blazing and flashing, found more to distress her than to please.
She leant shrinking against Edward, and he, as she drew to him and clung
to him, felt the delightful sense that she belonged entirely to him.

The night had scarcely reassumed its rights, when the moon rose and
lig