Perhaps she would get better if she did not see those eyes day after day, nor hear that voice.
When she should have fled from the enchanted circle the charm would have to break, and now at last she could flee--oh, the happiness of it!
The noise of the chase sounded in ever-increasing distance, and was finally lost, but steps now sounded in the forest which encircled the hill closely, and warned the young Baroness that she was no longer alone. She started to leave, but at the moment she turned the one approaching emerged from under the trees.
The meeting was so sudden and unexpected that Adelaide's composure was not proof against it. She retreated to the trunk of the tree, under the boughs of which she had been standing, as if seeking there a protection from this man, upon whom she gazed with fixed, fearful eyes--with the gaze of a wounded animal which sees the huntsman approach.
Rojanow did not seem to notice it. He saluted her and asked hastily: "You are alone, Your Excellency? The accident did not have any serious consequences?"
"It was said you had a fall from your horse."
"What exaggeration! The girth broke, but I knew it in time to spring from the stirrup, while the horse stood perfectly still--that was the accident."
"God be praised! I heard something of a fall--an injury--and as you did not reappear at the chase I feared----"
He paused, for Adelaide's glance showed him plainly that she did not believe this pretense; probably he knew the whole occurrence and had learned why and where Frau von Wallmoden had been left behind. She now regained her composure.
"I thank you, Herr Rojanow, but your being at all concerned was not necessary," she said coldly. "You could have told yourself that had there been a real accident the Duchess and the other ladies would not have left me helpless in the forest. I am on my way to Bucheneck."
She attempted to pass him. He bowed and stepped aside as if to let her pass, but said in a low voice:
"Gracious lady, I have yet to ask your pardon."
"For a request which I uttered thoughtlessly and for which I have had to suffer seriously. I only asked for a flower. Is that, then, so severe a transgression that one should be angry over it for weeks?"