A sense of contentment at being at home, and of gladness that this was his home, overcame him, and for a moment allayed his gnawing restlessness.
"Go," he said, "and cook me something for supper; I am hungry and exhausted after a long ride."
He remembered his horse for the first time, and wondered where it had galloped to. Then the next instant he forgot it again.
"And make yourself neat," he continued. "I should like you to look your best when you come to table."
They separated in the vestibule. He went into the sitting-room, and she to her kitchen. He threw himself with a deep sigh on the sofa, that creaked beneath his weight. Everything seemed the same as on the night he had left it, except that the curtain had been taken away from the corner by the stove, and the couch removed; the portrait of his grandmother, too, had disappeared. The shot which grazed Regina's neck had proved its final destruction, and reduced it to ribbons.
One of the windows was open. The strange perfume of fermenting earth, which to-day he could not get out of his nostrils, flooded the apartment. But here it might possibly come from a lime heap, which had been shovelled up at the gable end of the house.
From minute to minute his unrest increased. Why shorten for him and her the all too scanty time? He could tolerate solitude no longer, and got up with the intention of going into the kitchen, but when on the threshold he saw her cowering on the hearth with naked shoulders, mending her jacket by the firelight,--he retreated, shocked. But in a few seconds she came herself to open the door to him, fully dressed.
"Is there anything I can do for you, _Herr_?" she asked respectfully.
"Show me where you have repaired the roof," he replied, not being able to think of anything else to say. He praised her work, without looking at it. Then he took up a position on the hearth and stared at the tongues of flame in the grate. By this time it was nearly dark, and the firelight flickered on the rush walls.
"Ah, _Herr_! You are laughing at me," she answered. But her face lighted up with pleasure.
"There isn't much in the house, _Herr_. Eggs and fried ham--a fresh salad--and that's all."
"I shall thank God if I----" he stopped abruptly.