But he had no reason to fear what was to come. He felt that since the Fatherland had summoned him, he was safe from all weak and vicious instincts. Even long before this he believed he had completely freed himself from her influence. Their relations now were merely those of master and servant.
One more night, and the priest's curse would be remembered only as an old man's idle babble. Yet what would become of her? She must look after herself. He had provided for her future. No one could say he was bound to do more. And to-day he would renew his bounty twofold or threefold, so that she would stand in the position of a wealthy widow. When thousands of women and children would perish of hunger in broken-hearted distress, without any one heeding their fate, why should he concern himself so much about deserting this one strange girl and leaving her in solitude?
He steeled and hardened his heart, for it had begun to beat faster....
And as he mounted the steep ascent to the Cats' Bridge, he caught sight of the familiar figure among the bushes above, illumined by the setting sun.
"Regina," he called. But she did not move.
Then with elevated shoulders she slowly glided nearer, the fingers of her left hand outspread, and pressed against her breast.
He looked at her, and was horrified. "My God!" he exclaimed, "how changed you are!"
Her appearance was wild and distraught in the extreme. Her clothes were torn, her hair, which under the frequent use of the comb had begun to fall into such splendid glossy waves, once more hung over her forehead and cheeks in a shaggy, unkempt mass. Her eyes shone with feverish, almost uncanny lustre from dark-blue cavities, and she dared not raise them to his.
"She is pining away," something cried in him. "She will die, because of you." He took hold of her hand and it lay limply in his palm.
"Regina, do speak. Aren't you glad that I've come back?"
She ducked her head, as she had been in the habit of doing when she instinctively expected blows instead of kind words.
He stroked her rough, dry hair. "Poor thing!" he said. "You must have had a dreadfully dull time of it, with not a human soul to speak to----"
She shrank from his touch and was still silent.
"Why did you not write and tell me that you found it so terribly lonely?"