“My dear—my beloved friend!”
“Edith!”
At this moment all other thoughts and feelings were forgotten by Heideck in the overpowering joy of seeing her again. He rushed to Edith and drew her to his breast. For a long time they remained silent in a long embrace, looking into each other’s eyes and laughing like merry children.
At last, slowly freeing herself from his arms, Edith said—
“You are not angry with me, then, for coming to you, although you forbade it? You will not send me away from you again?”
Her voice penetrated his ear like sweet, soothing music. What man could have resisted that seductive voice?
“I should like to be angry with you, my dear, but I cannot—Heaven knows I cannot!”
“I could not have lived any longer without you,” whispered the young woman. “I was obliged to see you again, or I should have died of longing.”
“My sweet, my only love! But what is the meaning of this disguise? And how did you manage to cross the Channel?”
“I took the way you showed me. And is my disguise so very displeasing to you?”