"I have given you no reason, Bertha, to speak thus insultingly. Let me go to my room until you are able to compose yourself and think better and more justly of me."
"Oh, you will not be allowed to stay there long; you will speedily be summoned to receive the acknowledgments of your grateful patient. Clara can be his Mercury."
"Clara will come with me, and I shall stay in my room so long as Herr von Ernau remains at Linau. Since I make it a special request, I am sure that you, Herr von Wangen, will not mention my presence beneath your roof. I pray you promise me this."
"But, Fräulein Lieschen----"
"I can take no refusal to give me this promise. It is the only way in which you can atone for Bertha's unworthy suspicions. Come, Clara, you will surely obey me?"
"Indeed I will--go with you and stay with you, my dearest Elise!" the girl exclaimed, impetuously. "I see how Bertha hates you, but I will love you all the more." She took Elise's hand and drew her gently towards the door, casting an indignant glance at her sister-in-law as she passed her.
Wangen had been moving restlessly about the room while his wife and Elise had been speaking. Every word of Bertha's cut him to the heart. He could not but sympathize in Clara's honest indignation, and the vague consciousness that he was taking part against the wife whom he so adored made him miserable. "I did not think you could be so unkind," he said, sadly, when he and Bertha were left alone in the room.
Bertha heard his words, but she did not heed them; her eyes were bent thoughtfully upon the floor. Suddenly raising them, she said, "Did you tell Herr von Ernau that Elise is here?"
"No, I forgot to. I was so amazed to find him perfectly conscious, and then to hear him declare himself Egon von Ernau, that I never thought of Elise during our short conversation."
"You need not excuse yourself, dearest Hugo, you were perfectly right. Ernau must not know that Elise is here. If he is to fall a victim to her snares, it must not be beneath our roof. Oh, I suspected her air of unconscious innocence long ago! How craftily she has plotted to compass her ends! I never dreamed that it was for the wealthy Egon von Ernau that she was casting her nets four years ago. I thought her enamoured of the poor Candidate. Her exclamation just now opened my eyes. Now I understand why, knowing that Plagnitz was so near us, she instantly consented, greatly to my surprise, to come to us as Clara's governess. Oh, I have been blind! but now that I see it all, her schemes shall be foiled!"