But Hilda did not laugh; she answered gravely and frankly, "Yes, Herr Delmar; I have deeply repented my thoughtlessness in showing you that path, and I should never forgive myself if you were to meet with any accident there. I have already been anxious about you this morning; you were so long in coming, when Leo thought you would be here directly after breakfast. Will you not make me the promise I ask?"
"Any promise that you ask is already made, lovely fairy. Delightful as is that scramble up the rocks, the path will not exist for me in future. You have forbidden me to use it, and I, as your obedient slave, venture no opposition to your command, but obey!"
"Then as a reward I will instantly conduct you to Leo, who is anxiously expecting you. He would have gone to Tausens himself this morning to see after his friend Herr von Herwarth, but he was kept here by the intelligence that a wealthy and well-known family from K---- had arrived at the Post."
"Then Leo already knows who they are?"
"Yes; the maid from the Post came up to the castle last evening to beg for some fowls. She reported that a very grand family from K---- had arrived in two four-horse carriages and were to spend some time in Tausens. She mentioned their names too as my housekeeper told me. The name of Schommer was familiar to me,--I met a charming girl, a Fräulein Schommer, in Vienna,--and so I asked Leo this morning if he knew these people."
"And he said?----"
"He said yes. But he seemed to me not very well pleased that they should have come to stay at Tausens. When he told me that he should not go to the Post this morning because he wished if possible to avoid any personal encounter with these strangers, I said nothing further, although I should like to know more of them."
"Perhaps I can gratify this desire, Fräulein von Heydeck. I have the honour of knowing Fräulein Schommer."
"Ah, how glad I am! I should so like to know whether she is the lovely Eva Schommer whom I saw nearly two years ago in Vienna, and who so charmed me that I never left her side for an entire evening. Unfortunately I could not pursue the acquaintance, for she left Vienna the next day, and we never met again. Yes, she said her home was in K----. What a pleasure it would be to see her again here in Tausens!"
"That pleasure you can easily enjoy. Fräulein Schommer spoke to me last evening of her pleasant remembrance of you in Vienna."