A second louder and gayer jodel was Paul's reply, as he turned in the direction whence the voices came, and passing through a short stretch of woodland, reached a small rocky plateau, whither Hilda had brought her guests because it afforded them the best view down into the fearful chasm in the rocks.
"You were wrong, lovely fairy," said Paul, as he joined the small party, taking Hilda's offered hand as he spoke; "no man upon earth can shout as gayly as I can when inspired by the hope of seeing you."
'Lovely fairy!' Paul had never bestowed this title upon Hilda since the first day of their meeting; since then he had always addressed her ceremoniously as 'Fräulein von Heydeck,' and only rarely, in eager conversation, as 'Fräulein Hilda.' Hilda heard therefore in surprise, and, blushing at the remembrance of that first day, looked up at him. How changed he seemed since yesterday! His dark eyes sparkled with gayety, a happy smile played about his lips,--he was the same frank, light-hearted man whom she had so liked at their first interview, and yet--no, not the same; he had become far handsomer and more attractive; she had never liked him half so well as now.
Leo also noticed the change which the few hours since he had last seen his friend had effected in him. "What good news do you bring us?" he asked. "I have hardly ever seen you look so gay."
"Have you found that out already?" Paul asked in his turn, with a laugh. "I revere your powers of observation, and will reward them with a share of the treasures to be found in my pockets. But good children should restrain their curiosity and wait patiently until it is satisfied. If you love me, do me the kindness to act as guide to Fräulein Eva and our betrothed couple on their way to the castle garden, and resign your former guide, the lovely fairy of the castle, to me for a few minutes. I trust she will grant me a hearing for that short space of time."
This request had so strange a sound that Hilda grew confused, and looked uncertain whether to grant it, but when Delmar added, in a low, eager tone, "It is my first request; can you refuse me?" she shyly placed her hand within his offered arm and lingered with him behind the others, whom Leo, as Delmar had asked him to do, conducted to the castle garden.
Paul walked along slowly at Hilda's side, preserving an entire silence until their friends were out of hearing. Then he turned to his companion and said, "I owe you an explanation of much that must have struck you strangely in my manner and behaviour during these last few weeks. Will you hear me, Hilda? Will you let me be frank with you?"
It was the first time that Delmar had called the girl by her first name,--that he had spoken to her in so earnest and yet so confidential a tone. She divined what he wished to say, but she did not refuse to listen. Her low-whispered 'yes' enchanted him; it told him that he did not hope in vain.
Paul continued: "That little 'yes,' dearest Hilda, makes me inexpressibly happy; it tells me that you trust me, and I would have you trust me, now and forever, freely and unconditionally. You must have seen that from the first moment when I met you, my lovely fairy, in the labyrinth of rocks, my heart has been yours. I revelled in the hope of one day winning your heart and your hand also. I was happy, exquisitely happy! But my dream of bliss lasted but two short days. I was suddenly and rudely awakened from it by the startling and as I thought absolute certainty that your father never would bestow upon me your hand, and that therefore I must not even try to win your heart. I can never, my dear Hilda, tell you what created in me this belief. Here you must trust me implicitly. You must never know the dark mystery that interposed between us, nor the cause I thought there was for the utter despair to which I was a prey. Life lost all value in my eyes; the reckless gayety which sometimes distressed you, as well as the morbid melancholy that assailed me when I was alone, was the result of the terrible conviction that possessed me that you never could be my own,--that I could never be more to you than a faithful friend and brother.
"But to-day I have learned, to my unspeakable joy, that all my fears were but idle baseless visions,--that I was deceived, and that I deceived myself,--that I may in all honour tell you how passionately I love you, and may hope, if you will but let me try to win your love in return, that your father will consent to give you to me. Will you, can you love me, Hilda? Will you come with me to your father and hear me pray him to give me this dear hand for my very own?"