"This way, pray, Herr von Bertram," Uncle Balthasar was heard saying, and the time consumed in traversing the drawing-room was sufficient to restore Eva's self-possession. She was only very pale when the lieutenant presented himself upon the veranda, followed by Uncle Balthasar. The hand which she rested lightly upon the back of her chair as she arose to receive her guest trembled a little, but Aline alone perceived this; even to Uncle Balthasar his niece appeared perfectly calm and self-possessed.
So thoroughly had she regained her self control that she greeted Bertram with a slight smile, offering him her hand, which he kissed with perhaps more warmth than custom warranted. This, however, Eva did not seem to notice; she did not withdraw her hand until he relinquished it, and then motioned him courteously to a seat.
Guido obeyed her invitation silently; even he, whose heart was not wont to be easily thrilled, perhaps because, as both his friends and foes averred, he really did not own the article, could with difficulty suppress his agitation; he knew that a decisive moment was at hand.
On the way to the villa, Uncle Balthasar had told him, after his easy, good-humoured fashion, how Eva had been quite beside herself with terror when she heard of the impending duel. She had been half dead with fear lest Herr von Heydeck should kill the man who had defended her so stoutly. She had declared that she would prevent the duel at all hazards.
Guido could not but suppose, from Uncle Balthasar's words, that Eva's terror and her intense desire to prevent the duel arose from fear lest his life should be in danger, and in fact this was the old man's belief. He himself had a certain regard for the handsome young officer.
For months Guido had eagerly pursued his scheme of winning the hand of the wealthy heiress. Hitherto he had been hopeless of success. Eva had treated him with such cold reserve that he had frequently declared to his aunt that he would relinquish his pursuit of her, he was but wasting time, and his persistence had been owing to Madame von Sturmhaupt's earnest entreaties.
The old lady frequently told him that Eva's repellent manner and her coldness were only feigned. She wad too proud to be easily won; in the end, she would surely grant his suit. If Eva really disliked him, she never would accept, as she did, every invitation to her, Madame von Sturmhaupt's, house, since she knew she should meet him there. Her readiness to accept these invitations was the surest possible proof that she liked to meet him, and that her coldness was only a cloak for the preference she secretly entertained for the handsome lieutenant.
Such views harmonized so entirely with Guido's wishes that he could not but lend them a ready ear. Still, he was not convinced, and every fresh repulse of his attentions on Eva's part awakened fresh doubts in his mind.
He had resolved more than once to put his fate 'to the touch' and 'win or lose,' so unendurable did these doubts seem to him, but his prudent aunt besought him to have patience. Undue haste in declaring himself would, she said, lose Eva to him forever. The heiress was proud, wayward, and self-willed, full of whims and contradictions, and these might easily influence her to say 'No' when she really meant 'Yes.' He must wait for the right moment, and in the mean time his aunt promised to advise him of everything that occurred at the Schommers', so that he should on no account lose this right moment.
It had come in a manner which the aunt had never dreamed of. After Uncle Balthasar's communications, Bertram could not doubt that Eva was impressed with profound gratitude for his defence of her against Heydeck's insults, and filled with tender solicitude upon his behalf. The smile with which she received him, in contrast to her former cold greetings, confirmed Uncle Balthasar's words. She had not even shown the slightest displeasure when he had bestowed so warm a kiss upon her hand. Certainly there could be no more favourable moment than the present for a formal declaration of his sentiments. He must use to his advantage her solicitude for his safety, her gratitude, her emotion; the next minute should be decisive!