"Just so; I think I knew him once somewhere, but I can't tell where."
"And the two other gentlemen? Do you know their names?"
"One I do; they call him Leo. I didn't hear the other's name at all."
"Herr Paul Delmar and his friend Herr von Heydeck!" Eva exclaimed in some agitation. "What an unfortunate encounter!"
Bertram was not less moved; he bit his lips and did his best to preserve his composure and not betray the dismay that he felt in discovering that his two hated enemies, Delmar and Leo von Heydeck, were in Tausens, and that he might at any moment be brought face to face with them.
What terrible consequences might ensue from such a meeting if any explanations should be made! If Delmar should ever give Eva an account of the odious scene beneath Büchner's awning; if she should learn by what means Bertram had been forced to make his disgraceful apology,--that it had not been made in compliance with her wish but for fear of ruinous revelations,--all would be lost!
He breathed more freely when Aline took Eva's hand and said in a voice full of tenderness, "We cannot stay here, Eva dear; such a meeting, such unavoidable encounters in this retired place would be too painful for you and for all."
"I must say, Eva my dear, that I think Fräulein Aline is right. Let the trunks be taken out again to the carriages, landlord; we shall not stay here."
Uncle Balthasar gave this order, quite convinced that Eva would immediately desire, as he did himself, to leave Tausens; and it almost seemed as if she agreed with him, for she did not object to his directions to poor Hansel, when suddenly Bertram, by an imprudent word, prevented what he himself most desired. He meant to reinforce Aline's words and Uncle Balthasar's remark, and to confirm Eva's wavering resolution. "We must go, go instantly, my dear Eva," he said. "We cannot possibly expose ourselves to a meeting with that man and his friend Delmar. We cannot subject ourselves to fresh insults, which I must not even avenge. You owe it to yourself, you owe it to me, to avoid such an encounter!"
His remark was most unfortunate. It decided Eva to act in direct opposition to his wishes. "I am the best judge of what I owe to myself," she said, proudly. "I will not have Herr von Heydeck believe that I avoid meeting him because I am afraid of him. We shall certainly remain here for the present."