"To a third friend, the noble knight Kuno von Herwarth, who, but for a slight accident upon the way, would have accompanied us to the castle. I promised him that I would return to him as soon as possible, and hard as it is, I must keep my word."
"Paul is right," Leo added. "Kuno expects him, and I know that his peculiar egotism would make all persuasion to stay useless. His selfishness will not permit him to allow Herwarth to wait for him longer than is absolutely necessary."
"Not at all; you have no comprehension of good sensible selfishness. I don't trouble myself about Herwarth one whit; but it gives me an uncomfortable sensation to know that he is lying down below there upon the grass, looking up at the castle, pulling out his watch every few minutes, and thinking I might have returned long since. And so for my own sake--what is Herwarth to me?--I shall hurry back to him."
"Exactly; that is the very kind of egotism in which you excel particularly."
"If you suppose your sneer will have any effect in detaining me, you are mistaken. It only confirms my purpose. The delightful goat's track will take me to our unfortunate friend in half an hour."
Hilda's heart beat afresh as she heard Delmar announce this intention; she knew how much more dangerous was the descent than the ascent of the steep path. True, she had fearlessly tripped up and down by it many a time; but then she knew every stone, every dangerous spot, and was, besides, accustomed to mountain-climbing. The peril was twice as great for a stranger, and she trembled at the thought that if his foot should slip he was lost. She had known Delmar but one half-hour; but his odd talk and manner interested her much, and he was her cousin's friend. Surely she might treat him with some degree of familiarity. So when Paul lifted his hat by way of farewell, she held out her hand to him with a slight blush at the remembrance of the kiss bestowed upon it half an hour before. The blush made her look lovelier than ever, and Paul absolutely lost his heart as he slightly pressed the little hand thus graciously offered.
"I cannot ask you to break your promise to your friend, Herr Delmar," the girl said, not without a shade of embarrassment. "I can only hope that both you and my cousin Leo's other friend will consent to be my father's guests at Castle Reifenstein. This I trust my cousin will arrange with you and your friend to-morrow morning. In the mean time I have a request to make of you. Perhaps your selfishness will allow you to grant it."
"Oh, my selfishness is a very convenient selfishness; of course it allows me to do whatever gives me pleasure, and nothing, I am sure, could give me greater pleasure than to fulfil any request of yours, Fräulein von Heydeck."
"It is certainly a most courteous selfishness," Hilda said, with such a bewitchingly merry glance that Paul registered a silent vow upon the spot to bring her the moon from the skies if she asked for it.
"Only tell me what you desire, Fräulein von Heydeck," he exclaimed, "and I will make impossibilities easy!"