“Vous me voyez revenu!” he said.
“Where is Jack?” she asked; both spoke almost at once, and Von Ibn was conscious of sharing a divine sense of relief with her as he replied:
“He is gone alone to Vienna!”
It was as if a heavy cloud had been lifted from her horizon. She sank down in one of the big easy-chairs and he dragged another close, very close to her side.
“Not so near!” she exclaimed, a little frightened.
He withdrew the chair two inches and fixed his eyes hungrily upon her face.
“Has it been long to you?” he asked, his tone one of breathless feeling.
And then she realized to the full how very long it had been, and confessed the fact in one great in-drawn sigh.
“Why did you go so far?” she demanded.
“It was one step beyond the another; I have no idea but of the Tagernsee when we leave.”