“You will force me to tell you things that will compel you to promise. And it will be kinder not to force me. Oh, so much kinder.”
“You puzzle me.”
“Will you promise? Burgwan?” she urged, pleadingly.
“I cannot.”
“Oh, that hard will of yours!” and wheeling her horse round she rode off after Karasch and the guide, leaving me to follow.
What did she mean? What could she tell that would convince me a future meeting must be avoided? What reason could there be on her side? What could she think there might be on mine? These and a hundred questions arising out of them plagued me during the ride; and none of the answers that suggested themselves could satisfy me.
But I was soon to have other matters for thought. The guide put us in the right road for Samac, which he told us was about fifteen miles distant through a place called Poabja; and as soon as he had left us we rattled over the ground at a sharp canter.
For one thing, I was very uneasy about the Austrian officer whom we had treated so drastically on the previous night. If he was found and liberated, and raised a hue and cry after us there would probably be some very awkward consequences; while if he was not liberated soon, his very life might be jeopardised. My intention was to send a search party after him as soon as we reached a place where that could be done without risk to ourselves; and I was confident that my influence in Vienna was amply sufficient to cause my explanation of the whole affair to be accepted. But I could and would do nothing until I was certain of Mademoiselle’s safety.
My anxiety increased when we reached the outside of Poabja; and I kept a vigilant lookout for any signs that the news of our arrival could have preceded us. This was possible, of course. We had strayed so far from the proper road and had stayed so long in the hills that if Petrov and the rest from the camp had followed us to where we had encountered the Austrian, and had continued on the road to Samac, they would pass through Poabja and we might easily run up against some trouble, even without the complication arising out of the official’s rough handling by us.
I soon noticed signs which I did not like. We began to meet peasants and others on the road; and I observed that while some of them did no more than stare at us with close scrutiny, others started away and turned their backs and made the sign of the cross as we passed.