"He is gone," she said in a gay tone.
"Hush!" whispered Almer, "he may return."
"He will not," she said. "You will see him no more to-night."
"Thank Heaven the danger is averted! I feel as if I had been guilty of some horrible crime."
"Whereas you have simply indulged poor innocent me in a harmless fancy. Christian, I heard every word."
"I thought you would have fallen asleep. How could you have been so imprudent, so reckless, as to laugh?"
"How can I help being a woman of impulse? Were you very much frightened? I was not--I rather enjoyed it. Christian, there is not a single thing my immaculate husband does which does not convince me he has no heart. Just think what might have happened if he had come to the right door and thrown it open and seen me! There! You look so horrified that I feel I have said something wrong again. Christian, what did you mean by saying to him, 'My thoughts are not under my control while you have your hand on that letter'? What letter was it?"
"Your note, which Dionetta left in the room. He was sitting by the desk upon which I had laid it, and his hand was upon it."
"And it made you nervous? To think that he had but to open that innocent bit of paper! What a scene there would have been! I should have gloried in the situation--yes, indeed. There is no pleasure in life like the excitement of danger. Those who say women are weak know nothing of us. We are braver than men, a thousand, thousand times braver. I tried to peep through the door, but there wasn't a single friendly crevice. What a shock it would have given him if I had suddenly called out as he held the letter: 'Open it, my love, open it and read it!'"
"That is what you call being prudent?" said Almer in despair.