“They named me—for the Emperor.”
“They were wise. It suits you. Then I shall think of you as Leopold. Leopold—what? But no, don’t tell me the other name. It can’t be good enough to match the first; for do you know, I admire the name of Leopold more than any other I’ve ever heard? So, Leopold, will you shake hands for good-by?”
The strong hand came out eagerly, and pressed hers. “Thank you, gna’ Fräulein; but it’s not good-by yet. You must let me help you back by the way you came, and down the mountain.”
“Will you really? I dared not ask as much, for fear, in spite of your kind hospitality, you were—like your noble namesake—a hater of women.”
“That’s too hard a word, even for an Emperor, lady. While as for me, if I ever said to myself, ‘no woman can be of much good to a man as a real companion,’ I’m ready to unsay it.”
“I’m glad! Then you shall come with me, and help me; and you shall help my friend, who is so good and so strong-minded that perhaps she may make you think even better of our sex. If you will, you shall be our guide down to Alleheiligen, where we’ve been staying at the inn since last night. Besides all that, if you wish to be very good, you may carry our cloaks and rücksacks, which seem so heavy to us, but will be nothing for your strong shoulders.”
The face of the chamois hunter changed and changed again with such amused appreciation of her demands, that Virginia turned her head away, lest she should laugh, and thus let him guess that she held the key to the inner situation.
His willingness to become a cowherd, and now a beast of burden for the foreign lady he had seen, and her friend whom he had not seen, was indubitably genuine. He was pleased with the adventure—if not as pleased as his initiated companion. For the next few hours the hunter was free, it seemed. He said that he had been out since early dawn, and had had good luck. Later, he had returned to the hut for a meal and a rest, while his friends went down to the village on business which concerned them all. As they had not come back, they were probably amusing themselves, and when he had given the ladies all the assistance in his power, he would join them.
The way down was easy to Virginia, with his hand to help her when it was needed, and she had never been so happy in her twenty years. But, after all, she asked herself, as they neared the place where she had left Miss Portman, what had she accomplished? What impression was she leaving? Would this radiant morning of adventure do her good or harm with Leopold when Miss Mowbray should meet him later, in some conventional way, through letters of introduction to Court dignitaries at Kronburg?