"You believe that he was conscious of approach of death and felt the pangs of parting? I heard, though, that the hemorrhage came upon him in apparently full health, and that he never recovered consciousness."
"I do not know; for me, there was something mysterious in Eric's last moments," replied Cecilia, dejectedly. "When he once more opened his eyes, shortly before he died, I saw that he recognized me. That look still pursues me; I cannot get rid of it. It was so full of woe and reproach, as though he had known or suspected----" she suddenly broke off.
"What could he have suspected?" asked Runeck, impulsively.
Cecilia was silent here; least of all could she say what she feared.
"My brother thinks it is imagination," she then replied evasively. "He may be right, and yet I can never recall that moment but with a sharp, keen pang."
She bowed distantly to Egbert and was on the point of going; he evidently struggled with himself, then made a movement as though to detain the young widow.
"I believe it will be better to prepare you, lady, for the news that you will hear when you reach the house. Baron von Wildenrod has left for good?"
"My brother?" cried Cecilia, her anxieties at once aroused. "And you here at Odensburg? What have you done?"
"Fulfilled a painful duty!" he gravely replied. "Your brother has left me no choice. He was warned through you--he should have been satisfied with what he had already accomplished--Maia ought not to be sacrificed! I have opened her father's eyes."
"And Oscar? He has gone off you say--where to?"