Hedwig moved as though to withdraw.
'I ... I will let Edmund know.'
'He has been informed of my arrival. Do not fly from me in this way, Hedwig. Will you not grant me one minute?'
Hedwig paused. The sorrowful reproach in his tone chained her to the spot, but she did not dare to make reply.
'I do not come voluntarily or in my own interest,' pursued Oswald. 'Tomorrow I shall leave again; I could not possibly divine that you would be here at Ettersberg just at this time, or ... or I would have spared us both this meeting.'
Us both! Through all his bitterness there gleamed a ray of satisfaction. That unguarded exclamation of hers had changed a dim half-knowledge into a certainty, and though he could fasten on it no single hope, this certainty had in an instant become to him the one all-precious thing in life, a possession he would have surrendered at no price.
During their farewell interview, the young man had valiantly maintained his self-control, but the joyful shock of this unexpected meeting threatened to unseal his lips. The long-hidden passion in his breast was fanned to a quick, sudden blaze. Hedwig read this in his eyes, and the imminent danger gave her back her self-command, which did not again desert her.
'We can, at all events, shorten this interview,' she said, speaking in a low, steady tone, and turned to go. But Oswald followed.
'Will you leave me suddenly in this way? May I not say a word to you--one word?'
'I fear we have already said too much. Let me go, Herr von Ettersberg. Let me go, I entreat of you.'