"Ah, it is you, my lady! I was looking for Herr Berkow."
"He is not here, I am expecting him," she answered quickly, in a trembling voice.
She knew what a source of danger this man had been to Arthur, what a part he had played here on the works, yet she had not hesitated to trust herself to his protection, when that morning it had seemed her only chance of reaching the house. Between the morning and evening, however, had come the hour in which she had stood by and listened to the accusations brought against him by the chief-engineer.
They were based on suspicion alone, but even the suspicion of so dastardly and perfidious an act as the assassination of a defenceless man is something terrible, and she had shuddered with horror at the thought of it. She could trust herself to the openly-declared and ruthless enemy of her husband, but she shrank back from the hand which was possibly dyed with the blood of her husband's father.
Ulric noticed the movement only too plainly. He still stood on the threshold, but in his voice there was a tone of unmistakable scorn.
"I have alarmed you by coming. It was not my fault that I had not myself announced. You are ill served, my lady. Neither on the stairs nor in the corridors did I meet with one of your lacqueys. I should very likely have thrust them out of my way, if they had refused me admittance, but the noise of it would have been a sort of announcement in itself."
Eugénie knew that he could have come in without hindrance. The two servants were, by Arthur's express command, stationed in the ante-room leading to her own apartments. In the excited state of men's minds, now that every restraint was loosed and all order overthrown, it might be that some would so far profit by the general license, as to attack, or at least to force their way into, the house.
Anxiety and an uneasy restlessness had driven Eugénie over to her husband's rooms. They were situated in another wing, and from their windows she would see him come, but the entrance to them was unguarded and she was there quite alone.
"What do you want, Hartmann?" she asked, summoning up her courage. "After all that has happened, I did not think you would attempt to enter our house again and to gain access to Herr Berkow's private rooms. You know that he cannot receive you now."
"It was just on that account I was looking for him. I have a few words to say to him. I thought I should find him alone. It was not you I was seeking, my lady."