"I have a reason. But you must allow me to follow your example and withhold the answer to your question."
"I will answer it myself. Because in Ernst Waltenberg you see my future husband."
Elmhorst started and looked at her with an expression of dismay,--nay, of positive terror: "You--know?"
"Do you suppose a woman cannot feel when she is loved, even though every means be resorted to to conceal it from her?" Erna asked, with extreme bitterness.
A long, oppressive pause ensued; Wolfgang's eyes were downcast; at last he said, in a low, dull voice, "Yes, Erna, I have loved you--for years!"
"And you wooed--Alice!"
There was harsh condemnation in her words; he stood silent with bent head.
"Because she is rich; because her hand can confer the wealth which I do not possess. Nevertheless Alice will not be unhappy; she neither knows nor demands happiness in the higher sense of the word, while I should be unutterably wretched bound to a man whom I despised."
"Erna!" he exclaimed, in torture.
"Herr Elmhorst?" she rejoined, haughtily.