"I leave no one to die if it is in my power to save his life, even if he be my worst enemy," Wolfgang said, coldly. "At such moments one obeys the instincts of humanity, never stopping to consider, and I refuse to accept his gratitude. I pray you say this to Herr Waltenberg, since he has chosen you, Fräulein von Thurgau, for his messenger."
"Can you really treat his messenger thus harshly?" The girl's voice was low and gentle and her large dark-blue eyes were strangely bright as she looked at the man who could no longer control the anguish of his soul.
"Why torture me with such looks and tones?" he cried, passionately. "You belong to another----"
"Whom you misunderstand as I did. I know now how immense is the sacrifice he makes for me, for I know how great was his love for me, when, with this love in his heart, he could give me back my freedom and bid me farewell forever."
Wolfgang, half stunned at the unexpected announcement, could only be conscious that through the black night of his hopeless despair a dazzling ray of light was darting, heralding the dawn of new life and energy. "You are free, Erna?" he broke forth. "And now--now you come----"
"To you. It is so heavy a burden,--this misery that you are bearing alone. I claim my share."
The words were spoken with earnest simplicity, as if they were mere words of course; but Elmhorst changed colour and his look was downcast. He was undergoing a hard struggle with his pride, which felt such devotion at such a moment to be a humiliation.
"No, no, not yet!" he murmured, with an attempt to turn away. "Let me recover my courage,--my self-possession. I cannot accept your sacrifice. It weighs me down to the earth."
"Wolf!"--the old pet name of his boyhood, which he had heard from none save Benno since that time, came soft and low from the girl's lips,--"Wolf, you need me most now! You need a love to encourage and nerve you; never heed the promptings of false pride. You once asked me if I could have stayed beside you on the lonely, rough path leading to success. I come to bring you your answer. You shall not pursue it alone; I will stay beside you through struggle and labour, through hardship and peril. If you have lost faith in your power and your future, I believe in them most firmly. I believe wholly in you!"
She looked up at him with a beaming, triumphant smile. All his hesitation vanished: he opened his arms and clasped his love to his heart.