Rojanow did not appear to perceive this. He bowed and asked hastily: "Are you alone, baroness? The accident was not serious, then?"
"What accident?"
"I heard you'd been thrown from your horse!"
"What an exaggeration. My saddle girth broke, and as I saw it in time I jumped to the ground, while the animal stood perfectly still—that was the accident."
"Thank God—I heard something of a plunge, a fall, and as you did not return to the hunting field I—"
He stopped suddenly, for Adelheid's glance showed him she did not believe his statement; he had probably met the groom and had questioned him. Now at last her self-possession returned, and she said very coldly:
"I thank you, Herr Rojanow, but your solicitude was altogether unnecessary. You should have reflected that the duchess would not have allowed me to remain unsought in the wood had so serious an accident occurred. I sent her word I was on my way to Bucheneck."
She would have passed by him now, but as he stepped aside, he said in a low voice:
"My dear madame—I have to beg your pardon."
"My pardon—for what?"