"Do you wish me to decline these attentions?" she asked, indifferently.
"No; I only ask you to draw the necessary limit, so that no idle talk may ensue. I do not intend to cut short your social victories. We do not live in burgher circumstances, and it would be ridiculous in my position to play the jealous husband who views every attention paid his wife with suspicion. I leave this entirely to your own tact, in which I have unlimited confidence."
All of this sounded so tranquil, so sensible, so boundlessly indifferent, Herr von Wallmoden might, indeed, be exonerated from any thought of jealousy. The openly offered admiration of the young, charming Prince caused him no anxiety; he quietly left his wife to her "tact."
"I shall attend to this dispatch myself," he continued; "as we have a telegraph station in the castle since the Duke's arrival. You should ring for your mail, my child; you look somewhat fatigued and probably feel so. Good night."
He left the room, but Adelaide did not follow the advice. She had drawn near the window again, and a half bitter, half pained expression trembled on her lips. She had never felt so painfully as at this moment that she was nothing more to her husband than a shining jewel which one exhibits, a wife whom one treats with perfect politeness and attention because she brought in her hand a princely fortune, and to whom a request could be denied with equal politeness; a request which might have been so easily granted.
Night rested over the forest; the sky was cloudy and dark, with here and there a solitary star glimmering through the flying clouds. A pale face looked up to the gloomy sky; not with the cold, proud composure the world was accustomed to see, but with an expression of beseeching entreaty.
The young wife pressed both hands to her bosom, as if the pain and unrest were there. She had wished to flee from the dark power whose approach she had felt, and which was drawing the circles nearer and closer around her. She had wished to flee to her husband's protection. In vain! He would go away and leave her alone, and another remained--another, who, with dark, glowing eyes and thrilling voice, wielded such a mysterious, irresistible power. "Ada," the name with its sweet, foreign sound, floated near her like a spirit's breath. It was her name which the legend of the Arivana bore!
CHAPTER XXVI.
October had come, and autumn began to show its reign in a marked manner. The foliage of the trees bore gay tints; the country was wrapped, morning and night, in mist. The nights sometimes brought frost, while the days were unusually fine and sunny.
With the exception of that large fête which had collected the whole community, and the hunts, which were naturally prominent at this time of the year, no particular festivities took place.