"Well, Waldemar," she asked, and a tone of irony vibrated through her voice, "are you offended because Wanda has been a witness of our interview? A large portion of it concerned her. For her sake as well as mine, you must complete your threat: 'Even if you must see us all--'"
"As the Countess Morynski has witnessed our interview, no explanation is needed; I have none to make." Then turning to his mother, he added, "You have a week for your decision. I leave early to-morrow morning." He then bowed formally to Wanda as was his wont, and left the room.
Wanda had stood motionless on the threshold. She now entered the room, and approaching her aunt, she asked in a low and strangely tremulous voice,--
"Do you believe me now?"
The princess had sunk back upon the sofa. Her eyes were still fixed upon the door through which her son had passed; she seemed neither able nor willing to comprehend what had just taken place.
"I have always judged him by his father," she said as if speaking to herself; "the error is a fatal one to us all. He has shown that he is--"
"That he is more like you, Aunt Maryna," interrupted Wanda. "Leo inherits your features, but Waldemar is the true heir of your character. You have just been confronted by an energy and a will that are your very own. Waldemar resembles you more closely than Leo ever did."
There was a tone in Wanda's voice that arrested her aunt's attention.
"And who taught you to read this character so accurately?" she asked. "Was it your enmity toward Waldemar which made you see so clearly when all the rest of us were deceived?"
"I do not know," returned Wanda, casting down her eyes. "I think it was intuition rather than observation that guided me, but from the first I knew that he was our enemy."