"And you keep this monster near you—in your house! Suppose she were to renew her attempts?"
"Well!" said Arnold, with a smile, at the same time so melancholy, so calm, so sweet, that the tears started to Bertha's eyes.
"What mean you by 'well?'" she exclaimed; "and if—but the idea is too horrible!"
"If she should recommence her experiments, my dear sister, and she succeeds, I shall be grateful to her."
"What do you mean?"
"To be frank, what is my life henceforth? During these few days passed near to you, the delight of the present will prevent me from thinking of the future; but when these are passed—one of two things—either we shall be happy, and, in spite of your indifference for your husband, my happiness will cost you many tears, much remorse, noble and true as you are; and thus my love will cause you as much chagrin as the cruelties of your husband have excited. If, on the contrary, circumstances compel us to separate, what remains? Forgetfulness? In spite of oaths always to remember each other, alas! there is something more horrible than the death of those we love, that is, the forgetfulness of their death! Thus you see, what a future! With you there could never have been but one way possible for your happiness and mine—that was to marry. But that is a dream! Well, then, would it not be better that this gipsy girl, kind and anticipating, should be for me a sort of death-dealing providence, and should make of me what I confess I could never, perhaps, have the courage to make of myself—something that has lived!"
"Oh, what you say is horrible! But with what motive could she have attempted this crime?"
"How can I divine? I never did her any wrong, but have always been most kind towards her. But the Bohemians are so strange! A superstition!—a nothing!—how can I tell? The poor wretch, perhaps, does her feelings great violence to carry on her machinations; but, after this week, I shall be very ready to meet her designs half way."
At this moment the door closed suddenly. Bertha uttered a shriek of alarm.
"Who has shut the door?"