XVIII.
Bertram, too, had heard the warlike sounds. He leaned back in his writing chair and listened with bated breath.
"How her heart is sure to beat!" he said to himself.
He rose and went to the open window. From the elevation on which he was, he could see a considerable portion of the high road, could discern the flash of the bayonets through the clouds of dust which a brisk breeze was scattering at times, so that sections of the columns on the march became visible.
In the village below they were firing cannon; from the mountains yonder the echo came rolling.
"How this will resound within her heart!"
From the adjoining bedroom, where he had already begun to put up his master's things in view of their departure, fixed for the day following, Konski came hurrying in to ask, if the Herr Doctor was not going to dress? It was getting late.
"I am in no hurry," said Bertram.
"Well, sir," said Konski, "My Lady is most anxious you should be present at the reception of the officers. Aurora has twice come to the door with a message about it."
And he pointed, as he spoke, to the bedroom door and grinned.