Silence continued some time yet. At last Hania began in a whisper,—
"Enough, enough! I dare not look you in the eyes. Let us leave this."
And turning her head aside, she tried to tear herself out of his arms.
"Oh, Hania! what is taking place in me? I am so happy!" cried Selim.
"Let us go from here. Some one will come."
Selim sprang up with gleaming eyes and distended nostrils.
"Let the whole world come," said he. "I love, and I will say so in the eyes of all people. I know not how this happened. I struggled with myself; I suffered, for it seemed to me that Henryk loved thee, and thou him. But now I care for nothing. Thou lovest me, and so it is a question of thy happiness. Oh, Hania! Hania!"
And here again was the sound of a kiss; and then Hania began to speak in a soft and, as it were, weakened voice,—
"I believe, I believe, Selim; but I have many things to tell thee. They want to send me abroad to the old lady, I think. Yesterday Pani d'Yves spoke of this to Henryk's father. Pani d'Yves thinks that I am the cause of Pan Henryk's strange conduct. She thinks that he is in love with me. I myself do not know but that is the case. There are times when it seems to me that he is. I do not understand him. I fear him. I feel that he will hinder us, that he will separate us; but I—"
And she finished in a barely audible voice,—