Pelski walked with quick step through the room.
"Now, never!" whispered he to himself.
Augustinovich heard this monologue.
"Too late, too late; but—but—now one small request. Tell no one that I was here, especially do not tell Pani Visberg or my friend if ever you see them."
"What is this to your friend?"
"Everything; but you would not understand it, dear count—Till our next meeting!"
Pelski, left alone, meditated long as to how that could really concern Augustinovich. He did not think out any answer, but came to the conviction that it might concern his own self somewhat.
"I might return to her, feigning ignorance of what has happened," said he. "Poor Lula!"
CHAPTER XX
The two young ladies were sitting in Lula's chamber. That was a painful silence. If there are grievous moments in life, they had thrown their weight on the present fate of Lula. Everything which she held sacred in her breast had been trampled. She had put into that love the best parts of her moral existence, the victory to her had been like a wedding solemnity; by the power of this feeling she had risen from a momentary fall, she had conquered family prejudice, rejected the hand of a man who loved her, and with it a calm future, life in plenty, her own independence, and the pay for all this was information that he whom she loved was to marry another.