At this I thought of the scene at our engagement when she had puzzled me by the same behaviour.
"What's all this?" I said. "What am I always to forgive you for?"
She did not answer. She merely withdrew to her corner, and from then on not another sound from her lips.
The rain had stopped falling, but the wind blew at the carriage windows more madly than ever. Then--suddenly--a flash of lightning! And hard upon it a peal of thunder.
The horses reared and curvetted toward the ditch.
"Rein them in tight, John!" I cried. Of course he didn't hear me. However, the beasts stood still. His fists were like iron. I never had a better coachman.
The thunderbolt turned out to be nothing but a signal. Peal after peal followed--right and left--everywhere. Flaming roofs, balls of fire, towers aglow, and the park all alight with a beautiful emerald green.
My good old Ilgenstein transformed into a real fairy castle.
A shiver of pure delight went through me at being able to show her the new home bathed in such splendour. All this I owed to Lothar--the dear boy--and perhaps much more. For often it is the first impression that casts the lot for a whole life.
Iolanthe leaned out of the carriage window, and in the red glow I saw her eyes looking ahead in a kind of eager or anxious searching.