"Well, I presume you are betrothed?"
She began to cry again, though even in her grief she did not forget to carefully brush the mud from her skirts.
"Oh, Boleslav," she wailed, "it's all your fault. Why did you keep me waiting for you so long? And why have you given people so much cause to gossip about you? And then you know, there was papa! His consent could never have been won! What was I, poor girl, to do?"
"Please, say no more. It really doesn't matter!" he broke in cheerily.
"You aren't angry with me, then?"
"Oh no! not in the least!"
In silence he accompanied Helene back to the village, took a friendly farewell of her, and promised to do all he could to save her fiancé.
She thanked him, made a formal little curtsey, and they parted.
And so ended the great love of his life.
As he watched the shadow of her meagre little figure disappear behind the houses, his whole soul cried out for Regina in uncontrollable boundless jubilation. Now the road was free--free for sinful, exultant love.