"What need of such fastidious effeminacy?" he asked himself rebukingly. "Dust has no reason to fear meeting dust."
Then he seized the spade, and shutting his eyes, began with zest to shovel the dark earth over the beloved body. A quarter of an hour later the grave was full. He laid the turf carefully in its original place, and took care to remove the remnants of superfluous soil and scattered flowers, so that when the sun rose no one could have found the place where Regina slept for ever.
As he searched for a stone to commemorate the sacred spot, his eyes fell on the head of the ruined statue, which smiled at him in stony vacancy. He lifted it, and planted it in the turf.
"Diana, the chaste," he murmured, "shall serve her as a tombstone. The sister by whom she will keep eternal watch is not unworthy of her."
And again he flung himself on the grass and became lost in meditation. On the stroke of six he rose, and made preparations to depart.
"They will be fools indeed," he muttered to himself, "if they don't make an end of me to-day."
He filled his pistols with new cartridges, and sharpened his sabre, for he was determined his life should be dearly purchased.
But when he crossed the drawbridge to the village, he was greeted by familiar and friendly faces. They belonged to Heide's sons, who were making their way to the Schranden depôt. They pressed round him and offered him their hands.
"We are come," said Karl Engelbert, "to put ourselves under your command, for we wish to make amends for our conduct to you in the past."
"I thank you with my whole heart," he replied. "All is forgiven and forgotten."