"Away!" a voice cried within him. "Flee from this house which is no longer yours." And when the watchmen whistled outside the hour of ten, he rose. His torture had lasted long enough. She offered her forehead to be kissed with a weary sigh, but he bowed low and kissed her hand instead.
"And you really aren't angry with me?" she asked in a whisper, her conscience stirring again.
He shook his head, smiling. The scorn which had taken possession of his soul made him composed and frigid. He left her, and as the door closed behind him she threw up her hands and exclaimed--
"Thank God!"
The next morning Ulrich explained to his wife that urgent business called him to Königsberg, where the committee for the Agricultural Exhibition was holding its meetings, and it was uncertain whether he would return to Uhlenfelde before the opening of the Reichstag.
Felicitas was at first a little taken aback, then readily acquiesced.
The parting of husband and wife was friendly but undemonstrative. Felicitas indeed regarded the separation so much in the light of a deliverance that she forgot to act a part.
When the sleigh reached the top of the dyke, Ulrich halted, and took a long look across at Halewitz, whose hoary old castle seemed to nod a greeting at him amidst its snow-covered barns and out-buildings. Though his heart cried out for his friend, he was afraid to meet him, afraid that if he did the last precious thing left to him on earth might slip through his fingers.
XXXV
In these days Leo became an habitué of the Prussian Crown. He was received there with open arms by a jovial company, according to whose standard he was a thoroughly "decent chap," being capable of drinking as hard as most.