When she had gone he trod the floor as on air. “How clearly she sees life!” he reflected. “How unerringly from that book of wisdom is she able to divine her road!” Yes, his life and hers had been bound to come together like two rivers, for she, and only she, was his true guide and instructor.
Next day there arrived a letter from the lawyer on his estate. He read it through—then let it slip from his fingers to the ground. The gist of the document was that his property was greatly involved, and that, if he wished matters to be set in order, he must hasten to take up his residence on the spot.
“Then marriage is not to be thought of for at least another year,” he reflected with dismay. “First of all I shall need to complete my plans for the estate, and then to consult an architect, and then, and then——”
He broke off with a sigh.
IV
Are you certain that nothing remains to you of your properly—that there is no hope of anything?” asked Olga a few days later.
“Yes, I am certain,” he replied—then added with a touch of hesitation in his tone: “But perhaps within a year or so——”
“Within a year or so you may be able to order your life and your affairs? Reflect a moment.”