Poor Ernestine, who had begun to fear that her interview there with Charlie had been overheard or overseen by some eavesdropper unknown, felt greatly relieved by the Baron's simple reply; but her sudden change of colour was not unnoticed by the Countess, who drew certain conclusions therefrom, though she could scarcely give them any form.
The sudden and blunt reference to the church at Burtscheid, the scene of her last and farewell interview with Charlie, gave her so sudden a shock—her sensibility had become so delicate now—that she had to retire to her room.
Burtscheid! All the scene then came again before her—when words were spoken that were known to Heaven and themselves alone! He was gone—torn from her, the first and only man she had ever loved, so the girl pined in her heart. So now she sat, as she had been wont to sit for hours, listlessly, as if without consciousness of thought; yet her mind was keenly active and full of images of the absent one.
To the latter, variety of occupation, change of scene in a foreign land, the activity of a military life, the incessant stir and alarms of war, would, in spite of love, separation, and fear of rivalry and of her family, draw in fresh moods of thought and afford thereby a certain healthy relief; but she was left amid the scenes of her departed joy, with the additional affliction before her of domestic persecution and the odious addresses of a would-be lover!
How eagerly she hoped that he would be detained for months at Berlin!
'Oh, Herminia!' she would sometimes say to her cousin; 'I was so happy—so happy, that it is a sin to make me so miserable!'
'Be calm, darling, be calm; Heinrich will bring him to you once again,' replied the girl, embracing her.
'It will be miraculous if they both escape the dangers of this mighty war.'
'Do not speak thus, I implore you,' said Herminia, passionately, and somewhat scared by her cousin's tone of voice and expression of eye.
'My sufferings are indeed great, Herminia. Do you remember,' she asked, with a sad smile, 'all you endured at Cologne, when you only knew Heinrich as Herr Mansfeld?'