‘What business had you to be thinking about things?’ he asked, with a half smile. ‘Part of the bargain was that I was to do the thinking, as you must remember. You cannot surely suppose that I have let all this time elapse without thinking upon the subject as well?’
‘Oh! if you would decide, and tell me what is best, I would so gladly do it!’ she exclaimed.
‘I have decided everything. The plan is ready, and only waits your approval to be carried out.’
‘And what is it? If I could only get away from here!’
‘You remember Lahnburg, and my house there?’
‘Where we spent the day when I was at Nassau? Mein Genügen–oh yes, I remember it.’
‘You are so much stronger than I had dared to hope or expect, that I think you could bear the journey there at any time almost, if I have a special carriage for you, and take care that you don’t get cold. Christmas will be here, you see, directly. To-morrow is the last day before the festivities begin.’
‘Yes. And people will come and want to see me, and I shall not be able to refuse some of them; and yet it would almost kill me, I think.’
‘Of course it would. Well, Lahnburg is a quiet, out-of-the-way place enough. If I took you there to-morrow, and settled you there with Ellen, you would avoid all the bustle here. It is a beautiful place. You don’t care to go out, and are not fit for it if you did. I don’t think you will find it duller than this, and certainly less painful; for you will not be under the constraint of feeling that you are known and observed. What do you think?’
‘I should like that,’ said Sara, slowly; and then, after a long pause, she asked in a low voice: