"But now?" he asked.
Olga looked at him with an expression of terror in her eyes. The two stood thus at bay.
Left to themselves in the big studio, facing each other, Karl and Olga were silent. There was a look in Karl's eyes that Olga had never seen before; there was a tumult in her heart that she had never before felt. It was Karl who first recovered himself and broke the silence, trying to speak lightly:
"Don't be nervous," he said, reassuringly. "This is the reception-room of my studio. Every woman I paint comes here."
"And do you paint every woman who comes here?" Olga asked slowly.
"No," Karl replied shortly.
There was another awkward pause. Olga could not tell why she had asked that question any more than Karl could have told why he had asked Herman if he was not afraid to leave them alone. It was some unsuspected jealousy that prompted it.
"Did you understand my husband?" Olga asked.
"Yes, I think I did."
"He said, 'I trust you.' Why should he say that? Why should it not be a matter of course?"