“All my promises to Lerne to be good could not stop me from being amused at the jealousy of those two, and I do not know what would have been the end of it, when everything changed all of a sudden.
“We had been here a year—that is four years ago now.”
“Ah, ha!” I cried.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, nothing!”
“Well, it is four years ago that Donovan Macbeth went off to Scotland for a few weeks’ holiday with his people. The day after he had gone, Lerne left me in the morning. ‘I am going,’ said he, ‘to Nanthel with Klotz. We shall stay there a whole day.’
“At night Klotz came back alone. I inquired about Lerne, and he told me that the Professor had heard important news and had to go abroad, and that he would be away for about three weeks.
“‘Where is he?’ I asked again.
“Klotz hesitated, and at last said, ‘He is in Germany. We shall be by ourselves for that time, Emma.’
“He had put his arm round my waist, and was looking into my eyes.