"Where do you come from?" cried she, trembling with surprise, with happiness.
"From the castle, where I sought you in vain. Your father did not know where you were."
"He was asleep--did you wake him?"
"Very possibly, but I had no time to reproach myself! Oh, Elsa, are you not in the least glad to see me? I have resigned--I cannot live without you!"
She stood there with loudly beating heart, and embarrassed smile, like a surprised child before a Christmas tree.
"You pay a high price for a miserable little thing," murmured she, and fairly wept.
"Happiness desires to be paid dearly for--it seems to me a small one!" whispered he.
Thereupon she was silent for a moment, looked at him anxiously, solemnly; was it possible that he clung to her, such a weak, insignificant creature? Then suddenly, with her lovely look of embarrassment, she threw both arms around him. "Oh you----" she cried, and paused because she found no word that in her opinion was great and splendid enough for him. "How I will love you!"
It was a risky experiment, to tear himself away from his customary occupation and society, and wish to pass the rest of his life at the side of a nervous misanthropical wife.
How did it succeed?