"Of course, I like it, Cecil ... how can you think ... and on Wednesday week we can start--Wednesday will be best ... now I must go and see what my new dress is like ... do not laugh at me uncle; I must make myself look as nice as I can for my last appearance." And she hurried off; but on her way she stumbled against a table and a book fell to the ground. She stopped, picked the book up, turned over the leaves and laid it down; then, as if she wished to make up to her brother for some unkindness, she went back to Cecil and put her hand on his shoulder.
"I do really thank you very much," she said, "and I am glad--really and truly glad, and very proud of you...."
He looked up in her face and their eyes met--his lips quivered with rage--the rage of a lofty, generous, and masterful nature at finding itself incapable of making a woman dear to it happy.
Zinka shrank into herself "My ball-dress!" she faintly exclaimed, and she slipped out of the room.
For a few minutes the two men were silent. Presently the general spoke:
"Zinka is going to the Brancaleones' to-morrow?"
"Yes," replied Sterzl; "at least, she has promised to go. Whether she will change her mind at the last moment and stay at home, of course I cannot foresee."
"But she really seems to care about it this time," said the general. "At least she took an interest in her dress."
"Her dress!... she did not even know what she was talking about. She fled that we might not see her tears...." Sterzl broke out, losing all his self-control. Then he looked sternly at his friend as though he thought he had betrayed a secret But the old man's sad face reassured him. "It is of no use to try to act before you," he went on; "you are not blind--you must see how wretched she is--it is all over, general, she is utterly broken...." He started to his feet and after pacing the room two or three times stood still and with a helpless wave of the hands and a desperate shrug, he exclaimed: "There is nothing to be done--nothing!" Then he sat down again and buried his face in his hands.
Von Klinger cleared his throat, paused for a word and could find nothing better to say than: "In time--things will mend; you must have patience."