'I spoke so badly!' she said, in great contrition. 'I said such poor weak words! He will never know all I feel. He will only think me ungrateful!'
'Tut, tut!' said the nun roughly. 'Take your gratitude to God, not man!'
CHAPTER XXIV.
The following day he sent to ask if she would receive him again; it seemed to him that not to do so would be to appear to neglect her. He did not misconstrue her few embarrassed words or deem her thankless; he had that intuition into the minds of others which minds sensitive themselves possess; he understood all the conflicting emotions which had agitated her, all the vast weight of gratitude which held her dumb and made her almost mute, almost awkward in his presence. He paid her a brief visit four or five times in that week, then was absent himself at Amyôt for a few days. On his return he saw her again, and she seemed to have gained greatly in strength. She could sit erect; her face had the hues of returned health, and her eyes met his with the candour and brightness which were natural to her regard. She was a child still, and she had so much trust in him that it supplied to her the place of friends and home.
If the memory of the great lady who had tempted her and ridiculed her, and who was his wife, had not been too constantly before her, she would have been almost happy again. But for her she had a sombre antagonism, a curious sentiment, half defiance, half fear. Othmar never pressed her to tell him more or sooner than she wished of all the circumstances which had led to his discovery of her on the bridge; but one day when he found her nearly well, standing by the open windows with the breeze lifting the short thick waves of her hair, and her eyes looking wistfully across the trees at the domes and roofs of Paris, she turned and caught his hand in hers and laid her lips on it.
'What can I do? How can I thank you? A very dog could do something to show you his gratitude, and I—I can do nothing.'
'You have rewarded me by getting well,' said Othmar kindly and lightly, to avoid the expression of any stronger emotions, 'and you can reward me more greatly if you will tell me everything that has befallen you since I took you home that night. Will you?'
'It will not tire you?'
'It will interest me greatly.'