"Free of your obligations to—me?" she asked in a low voice.
He turned to her seriously: "My allegiance to you needs no renewal, Karen, because it has never been broken. You have my friendship if you wish for it. It is yours always as long as you care for it."
"I do.... Are you going to leave—Quellenheim?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"When a messenger brings me an answer to a letter which I shall send this morning."
She stood caressing her lips with his flower and gazing dreamily into the forest.
"So you really are going," she said.
"I cannot help it."
"I thought"—she forced a smile—"that you intended to rob me first."