"Be calm. You have never yet loved, I tell you; you have only played at love."
"I love you," he said doggedly, almost as his cousin, Carl, would have said it.
"You only think so," repeated Belinda. "You do not know yet what true love means."
He halted, seizing her arm again and looking at her suspiciously. "Do you?" he demanded.
"Yes," Belinda told him calmly, exultantly, her face raised to the darkening sky. "I love, and am loved in return, Paul. Your tawdry passion for every pretty face you see has nothing to do with love."
A heavy tread came close behind them. A harsh voice said:
"Nurse Genau, I require your presence in the operating ward—a serious case. I cannot trust these other women in anything so delicate."
Paul had sprung to attention. Belinda's manner changed suddenly. Her cousin noted it as she faltered:
"Very well, Herr Doktor."
Doctor Herschall gave the young man a harsh look as he strode past. Belinda hurried to get certain necessary articles. Paul muttered: