"This love will not last."
He pressed her more closely to him.
"Let me go, let me go, brigadier, or I shall scream. You have surely been drinking. There are several inns between here and your fort, are there not? What would people say if they met me with you? Ah! to the right there is a road which branches off and will take you home. Be off! Good-night!"
The susceptible Davie had now forgotten the very existence of the fair and prudent Begga Leuven.
"Well, if it must be, I will go!" he said, in a firm yet tender voice. "But one word more, Rika. If I return in three days' time; if I repeat then that I love you madly; if I ask you to be my wife, will you refuse me?"
"Cornelis Davie is making fun of Rika Let; land-owners do not marry their farm servants."
"I swear that I am in earnest! I have one desire, one wish only. Rika, when I return in three days' time, on Monday, will you meet me here?"
A feeble consent was wrung from her.
When Kors tried to kiss her lips, she had not the strength to resist; she returned his kiss passionately.
Then, not without a pang, he walked rapidly in the direction of the foot-path, not daring to look back.