“‘Maro, mila!’ Gavrilo cried, attempting to catch her; but the door slammed in his face.
“He was white as he turned to me. ‘Tell me,’ he cried in a tone childlike and baffled, ‘can anyone understand the ways of woman? As men grow older do they understand better, or is it always like this?’
“Deeply concerned about them as I was, the naïveté of this question forced a smile from me.
“‘You must ask some man older than I,’ I answered.
“‘Perhaps we are not intended to understand them,’ he said reflectively. ‘No doubt the Lord made them as they are so that we should forever be enthralled by them, as by any other enigma beyond comprehension. I enjoy lying on my back at night, to gaze up at the stars and think profoundly of eternity whirling about us, and the infinity of space, but I assure you, when my lovely Mara becomes agitated those phenomena of nature seem, by contrast, trifling matters. I believe that if one could but understand Mara, one could understand the riddles of the ages.’
“I left Gavrilo in the garden. At dinner that night he was not with us. I did not see him again until next evening, when I came upon him whispering with three young men upon the stairs. As I passed them they became silent, nor did I like the nervous smile with which Gavrilo greeted me. On the day following I saw him go into a kafana with the same youths. I think he also saw me, and from the haste with which he moved into the little café I gathered the impression that he was avoiding me.
“On the day before the maneuvers I cornered him after luncheon. Clearly he was keyed to a highly nervous tension.
“‘Gavrilo,’ I said, ‘do not tell me anything you do not wish to. I have no desire to pry into your affairs. But I beg you to remember Mara and your promise to her, and not to become entangled in any rash escapade.’
“For a moment he stood looking at me without answering. It was as though he was carefully formulating a reply. Then he said:
“‘I have remembered. I have positively refused to participate in certain matters in which I have been pressed to become active. At this moment that is all that I am enabled to say.’