Page:Blackwood's Magazine volume 137.djvu/814

808 "I shall go," said Vincenz ; "will any one show me the way?"

"The Bohemian will," said Mr Howard, as he carefully stowed away his yellow fungus in the empty provision-basket.

The Bohemian looked up from the bundle he was busy with on the ground. He looked piteously towards Gretchen.

"I can't do that, Fräulein; it would be directly against my vow. I was never to reveal the spot to any living person."

"Oh, bother it!" said Mr Howard, with magnanimity; "then I shall have to take you, I suppose."

"Yes," said Gretchen, eagerly.

"No," said Tolnay, stepping forward; "I will show you the way."

There was nothing strange in the offer; and yet every person of the party looked up surprised. Tolnay's mood all day had been so peculiar – so gloomy at moments and so wildly gay at others – he had showed so distinct a dislike towards Dr Komers, that even a slight politeness of this sort struck every one with momentary surprise.

Tolnay saw the start, saw it most clearly upon Gretchen's face, and asked somewhat defiantly –

"Well, have I said anything peculiar?"

"Nothing at all," said Mr Howard.

"Nothing," echoed Gretchen, more faintly.

"Nothing, except that everything about him is peculiar to-day," remarked Kurt to himself.

In the next minute already, no one could imagine what had caused that glance of surprise. Why should not Baron Tolnay have taken it into his head to be polite for once, even to Dr Komers?

"I am much obliged to you," said Vincenz, readily. "We had better lose no time."

"Much better," answered Tolnay; and he stood for a minute looking at Gretchen, as if he had forgotten the business in hand. Then he turned quickly and walked away, Vincenz following close behind him.

Their steps echoed on the dry crisp moss and the crackling brown of the leaves. Gretchen watched them – Tolnay in advance, Vincenz still close behind him; they would disappear among the bushes in another moment.

She got up, and, moved by some unaccountable impulse, called after them –

"Don't forget the signal, the handkerchief on the tree; the tree is to the right, the hole to the left."

She was not sure she had been heard, for Vincenz kept straight on, but Tolnay turned for a moment.

"I remember," he called back.

How white his face looked in the moonlight – ghastly pale it seemed at this distance. And his eyes! Was it the moonlight alone which made them shine with that fevered brightness?

Something like dread, something like suspicion, for an instant crossed Gretchen's mind. She turned to Kurt, who was lighting a fresh cigar for the homeward journey.

"Kurt, will you not go with them? they are not out of sight yet."

Kurt laughed good-naturedly.

"My dear Gretchen, you are really very amusing. In what capacity am I to offer myself? Is not one man enough to show a hole in the ground to another man?"

"I suppose so," sighed Gretchen; and she sat down to wait, half ashamed of the anxiety she had betrayed.

The two figures had vanished among the bushes; for a few seconds longer they could hear the crack-