Page:Georges Eekhoud - Escal Vigor, a novel.djvu/197

Rh "And I, my dear master," stammered little Govaertz, "I had only to see you to know that you were sad and terrible, and my devotion was born of my anxiety."

"The pretended evil that thy father spake of thee, "resumed the Dykgrave," decided my sympathy, and thy sister's disdainful air, the malevolence of her look, illuminated thee henceforth in my eyes with a permanent light of transfiguration … I did not dare to declare myself before seeing thee again, and I feigned indifference so as to mislead thy family and thy over-rough comrades, whom that very evening I hindered, simply by approaching their turbulent band, from tormenting thee, my child, my life's chosen."

No lightning shaft struck them, but they heard a muffled cry, a sob, a rustling in the bushes behind them. Two indistinct silhouettes fled through the darkness.

"Somebody was listening to us!" said Kehlmark, who had stood up and was prying into the thick darkness.

"What does it matter? I am yours," murmured Guidon, drawing him towards him, and nestling shiveringly against his breast. "You are all for me, and I do not believe in the fire from heaven! Before thee,