Page:Georges Eekhoud - Escal Vigor, a novel.djvu/276

252 village. Some occult snare, some maleficent fluid hemmed them both around.

"No, let me go," said he at last to Kehlmark, "we shall only add to the fever and irritation, inherent no doubt to this anniversary, by remaining here together. We should end by quarrelling, or at least by not so well understanding each other. Never before have I felt so irritable and afflicted. One would think there was a sort of moral urtica in the air. These miasmas of bestial folly spread even to our retreat. It is better to face them under the wide-open sky. Besides, as we depart to-morrow, this will be my last walk in Smaragdis, a farewell to my native isle, where it is true, I have suffered much, but only to love and enjoy the more deeply and recognise myself in thee."

Kehlmark endeavoured in vain to turn him aside from this excursion. Guidon seemed drawn out of doors by a magnetic force which mysteriously summoned him.

Without any feeling of distrust, young Govaertz lingered over long on the scene of the Fair. Sauntering with old comrades, the thought that he was about to leave them for ever lent them a new attraction. He practised archery with them, played