FOUND.
Olga had remained in her room because she could not bring herself to
meet Treurenberg again. No, she could never meet him after the words,
the kiss, they had exchanged,--never--until he should call her. For it
did not occur to her to recall what she had said to him,--she was ready
for everything for his sake. Not a thought did she bestow upon the
disgrace that would attach to her in the eyes of the world. What did
she care what people said or thought of her? But he,--what if she had
disgraced herself in his eyes by the confession of her love? The
thought tortured her.
She kept saying to herself, "He was shocked at me; I wounded his sense
of delicacy. Oh, my God! and yet I could not see him suffer so,--I
could not!"
When night came on she lay dressed upon her bed for hours, now and then
rising to pace the room to and fro. At last she fell asleep. She was
roused by hearing a door creak. She listened: it was the door of Lato's
room. Again she listened. No, she must have been mistaken; it was folly
to suppose that Lato would think of leaving the house at a little after
three in the morning! She tried to be calm, and began to undress, when
suddenly a horrible suspicion assailed her; her teeth chattered, the
heart in her breast felt like lead.
"I must have been mistaken," she decided. But she could not be at rest.
She went out into the corridor; all there was still. The dawn was
changing from gray to white. She glided down the staircase to the door
of Lato's room, where she kneeled and listened at the key-hole. She
could surely hear him breathe, she thought. But how could she hear it
when her own pulses were throbbing so loudly in her heart, in her
temples, in her ears?
She listened with all her might: nothing, nothing could she hear. Her
head sank against the door, which was ajar and yielded. She sprang up
and, half dead with shame, was about to flee, when she paused. If he
were in his room would not the creaking of the door upon its hinges
have roused him? Again she turned and peered into the room.
At the first glance she perceived that it was empty, and that the bed
had not been slept in.
With her heart throbbing as if to break, she rushed up to her room,
longing to scream aloud, to rouse the household with "He has gone! he
has gone! Search for him! save him!"
But how is this possible? How can she confess that she has been in his
room? Her cheeks burn; half fainting in her misery, she throws wide her
window to admit the fresh morning air.
What is that? A scratching at the house door below, and then a
melancholy whine. Olga hurries out into the corridor again, and at
first cannot tell whence the noise proceeds. It grows louder and more
persistent, an impatient scratching and knocking at the door leading
out into the park. She hastens down the stairs and opens it.
"Lion!" she exclaims, as the dog leaps upon her, then crouches before
her on the gravel, gazes piteously into her face, and utters a long
howl, hoarse and ominous. Olga stoops down to him. Good God! what is
this? His shoulder, his paws are stained with blood. The girl's heart
seems to stand still. The dog seizes her dress as if to drag her away;
releases it, runs leaping into the park, turns and looks at her. Shall
she follow him?
Yes, she follows him, trembling, panting, through the park, through the
village, out upon the highway, where the trees are vocal with the
shrill twittering of birds. A clumsy peasant-cart is jolting along the
road; the sleepy carter rubs his eyes and gazes after the strange
figure with dishevelled hair and disordered dress, hastening towards
the forest.
She has reached it at last. The dog's uneasiness increases, and he
disappears among the trees. Olga stops; she cannot go on. The dog howls
more loudly, and slowly, holding by the trees, she totters forward.
What is it that makes the ground here so slippery? Blood? There,--there
by the poacher's grave, at the foot of the rude wooden cross, she finds
him.
A shriek, wild and hoarse, rings through the air. The leaves quiver and
rustle with the flight of the startled birds among their branches. The
heavens are filled with wailing, and the earth seems to rock beneath
the girl's feet.
Then darkness receives her, and she forgets the horror of it all in
unconsciousness.