tinctly realised the danger which had just been passed.
She looked up at the niche above, and shuddered. It was a very substantial shudder which passed through her frame.
"Great heavens!" she gasped, "what a danger! One false step, and he would have been down there, a dead man! Oh, István!" – and she clutched at his arm, – "let us go, let us go away. I – I don't think I like caves very much after all; oh, come away!"
"Yes," said István absently, for he scarcely heard her. His eyes wore on Gretchen, where she sat apart on one [of the round-topped stones, silently plaiting up her disordered hair.
"Come with me, István!" – Tryphosa still clung to his arm – "help me out; do not stay – there is danger for you here."
Her voice sank to a whisper. She was attempting to draw him with her; but in the same instant she let go his arm, for he had turned and given her a look one of those fierce looks before which she always trembled. It scarcely needed the word of warning, muttered between his teeth, to shake her from him, silent and subdued.
No one heard what he said, and the gesture by which he had released himself had been scarcely seen; but the scene wanted no interpretation; its meaning was clear, and István's next words made it clearer.
"Why, don't you know that I am far too young and unsteady for a guide?" he said, with a short and disagreeable laugh. "I can recommend you no better protector, Princess, than Dr Komers, who evidently considers himself the only sensible man of the party."
The Princess did not change expression; very likely she had not yet thoroughly realised her defeat. She mechanically took the arm which Dr Komers offered her in silence.
The others began to follow, straggling off singly. Gretchen was still busy with her hair. She had not regained either her colour or her voice. From the moment of her descent from the niche, her gaiety of the morning was extinguished; pale and listless she sat, and scarcely noticed what passed around her.
Tryphosa's appeal to Tolnay had been the first sound that roused her, and guessing at the slight which was given and received, for her sake, as she knew, it was scarcely triumph that she felt, but rather fear. She trembled to see what power she held over István Tolnay.
With a nervous glance after the departing figures, she rose to her feet to follow. István was the only one who had lingered behind.
"Is the last of the illumination to be wasted?" he asked. "Do you not want to see the torches burn down?"
He was not laughing as was his wont; there was about his tone and eyes a seriousness which Gretchen had rarely seen in him.
"I – I think I must go," she faltered; "the torches will be out in a moment, and we should be lost in the dark."
"Ah, I understand" – and he bent a little nearer to her – "you have to obey orders of course. Has the family lawyer given his commands?" He was laughing again, but without any mirth.
Gretchen's lips quivered, and without any answer, she sat down again upon the round-topped stone beside her. At the thought of her most unaccountable obedience to Dr Komers, she was ready to sink with shame. She could think of no logical reason to explain her
