"No, no," she said, the thought making her whiten too. "Oh no! my Paul, not that--yet!"
Ah--he could bear anything if it did not mean parting, and he used no arguments to dissuade her. She was his Queen and must surely know best. Only he listened eagerly for details of how matters could be arranged there. Alas! they could never be the same as this glorious time they had had.
"You must wait two days, sweetheart," she said, "before you follow me. Stay still in our nest if you will, but do not come on to Lucerne."
"I could not stand it," said Paul. "Oh! darling, don't kill me with aching for your presence two whole days! It is a lifetime! not to be endured--"
"Impatient one!" she laughed softly. "No--neither could I bear not to see you, sweetheart, but we must not be foolish. You must stay on in our rooms and each morning I will meet you somewhere in the launch. Dmitry knows every inch of the lake, and we can pass most of days thus, happy at last--"
"But the nights!" said Paul, deep distress in his voice. "What on earth do you think I can do with the nights?"
"Spend them in sleep, my beloved one," the lady said, while she smiled a soft fine smile.
But to Paul this idea presented the poorest compensation--and in spite of his will to the contrary his thoughts flew ahead for an instant to the inevitable days and nights when--Ah! no, he could not face the picture. Life would be finished for him when that time came.
The thought of only a temporary parting on the morrow made them cling together for this, their last evening, with almost greater closeness and tenderness than usual. Paul could hardly bear his lady out of his sight, even while she dressed for dinner, when they got back to the Bürgenstock, and twice he came to the door and asked plaintively how long she would be, until Anna took pity on him, and implored to be allowed to ask him to come in while she finished her mistress's hair. And that was a joy to Paul! He sat there by the dressing-table, and played with the things, opening the lids of gold boxes, and sniffing bottles of scent with an air of right and possession which made his lady smile like a purring cat. Then he tried on her rings, but they would only go on to the second joint of his little finger, as he laughingly showed her--and finally he pushed Anna aside, and insisted upon putting the last touches himself to the glorious waves of black hair.