othing that was not high-minded
and worthy of her; but her last words had, been spoken with vehement and
indignant irony--and in Philip's opinion irony, blame which was intended
to wound and not to improve its object, was unbecoming in a noble woman.
The scornful laugh, with which she had triumphantly ended her speech,
had opened as it were a wide abyss between his mind and hers. He, as
he freely confessed to himself, was of a coarser and humbler grain than
Paula, and he was apt to be satirical oftener than was right. She had
been wont to dislike this habit in him; he had been glad that she did;
it answered to the ideal he had formed of what the woman he loved should
be. But now she had turned satirical; and her irony was no jest of the
lips. It sprang, full of passion, from her agitated soul; this it was
that grieved the leech who knew human nature, and at the same time
roused his apprehensions. Paula read his disapproval in his face, and
felt that there was a deep significance in his words, "And you will
perhaps consent."

"Men are vexed," thought she, "when, after they have decisively
expressed an opinion, we women dare unhesitatingly to assert a different
one," so, as she would on no account hurt the feelings of the friend to
whom she owed so much, she said kindly:

"I do not care to enquire into the meaning of your strange
prognostication. Thank God, by your kindness and care I have severed
every tie that could have bound me to my poor uncle's son!--Now we will
drop the subject; we have said too much about him already."

"That is quite my opinion," replied Philippus. "And, indeed, I would beg
you quite to forget my 'perhaps.' I live wholly in the present and am no
prophet; but I foresee, nevertheless, that Orion will make every effort,
cost what it may...."

"Well?"

"To approach you again, to win your forgiveness, to touch your heart,
to...."

"Let him dare" exclaimed Paula lifting her hand with a threatening
gesture.

"And when he, gifted as he is in every way, has found his better self
again and can come forward purified and worthy of the approbation of the
best...."

"Still I will never, never forget how he has sinned and what he brought
upon me!--Do you think that I have already forgotten your conversation
with Neforis? You ask nothing of your friends but honest feeling akin
to your own,--and what is it that repels me from Orion but feeling?
Thousands have altered their behavior, but--answer me fran