! As I have said
so much; as my connection with Charlotte must now be severed; as you
will be mine, why should I not speak out the words to you? This child is
the offspring of a double adultery. It should have been a tie between my
wife and myself; but it severs her from me, and me from her. Let it
witness, then, against me. Let these fair eyes say to yours, that in the
arms of another I belonged to you. You must feel, Ottilie, oh! you must
feel, that my fault, my crime, I can only expiate in your arms."

"Hark!" he called out, as he sprang up and listened. He thought that he
had heard a shot, and that it was the sign which the Major was to give.
It was the gun of a forester on the adjoining hill. Nothing followed.
Edward grew impatient.

Ottilie now first observed that the sun was down behind the mountains;
its last rays were shining on the windows of the house above. "Leave me,
Edward," she cried; "go. Long as we have been parted, much as we have
borne, yet remember what we both owe to Charlotte. She must decide our
fate; do not let us anticipate her judgment. I am yours if she will
permit it to be so. If she will not, I must renounce you. As you think
it is now so near an issue, let us wait. Go back to the village, where
the Major supposes you to be. Is it likely that a rude cannon-shot will
inform you of the results of such an interview? Perhaps at this moment
he is seeking for you. He will not have found Charlotte at home; of that
I am certain. He may have gone to meet her; for they knew at the castle
where she was. How many things may have happened! Leave me! she must be
at home by this time; she is expecting me there with the baby."

Ottilie spoke hurriedly; she called together all the possibilities. It
was too delightful to be with Edward; but she felt that he must now
leave her. "I beseech, I implore you, my beloved," she cried out; "go
back and wait for the Major."

"I obey your commands," cried Edward. He gazed at her for a moment with
rapturous love, and then caught her close in his arms. She wound her own
about him, and pressed him tenderly to her breast. Hope streamed away,
like a star shooting in the sky, above their heads. They thought then,
they believed, that they did indeed belong to each other. For the first
time they exchanged free, genuine kisses, and separated with pain and
effort.

The sun had gone down. It was twilight, and a damp mist was rising about
the lake. Ottilie stood confused and a