straight into the girl's eyes exclaimed:

"A pack of lies, foul and unworthy lies!--I have been truthful by nature
all my life; but does it not seem as though that accursed day forced me
to some base action every time it is even mentioned? Yes, Paula; the gem
is really on its way to Byzantium. But the stolen gift was never meant
for you, but for a fair, gentle creature, in nothing blameworthy, who
gave me her heart. To me she was never anything but a pretty plaything;
still, there were moments when I believed--poor soul!--I first learnt
what love meant through you, how great and how sacred it is!--Now you
know all; this, indeed, is the truth!"

They walked on again, and Katharina, who had not been able to gather the
whole of this explanation, could plainly hear Paula's reply in warm, glad
accents:

"Yes, that is the truth, I feel. And henceforth that horrible day is
blotted out, erased from your life and mine; and whatever you tell me in
the future I shall believe."

And the listener heard the young man answer in a tremulous voice:

"And you shall never be deceived in me. Now I must leave you; and I go,
in spite of my griefs, a happy man, entitled to rejoice anew. O Paula,
what do I not owe to you! And when we next meet you will receive me,
will you not, as you did that evening on the river after my return?"

"Yes, indeed; and with even more glad confidence," replied Paula,
holding out her hand with a lovely graciousness that came from her heart;
he pressed it a moment to his lips, and then sprang on to his horse and