"Oh--I thought it was the maid," she stammered. Her face coloured and she glanced uneasily at the table. She began to clear away, to place napkins over the dishes. She moved the chairs and said again and again: "I did not know--everything is so upset--" But he asked her to excuse his abrupt entrance. He only wanted to--she must have been in need of money, of course she must; it couldn't be otherwise; he wouldn't hear any more about it. Here--he had brought a little for her present needs. And he placed the envelope on the table. She refused to accept it. She had plenty of money left. She took out the last two hundred crowns he had sent her and showed him the bills. She even wanted to return them. He looked at her in amazement. He noticed that her left hand was without the ring. He frowned and asked: "What has become of your ring, Hanka?" "It isn't the one you gave me," she answered quickly. "It is the other one. That doesn't matter." "I did not know you had been obliged to do that, or I would long ago--" "But I was not obliged to do it; I wanted to. You see I have plenty of money. But it does not matter in the least, for I still have _your_ ring." "Well, whether it is my ring or not, you have not done me a favour by this. I want you to keep your things. I am not so altogether down and out, even if I have had to let some of my help go." She bowed her head. He walked over to the window; when he turned back he noticed that she was looking at him; her eyes were candid and open. He grew confused and turned his back to her again. No, he could not speak to her of moving now; let her stay on awhile if she wanted to. But he would at least try to persuade her to cease this strange manner of living; there was no sense in that; besides, she was getting thin and pale. "Don't be offended, but ought you not--Not for my sake, of course, but for your own--" "Yes, I know," she interrupted, afraid of letting him finish; "time passes, and I haven't moved yet." He forgot what he intended to say about her housekeeping eccentricities; he caught only her last words. "I cannot understand you. You have had your way; nothing binds you any more. You can be Hanka Lange now as much as you like; you surely know that I am not holding you back." "No," she answered. She rose and took a step toward him. She held out her hand to him in a meaningless way, and when he did not take it, she dropped it to her side limply, with burning cheeks. She sank into her chair again. "No, you are not holding me back--I wanted to ask you--Of course, I have no right to expect that you will let me, but if you would--if I could remain here awhile yet? I would not be as I was before--I have changed a good deal, and so have you. I cannot say what I want to--"