She guessed his thoughts. "Don't misunderstand me," she began again, "and think that I am trying to win you by tricks. Look at me, Leo! I am a mass of lies and deceit. My very face seems given me to dazzle and mislead, but hell is in my soul. And as sure as there is a God in heaven, so sure as Ulrich is sacred to us both----" "He is to you?" he asked eagerly, drawing a step nearer to her. "Yes," she raised her fingers voluntarily, as if to take her oath upon it. The expression of her eyes was pure and grave. "Give me your hand," he said. She laid her fingers quietly in his right hand, and as she did so her glance fell on the sapphire hoop. "Leo," said she, with a sad little laugh, "I am glad to see that you still wear my ring." He recoiled from her. Oh, fatal, cursed forgetfulness! Instead of locking it away when he got up that morning, he had stuck it on his finger as usual. "Don't look so alarmed," she went on, "the poor ring has done nothing. Go on wearing it. Once it served as a symbol of our common sin; for the future it shall tell us that we are as one in being truly penitent for what has happened; and if we ourselves can never be happy again, we will at least unite in making another happy, who must be dearer to us than each other." "That is an excellent sentiment, Felicitas," he said, "and if you keep to it all may yet be well." "If you help me, I certainly will." He knew what she was aiming at It was the same demand as the pastor's and Johanna's. He felt humbled. They were all of the same opinion, that there was only one road to complete expiation. Therefore he supposed they must be right. "Repent nothing," had persistently been his watchword. But, after all, he need not relinquish it, when, sure of his strength, he entered his friend's house to bring into it the sunshine it lacked. And while he was meditating thus, he suddenly beheld the woman lying at his feet. Her hood had slipped back on her neck, and the mass of fair hair, loosely tied with a blue ribbon, framed the lovely, melancholy white face in a thousand shining waves and little curls. He bent down, horrified, to raise her. But she resisted. "Let me clasp your knees," she implored. "I will not stand up till I know that I am not any more alone and forsaken in my sin, that you will support me when penitence tears my heart--so that I need no longer be silent and despairing." "I will help you, Felicitas," he said. "Only do stand up." Her hands felt for his. "When will you come?" she asked beseechingly. "When you like." "Come to-day," she begged. "He pines for you." "How long has he been back?" "Three days.... Say you wanted to speak to me. That is enough. You are coming?" "Yes; I will come." She thrilled with pleasure. "I promise you," she said, "that I will no longer regard you as my bitterest enemy. That I will do my best to make you happy." "It is not I you have to think of," he replied, "but Ulrich--will you make Ulrich happy?"