"You are cruel!" was Eva's only reply. She had withdrawn her hand from Paul's, but she no longer thought of fleeing from the room. With sensations both of rapture and of pain she contemplated the picture. Yes, Delmar was right. The hand that had executed so true, so lifelike a resemblance must have been guided by the heart. "I do not deserve your reproach," Delmar continued. "My only desire in bringing you here is to make you happy; you must see for yourself the truth of what I once told you of Leo. And now since there can be no doubt in your mind of the intensity of his affection for you, I may give you the letter which Herr von Bertram sends you through me." He handed Eva Bertram's letter and watched her narrowly as she took it, half in surprise and half in terror, and read its contents. He hoped to see her lovely features illumined by joy at her release, and gratitude to the messenger of freedom, but he was bitterly disappointed. Eva's face, so far from beaming with joy, expressed only profound sorrow, and a tear fell upon the paper as she read. When she had finished, her hands dropped at her sides and she gazed at Delmar with eyes filled with grief and regret. "I thank you, Herr Delmar," she said gently. "I will preserve this letter as my most precious treasure. Although every line is a reproach to me for the weakness which at present prevents me from appreciating the happiness it should bring me, in time I shall conquer this weakness. I will read the noble words again and again, and they shall strengthen me if I should ever falter in the path which duty clearly points out for me to pursue. I will leave Tausens this evening. I dare not see Herr von Heydeck again. I pray you conduct me immediately to the inn; tell your friends how it grieves me to part from them, but that I now know my duty and cannot act differently." Paul's astonishment and dismay at Eva's words are hard to describe; he had imagined all this so differently; he had anticipated with such certainty her thanks to him for her release, and now---- "I cannot understand you," he cried, in great agitation. "You wish to go to Tausens,--to leave without seeing Leo again? What reasons under the sun can you have for such a course? That letter releases you!"