Can he follow her then, as he once followed her, when he conquered the bride with daring corsair courage? Is that figure, pale as marble, the same as that of the blooming girl, who, once adorned with the wreath of woodland flowers, greeted him with merry smiles? Between then and now lies an abyss--that campanula had withered in his hands, old love had become new guilt. He had no longer the right to follow her; only with his eyes, with his spirit he followed the retreating skiff, until the girls' figures, became smaller and smaller, the boat dwindled shapelessly into a speck, to lose itself entirely in the distant atmosphere in the shadow of the clouds. It is true that lightning quivered on the horizon, but Blanden felt no anxiety about the breaking of a storm. Half-witted Kätchen understood the skies and the earth, and if she ventured fearlessly farther over the waves, no coming terror, no storm, no hurricane could be expected; then one might be sure that the herd of fiery flashes would remain upon the horizon, and the tempest clouds not flood the heavens. The boat had, despite his spectacles, long since disappeared from Wegen's short sight, when, by straining every nerve, Blanden's eye still clung firmly to the floating speck in the distance. "We must have patience until they return," said his friend, lighting himself a cigar, "the girl is thoughtless thus to venture out to sea. The evenings are too cool for a convalescent. Frau Regierungsräthin keeps a negligent watch over her." Louder became the breaking of the waves upon the shore, higher rose the sea. Blanden gazed impatiently into the distance. Will the boat not return? He felt as though he must jump into the skiff that lay below on the strand, and row after the girl. Oppressive sultriness pervaded nature; through a gap in the broad bank of clouds the glow of the parting sun became visible once more. A shower of golden sparks fell into the ocean, for which the waves seemed to struggle, soon again increasing night spread her wings over it. Blanden felt oppressed, why he knew not his friend chatted all the more briskly.