is again,» Gagin began, «and he wanted to come back of his own accord, observe.»
Acia looked at me inquiringly. It was my turn now to hold out my hand, and this time I pressed her chilly fingers warmly. I felt very sorry for her. I understood now a great deal in her that had puzzled me before; her inward restlessness, her want of breeding, her desire to be striking—all became clear to me. I had had a peep into that soul; a secret scourge was always tormenting her, her ignorant self-consciousness struggled in confused alarm, but her whole nature strove towards truth. I understood why this strange little girl attracted me; it was not only by the half-wild charm of her slender body that she attracted me; I liked her soul.
Gagin began rummaging among his canvases. I suggested to Acia that she should take a turn with me in the vineyard. She agreed at once, with cheerful and almost humble readiness. We went half-way down the mountain, and sat down on a broad stone.
«And you weren’t dull without us?» Acia began.
«And were you dull without me?» I queried.
Acia gave me a sidelong look.
«Yes,» she answered. «Was it nice in the mountains?» she went on at once. «Were they high ones? Higher than the clouds? Tell me what you saw. You were telling my brother, but I didn’t hear anything.»
«It was of your own accord you went away,» I remarked.
«I went away . . . because . . .—I’m not going away now,» she added with a confiding caress in her voice. «You were angry to-day.»
«I?»
«Yes, you.»
«Upon my word, whatever for?»
«I don’t know, but you were angry, and you went away angry. I was very much vexed that you went away like that, and I’m so glad you came back.»
«And I’m glad I came back,» I observed.
Acia gave herself a little shrug, as children often do when they are very pleased.
«Oh, I’m good at guessing!» she went on. «Sometimes, simply from the way papa coughed, I could tell in the next room whether he was pleased with me or not.»
Till that day Acia had never once spoken to me of her father. I was struck by it.
«Were you fond of your father?» I said, and suddenly, to my intense annoyance, I felt I was reddening.
She made no answer, and blushed too. We were both silent. In the distance a smoking steamer was scudding along on the Rhine. We began watching it.
«Why don’t you tell me about your tour?» Acia murmured.
«Why did you laugh to-day directly you saw me?» I asked.
«I don’t know really. Sometimes I want to cry, but I laugh. You mustn’t judge me—by what I do. Oh, by-the-bye, what a story that is about the Lorelei! Is that her rock we can see? They say she used to drown every one, but as soon as she fell in love she threw herself in the water. I like that story. Frau Luise tells me all sorts of stories. Frau Luise has a black cat with yellow eyes. . . .»
Acia raised her head and shook her curls.
«Ah, I am happy,» she said.
At that instant there floated across to us broken, monotonous sounds. Hundreds of voices in unison and at regular intervals were repeating a chanted litany. The crowd of pilgrims moved slowly along the road below with crosses and banners. . . .
«I should like to go with them,» said Acia, listening to the sounds of the voices gradually growing fainter.
«Are you so religious?»
«I should like to go far away on a pilgrimage, on some great exploit,» she went on. «As it is, the days pass by, life passes by, and what have we done?»
«You are ambitious,» I observed. «You want to live to some purpose, to leave some trace behind you. . . .»
«Is that impossible, then?»
«Impossible,» I was on the point of repeating. . . . But I glanced at her bright eyes, and only said:
«You can try.»
«Tell me,» began Acia, after a brief silence during which shadows passed over her face, which had already turned pale, «did you care much for that lady? . . . You remember my brother drank her health at the ruins the day after we first knew you.»
I laughed.
«Your brother was joking. I never cared for any lady; at any rate, I don’t care for one now.»
«And what do you like in women?» she asked, throwing back her head with innocent curiosity.
«What a strange question!» I cried.
Acia was a little disconcerted.
«I ought not to ask you such a question, ought I? Forgive me, I’m used to chattering away about anything that comes into my head. That’s why I’m afraid to speak.»
«Speak, for God’s sake, don’t be afraid,» I hastened to intervene; «I’m so glad you’re leaving off being shy at last.»
Acia looked down, and laughed a soft light-hearted laugh; I had never heard such a laugh from her.
«Well, tell me about something,» she went on, stroking out the skirt of her dress, and arranging the folds over her legs, as though she were settling herself for a long while; «tell me or read me something, just as you read us, do you remember, from Oniegin. . .»
She suddenly grew pensive— «Where now is the cross and the branches’ shade
Over my poor mother’s grave!»
She murmured in a low voice.
«That’s not as it is in Pushkin,» I observed.
«But I should like to have been Tatiana,» she went on, in the same dreamy tone. «Tell me a story,» she suddenly added eagerly.
But I was not in a mood for telling stories. I was watching her, all bathed in the bright sunshine, all peace and gentleness. Everything was joyously radiant about us, below, and above us—sky, earth, and waters; the very air seemed saturated with brilliant light.
«Look, how beautiful!» I said, unconsciously sinking my voice.
«Yes, it is beautiful,» she answered just as softly, not looking at me. «If only you and I were birds—how we would soar, how we would fly. . . . We’d simply plunge into that blue . . . But we’re not birds.»
«But we may grow wings,» I rejoined.
«How so?»
«Live a little longer—and you’ll find out. There are feelings that lift us above the earth. Don’t trouble yourself, you will have wings.»
«Have you had them?»
«How shall I say . . . I think up till now I never have taken flight.»
Acia grew pensive once more. I bent a little towards her.
«Can you waltz?» she asked me suddenly.
«Yes,» I answered, rather puzzled.
«Well, come along then, come along . . . I’ll ask my brother to play us a waltz. . . . We’ll fancy we are flying, that our wings have grown.»
She ran into the house. I ran after her, and in a few minutes, we were turning round and round the narrow little room, to the sweet strains of Lanner. Acia waltzed splendidly, with enthusiasm. Something soft and womanly suddenly peeped through the childish severity of her profile. Long after, my arm kept the feeling of the contact of her soft waist, long after I heard her quickened breathing close to my ear, long after I was haunted by dark, immobile, almost closed eyes in a pale but eager face, framed in by fluttering curls. X
ALL that day passed most delightfully. We were as merry as children. Acia was very sweet and simple. Gagin was delighted, as he watched her. I went home late. When I had got out into the middle of the Rhine, I asked the ferryman to let the boat float down with the current. The old man pulled up his oars, and the majestic river bore us along. As I looked about me, listened, brooded over recollections, I was suddenly aware of a secret restlessness astir in my heart . . . I lifted my eyes skywards, but there was no peace even in the sky; studded with stars, it seemed all moving, quivering, twinkling; I bent over to the river—but even there, even in those cold dark depths, the stars were trembling and glimmering; I seemed to feel an exciting quickening of life on all sides—and a sense of alarm rose up within me too. I leaned my elbows on the boat’s edge . . . The whispering of the wind in my ears, the soft gurgling of the water at the rudder worked on my nerves, and the fresh breath of the river did not cool me; a nightingale was singing on the bank, and stung me with the sweet poison of its notes. Tears rose into my eyes, but they were not the tears of aimless rapture. . . . What I was feeling was not the vague sense I had known of late of all-embracing desire when the soul expands, resounds, when it feels that it grasps all, loves all. . . . No! it was the thirst for happiness aflame in me. I did not dare yet to call it by its name—but happiness, happiness full and overflowing—that was what I wanted, that was what I pined for. . . . The boat floated on, and the old ferryman sat dozing as he leant on his oars. XI
As I set off next day to the Gagins, I did not ask myself whether I was in love with Acia, but I thought a great deal about her, her fate absorbed me, I rejoiced at our unexpected intimacy. I felt that it was only yesterday I had got to know her; till then she had turned away from me. And now, when she had at last revealed herself to me, in what a seductive light
