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"Why do you weep, Lizzie?" she asked. "Have you got bad news from Elza?" Eliza shook her head with a mournful smile. "No, dear mother," she said; "thank God, my Elza is happy and well, and that is my only joy." "And yet you weep, Eliza?" "Did I weep, then?" she asked. "It was probably a tear of joy at my Elza's happiness." "No, Lizzie, it was no tear of joy," cried her mother, mournfully.
Georg was no longer beside us! Elza was still clinging to me in fright. I shook her off. Wolfgar flung his smoking, useless cylinder to the floor. The blackness at once sprang into light; the sparks died. Tarrano was standing in the room, quietly, before us. Standing with a grim, cynical smile, regarding us. But only for an instant did he stand quiet.
I have suspected it a long time, and always teased him with his attachment to you." "And he always denied it, did he not?" "Yes, he did, and yet " "And he denied it to-day too, when the lie would have saved him at once. He would die rather than be a peasant-girl's bridegroom! You see, therefore, that he does not love me, Elza.
"You are very conservative, Lady Elza. You want very much to avoid hypocrisy, don't you?" "Yes," she said frankly. "You could hardly expect me to be sorry at your defeat." "Defeat?" He rasped out the word, and his laugh was harsh. "You are too optimistic. Defeat? Things going wrong? That is not so. A slight set-back.
He was trying to appear calm I knew he did not want unduly to alarm Elza; but I could see that he was laboring under great emotion nevertheless. "Things get out, Georg," he said. "We have been careful yes. But two years ago, when I visited the Central State, I told them there what I hoped to accomplish. There were no grave inter-planetary problems then I thought I had no need of great secrecy.
It will only remain for us to add Hohenberg's name to the list, and you yourself, my Lizzie, shall urge Captain Ulrich to restore to you the old baron and your friend Elza. Pray, dearest Cajetan, go and fetch the captain; he was to set out in an hour, and he must, therefore, be here yet."
And with sinking heart I had listened, for it did not seem to me that any maiden could resist so dominant a man as this. But I had made no comment, nor had Georg. Elza had seemed unwilling to discuss it, had flushed when her brother's eyes had keenly searched her face. And she flushed now, but Tarrano dismissed the subject with a gesture.
A little hope from those gentle eyes of yours a little word from those red lips a word of hope for what some day might be for us you and me " She dared to try and turn the subject. "You mentioned the Brende model where is it? Have you it in the Cold Country?" He frowned. "Yes. And I will use it for you and me alone. You've always known that, haven't you? Just for you and me, my Elza."
Tarrano in retreat!... Our escape from Venia? Pouf! That was a jest. I was there on Earth merely to get you, and the Brende model. I had no thought of conquering the Earth just then. I accomplished my two purposes and left.... It was not a retreat, merely a planned departure. "But this, my Elza, is very different. I did not wish to do what I am doing now.
The explosion of water in a little tank, with the resultant gases ejected through a small pipe projecting under the surface at its stern. The boat swept forward smoothly, rapidly and almost silently, with a stream of the gas bubbles coming to the surface in its wake. "Quite safe, Lady Elza." She saw that Tarrano's face was blackened with grime. His garments were burned, and hers were also.
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