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She seemed not to understand at all, and yet he had gone into Rieseneck's story merely to make his own seem more terrible by comparison. 'You must know that, in the world, such calamities as have befallen me leave a mark, a stain even upon the innocent, said Greif. 'The world looks askance at the sons of murderers. 'And are you afraid of the world, Greif? asked Hilda. 'That is not like you.
She had been still more astonished when he formally proposed to her an engagement by which Greif should marry Hilda so soon as he had finished his studies at the University. He told her frankly why he desired the alliance. She knew of Rieseneck's disgrace, and she would understand that the story was an injury to Greif.
Then after a long pause, broken only by Clara's incoherent groans and sobs, he heard Rieseneck's footstep behind him, and then his brother's voice, calling him by his name. 'Hugo what has this woman deserved? 'Death, answered Greifenstein solemnly. 'She helped to ruin me through my faults, she has ruined you through no fault of yours. She must die. 'She must die, repeated Greifenstein.
While she was speaking, the intonations of Rieseneck's voice seemed to be still ringing in her ears, and the vibrations touched a chord of her memory very painfully, so that she forgot what she was saying and hid her confusion in a laugh. Greifenstein was staring at the ceiling and did not see his brother start and steady himself against the chimney- piece. At that moment dinner was announced.
As the words escaped Clara's lips, Greifenstein started violently and made as though he would rise, laying his hands on the edge of the table and leaning forward towards his wife. The echo of Rieseneck's name had not died away when the unhappy woman realised what she had done. Rieseneck himself turned suddenly towards her and the blood rushed to his pale face.
Then a wild desire overcame him to know what Rex had seen in the figure on that memorable night which had brought the news of Rieseneck's intended return. 'We have not spoken of those things lately, he said after a long pause. 'Will you tell me what it is that must happen to me, according to your theory?
He remembered her long absence and her changed expression when she returned, her silence that evening and her increasing taciturnity ever since. The connexion between the paragraph and her conduct seemed certain, and Greifenstein set himself systematically to think out some explanation for the facts. In five and twenty years Rieseneck's name had never been mentioned in her presence.
It would be a mistake to exaggerate the importance which Rieseneck's coming had in his eyes, as far as any material consequences to himself were concerned. There was no ruin before him, no inevitable disaster. He dreaded the moral side of the incident, and worst of all the possibility of his being obliged to tell Clara of the existence of his disgraced brother.
Greif's cheek turned slowly pale, not at the announcement, but at the thought that this chance student perhaps knew of Rieseneck's existence, and of all that his return might involve. 'Herr Rex, he said sternly, 'be good enough to tell me what you know of me and my family from other sources than that bit of paper. 'Not much, answered the other with a dry laugh.
The news he had just received was startling, but the bewilderment caused by its arrival at that precise juncture made even Rieseneck's return seem insignificant, in comparison with Rex's power to foretell the announcement of it. 'I do not understand, said Greif, staring at his companion. 'Nor I, beyond a certain point, replied the elder man, looking up from his paper. 'How could you know?
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