'He's a trustworthy witness! Did he compare me to the statue of the commander?'
'His expressions may be ridiculous, but his feeling is not ridiculous, nor is what you have done to-day. And all that on my account ... for me ... I shall never forget it.'
'I assure you, Fräulein Gemma ...'
'I shall never forget it,' she said deliberately; once more she looked intently at him, and turned away.
He could now see her delicate pure profile, and it seemed to him that he had never seen anything like it, and had never known anything like what he was feeling at that instant. His soul was on fire.
'And my promise!' flashed in among his thoughts.
'Fräulein Gemma ...' he began after a momentary hesitation.
'What?'
She did not turn to him, she went on sorting the cherries, carefully taking them by their stalks with her finger-tips, assiduously picking out the leaves.... But what a confiding caress could be heard in that one word, 'What?'
'Has your mother said nothing to you ... about ...'
'About?'
'About me?'
Gemma suddenly flung back into the basket the cherries she had taken.
'Has she been talking to you?' she asked in her turn.
'Yes.'
'What has she been saying to you?'
'She told me that you ... that you have suddenly decided to change ... your former intention.' Gemma's head was bent again. She vanished altogether under her hat; nothing could be seen but her neck, supple and tender as the stalk of a big flower.
'What intentions?'
'Your intentions ... relative to ... the future arrangement of your life.'
'That is ... you are speaking ... of Herr Klüber?'
'Yes.'
'Mamma told you I don't want to be Herr Klüber's wife?'
'Yes.'
Gemma moved forward on the seat. The basket tottered, fell ... a few cherries rolled on to the path. A minute passed by ... another.
'Why did she tell you so?' he heard her voice saying. Sanin as before could only see Gemma's neck. Her bosom rose and fell more rapidly than before.
'Why? Your mother thought that as you and I, in a short time, have become, so to say, friends, and you have some confidence in me, I am in a position to give you good advice--and you would mind what I say.'
Gemma's hands slowly slid on to her knees. She began plucking at the folds of her dress.
'What advice will you give me, Monsieur Dimitri?' she asked, after a short pause.
Sanin saw that Gemma's fingers were trembling on her knees.... She was only plucking at the folds of her dress to hide their trembling. He softly laid his hand on those pale, shaking fingers.