The meeting was so sudden that Adelheid lost her self-possession.
She drew back as if seeking protection among the trees beneath which she
had been standing, and stared at him with the eyes of a wounded animal
watching the pursuing hunter.
Rojanow did not appear to perceive this. He bowed and asked hastily:
"Are you alone, baroness? The accident was not serious, then?"
"What accident?"
"I heard you'd been thrown from your horse!"
"What an exaggeration. My saddle girth broke, and as I saw it in time I
jumped to the ground, while the animal stood perfectly still--that was
the accident."
"Thank God--I heard something of a plunge, a fall, and as you did not
return to the hunting field I--"
He stopped suddenly, for Adelheid's glance showed him she did not
believe his statement; he had probably met the groom and had questioned
him. Now at last her self-possession returned, and she said very
coldly:
"I thank you, Herr Rojanow, but your solicitude was altogether
unnecessary. You should have reflected that the duchess would not have
allowed me to remain unsought in the wood had so serious an accident
occurred. I sent her word I was on my way to Bucheneck."
She would have passed by him now, but as he stepped aside, he said in a
low voice:
"My dear madame--I have to beg your pardon.
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