Without hastening his steps he soon overtook them, and recognized at
the first glance that it was Loulou. She too turned her head
involuntarily to look at the passing trio. As she caught sight of
Wilhelm a sudden pallor overspread her face, and with an unconscious
movement of terror she dropped her companion's arm. Both stood
stockstill, as if suddenly deprived of the power of motion, and
gazed at one another wide-eyed. The silent encounter only lasted a
few seconds, but the play on both sides was so marked that it could
not fail to excite the attention of the lookers-on. Loulou's
attendant cavalier looked in surprise from her to him, and evidently
thought the proceedings most extraordinary. But before he had time
to ask for an explanation, Wilhelm had turned on his heel and was
walking rapidly back to the hotel. The two Americans followed him in
silence. Nothing in the scene had escaped them, but as true Anglo-
Saxons they had too much native reserve to ask for a confidence
which was not offered them.
Wilhelm was most painfully affected by the encounter, and not for
worlds would he risk the possibility of meeting again with the
unfortunate woman and the man to whom she now was bound in sinful
union. That same day he took leave of his Americans, and left Ostend
early the next morning; at once fearful and relieved, as though
fleeing successfully from the scene of a dark deed of his own
committing.
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