The Princess said nothing; she evidently had no wish to answer him, and was freed from the necessity of so doing by the two young people at that moment leaving the window recess and coming up to them.
"It is impossible to make Wanda change her mind," said Leo to his mother. "She decidedly refuses to come to Wilicza--she will not leave Rakowicz."
The Princess turned to her niece with an expression of great severity.
"This is folly, Wanda. It has been arranged for months that you should come to me when your father's long-foreseen absence should occur. You cannot, ought not to stay at Rakowicz alone. I am your natural protector, and you will put yourself under my charge."
"Excuse me, dear aunt, I shall do nothing of the sort," replied the young Countess. "I will not be the guest of a house whose master conducts himself towards us in this hostile spirit. I can bear it no better than Leo."
"Do you think it will be easy for your aunt to hold her ground here?" asked the Count, reproachfully. "She makes the sacrifice for us, because she wishes to keep Wilicza open as a refuge for us in case of need, because it must not permanently be given up, and were she to go, it would be lost to us for ever. I may well ask for equal self-denial from you."
"But why is my presence here so necessary, so indispensable?" cried Wanda, hardly attempting now to control her vehemence. "The considerations which weigh with my aunt do not exist for me. Let me stay at home, papa."
"Give way, Wanda," entreated Leo; "stay with my mother. Wilicza lies so much nearer the frontier, we can keep up some communication far more easily. Perhaps I may make it possible to see you once. Certainly I hate Waldemar as bitterly as you do, now that he has openly declared himself our enemy; but, for my sake, put a constraint on yourself and endure him."
He had seized her hand. Wanda drew it away almost violently. "Let me be, Leo; if you knew _why_ your mother wishes to have me with her, you would be the first to oppose it."
The Princess knitted her brow, and quickly interfering to cut short her niece's speech, she said, turning to the Count--
"Show your authority as her father at last, Bronislaus, and command her to remain. She must stay at Wilicza."