He was sometimes seen here, sometimes
there, first at Raegen, then at Sylt, lastly at Heligoland, where the surf
is most powerful. The marriage took place early in September. Every one
admired the bridal pair. Kaethe was fresh and blooming as a newly opened
Marshal Niel rose, Robert as handsome and elegant as in his best days.
The difference in age was scarcely apparent. Only a close observer could
have noticed a certain nervous anxiety in Robert's face which, though
bronzed by the sun and the salt air of the sea-shore, was visibly pale.
He did not look as happy by the side of his radiant bride as might have
been expected. Stings of conscience, said many women who had once been
on familiar terms with him and had now had the self-control to come to
the church, which was crowded to suffocation. Frau von der Lehde was not
among them.
Robert von Linden now realized the dream of the last few months; he took
his bewitching young wife, his proudest and, as he faithfully resolved,
his last conquest, to Italy. But, according to all that was learned
afterward, it was a strange wedding journey.
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