That last party was the most pathetic. After saying hello to Ludwig she just went out of the house and sat on her bench bored and upset looking at the nightfall. It was very late and the last sparkles of daylight were already vanishing. The soft twilight slowly darkened as the twinkling stars timidly appeared on the inky sky.

Isabella felt empty. Depressed. Upset. For the first time in her life she was knowing how it felt not to get what she wanted. She felt like weeping with rage. She wanted to throw herself on the floor and cry and scream and release her ire. But she knew this time tears were vain.

A silhouette came from the house walking along the little road toward her. Isabella felt suddenly happy when she recognized him. Ludwig gazed at her and said with a slight smile. "So here you are," he said "Everybody is missing you in the party. It´s cold out here. Won't you go in?"

"No," she said wrapping herself in her shawl "I like it here. I want to see the sunset." He sat beside her. It was the first time that they were completely alone and it seemed a little thrilling to her. Isabella wished that nobody would come to disturb them. She tried to talk but couldn't find a topic. "Speak," she said to Ludwig.

"What would you like me to talk about?"

"Anything. Tell me what you think about when you remain silent gazing at the darkness."

"Many things. I was thinking that I should have a recital with Johanna. She's very good..."

"Hell!" she cried out so suddenly and abruptly that he stared at her astonished. She was at the edge of her temper "Johanna! Johanna! Can't you forget her for just a minute? Am I not alive too?"

"Excuse me; have I offended you?"

"The way you idolater Johanna drives me mad! I don't like being ignored! Why are you doing this? What is this? A game?"

"I'm just trying to make it less painful for me... disguising my broken heart..." Once again his unexpected words struck her. "What do you mean?" She stuttered. He went on imperturbable, "You. I know I don't have any chance with you so it makes no sense to have any illusions. I'm better off if I just stay apart." She could hardly believe what she was hearing. The last words she was expecting to hear from his lips now, the ones she had tried to get so badly, seemed to be about to come now and she wasn't ready to receive them. She was so astonished that she didn't even notice when he held her hand as he spoke "You look surprised, Isabella. You're not going to tell me you didn't know I was in love with you all this time. I can't believe there could be any man who wouldn't fall in love with you just by seeing you. I'm human too. I'm not made of stone. Yes, my poor heart is frail against your beauty."

Ludwig pressed his lips gently on her hand as he went on melancholically "Even I fell in your net." Isabella felt a slight quiver as his lips lay again on her hand. "When I came to Vienna and first heard of you I promised myself I wasn't going to let you captivate me but..." he kissed her wrist softly and she felt a shiver again running up through her back. A strange feeling of drowsiness was falling over her. "I dreamt that I could get your love, Isabella. But you are too haughty. Even now that I have conquered your heart you would try to deny it just to save your glacial image."

Isabella could finally utter word, "What are you talking about?"

"You love me just as much as I love you, but you are far too conceited to admit it. You think you are destined to have the love of others but you are not meant to return their love. That's why I preferred to forget you."

Isabella stared at him astonished. "I am in love with you?" she said contemptuous giving him an insolent look. "Are you not?" said Ludwig looking at her cold eyes. "You sure are conceited!" she laughed scornfully. Ludwig gave her a reproaching look. "So you don't love me," he said sharply in a low voice and his eyes turned icy. Isabella glacially turned her eyes away with a disdainful mocking pout saying bitterly "No indeed!"

Now she was getting her mood back. She was thinking clearly. Enough to realize what was happening. She finally got him in her sharp nails so it was time to tease him, laugh at his love, torture him and take her long craved revenge.

Ludwig though, remained calm and kissed her hand again. "You love me indeed," he said softly. After a pause, "It's time to put an end to this game. You love me. I'll make you confess." Isabella felt a warm wave running through her veins and she said again, coldly as she could "I don't love you," though her voice started to tremble.

For some strange reason she didn't want to evade his kisses which ran slowly up her shapely arm. She felt her heart beating faster as his lips touched her shoulder and she struggled to overcome this double-crosser emotion that made her quiver and pant and seemed to blur her mind. Only now did she realize that the night had fallen and they were surrounded by shadows.

In the darkness she could scarcely see Ludwig's face, though he was just a few inches from her, but she heard his voice whispering very close to her ear "You love me. Just say it." She heard her own voice coming mechanically out her throat " I don't." She was trying to appear angry and push him away from her but she couldn't think clearly enough to control her movements. She felt weak. "Say it," said Ludwig. "No," she replied, her voice lowering.

He put his arms around her waist. "I know you love me," he insisted. "I don't," was the stubborn response. She trembled as she felt his lips pressing against her white neck. Her head fell back and her eyes looked blindly up at the stars as a deep sigh came out from the depths of her chest. What was happening to her? "You love me," he said kissing her neck and shoulders. "No, I don´t!" she panted.

"You love me. You are breathless."

"I am not."

"You're trembling."

"Not true."

"Your heart is beating too fast."

"It's not."

"You deny it? I can feel it." As he said this one of the hands that gently pressed her shoulders slipped slowly into her dress and placed on her bare bosom above her heart, which now raced even faster. Isabella tried to object but she was speechless. Used as she was, to stay in her lofty pedestal and never let any man get near her, under this first caress she felt her whole body quivering with an absurd delight she had never expected sent chills all along her spine. "It is beating too fast," he repeated. She couldn't even speak when he asked again "You love me?" as his lips descended down her neck and lower. A stifled sigh was the only answer.

Suddenly a voice coming from the house chilled her blood and made her senses come back to reality. It was her father calling her. She pushed Ludwig away from her abruptly and said in low voice, still panting and blushing "Get away from me! How dare you? Go away before someone sees us! Go!" He silently walked away.

Isabella hastened to return to the house and as she walked along the little brick road she suddenly noticed that the night was dark and cold and a traitor impulse inside of her made her desire to feel Ludwig's warm lips on hers and wrap herself in his arms. Irritated, she shook this idea off her head and told herself that he had taken advantage of her. But hard as she tried she couldn't get angry for it. Confused, she calmed her breath and went back in the house.

The morning after Isabella kept silent sitting before the large mirror. She didn't even look at Johanna who was walking around, singing to herself and trying dresses for the Wigowsky's party that evening.

Isabella kept serious as the memories of the night before ran through her mind. It didn't make any sense for her: Ludwig had behaved far too impertinent and she had consented it. He dared even kiss her, but she even liked it. And now, as she still tried to get angry for this, each time she thought of it she felt a fervent desire for it to happen again.

A dangerous idea started to take shape in her mind. She tried to shake this thought off but everything seemed to point out in that direction. It couldn't be. But perhaps... Who knows? She assured herself it was a stupid supposition and there was no way such thing could happen... But how could she know?

After struggling for a while with this idea, trying to get other explanations without finding them she decided to seek a second opinion. Turning to Johanna she forced herself to speak. "Johanna..." she began hesitating. "Yes, dear?" Johanna was tying the green lace of her dress. "How do you know... when you are... in love?" Johanna stared at her. "Why, dear, whatever is the matter with you? Why do you think of it now?"

"I don't know... I guess... Well, someday I'm going to fall in love, won't I? How would you know when it happen?"

"You in love?" Johanna laughed "I can't even picture it! You only know the one-way love! That is love from him to you."

"Well, they say even girls fall in love sometime!"

"Oh, I don't know. I guess it just happens and you know"

"How?" she insisted feeling nervous.

"Nobody knows exactly how to explain it. It is sort of complicate. They say you feel strange, you faint, you pant, you tremble, blush...or something like that. They say those are symptoms of love, though they seem to me more like symptoms of grippe." She laughed. "Yes, how silly!" Isabella pretended to laugh too "Tremble, ha!"

She shivered. Her terrible thought seemed to confirmate. It all seemed to proof that she was in love with Ludwig. She couldn't believe it. She tried to deny it a little more, but finally gave up. When she finally accepted the fact she wanted to die. She never intended to fall in love with him. She had never intended to fall in love with anybody. Now she wanted to turn back and she didn't know how.

The whole week Isabella remained in an extremely stressed nervous state. She had finally won and lost. Ludwig was in love with her, as she always wanted, but she was in love too and this put her in a terrible disadvantage. She had planned for so long how to conquer him and torture him and make him feel her power, but now it seemed like it was all against her. He had the power over her. He had the control. He was the one who could dominate her and do what he pleased. Last night was a clear proof of it.

With him she lost all her sense, logic and will. With him she was defenseless like a kitten. For the first time in her life she felt fragile. She was facing a situation for which she had never been prepared, and she didn't know how to deal with it.

She wanted to escape. She wished she could never see him again, but she knew he would come next Tuesday, and this thought made her quiver. During the whole week, while she counted the days for his call she promised herself very firmly that she wouldn't see him. She would lock up in her room and avoid him completely. She thought she could never face Ludwig again. Not after what happened. It would be torturing trying to appear serious and cold while she was wanting to jump in his arms.

Besides it was terrifying when she pictured what could happen if he tried to kiss her. How could she resist him? What if he tried to touch her again? What if he tried to go even farther? Or worse yet, what if anyone saw them? It would ruin her completely. She was terrified thinking about all the tragic possibilities.

She didn't need to pretend that Tuesday: she was so upset that she felt sick for real. She locked in the room and closed the window so she wouldn't hear Ludwig's horse arriving. But it did no good. She heard him perfectly. A minute later that sad sonata that had left her so impressed the first time sounded again in the silence of the house. Once again this music touched her and once again she cried, this time with wild childish sobs.

She knew she couldn't avoid him for ever. She had to see him someday so the best thing she could do was decide what to do with her love. She was determined not to let him know. Isabella's pride was far to rough to allow her to confess anyone such debility. She had to fight and resist this love and keep it as a secret as long as her strength held out. Ludwig had to beg for her kisses not just take them as he pleased. He had to adore her not believe she was under his thumb.

No. He couldn't know what she felt. She had to be the one with the control. She remembered the night before, near the fountain. He had tried to make her confess and she had resisted. She was proud of herself to know that her will hadn't failed her.

It had to stay that way. He would have her love only if she consented to give it to him. That's how it must be, she thought. And now that he had admitted his love she could make him suffer as she always wanted to. And the first thing she was to do was start her revenge at once. He would be punished! He deserved that!

But for many days Ludwig didn't show up again. The next two weeks he canceled his classes with Johanna for some business he had to undertake and then he left the city.

Isabella tried to convince herself that she was happy to get rid of him, but as soon as she knew he was gone she started missing him tremendously. She would think of him everyday, walking in her room so anxious and stressed that the passing hours were endless centuries for her. She lost her sleep, hunger and humor.

He was far away. She didn't even know were he was. She didn't know when he was to come back... or if he ever did. What if this business kept him away for many years? How could she bare it? She hadn't realized how badly she loved him until she lost him. Now that he was away she thought she couldn't live a minute without him. Yet she still tried to fight that love.

Trying to console herself she would walk in the garden and sit in her favorite bench. But now this bench was much to painful for her. It reminded her of the last night, of Ludwig. When the red sunset spread its soft light all over the garden and the shadows fell around her, Isabella's imagination pictured that night over and over.

She had thought that distance would help her forget him but it only made it worse. She hated him for stealing her heart, for making her weak. Trying to keep her mind busy she attended every party and social event. She was almost all the time away from her house trying to stay away from the garden and the fountain.

But most depressing of all was Johanna. She never spoke of anything but him. Each time she practiced her music classes she was talking about him, about his talent, his sympathy, his gentle manners. She would speak of him so much that Isabella wanted to scream, but she always had to pretend she didn't care about her simple babbles.

A month had passed and Ludwig did not come back. He gave no signs of life. Nobody in Vienna had a word from him. It was just like the earth had swallowed him. Isabella was going to another party expecting to keep her mind away from him but she was too depressed to enjoy any fun now. She was sure she was not to have a good time that night.

During the party she displayed her accustomed routines, jumping from one guest to another, playing the funny girl, laughing and flirting carelessly with everyone, trying to get her mood back. She tried with all her might to have fun. She even tried to convince herself that she was having the time of her life. But after an hour, exhausted of pretending, smiling and trying to appear fresh and lively, she had to admit that she was feeling too miserable and sneaked out to the terrace to take some air.

She didn't know which was worse: the noise of the party or the silence of the night. The night was exasperatingly quiet. So quiet that the only sound was the wind whispering in her ear. Isabella looked at the dark sky above her, covered with stars and tried to count them. She rested her hand on the marble wall and tested a comfortable position to look at the night sky.

It was such a peaceable sight that Isabella soon forgot her anxiety and felt a deep peace inside of her. She hadn't felt so calm in a long time. She prayed that nobody would come to disturb her or make her go back inside. She wanted to enjoy her peace while she had it. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She didn't know exactly how long she stayed like that but it seemed very long when she realized she was falling asleep.

In the middle of the quiet night she began to remember Ludwig's sonata. It was the most beautiful she had ever heard. And it was much more beautiful now that she knew it was written to her. It was her sonata. She was the hopeless love that inspired it. She remembered it very well, note by note... That sweet and melancholic sound floating in the night around her... she could almost hear it now... slow... harmonious...

She suddenly opened her eyes and incorporated. It was real. The sonata! Her sonata. She looked through the crystal door of the terrace and saw all inside sitting listening to a man playing a violin. He was turning his back on her and she couldn't see him but she recognized him in a second. It was Ludwig. It was enough to hear a single note to know it was him. No man in this world could play like Ludwig Reiss.

Isabella's heart started to beat faster and a deep happiness brought tears to her eyes. Ludwig was back! It was like a dream come true. She would finally see him, she would talk to him... Great Lord! She thought, talk to him! They would have to talk about that. She blushed recalling their last interview. She didn't feel strong enough to face him. She decided to stay in the terrace and hide until he was gone or she could sneak back home. She wasn't ready for him. Not yet.

She remained a long time in the terrace walking and feeling more nervous than before. She rested on the little wall and watched the stars trying to calm herself but suddenly she heard the door opening and someone walked toward her.

She didn't dare turn around to see and prayed for it to be anyone but him. Ludwig's voice spoke very calmly beside her:

"I see you had the same idea. You too think this party is boring." Isabella remained frozen. She didn't know what to say or do. She dared not to look at him. "I had a special interest in seeing you tonight. I thought I had to excuse myself for our last incident."

Isabella collected all her strength and tried to appear cold as she answered "Most certainly." Please, be strong, she said to herself.

"It was very unchivalrous of me. I assume you might have rancor against it." He went on. "Most certainly." She repeated and her voice began to tremble. "Well, Fräulein Streicher," bowing "I am awfully sorry about my behavior. I do hope you might forgive me someday." Quit pretending! She thought, you are not sorry. You know you would do it again if you could... Why don't you? "But I meant it", he said softly "I do love you. It will only take one word from you... we could be so happy..." Isabella turned his back on him fearing that she could no longer keep her frosty expression and she said bitterly "And I meant it too: I do not love you."

They remained silent for a moment. "Are you sure?" he asked. I can't take this anymore. I do love you. I do! I do! Why can't I just tell you? Make me confess. Kiss me! But she replied "Completely." She thanked God for the darkness that hid her blushed face.

Suddenly he dashed to her and before she realized what was happening he had his arms around her and his face was so close to Isabella's that she could see his eyes sparkling in the darkness. She remained speechless, not knowing what to do and trembling in every limb at his proximity. He looked at her blue-green eyes with a deep passionate expression "Do you love me?" he asked shortly. Isabella held in the tears that welled her eyes, strained the words to come out and she replied with trembling voice "No... I don't"

Next thing she knew, his lips were on hers. She felt the poison of Eros overwhelm her in that short moment that seemed to last forever realizing for the first time how scorching her love was; how it felt to receive a nectar she had longed for all this time without even knowing it. She knew she was supposed to object, get away and continue her glacial unloving display, but instead abandoned herself to relish the sensation of his lips brushing softly against hers, pressing them tenderly, running from her upper to lower lip, drawing their lovely shape with his caressing mouth. She tried hard as she could not to sigh but it was vain. And before she could get control of herself again she realized that she was kissing him back. He whispered softly in her ear "Do you love me, Isabella?" About to faint, nearly breathless and still trembling Isabella could utter a languid "No"

In the twinkling of an eye he let go of her and left the terrace. Isabella suddenly sat down for her legs were trembling too much after that sudden emotion. She tried to understand why she had said such a lie. She realized and told herself that this behavior was completely unacceptable for a lady: allowing a kiss and even enjoying it! But it was something stronger that herself, a lost fight. She had to admit it. She had to tell him. It was impossible to resist. She couldn't stand to display this comedy forever. She wanted him. She wanted to be with him, talk to him, hold him, kiss him, over and over forever. She wanted to marry him. She was sure now that she couldn't live without him; after realizing all the happiness his kisses could give her now a greedy feeling made her desire to have more of them; all of them. She would tell him. At last something was stronger than her pride. As soon as they met again she would tell him. No more pretending, no more escaping. They would marry as soon as possible and they would live happily ever after.

Johanna peeped and said "So here you are. I've been looking for you. It is time to go, dear." Isabella obeyed with the docility of a child and walked to the door. She stopped to have one last glance at the stars and smiled. Next Tuesday Ludwig would ask her hand. Next Tuesday...