A web of shimmering silvery radiance covered the edges of every island, and suddenly the brilliant full moon was reflected in argent lustre like a magnificent quivering column upon the surface of the water, now rippled by the evening breeze.
The time during which Ledscha could repeat "When the moon is over Pelican Island" was past; already its course had led it beyond.
The island lay behind it, and it continued its pilgrimage before the young girl's eyes.
The glittering column of light upon the water proved that she was not mistaken; the time which she had appointed for Hermon had already expired.
The moon in calm majesty sailed farther and farther onward in its course, and with it minute after minute elapsed, until they became a half hour, then a whole one.
"How long is it since the moon was over Pelican Island ?" was the question which now pressed itself upon her again and again, and to which she found an answer at every glance upward, for she had learned to estimate time by the position of the stars.
Rarely was the silence of the night interrupted by the call of a human being or the barking of a dog from the city, or even the hooting of an owl at a still greater distance; but the farther the moon moved on above her the fiercer grew the uproar in Ledscha's proud, cruelly wronged soul.

She felt offended, scorned, insulted, and at the same time defrauded of the happiness which this night of the full moon contained for her.

Or had the demons who promised happiness meant something else in their prediction than Hermon's love?
Was she to owe the bliss they had foretold to hate and pitiless retribution?
When the midnight hour had nearly arrived she prepared to depart, but after she had already set her foot on the edge of the boat she returned to the grassy seat.

She would wait a little longer yet.

Then there would be nothing which could give Hermon a right to consideration; then she might let loose upon him the avenging powers at her command.
Ledscha again gazed over the calm landscape, but in the wild tumult of her heart she no longer distinguished the details upon which her eyes rested.