"The very best. Grandpapa is quite well and antic.i.p.ating much pleasure in his visit to Burgsdorf next month. But he writes that everything is very quiet around Waldhofen since Rodeck has lost its master.

Everything is closed and desolate since the death of the young Prince.

Ostwalden is lonely, and Furstenstein will be deserted, too, after Toni's marriage, which occurs in two weeks. Poor Uncle Schonan will be all alone then."

The last words were spoken with a certain emphasis as the young wife threw a peculiar glance at her mother-in-law.

That upright lady did not pay any attention to it, but only remarked: "Yes, it is a strange notion of Hartmut and Adelaide to live here in the pine forest in a small, rented villa during the first weeks of their married life, while the large castle of Ostwalden and all of the Stahlberg country seats are at their disposal."

"They probably wished to remain with their father a little longer,"

said Willibald.

"Well, Falkenried could have taken a vacation in this case and gone with them. Thank G.o.d that the man has really come back to life, since that terrible bitterness has fallen from him, and he has his son again.

I knew well how very hard the flight of the boy struck him. He secretly idolized him, while showing him only severity and requiring in turn nothing but obedience. Of course, what Hartmut accomplished with that night's ride, by which he saved his father with his troops, erases even more than a senseless boy's escapade, for which the mother was really to blame."

"But we are cheated out of all the wedding festivities in the family,"

pouted Marietta. "w.i.l.l.y and I had to be married quietly because the war broke out, and now, after the war has happily ceased, Hartmut and Adelaide do just like it."

"My child, when one has gone through such things as Hartmut has, all pleasure in festivities is lost," said Frau Eschenhagen, gravely. "And, besides, he has not fully recuperated yet. You saw how pale he was at the wedding. Adelaide's first marriage was, indeed, celebrated with more pomp. Her father insisted upon it, in spite of his low state of health, and the bride was really a queenly, if cold, apparition in her satin train and her laces and diamonds. But, truly, she looked different when she drew near the altar with her Hartmut, in the simple white silk dress and the dainty veil. I never in my life saw her so lovely. Poor Herbert! He never possessed the love of his wife."

"But how could one love such an old Excellency in his diplomatic frock coat? I could not have done it, either," said Marietta, pertly.

But she had touched a weak point; her mother-in-law held the remembrance of her brother in high esteem.

"The necessity would never have come to you," she remarked, with pique.

"A man like Herbert von Wallmoden would hardly have wooed you--you little saucy----"

But she got no further, for the saucy little sprite already hung around her neck coaxingly.

"Please don't get angry, mamma. How can I help it that my most undiplomatic w.i.l.l.y is dearer to me than all the Excellencies in the whole world, and he is that to you, too; eh, mamma?"

"You little flatterer!" Regine tried in vain to keep up her severe mien. "You know very well that n.o.body can get angry with you. A regime will now probably commence here at Burgsdorf which has had no precedent. w.i.l.l.y is ashamed before me now, but after I am gone, he will surrender to you upon grace or displeasure."

"Mamma, do you still cling to that idea?" asked Willibald, reproachfully. "Will you go now, when everything is love and peace between us?"

"Just because of that I shall go, so that it may remain. Do not oppose it, my son. I have to be first where I live and work. You want to be that now; therefore it is best we are not together; and your little princess must not get angry about it. We have heretofore had great anxiety about you, and people do not quarrel when they have to tremble anew each day for husband and son. But that is over now, and I am still too much of the old kind to fit myself to your youth. Do whatever you like, but things must go as I like in my house, and therefore I go."

She turned and went into the house, while the young lord looked after her with a half-suppressed sigh.

CHAPTER LX.

"She is right, perhaps," Willibald said, half aloud, as his mother vanished; "but she will be unhappy alone, and without the long-accustomed activity. I know that she will not be able to bear the enforced rest. You ought to have begged her to remain, too, Marietta."

The young wife laid her curly head upon her husband's shoulder and looked at him roguishly.

"Oh, no; I shall do something better. I shall see to it that mamma does not get unhappy when she leaves us."

"You? How will you do that?"

"Quite easily. I shall marry mamma off."

"But, Marietta, what are you thinking of?"

"Oh, you wise w.i.l.l.y; have you really not noticed anything?" laughed Marietta, and it was the old, silvery laugh with which she had bewitched him at Waldhofen. "And you do not know why Uncle Schonan was in such a grim temper when we saw him in Berlin three days ago? And why he did not want to come to Burgsdorf at all, although we begged him so much? Mamma did not ask him, because she feared a renewed proposal. He understood it, and consequently he was so angry. I have known all about it ever so long; even at the time when mamma came to us at Waldhofen, and he told her so fiercely that she would only use him as a secondary person at a wedding. I saw then that he would like to be one of the princ.i.p.als. w.i.l.l.y, you are making a superb face now! You look exactly as you did at the beginning of our acquaintance."

The young lord did not, indeed, look very intellectual in his boundless surprise. He had never considered the possibility of his mother marrying again, and to her brother-in-law, besides! But it broke upon him that this was an excellent solution of the difficulty.

"Marietta, you are surpa.s.singly clever!" he cried, looking with the greatest admiration at his wife, who accepted the homage with much satisfaction.

"I am even more clever than you think," she said, triumphantly, "for I have put the matter to rights. I got behind Uncle Schonan and gave him to understand that if he would storm once more now, the fortress would probably surrender. He grumbled mightily and said that he had had enough of it and did not want to be made a fool of again; but at last he reconsidered the matter. He arrived fifteen minutes ago. I did not dare tell mamma anything about it, and--here he is!"

She nodded to the Chief Forester, who emerged upon the terrace and heard the last words.

"Yes, here I am; but take care, little woman, if you have 'led me behind the light,' for"--to Willibald--"I have come solely at her request. She has probably given you the details about how it stands with us--that is, with me, for your Frau Mamma is probably again unreasonable, obstinate and self-willed as she usually is--but I will marry her yet!"

"All right, uncle, if she will only have you," laughed Willibald, who could not help thinking this description of his mother from a wooer very peculiar.

"Yes, that is the question," said Schonan, doubtfully; "but your wife thinks----"

"That we dare not lose another minute!" interrupted Marietta. "Mamma is in her room, and has no conception of the attack. w.i.l.l.y and I will remain in the background, and join in the battle if the worst should happen. Forward, march, uncle; forward, w.i.l.l.y!"

And Frau Marietta von Eschenhagen, with her little, delicate hands pushed the stately Chief Forester and her huge husband forward, without more ado. They patiently submitted, although Schonan muttered:

"Strange how they all understand how to order one about--little ones as well as big ones. It must be born in them."

Regine von Eschenhagen stood at the window of her room, looking out upon her beloved Burgsdorf, which she intended to leave in a few days.

Much as she was convinced of the wisdom of this decision, it was yet not easy to execute it. The strong, restlessly active woman, who had stood thirty years at the head of a large work, felt a shudder at the rest and inactivity which awaited her. She had been made acquainted with the city life during her first separation from her son, and had been very unhappy in it.

The door opened and the Chief Forester entered.

"Moritz, you here!" Regine started with surprise. "This is sensible of you to come."

"Yes, I am always sensible," remarked Herr von Schonan, very pointedly.

"Although you did not have the grace to invite me, I came to get your consent to attend Toni's wedding. Of course, you will come to Furstenstein with your children?"

"Yes, certainly we will come; but we were all much surprised at this haste. Did you not intend to buy an estate first? And that is not usually accomplished so quickly."

"No, but they want to get married. Our victors have become very a.s.suming since their heroic deeds. Waldorf simply declared upon his return, 'Papa, you said when I left, First win in war and then marry; now we have won and now I want to marry. I'll not wait any longer. The estate has time to wait, but not the wedding, for that is the most important.' So, since Toni is also convinced of this importance, nothing was left for me to do but to name the wedding day."

Frau von Eschenhagen laughed.

"Yes, young people are quick to marry, and they have so much time to wait."

"But it is not so with older folks," said Schonan, who had only been looking for this opportunity and speedily made use of it. "Have you considered the question at last, Regine?"

"What question?"