"Perhaps after two years, when he enters life independently. He is still but a scholar--a mere boy. I cannot yet draw the veil from the tragedy which was once enacted in the home of his parents--I cannot."
"Then at least be upon your guard. You know your former wife--know what can be expected from her. I fear there are no impossibilities for that woman."
"Yes, I know her," said Falkenried with boundless bitterness, "and just for that reason I will protect my son from her at any cost. He shall not breathe the poison of her presence for even an hour. Rest assured, I do not underrate the danger of Zalika's return, but as long as Hartmut remains at my side he will be safe from her, for she will not approach me again. I pledge you my word for that."
"We will hope so," returned Wallmoden, rising and giving his hand, "but do not forget that the greatest danger lies in Hartmut himself. He is in every respect the son of his mother. I hear you will come with him to Burgsdorf the day after tomorrow?"
"Yes; he always spends the short autumn vacation with Willibald. I myself can probably stay only for the day, but I shall surely come with him. Au revoir!"
The Ambassador's Secretary departed, and Falkenried again approached the window, glancing only hastily after the friend, who bowed once more. His glance was again lost with the former gloom, in the gray masses of fog.
The words rang in his ears, but there was no need for another to tell him that. He had long known it, and it was this knowledge that furrowed his brow so deeply and caused those heavy sighs.
He was a man to offer himself to every open danger, but he had struggled in vain, with all his energy for years, against this unfortunate inheritance of the blood in his only son.
"Now I request that this utter foolishness shall end, for my patience is exhausted. There has been an awful turmoil in all Burgsdorf for three days, as if the place were conjured. Hartmut is full of foolishness from head to toe. When once he gets free from the rein which his father draws so tight there is no getting on with him. And you, of course, go with him through thick and thin, following obediently everything that your lord and master starts. You are a fine team!"