ther at once, but, united
to the shyness with which he always approached his father, there was
to-day an obvious defiance, which did not escape the Major. He gave his
handsome young son a long, gloomy look.

"My sudden arrival does not appear to surprise you. Perhaps you know why
I am come!"

"Yes father, I imagine why!"

"That is well; then we need waste no time with explanatory words. You
have learned that your mother still lives, she has seen you and spoken
with you. I know that already. When did you see her first?"

"Five days ago."

"And have you seen her daily since then?"

"Yes, at the Burgsdorf fish pond?"

Questions and answers were alike short and precise. Hartmut was
accustomed to the abrupt, military manner of his father, for in all his
intercourse with him, no superfluous word, no hesitancy or evasion of an
answer, was permitted.

To-day Falkenried was especially abrupt, in order that he might conceal
his intense excitement from his son's unpracticed eye. But Hartmut saw
only the earnest, unmoved countenance, and heard only the cold, severe
accents as his father continued:

"I have nothing for which to reprove you, for in this matter I have
given you no commands and no word has ever been spoken on the subject
between us. But now I am forced to break the silence. You have always
believed your mother dead, and I have tacitly encouraged this belief,
for I have wished to protect you from recollections which poisoned my
life. Your youth at least should be free, I said. But I have not been
able to carry out that plan, I see, so now you must learn the truth."

The father paused a moment. To a man of his sensitive feelings it was
torture to discuss this subject with his son, but there was no option
now, he must speak farther.

"When I was a young man I loved your mother devotedly, and married her
against the wishes of my parents, who saw only unhappiness for me in a
union with a woman from a foreign land. They were right, the marriage
was a most unhappy one, and was finally dissolved by my desire. My son
was awarded to me unconditionally, for it was my absolute right. More I
will not tell you, for I cannot denounce a mother to her own son, so let
that be enough for you."

Short and bitter as this declaration was, it made a singular impression
upon Hartmut. His father would not denounce his mother to him, to him,
who heard daily the bitterest accusations and invectives against his
father from her lip