"Oh! how good of him. I am so glad."
"Mother, let Hermann come and sit with us!"
"Nay, he will out to the fight. He is a boy, and must learn to be a soldier."
"Oh, but he will get hurt, perhaps killed."
"Courage, dear child; remember how often I have told you how God helps those who trust in Him. Say your prayers, your Pater and Credo, and ask God to take care of dear father and Hermann."
"Mother!" said a voice. She locked up and saw Hermann, his forehead covered with blood.
"It is nothing, mother," said the spirited lad, as he wiped the blood away; "at least only the scratch of an arrow while I was on the roof. Father wishes you to send all the women who are strong enough to help to carry water from the river. The well is dry, and the men cannot be spared from the embankment. We expect another attack, and there are great patches of blazing straw flying about in the wind."
She spoke a few words to the women, and all but two or three, who were too weak or ill, went forth to the work. One kiss she imprinted eagerly on his brow, and dismissed him back to his perilous task without allowing herself one sigh.
"Now, dear ones," she said to the little girls, "keep quiet till mother comes back. I must go."
"O mother, do not leave us!"