"No; but, my friend----"
"No friend of yours! I would rather eat my head than help a Hohenwald. Any of the castle people can tell you about Carter Jock. Finely they treated him indeed; and, by way of thanks, he wishes you a pleasant night!" With another scornful laugh the man turned on his heel and would have gone, when Anna approached him, and, laying her hand on his shoulder, said, "You will not be so cruel as to desert us in our need?"
"The deuce! There's a woman in the scrape, and not the madcap Celia either!" the man exclaimed, in amazement, after having lighted a couple of matches, which the rain, to be sure, instantly extinguished, but not before he had perceived that it was not Celia who addressed him.
"A lady! a stranger!" he muttered to himself. "She must not be left all night in the quarry. The devil take the Hohenwalds; but I must let the folks at Grünhagen know what has happened."
For one moment he stood reflecting, and then, without heeding the Finanzrath's entreaties, he turned away and vanished in the darkness.
For a while Werner von Hohenwald sat silent as if in utter despair. At last a red spark of light appeared in the distance; again he shouted as loud as he could for help, and to his joy the voice that answered him was Arno's.
In a few minutes Arno, followed by several men with lighted torches, reached the overturned carriage. "I was afraid," he said, "that John would miss the road, and so came out to meet you with torches; not soon enough, unfortunately, to prevent an accident. But why do you sit up there on the carriage, Werner? Why don't you jump down?"
"The chasm must be close by, Arno."
"Nonsense! there is no chasm here. Give me your hand and spring down."
Werner grasped the hand extended to him and sprang out upon the road. His foot could not have been severely injured, since he accomplished this with apparent ease.