The man came nearer. It was not Lenz, but Faller, hurrying up with an extra hat in his hand. "Is Lenz at home yet?"
"No."
"Good Heavens! this is his hat. My brother-in-law picked it up in the gully where he was cutting wood. If Lenz should have done himself any violence!"
Annele's knees shook; she pressed the child to her till it cried. "You are mad, and want to make me mad!" she exclaimed. "What do you mean?"
"Is that not his hat?"
"Good Heavens, it is!" she shrieked, and fell to the ground with the child.
Faller raised them both.
"Has he been found? dead?" asked Annele.
"No, thank Heaven! Come into the house. Let me take the child. Be calm, he has only lost his hat."
Annele staggered into the house, waving her hands before her face to brush away the mist that dimmed her sight. Was it possible? Lenz dead now,--now, when her heart had opened to him? It cannot be, it is not so. "Why should my Lenz kill himself?" she asked as she sank upon a seat. "What do you mean by it?"