The children returned from their mother's grave to the Villa.
Roland was the first to recover his self-command.
"I will not let myself be broken down," he cried. "The black horror shall not frighten me. Give me something to do, Eric. Herr Weidmann, now for the first time, I am yours: I will work, and not let myself give way."
Manna, too, began to be herself again.
Their mother's death, and the painful scene at her grave, had given added firmness to the character of both.
The day after the funeral, Roland was first applied to upon a question of money: Fräulein Perini asked for her discharge. With the approval of Eric and Weidmann, she was abundantly provided for, besides receiving Frau Ceres' entire wardrobe. She packed the clothes in great trunks, and had them taken to the parsonage; but she herself soon departed for Italy, where she joined the young widow, the daughter of Herr von Endlich.
Villa Eden stood now entirely at the disposal of Eric and Roland.
Once more, the Professorin became the one point of attraction; and all assembled in her cottage. She had now a good helper in Professor Einsiedel, who had obtained leave of absence, and promised to spend the winter at the Villa.
After the shocks that Roland and Manna had experienced, their mourning for their mother was almost a relief. That her death should have been caused as it was by terror at the sight of Adams, by a diseased imagination, and that the Priest at the grave had made his last, desperate attempt upon them,—these things were almost a comfort to them. Roland gratefully clasped his sister's hand as she said,—
"Let us not have any feeling of hatred or bitterness towards the negro for having been the innocent cause of our mother's death."