"Whom do you wish to see?"
"The Herr Captain Dournay."
"He is away from home."
CHAPTER XIV.
A NEW SON.
Roland asked to be allowed to come in and wait, and was led into the sitting-room; the servant maid told him that Eric had gone to the capital, but might possibly return that day. His mother had gone to the grave of a son, of whose death this was the anniversary. The maid went out to light the lamp, and Roland was alone in the room where the twilight shadows gathered; he sat in the corner of a sofa, weary, and his mind full of varied thoughts.
Wonderful! there are so many human dwellings in the world, one can enter them, and all at once one is seated in a strange house.
Outside, in accordance with an old custom, there sounded from the tower a choral, played by trumpets. Roland dreamed of the outer world, no longer conscious where he was, but remembering only that he had once travelled through many countries and towns, and that everywhere in the houses lived men, who led their own lives, of which other people knew nothing.
Eric's mother entered. She stopped at the door, as Roland rose, saying,—
"Good-evening, mother."