"For heaven's sake, drop this talk! It's not good, 'twill only do harm!"
Then he took another look at Sonnenkamp, shrugging up his shoulders. "What does the man mean," he thought, "by talking to us in this style! We wouldn't put a hair in his path; what's the use of stirring us up in this matter! Oh, Fräulein Milch had the right of it, when she urged him to stay at home to-day.
"How comfortable it would be to be sitting in the arm-chair, in which Laadi is now lying! And one might have been asleep two hours ago, and now it will be midnight before one gets home! And there's Fräulein Milch sitting up, and sitting up, till he comes in. It was like being saved, when he took out his watch, and could say how late it was."
The Professorin came back at this moment, and told Roland that his mother wished to see him. Roland went to her.
Eric accompanied his mother and the rest, as they set out for home through the snowy night.
CHAPTER IX.
THE BIRD OF NIGHT IS SHOT.
Eric walked in silence with the ladies. The Mother spoke first, saying,—
"I am glad that here, again, I have words of your father's to support me. Nothing is more weakening and more to be avoided than repentance," he often said; "the acknowledgment that we have made a mistake must come, quick and sharp, but then we must reconcile ourselves to circumstances. I have deeply repented no matter how much good I may do, that I have bound myself to this family so firmly that any drawing back or loosening of the ties is extremely difficult. But now that it is done, we must endeavor to make everything turn out for the best."
The Aunt, who spoke but little, added how painful it was that people over whose lives hung some dark crime were banished, as it were, from the kingdom of the spirit; and must meet everywhere with terrible reminders.