"Roland has become more to me than my dead brother was!" he exclaimed.
And just as he was uttering these words in a somewhat loud and trembling voice, Manna passed by; she had come out of the Priest's house. She greeted both quietly, and pressed her prayer-book tightly to her heart.
"I would be glad to have her a happy nun, but she will not be a happy nun," said Fräulein Milch.
"Naturally," said Eric, jokingly; "she will be Frau von Pranken."
"Frau von Pranken! Never."
"And are you earnest in saying so?"
"Yes, for Herr von Pranken is going to marry the young widow, the daughter of Herr von Endlich."
"I don't understand this."
"Don't forget, Captain, that I have told you so this day. I know a little something about men. I have never had a word from Baron Pranken except the question, 'Where is the Major?' He never addressed me myself in any way, and I do not take it ill of him, but still, for all that, I know him."
Eric's countenance brightened; he had no reason for putting faith in Fräulein Milch's conjecture, and still he did put faith in it. And now it occurred to him, that he had joyfully anticipated something, he knew not what, to-day; now he had experienced it.