"Father, let us get in and ride home."
The carriages were awaiting us.
I wanted my daughter-in-law to sit with me, but she insisted that Ludwig and Wolfgang should do so, while she joined Johanna and the rest of the party.
Rothfuss, who at other times took so great a pleasure in cracking his whip, now sounded it but lightly.
"Rothfuss, how long have you been with us?" asked Ludwig.
"Longer than you have been in this world," was the answer.
My grandson, Wolfgang, laughed out loud, and told us that his father had prophesied that very answer.
As we drove through the village, every one came to the windows to greet us.
We were passing the house of the kreis-director. The family were seated in the garden, and we were obliged to stop with them for a little while. The roses were lovely, and the faces of our friends were bright with kindness.
The husband, the wife, and the daughters welcomed the new-comers most cordially, and the wife handed my daughter-in-law a bouquet of roses.