Rothfuss was about relating how he had found Martella, when she entered. She had become very thin, but otherwise unchanged; was gayly attired, and cried out as she perceived me: "Oh! father, happily met again! To-day is Ernst's wedding-day, and my Sunday, my greatest holiday, my ascension-day."
She offered no excuse for having run away; she made no mention of her recent experiences, and as I could not avoid telling her what pain and anxiety she had occasioned me, she exclaimed, "I know it better than you can tell me; but indulge me for to-day: to-morrow, when I have Ernst by the hand, we will set everything straight. He rescued Carl, who would have bled to death, if he had not found him.
"Ernst carried him; yes, he is strong; he brought him all the way here. His face, his hands, his clothes, were all full of blood. But that doesn't hurt; it can all be washed off. Everything can be washed away if one is sound within; and now everything, everything will be washed away.
"Now I heard that Ernst had come to the regiment in which Carl was. He introduced himself as a German with the name of Frohn." Martella added, "That is the name of a comrade, who on the voyage threw himself in despair into the sea."
Ernst had declared that he would not fight against his countrymen, but with them against the French. What proofs of loyalty he was submitted to have never been made known to me. He was uniformed and placed at a post of danger, where a strict watch could be kept upon him. He conducted himself bravely, and when Carl was struck, he rescued him at the risk of his own life. But he was never recognized, and none but Carl, Martella, and Rothfuss knew who he was.
They had, during the night, heard of my arrival, and Ernst had stood guard before the house for hours. Martella had shown him the letter of pardon; but he exclaimed that he wished no pardon, and would not examine the letter.
Martella begged him to show himself to me. But he said, "I know of how many nights of rest I have robbed my father; I will not now disturb his slumbers, and will for the first time appear before him, and clasp his knees, when by I have done something to show him what I am at heart. When I come out of the battle, I will go to my father: then I can look him in the face."
"Right, right," said Martella; "if you go into the fight with such thoughts, you will surely come out of it safe and sound, and your mother in heaven will stretch her hands in blessings over you."
"My mother in heaven? Is she dead?"
"Didn't you know it? Alas! already over three years; she died upon your birth-day."