A torch glimmered through the thicket.
"Halt! this way!" cried Herr von Walde.
In a few moments one of the servants appeared, and was ordered to hasten as quickly as possible to Gnadeck and announce Fräulein Ferber's safety.
The servant hurried away.
"I have been very selfish, Elizabeth," said Herr von Walde, putting her hand within his arm, and no longer loitering. "I knew that your family was most anxious about you; that your father and uncle were ranging the forest in search of you, while my people, and many of the Lindhof peasants, were traversing the country in all directions upon the same errand, and yet I forgot everything when I found you."
"My poor father and mother!" sighed Elizabeth, not without a slight twinge of conscience; the whole world had ceased to exist for her when he appeared.
"Friedrich runs quickly," von Walde said, soothingly; "he will reach the summit of the mountain long before us, and tell them you are safe."
They entered the park and passed by the castle. It lay in darkness and silence. Only from Helena's chamber window gleamed a faint light.
"There is a life-and-death struggle going on there," murmured Herr von Walde, looking up. "She loved that wretch devotedly; how fearful her awakening must be!"
"Go and comfort her," begged Elizabeth.