"I hear the voices of men! It is the raging of an angry mob. Something is going on over at the works--I must go over!"
"You, Herr Runeck? What would you there?"
"Protect the master of Odensburg from his people! I best know how they have been goaded and set against him. If he shows himself now, he is no longer safe among his workmen."
"For Heaven's sake!" cried Cecilia, horrified.
"Fear nothing!" Runeck hastened to assure her. "So long as I stand by his side, no one will come near him. Woe to him who risks it!"
Cecilia had sprung forward: a few minutes before she had believed that she could not pardon her brother's accuser, and now all that supposed hatred was swallowed up in anguish over him, over his life. She flew forward and embraced his arm with both hands.
"Egbert!"
He was in the act of hurrying away, but now stood still as though spellbound.
"Cecilia! Do you call me thus?"
"Do you mean to brave that infuriated mob over there? Oh, you court death!" cried the young widow, beside herself. "Egbert, think of me and my mortal anxiety about you!"