"And you only tell me this now, after being together for nearly a fortnight?" cried Reinhold, almost furiously.
"I have naturally not wished to touch upon a subject which it seemed to me you wished to avoid," answered Hugo coolly.
Reinhold walked up and down the room a few times--
"Her parents are dead, then? And Ella and the child?"
"You need not be anxious about them; my uncle left a good fortune, much more than people thought."
"I knew he was richer than he wished to be deemed," said Reinhold quickly, "and this certainly alone gave me perfect freedom of action in my departure. I was not necessary for my wife and child. They were safe from any change of fate, without even my presence. But where are they now? Still in H----?"
"Herr Consul Erlau was appointed the boy's guardian," informed Hugo, rather shortly and distantly. "He appears also to have taken very active interest in the deserted wife, as directly after expiration of the time of mourning she moved into his house with the child. There both were still living, half-a-year ago; so far my news extends."
"Indeed?" said Reinhold thoughtfully, "only I do not understand how Ella, with her education and her habits, can possibly exist in the splendid establishment of the Erlaus. I suppose she will have arranged a few back rooms so as never to appear, or, notwithstanding her fortune, have undertaken the post of housekeeper. She will never be able to rise above this ambition. Had it not been so, I should have borne much, indeed all--for the child's sake."
He went to the window, pushed it open, and leant out. The evening air blew cool into the close room, where now a long silence ensued, as even the Captain seemed to have no more inclination to prolong the conversation. After a time he arose.
"Our departure in the morning is arranged rather early; we must be awake betimes. Good night, Reinhold!"