"We must part. Nobody must know that I have seen you and spoken with you, particularly your father. When do you return to him?"
"In eight days."
"Not until then?" The tone was triumphant. "I shall see you every day until then. Be here at the pond to-morrow at the same hour. Dispense with your companion under some pretext, so that we may be undisturbed. You will come, Hartmut?"
"Certainly mother, but----"
She did not give him time for an excuse, but continued in the same passionate whisper:
"Above all, be silent to everybody; do not forget that. Farewell, my child, my beloved only son. Au revoir!"
One more fervent kiss upon Hartmut's brow, then she vanished in the bushes as mysteriously as she had appeared. It was quite time, for Willy appeared on the scene, his approach being heralded by his heavy stamping upon the forest ground.
"Why do you not answer?" he demanded. "I have called three times. Did you fall asleep? You look as if you had been startled from a dream."
Hartmut stood as if stunned, gazing upon the bushes in which his mother had disappeared. At his cousin's words he straightened himself and drew his hand across his brow.
"Yes, I have been dreaming," he said, slowly; "quite a wonderful, strange dream."