There was deep pain in the last words, but Frau von Eschenhagen only shrugged her shoulders.
"That is not the fault of the boy alone," she said straightforwardly. "I also keep my Willy under good control, but nevertheless he knows that he has a mother whose heart is full of him. Hartmut does not know that of his father. He knows him only from a grave, unapproachable side. If he had an idea that you idolize him secretly----"
"He would abuse the knowledge and disarm me with his caressing tenderness. Shall I allow myself to be ruled by him as every one else is who comes into his presence? His comrades follow him blindly although he brings punishment upon them by his pranks. He has your Willibald completely under control--yes, even his teachers treat him with particular indulgence. I am the only one he fears, and consequently the only one he respects."
"And you think by fear alone to succeed with the boy, who is doubtless now being overwhelmed with the most senseless caresses! Do not turn away, Falkenried; you know I have never mentioned that name to you, but now that it is brought forward so prominently, one may speak it. And since we happen to be upon the subject, I tell you frankly that nothing else could be expected since Frau Zalika's appearance. It would have done no good to have kept Hartmut from Burgsdorf, for one cannot treat a seventeen-year-old lad like a little child. The mother would have found her way to him in spite of all--and it was her right. I would have done just so, too."
"Her right!" cried the Major angrily. "And you tell me that, Regine?"
"I say it because I know what it is to have an only child. That you should take the child from its mother was right--such a mother was not fit for the raising of a boy--but that you now refuse to let her see her son again after twelve years is harshness and cruelty, which hatred alone can teach you. However great her faults may be, that punishment is too severe."
Falkenried stared gloomily before him--he might have felt the truth of the words. Finally he said, slowly:
"I would never have thought that you would take Zalika's part. I offended you bitterly once for her sake--I broke a bond----"
"Which had not even been tied," interrupted Frau von Eschenhagen. "It was a plan of our parents--nothing more."
"But the idea was dear and familiar to us from childhood. Do not attempt to excuse me, Regine; I only know too well what I did at that time to you and--to myself."