Both had forgotten that a shadow from the past still stood threateningly and separatingly between them.
* * * * *
In the meantime, Frau von Eschenhagen, in her dining-room, was giving Willy a curtain lecture. She had done so, in fact, this morning, but was of the opinion that a double portion would not come amiss in this case. The young heir looked completely crushed. He felt himself in the wrong, as well toward his mother as toward his friend, and yet he was quite blameless. He allowed himself to be lectured patiently, like an obedient son, only throwing an occasional sad look over at the supper which already stood upon the table, although his mother did not take any notice of it at all.
"This is what comes of having secrets behind the backs of parents," she said severely, concluding her lecture.
"Hartmut is getting what he deserves in yonder; the Major will not treat him very mildly. I think you will let playing helpmate in such, a plot alone in the future."
"But I have not helped in it," Willy defended himself. "I had only promised to be silent and I had to keep my word."
"You ought not dare to keep silence to your mother; she is always an exception," Frau Regine said decidedly.
"Yes, mamma, Hartmut probably thought so, too, when it concerned his mother," remarked Willibald, and the remark was so correct that she could not well say anything against it; but that angered her the more.
"That is different--entirely different," she said curtly; but the young lord asked persistently:
"Why is it entirely different?"