"Are you alone?" he asked, somewhat surprised. "I did not wish to disturb you, but I saw Hartmut hasten through the garden just now. Where was he going so late?"
"To his mother, to take leave of her."
The Secretary started at this news. "With your consent?" he asked quickly.
"Certainly, I have permitted him to go."
"How imprudent! I should think that you knew now how Zalika manages to get her own way, and yet you leave your son to her mercy."
"For only half an hour to say farewell. I could not refuse that. What do you fear? Surely no force. Hartmut is no longer a child to be borne into a carriage and carried off in spite of his resistance."
"But if he should not refuse a flight?"
"I have his word that he will return in two hours," said the Major with emphasis.
"The word of a seventeen-year-old lad!"
"Who has been raised a soldier and who knows the importance of a word of honor. That gives me no care; my fear lies in another direction."