Not a soul, he said, must know a word of their going.
Bettina did as he told her, though the tears came to her eyes when she heard that she was not to say good-bye to Hans, or the baby, or her godmother, Frau Schmelze, or Wilhelm.
Her grandfather Weyland she did not mind not seeing, but she would like to kiss her grandmother.
"Nein, nein," said old Hans, "it is all a great secret."
"And when shall we come back, dear grandfather?" Bettina felt, indeed, as if Napoleon was her enemy, for now she was to lose everybody but her grandfather.
"When the Emperor is conquered," said old Hans, and his brow darkened, "we shall come back to Thuringia."
Then he took off Bettina's dress, and between the lining and the material of the waist he placed a letter.
"Tell no one," he said, "or I shall punish you."
Then, when Minna Schneiderwint had gone home in the afternoon, he fed all the animals, locked the door, and wrapped the key in paper.
"Come, Bettina," he said, and off they started, the old man with his gloomy face, the bundle on his back, a stick in his hand, Bettina in her black clothes and carrying some sausage and bread for supper.