CHAPTER X.
Gotthold followed her through the entry and into the sitting-room on the left, and would gladly have entered the adjoining chamber, from which, as the girl opened and closed the door, the wailing of a child and a woman's voice consoling it were distinctly audible. It was her voice,--somewhat deeper and more gentle, it seemed to him, than in the old days, but he had only distinguished a few tones above the moaning of the child.
"Poor thing," he murmured, "poor child, if I could only help it."
His hand was extended towards the handle of the door, but instantly fell again. If the girl had told her he was there, she would probably come out for a moment; at any rate Carl must soon return.
He stationed himself at the open window and looked across the empty courtyard towards the building Brandow had entered. How could he stay so long! He again turned back into the room, which was already beginning to grow dark, and his eyes wandered mechanically over the furniture and pictures, many of which he thought he recognized, while his ear was strained to catch the sounds from the next room. But everything there had now become quiet, and in the stillness the old Black Forest clock ticked so loudly--he had not noticed it before--the evening breeze whispered in the linden before the window, and then once more he heard nothing except the blood beating in his temples.
Had any misfortune happened? Was the child--he must have some certainty.
But just as he took a step forward, the door opened and Cecilia entered. The girl had told her nothing about the stranger; she came to get a piece of linen from her work-basket, which stood in one of the windows. The shadows fell heavily over Gotthold, and she did not see him--her eyes were turned towards the window--until she had almost reached him, when she suddenly paused, extending both hands in terror towards the dark figure. The light of the setting sun streamed full upon her pallid face, from which the large dark eyes stared with a strange glassy look.
"It is I, Cecilia!"
"Gotthold!"
He did not know that he held out his arms; the next moment he would not have been able to say whether she had really rested upon his breast. When he was again conscious of what was passing around him, he was standing beside her at the child's little bed.