"Go, if God wills it so, and let your acts be worthy of your position and your name! Now no more adieux," cried the old gentleman, looking with concern at his wife, who had sunk back on the sofa, and covered her face with her handkerchief. "To horse! we will accompany you outside."
And he went out through the door of the entrance hall which had been opened by a servant. The pastor and the candidate followed him.
The lieutenant turned back for a moment, and embraced his sister, then he approached Helena:
"I thank you from my heart for your song," he said, and took her hand; then half as if the last words still ran in his mind, half as if speaking to her, he added:
"Wenn Menschen auseinander gehn,
So sagen sie: Auf Wiedersehn!"
"Auf Wiedersehn!" he repeated, raising her hand to his lips and imprinting upon it a kiss.
He then hastened after his father.
A bright red colour flew into the young girl's cheeks, and her expression grew animated and her eyes very bright, as they followed him to the door. Then she sank down on the chair before the piano, and a hot tear fell into her lap, unseen by Madame von Wendenstein, whose face was still hidden in her handkerchief, unseen by her daughter, who held her mother in a gentle embrace, and stroked her soft grey hair.
Fritz Deyke stood outside; he had not been able to deny himself the pleasure of leading round the lieutenant's horse; Roland pawed the ground impatiently.
The lieutenant took an affectionate leave of his father and the pastor, and gave his hand to the candidate, who received it with a bow. Had it not been for the darkness, the deadly hatred of the look he cast upon the young officer must have been observed.