And holding out his hand to his mother with a smile he said--
"And how beautiful my dear mother will make our new home; oh! it will be charming!"
He gazed at Helena who sat opposite to him, bending over her work. She did not raise her eyes; but she felt his look, and a deep blush passed over her face, and Madame von Wendenstein saw it with a quiet smile; from the sorrowful present she foresaw a bright and happy future.
Whilst this went on in the apartments upstairs, Margaret sat with her father and Fritz Deyke at their simple evening meal.
The young girl turned the new potatoes skilfully out of their brown coats, they were first-fruits of the year, and she prepared them for her father and the guest who had become like one of themselves.
They were all three silent, and the young peasant looked very mournful.
"You do not eat," said the old man, looking at his guest's plate, though he himself showed but little appetite.
"Perhaps I have not done them well," said Margaret, trying to make a little joke; but her voice was dismal.
Fritz Deyke gave a quick glance at her pale face and downcast eyes.
"I cannot!" he cried, as he threw down his knife and fork upon the plate. "When I think that I am to go to-morrow, I really wish I had never come; when I sit at home and think of how happy we used to be, especially how beautifully Margaret did everything at dinner time--no wonder I cannot eat!"