The president's eldest son had arrived early in the morning, and had had a long and serious conversation with his father.
He told him he had been offered the assistant-secretaryship in the Ministry of the Interior in Berlin, and he expressed a wish to accept the appointment, since he hoped by this means to alleviate the condition of his native country, under its new circumstances. Yet he left the decision entirely to his father.
The president stood for a long time in grave thought
"You are young, my son," he said, at last, in a gentle voice; "your life belongs to the future--you must go forth and work in the present--you ought not to bury yourself in the past. The king has released all his civil servants from their oath; you are therefore free,--seize the opportunity of making a career for yourself, and of labouring for the general good. But never forget that good and faithful Hanover is your fatherland,--keep that remembrance sacredly in your heart, and when you can, work that it may be treated lovingly, for the sake of it; fair and honourable history in the past. My blessing be upon you in your new path!"
The son kissed his father's hand in silence, and nothing more was said by either of them on the subject.
The guests sat around the table in the dining-room of the old castle with grave emotion. Old Deyke took his place beside the president with great dignity. Fritz and Margaret sat beside each other embarrassed, but happy,--the lieutenant's eyes sparkled with joy. Helena's fair face expressed thoughtful happiness; and though a tear sometimes shone in Madame von Wendenstein's soft eyes, when she looked at her son and his lovely bride, such a happy smile came to her lips, that it was hard to say whether the pearly drop came from the bitter cup of grief or the pure spring of joy.
"Do you remember, dearest Helena," said the lieutenant, "how you showed me the dark cloud, which was driven away from the silver beams of the moon? You see it has returned, and now rests in its pure, full light; but it brings no storm, no tempest, but blessing and happiness to the garden of our lives!"
She looked at him with her loving eyes, smilingly.
"I think," she whispered, "you have found the magic key of the kingdom of dreams and fancies, which you once thought you could only have from my hands."
"And did I not have it from your hands?" he said; "you gave it to me when I was on the borders of death, and I will guard it truly in the golden light of life!"