There were tears in Katrina’s eyes.
“What am I going to do, Fritz? I sha’n’t have any one at all to play with. Dost thou really want to go away and leave me?”
“No, no, little sister; but sometimes it falls to our lot to do things that we don’t quite wish to do. Thou knowest what duty is, Katrina?”
“Yes,” replied the little girl, “mütterchen has told me that I must always do my duty, no matter how disagreeable the task may be.”
As she spoke, there came into the sweet childish face the promise of a nobility that would know so well how to translate duty into happiness; while, as for Fritz, he was one day to learn that ambition sometimes appears at our gates disguised as duty, and in our blindness we bid him enter.
“Is thy father here, Katrina?” Fritz asked a moment later. “Ah, yes,” he added before Katrina had time to answer, “there he is, over near the belfry; he and Hans are talking.”
“So thou hast come, Fritz, to claim the promise I made thee yesterday in Eisenach;” and, as he spoke, Rudolf came over to where the children stood. “I told thee, I remember, that as thou art going away so soon, I would give thee and the mädchen here a glimpse into the castle.”
Both Fritz and Katrina were delighted, and the latter, catching one of her father’s hands, kissed it rapturously.
“It will have to be only a little visit, though, as I’ll be very busy later in the morning, so where shall we begin?”
“This is to be your treat, Herr Rudolf,” Fritz replied; “so we’ll leave the choice to you.”