“N—no.”
“Yes, I am, I see. We will moderate the pace a little.”
We walked more slowly. Physically I was inexpressibly weary. The reaction after my drenching had set in; I felt a languor which amounted to pain, and an aching and weakness in every limb. I tried to regret the event, but could not; tried to wish it were not such a long walk to Elberthal, and found myself perversely regretting that it was such a short one.
At length the lights of the town came in sight. I heaved a deep sigh. Soon it would be over—“the glory and the dream.”
“I think we are exactly on the way to your house, nicht wahr?” said he.
“Yes; and to yours since we are opposite neighbors.”
“Yes.”
“You are not as lonely as I am, though; you have companions.”
“I—oh—Friedhelm; yes.”
“And—your little boy.”