“I consent to this, but only upon one condition, which is that when my son is eighteen years old, you tell him all, and give him his choice whether he see me again or not. My word is given not to interfere in the matter, and I can trust yours when you promise that it shall be as I stipulate. I want your answer upon this point, which is very simple, and the single condition I make. It is, however, one which I can not and will not waive.”
“Thirteen years, Eugen,” said I.
“Yes; in thirteen years I shall be forty-three.”
“You will let me know what the answer to that is,” I went on.
He nodded. By return of post the answer came.
“It is ‘yes,’” said he, and paused. “The day after to-morrow he is to go.”
“Not alone, surely?”
“No; some one will come for him.”
I heard some of the instructions he gave his boy.