“Don’t leave me! Stay here!” I implored.
“I suppose there is not much choice about that for either of us,” said he, and he laughed.
I did not remember to wonder how he came there; I only knew that he was there. That tempest, which will not soon be forgotten in Elberthal, subsided almost as rapidly as it had arisen. The winds lulled as if a wizard had bidden them be still. The gale hurried on to devastate fresh fields and pastures new. There was a sudden reaction of stillness, and I began to see in the darkness the outlines of a figure beside me. I looked up. There was no longer that hideous, driving black mist, like chaos embodied, between me and heaven. The sky, though dark, was clear; some stars were gleaming coldly down upon the havoc which had taken place since they last viewed the scene.
Seeing the heavens so calm and serene, a sudden feeling of shyness and terror overtook me. I tried to withdraw my hand from that of my companion, and to remove myself a little from him. He held my hand fast.
“You are exhausted with standing?” said he. “Sit down upon this ledge.”
“If you will too.”
“Oh, of course. I think our voyage will be a long one, and—”
“Speak German,” said I. “Let me hear you speaking it again.”
“And I have no mind to stand all the time,” he concluded in his own tongue.
“Is there no one else here but ourselves?”