Alida and Hugo rushed up to their father, and Mr. Thornau took them both in his arms while he responded to their boisterous greetings with happy exclamations. Then he held his son off from him, the better to gaze at him.
"Is this really my son Hugo, the little fellow without life and strength? Nut-brown as a woodsman! Fat cheeks! Eyes like a deer's! Mrs. Lesa, what have you done with this lad? And is this gipsy girl my Alida? The red blood flushes her brown cheeks—what health! Mrs. Lesa, Mrs. Lesa, how did you bring all this about?"
"Oh, we know, we know mighty well," the children chorused, and began to relate how they had spent the summer days.
After Mr. Delrick had greeted Mr. Lesa, he shook the wife's hand and as though he read what was in her heart, he said, "Don't worry, Mrs. Lesa, everything goes well with the boy. That he is not here is due to no bad reason, believe me. Ah, there is my little friend Stefeli, and another old acquaintance. It's fine to have Jos here, for by now he belongs to your household."
"As one of our own," said Mrs. Lesa, putting her hand on the boy's shoulder. "Thank God we have him!"
"I wish to lay a proposition before you, and want Mr. Lesa's approval above that of all others," began Mr. Delrick. "Our friend, Mr. Thornau, has invited us all to dinner, and as the hotel is close by the old St. Nikolas Church, we thought it would be pleasant to go there first!"
Mrs. Lesa looked at her husband, hoping he would consent, for to go to church would suit her best of all.
Old memories crowded Vinzenz Lesa's mind as soon as he trod the streets of Freiburg. Like the child of his neighbor, he had known nothing grander than to drive into Freiburg on Sundays, and, holding his mother's hand, step into the church and listen to the wonderful organ.
"If I had anything to say about it, I would like to go to the church first. It is Sunday and it is proper for us to go there," he said.
So the party wandered into the city, and to the great old church, where it was so silent, so solemn in the semi-darkness that the children stepped very lightly down the aisle and seated themselves beside the grown-ups without a word. Suddenly the organ began to play, and through the stillness there floated music of such power and beauty that it seemed as if the heavenly choir were singing to call all the world to praise and prayer.