How easy it would have been for me to answer "I know not!" But what should I have gained thereby? Had I done so, I could never have told her what Lorand wrote from a distance, how he greeted and kissed them a thousand times!
"I know, mother dear."
"Tell me quickly, where he is."
"He is in a safe place, mother dear," said I encouragingly, and hastened to tell all I might relate.
"Lorand is in his native land in a safe place, where he has nothing to fear: with a relation of ours, who will love and protect him."
"But when will you tell us where he is?"
"One day, soon, mother dear."
"But when? When? Why not at once? When?"
"Soon,—in ten years."—I could scarce utter the words.
Both were horrified at my utterance.