I went thoughtfully along the woodland path, and said:
"It's almost beyond belief."
"It was best," continued my companion, "that they fetched him away at once and took him to Loeben. He couldn't have lived after knowing the worst of all."
"What the woodman said—was it not true, then?" I asked it with my breath stopping.
"Yes, the lightning had certainly struck the hill-hut and it was burnt down, but nothing had happened to Oswald's family."
It's awful to think of the fate of some men!
We went on together for a while; neither said a word.
At last I stood still and asked, "When did he learn it?"
"When after nine years he had been free for half a year, and he came home and was always laughing in the air, then I told it him myself."