"Naughty girl! You wanted to be taken captive again," her foster-father cried to her, his good humour having gradually been restored during his conversation with Miranda.
"Oh, no, papa! I am already a captive," said Eva, smiling.
"Disobedience merits punishment," interposed her stern mother! "we will leave you at home on our next pleasure party."
"Then Salomon will be thoroughly miserable," retorted Eva, laughing.
"And Herr von Blanden does not come," said the Rath, assuming the air of a judge of assizes. "You both have a little conspiracy between you; but he promised to return soon."
"Do not be uneasy, papa! He has more important business at home than here, but as he pledged his word he is sure to come."
"I suppose the mermaids sang that to you?"
"What do mermaids know of a man's word? But I know that it is firm and unchanging, and that one may sleep quietly beneath its care, as if under angels' wings."
She said this in an elevated voice, and a transfiguring radiancy seemed to pass over her features. Her parents also soon felt calmed by Eva's indomitable trust. The Rath would gladly have directed a few more questions to the girl, but Salomon's arrival interrupted the conversation.
The latter came breathlessly up the hill.