She was standing on the threshold with her husband's hand in hers, and her eyes were full of that which no words can express.
"May that which is so sweet in the mouth now, never prove bitter in the belly!"
That was the Father's last prayer for them.
But neither Margaret nor Maurice von Lynar so much as heard him, for they had turned to one another.
For the golden lamp was burning itself out, and without in the dark the Alla still said, "Hush!" like a mother who soothes her children to sleep.
CHAPTER XXXIV
LITTLE JOHANNES RODE
"But this one day, beloved," the Sparhawk was saying. "What is one day among our enemies? Be brave, and then we will ride away together under cloud of night. Von Dessauer will help us. For love and pity Prince Hugo of Plassenburg will give us an asylum. Or if he will not, by my faith! Helene the Princess will—or her kind heart is sore belied! Fear not!"
"I am not afraid—I have never feared anything in my life," answered the Princess Margaret. "But now I fear for you, Maurice. I would give all I possess a hundred times over—nay, ten years of my life—if only you were safe out of this Courtland!"