The Northern Light | Page 7

to-morrow."
"That he is to come and fetch me away? You won't do that Aunt Regine,
you are far too good. You know how very strict papa is, how severely
he can punish; you won't complain of me to him; you have never done
it yet."

"Leave me alone, don't bother me with your flatteries." Frau Regine's
face was as inflexible as ever, but her voice had a certain unsteadiness
which made Hartmut feel he had won the day. He laid his arm upon her
shoulder with the freedom of a child.
"I believe you do love me a little, Aunt Regine, and I--I have been
happy for weeks over the thought of my visit to Burgsdorf. I have been
sick with longing for woods and sea, for the green meadows and the far
blue heavens. I have been so happy here; but of course, if you really do
not want me, I'll go away from the place. I won't wait to have you send
me."
His voice had sunk to a soft, seductive whisper, while his eyes spoke
more eloquently than his tongue. They could plead more powerfully
than the lips, and Frau von Eschenhagen, who yielded to no one, from
her only son to the lowest tenant on the estate, permitted herself to be
persuaded by them now.
"You are incorrigible, you merry-andrew" she said, brushing the curls
from his forehead. "And as to sending you away, you know only too
well that Will and all my people are always ready to make fools of
themselves for you, and I, too, for that matter."
Hartmut laughed aloud at the last words, and kissed her hand with
impetuous gratitude, then he turned to his friend, who, having finally
ended his meal, was looking on in silent wonderment.
"Have you finished your breakfast at last, Will? Come, we'll go to the
Burgsdorf fishing pond--don't be so vexatiously slow. Good-bye, Aunt
Regine, I can see Uncle Wallmoden does not approve of your having
pardoned me. Hurrah, now we're off for the woods." And away he
rushed over the terrace and across the garden. There was something
attractive in his exuberance and enthusiasm. The lad was all life and
fire. Will trotted after him like a young deer, and in a few moments the
two disappeared behind the trees.
"He comes and goes like a wind storm," said Frau von Eschenhagen,
gazing after them. "That boy is not to be restrained once the reins are

slackened."
"A dangerous youth," said Wallmoden. "He even understands how to
manage you, who usually have all your commands obeyed. It is, within
my knowledge, the first time you have ever forgiven disobedience and
lack of punctuality."
"Yes, Hartmut has something about him which bewitches one,"
exclaimed Regine, half angry at her own irresolution. "If he did not
look at me with those big black eyes of his while he begged and
flattered, I might be able to resist him. You are right, he is a dangerous
lad."
"Well, we've had enough of Hartmut for this morning. The question
which interests me concerns the education of your own son. You have
really decided--"
"To keep him here. Don't bother yourself about him, Herbert; you may
be a great diplomatist, and have the politics of the whole country in
your pocket, but I wont give my boy into your keeping; he belongs to
me alone, and I intend to keep him, and--that's enough."
A sounding blow on the table accompanied the "that's enough." Then
the ruling lady of Burgsdorf rose from her chair and left the room. Her
brother shrugged his shoulders and said half aloud: "He can grow up an
ignorant country squire for all of me--perhaps it's the best thing for him
after all."
Hartmut and Willibald had, in the meantime, reached the tolerably
extensive forest which belonged to the estate. The Burgsdorf fish pond,
a lonely, reedy sheet of water in the middle of the wood, lay glittering
in the sun in the still morning hours. Willibald had chosen for himself a
shady place upon the bank, and gave himself up, with as much
perseverance as comfort, to the delights of angling, while the impatient
Hartmut wandered here and there, now scaring a bird, now breaking off
a branch for the blossoms, and at last, after a series of gymnastic
performances, seating himself on the trunk of an old tree which lay half
in the water. "Can you never be quiet in any place? You frighten the

fish away every time," exclaimed Will, out of humor. "I've caught
nothing at all to-day!"
"How can you sit for hours on the one spot waiting for the stupid fish to
bite?" retorted Hartmut. "Ah, you can spend the whole long year in the
woods if you desire, you are free,