Then he turned slowly, but with an expression as though he expected
really to see a vision from the spirit-land.
Hartmut took a few quick steps forward, and then stood still. "Father,
it is I. I come--"
He was silent, for now he met his father's eyes--those eyes which he so
dreaded; and meeting them, he was robbed of all courage to speak
farther. His head sank and he was silent.
Every drop of blood seemed to have left the colonel's face. He had not
known that his son was under the same roof with him, and was totally
unprepared for the meeting. But he made no outcry, showed no sign either
of anger or weakness. Still and stark he stood and looked upon him who
had once been his all. At last he raised his hand slowly, and pointed
toward the door:
"Go!"
"Father, hear me."
"Go, I say!" The order sounded threatening this time.
"No, I will not go!" cried Hartmut, passionately. "I know that
reconciliation can only come in this hour. I have wronged you deeply;
how deeply, how severely, I feel now for the first time. But I was only
a boy of seventeen, and it was my mother whom I followed. Remember that,
father, and forgive me, forgive your own son."
"You are the son of the woman whose name you bear; you are no son of
mine. No one devoid of honor can be a Falkenried.
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