Since the last terrible hour when he had called her to account, she
trembled at the thought of him. She made desperate efforts however to
secure possession of her son, but all in vain.

Hartmut was given to the father unconditionally, and Falkenried barred
the mother's every effort with iron inexorableness. Zalika made many
attempts to see her son once more, but to no purpose, and fully
convinced at last, that she could accomplish nothing, she returned to
her own country and her mother's house.

For years her husband had heard nothing from her, until now when she
suddenly and unexpectedly appeared in the neighborhood of the German
capital, where Major von Falkenried had assumed control of a large
military school.

It was the eighth day since Hartmut's arrival at Burgsdorf. Frau von
Eschenhagen was in her sitting-room, and opposite her sat the Major, who
had arrived but fifteen minutes before.

Her conversation must have been as disagreeable as it was earnest, for
Falkenried listened with a face which grew darker at every word, as she
went on with her account.

"Hartmut seemed to me greatly altered after the third or fourth day he
was here. The first few days nothing could check his overflow of
spirits, and indeed one morning I had to threaten to send him home. But,
all of a sudden, he became silent and quite downcast. He attempted no
more of his mad pranks, spent hours by himself in wandering through our
woods, and when he returned from his solitary rambles, just sat and
dreamed with open eyes, so that we often had to arouse him as if from a