The joy of this hour passed from its first overpowering brightness to the calm, thoughtful aspect of daily life; and Weigand, now restored to health, laid aside the mantle with dead men's bones, saying: "I had chosen for my penance to carry these fearful remains about with me, with the thought that some of them might have belonged to him whom I have murdered.

Therefore I sought for them round about, in the deep beds of the mountain-torrents, and in the high nests of the eagles and vultures.
And while I was searching, I sometimes--could it have been only an illusion ?--seemed to meet a being who was very like myself, but far, far more powerful, and yet still paler and more haggard." An imploring look from Sintram stopped the flow of his words.

With a gentle smile, Weigand bowed towards him, and said: "You know now all the deep, unutterably deep, sorrow which preyed upon me.

My fear of you, and my yearning love for you, are no longer an enigma to your kind heart.
For, dear youth, though you may be like your fearful father, you have also the kind, gentle heart of your mother; and its reflection brightens your pallid, stern features, like the glow of a morning sky, which lights up ice-covered mountains and snowy valleys with the soft radiance of joy.

But, alas! how long you have lived alone amidst your fellow-creatures! and how long since you have seen your mother, my dearly-loved Sintram!" "I feel, too, as though a spring were gushing up in the barren wilderness," replied the youth; "and I should perchance be altogether restored, could I but keep you long with me, and weep with you, dear lord.