Her wish was shortly to be fulfilled; Ludwig departed on the following morning. Very early, while he was busy packing, Johann Leopold came to his room. "I do not mean to disturb you," he said, throwing himself down on a sofa, "but I cannot spare one moment of you. You have spoiled me; I shall be doubly lonely now." Ludwig frowned. "Do not be so weak," he said; "it is not fitting. You look badly,--you have not slept well." "I have not slept at all," Johann Leopold replied. "After our conversation of last evening, after your answer to my questions----" "You wanted the truth," Ludwig interrupted him, "and I thought I owed it to you." "You did, and I thank you for it; but it is hard to bear." Ludwig's lips quivered, as they always did when he was moved, and for a while he went on stuffing some things into his portmanteau; then he said, "Finish it all quickly; there should be no half measures where the knife is necessary." Johann Leopold passed his hand wearily across his forehead and eyes. "You are right; it is time I should do what must be done." "If you see that, do it instantly,--to-day,--within an hour! Can I help you? Perhaps it would be easier for you if I spoke with the Freiherr----" Johann Leopold started up and changed colour. "No, no, I must do it myself; I must first be clear in my own mind. But I thank you," he added more quietly, "and later I may entreat your help in another way. I may reckon upon it, may I not?" "Upon my best efforts, assuredly," Ludwig answered, pressing the delicate white hand extended to him. "But what do you mean? I am not fond of vague promises." "You shall know more as soon as possible. Your ship sails on the 14th of March,--time enough to arrange everything," said the other, sinking back among the sofa-cushions. "Time enough to fall back into the old indolence," thought Ludwig, but he did not utter his thought, and hurriedly finished locking his trunk and portmanteau. The servant came to say that the carriage was waiting. "Stay here!" Ludwig said, decidedly, as Johann Leopold rose. "The morning is bitterly cold; it is another kind of hardening process to which I would have you subject yourself. Good-by." They shook hands, and before Johann Leopold could add a word of gratitude to his 'Farewell,' Ludwig had left the room and closed the door after him. Leave-taking was so painful to him that he had suppressed all mention to the family of the time of his departure, and had only late on the preceding evening requested of Johann Leopold to order his conveyance in the morning; but he was not to escape thus. In the lower story old Christian requested him to step into the drawing-room for a moment, and there, to his surprise, he found the entire family, with the exception of Johann Leopold; even Magelone had not ventured to absent herself.