"'Wolfgang, keep me with you,' she said suddenly. 'Be good to me; you are his brother's child; keep me with you--do not leave me. Tell me how many years it is since he died? O Ernst, you are so happy that I cannot weep. Why are you glad? Oh, if I could but weep! You have been away so long, and why do you not return? What shall I do in this world without you! Mother, Ernst is with you; you do not need him; send him to me--he is mine. I have nothing more in this world. My dog is dead, too. My little red stockings--oh, I was so happy. Martella is lost. Hunt for her in the woods where the wild honey grows. Do you hear the cuckoo? Cuckoo!' "She stared vacantly into the flames; then she cried: 'My eyes burn like fire! I cannot weep. O Ernst! Ernst!' "She tore the satchel from her girdle, tore the letter of pardon into fragments, and cried: 'Everything shall burn just as my eyes do. Come here, your Highness, and see how your handwriting burns.' "Dawn was breaking. Through the open door, we saw some men approaching with a litter. "'Here is Herr Rautenkron,' said Ikwarte. Martella rushed out and saw the men carrying Ernst's body. She rushed towards them, sank beside the litter and cried: 'My Ernst! You are not dead!' "A fearful shriek, which rang out far over the barren fields, was forced from her tortured breast. She clasped her hand to her heart while a flood of tears streamed over her cheeks. Suddenly she broke down and sank on the body of Ernst. A physician, who had come with the men, laid his hand on her heart. It was still: he listened for her breathing; it had ceased. "'My child! my child!' cried Rautenkron; she heard nothing more." So ended Wolfgang's story. His firm hand clasped mine, and I felt as if that alone held me there among the living. "And what became of Rautenkron?" I was able to ask after a long interval. "He had suddenly become an old man, with hollow cheeks and lustreless eyes. He sat on the ground, stared at the corpse, and did not speak a word. It rained in torrents. Every one endeavored to induce Rautenkron to seek the shelter of the hut, but he did not answer. At last he arose, pulled the hood of his cloak over his head, lit a cigar, and said to me, 'Stay here; I shall come back presently.' After a while, he returned with axe and spade. Alone, he dug the grave in which Ernst and Martella were laid." Wolfgang paused, and I remembered the sacred verses from the lament of David for Jonathan: "In death they were not divided." "Where is Rautenkron?" I asked at last.