A half-grown lad, in a dirty red waistcoat and top boots, now came running across the courtyard, and at the same moment a young girl appeared from the house. Brandow received both with angry words. The girl answered pertly: she had been with the mistress, who could not quiet the child; it was still crying about its arm; and the boy muttered as he took the horse's bridle: he had been obliged to help Hinrich about Brownlock; he was threatened with the colic. "Deuce take it!" cried Brandow; "that damned Hinrich, this is what I get by letting him have his own way! I must leave you alone a moment, or will you come with me?" Brandow did not wait for Gotthold's reply, but hurried across the courtyard with long strides. He must know what was the matter with Brownlock. And then: Cecilia had enough to do in the nursery; she would not come out at present. "What is the matter with the child?" asked Gotthold. "She fell down just as the mistress got home, and has probably broken her arm," said the girl, who had been gazing curiously at the stranger with her merry gray eyes, and now hurried back into the house. CHAPTER X. Gotthold followed her through the entry and into the sitting-room on the left, and would gladly have entered the adjoining chamber, from which, as the girl opened and closed the door, the wailing of a child and a woman's voice consoling it were distinctly audible. It was her voice,--somewhat deeper and more gentle, it seemed to him, than in the old days, but he had only distinguished a few tones above the moaning of the child. "Poor thing," he murmured, "poor child, if I could only help it." His hand was extended towards the handle of the door, but instantly fell again. If the girl had told her he was there, she would probably come out for a moment; at any rate Carl must soon return. He stationed himself at the open window and looked across the empty courtyard towards the building Brandow had entered. How could he stay so long! He again turned back into the room, which was already beginning to grow dark, and his eyes wandered mechanically over the furniture and pictures, many of which he thought he recognized, while his ear was strained to catch the sounds from the next room. But everything there had now become quiet, and in the stillness the old Black Forest clock ticked so loudly--he had not noticed it before--the evening breeze whispered in the linden before the window, and then once more he heard nothing except the blood beating in his temples. Had any misfortune happened? Was the child--he must have some certainty.