On this still summer night a current of fresh air streams through the
valley and over the hilltops. The ripe blades of wheat sway to and fro
as they draw their last breaths. All nature is silent, save the river
which rushes through the valley. The men are all resting from the hard
work of the harvest, to begin again with renewed strength at the first
glimmer of the morning sunshine.
Up the white mountain road moves a man who often presses his hand to
his breast pocket, as if to convince himself that he had not lost the
dispatch.
In Landolin's house a light is still burning. Thoma sits at the table,
and stares at the candle. Her features are changed by bitterness and
pain, and the lips that once so sweetly smiled, so warmly kissed, are
tightly compressed. Will those lips ever smile again; ever kiss again?
Her mother reclines at the open window, and looks out into the night.
"Mother," said Thoma, "you must go to sleep. It is past midnight; and
the doctor thought that the trial would scarcely be finished in one
day."
The mother barely turned her head, and then looked out again. Is
Cushion-Kate awake, too, thought she.
Yes, she was awake, but she could not afford a light. Perhaps, at the
same moment, she was thinking of Landolin's wife. "She has not deserved
such misery; but neither have I; and I have no one else; nothing but
this gnawing sorrow."
Suddenly Cushion-Kate straightened herself. She heard footsteps.
"Have you brought anything for me?" she asked the frightened messenger.
"No! nothing for you."
"For whom then?"
"For Landolin's Thoma," he answered, pulling out the blue envelope.
"Do you know what is in it?" asked Cushion-Kate.
"I'm not supposed to know."
"But you do know. Say, is Landolin sentenced to death?"
"I'll lose my place if you tell anybody."
"I swear to you by all the stars I'll tell no one. I have no one to
tell. I beg of you, have pity!"
"Landolin is acquitted."
"Acquitted? And my son is dead! Ye stars above, fall down and crush the
world. But no: you are fooling me. Don't do that!"
"You have sworn that you would not tell," said the messenger, and
hastened away. But Cushion-Kate threw herself on the ground, and wept
and sobbed.
In the meantime the messenger had reached Landolin's house.
"Do you bring good news?" his wife called from the window.
"I think so."
Thoma hastened down the stairs with the light, and returned quickly
with the open dispatch in her hand, and cried out:
"Father is acquitted. Not guilty by the court."
The mother sank on her knees. It was long before she could speak a
word. At length she said, half smiling, half weeping:
"He will sit there at the table, there on the bench, once more! He will
eat and drink there again! Wait, Cooper! I'll bring you something. You
must be tired."
Thoma drew her mother into a chair, and then brought food and drink.
"Yes; eat and drink," said the mother. "Why are you so silent, Thoma?
Why are you not happy? Eat your fill, Cooper, and take the rest with
you. Oh, if I could only give food and drink to the whole world! Oh, if
I could only awaken the dead, I would eat only half enough all the rest
of my life! He should have the best of everything. Praise and thanks be
to God! my husband is free; it is so good of him to send word that he
is well. Yes, no one understands his good heart as well as----Cooper,
go to Cushion-Kate, and tell her that I will come to see her to-morrow
morning. As long as I live I will divide with her as though she were my
sister. Tell her to be calm, and thank God with me. It would not have
done her any good if the verdict had been different. Go, Cooper; go
now."
The Cooper went to Cushion-Kate's. The house was open, but she was not
to be found.
In Landolin's house his wife said, "Now we will go to sleep. Thank God
that your father can sleep again in peace. You'll see he will bring
Anton home with him to-morrow, and everything will be all right
again. Dear Anton certainly helped your father a great deal with his
testimony. He is so kind and good. God be praised and thanked,
everything will be all right again."
"Everything all right again?" said Thoma; but her mother did not catch
the questioning tone in which she spoke.