Grandame, you understand?"
The old woman seemed confounded, and cowered in her chair without
speaking. Christina, almost dismayed by this silence, would have
suggested to Ebbo to say something kind or consoling; but at that
moment she was struck with alarm by his renewed inquiry for his
brother.
"Friedel! Was not he with thee?"
"No; I never saw him!"
Ebbo flew up the stairs, and shouted for his brother; then, coming
down, gave orders for the men to go out on the mountain-side, and
search and jodel. He was hurrying with them, but his mother caught
his arm. "O Ebbo, how can I let you go? It is dark, and the crags
are so perilous!"
"Mother, I cannot stay!" and the boy flung his arms round her neck,
and whispered in her ear, "Friedel said it would be a treacherous
attack, and I called him a craven. Oh, mother, we never parted thus
before! He went up the hillside. Oh, where is he?"
Infected by the boy's despairing voice, yet relieved that Friedel at
least had withstood the temptation, Christina still held Ebbo's hand,
and descended the steps with him.
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