"Haf she seen him?" he whispered.
"No!" said John. "I only told her he was dead, to keep her from going
in, and she fainted dead away."
"Ach!" groaned the old man, "dis is hard on her."
"Yes," sighed the brother; "it is a cruel shame."
Swiftly they carried her to the house, and laid her on her mother's
bed, then returned to their dreadful task in Wilhelm's chamber.
Hung by a stout leathern strap from the roof-tree beam, there swung the
dead body of Wilhelm Ruetter, cold, stiff. He had been dead for hours; he
must have done the deed soon after bidding them good-night.
"He vas mad, Johan; it must be he vas mad ven he laugh like dat last
night. Dat vas de beginning, Johan," said the old man, shaking from head
to foot with horror, as he helped his son lift down the body.
"Yes!" answered John; "that must be it. I expect he has been mad all
along. I do not believe last night was the beginning. It was not like
any sane man to be so gloomy as he was, and never speak to a living
soul. But I never once thought of his being crazy. Look, father!" he
continued, his voice breaking into a sob, "he has left these flowers
here for Carlen! That does not look as if he was crazy! What can it all
mean?"
On the top of a small chest lay the bunch of white Ladies'-Tress, with a
paper beneath it on which was written, "For Carlen Weitbreck,--these,
and the carvings in the box, all in memory of Wilhelm.
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