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Show 144 "I will speak to him, with your permission," Father Antonius declared. "At the same time I will learn if there is any news of the children, and I will call on Hilde's parents to inquire if she may come here. As soon as I can make the arrangements, I shall ride into Hamelin." For the next few days I waited, trying to feel hope but filled with apprehension. I knew that Father Antonius must be gone because for three days he did not come to Saint Gervase to say mass. Then as I was out catching fish in the pond for the evening meal at the convent, I heard the plodding of horse's hooves and when I stood up to watch the road, I saw Father Antonius returning with Hilde riding behind him. I ran to catch the horse by the bridle, and then I stood stiff and uncertain, wanting to touch Hilde and yet unable to say her name. "Have we arrived?" she asked, turning her sightless eyes from side to side. "We are nearly there," the priest told her. "Someone has stopped us. Someone who is your friend." Still seated on the horse, she leaned over the groped toward me until I caught her hand and held it against my face. "Geist!" she shriekdd. "Is it Geist?" She leaped from the horse and I caught her in my arms. |