Circumstances have occurred which will either enable us to
continue our journey at once and in safety or which may place me
in a prison."
Thekla gave a cry of surprise and terror. "I do not think,
my dear girl," Malcolm went on, "that there is much fear of the
second alternative, but we must be prepared for it. You must obey
my instructions implicitly. Should I not return by nightfall you
will know that for a time at least I have been detained. You will
tell the woman of the house, who is aware that I am employed by
Wallenstein, that I have been sent by him to examine and set in
order the clocks in his palace in Vienna in readiness for his return
there, but that as you were too unwell to travel I have bade you
remain here until I return to fetch you.
"You have an ample supply of money even without the purse of gold
which the duke presented to me yesterday. You must remain here
quietly until the spring, when the tide of war is sure to roll
away to some other quarter, and I trust that, long ere that, even
should I be detained, I shall be free to come to you again; but
if not, do you then despatch this letter which I have written for
you to Jans Boerhoff. In this I tell him where you are, in order
that, if your mother comes to him asking for you, or your parents
are able to write to him to inquire for you, he may inform them of
your hiding place.
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