Burning Secret by Stefan Zweig. Short summary

5 seconds

A boy prevents his mother from associating with a love-seeker and keeps her secret from his father.

1 minute

A young baron-folk on vacation decides to hit on a lady. To get close to her, he befriends the woman’s son.

The catcher begins to flirt with the lady, the son sees this and tries to resist.

The mother and the baron try to get some privacy. But the boy does not give them that opportunity, being near them all the time. One day he lunges at the Baron, hitting and biting the man.

The baron leaves. The mother tries to make her son write him a letter of apology. He refuses and the woman punches her son in the face.

The boy runs away. After a while he arrives at his grandmother’s. His distraught mother awaits him there, and soon his father arrives.

He is angry at his son for running away. But the boy, feeling sorry for his mother, does not tell the real reason for his action. The son keeps his mother’s secret.

In the evening, she comes to her son’s room. Weeping, the woman hugs and kisses the boy.

From that moment on, she gives up her self-loving desires and devotes herself to her son.