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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33958-8.txt b/33958-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..93b92e8 --- /dev/null +++ b/33958-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10508 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Sister's Love, by W. Heimburg + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Sister's Love + A Novel + +Author: W. Heimburg + +Translator: Margaret P. Waterman + +Release Date: September 30, 2010 [EBook #33958] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SISTER'S LOVE *** + + + + +Produced by Peter Vachuska, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + A SISTER'S LOVE + + _A NOVEL_ + + BY W. HEIMBURG + + + TRANSLATED BY + MARGARET P. WATERMAN + + CHICAGO: + M. A. DONOHUE & CO. + 407-429 DEARBORN ST. + + + + +A SISTER'S LOVE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +A severe storm had been raging all day, and now, in the approaching +twilight, seemed as if it would overleap all bounds in its wild +confusion. Straight from the North Sea, over the broad Lüneburg heath, +it came rushing along, and beat against the gray walls of the +manor-house, shook the great elms in the garden, tossed about the +bushes, and blew from the bare branches the last yellow leaf yet spared +them by the November frost. + +The great castle-like building, inhabited for centuries by the Von +Hegewitz family, looked dismal and gloomy under the cloud-laden sky; in +almost spectral gloom it lay there, with its sharply pointed gables, its +round tower, and heavy buttresses supporting the walls. + +If did not always look thus, this old manor-house; in summer it was very +picturesque behind its green trees, the golden sunshine lying on its +slate roof, the pointed gables sharply outlined against the blue sky, +and the gray walls, framed by huge, old oaks, reflected in the brown +water of the pond. Beside it lay the farm-buildings and the houses of +the village, whose shingled roofs emerged in their turn from the foliage +of the fruit-trees. Far out into the Mark country extended the view, +over fields of waving corn, over green meadows and purple heath, bounded +on the horizon by the dark line of a pine forest. A narrow strip of pine +woods, besides, lay to the north, extending nearly to the garden, and on +hot summer afternoons an almost intoxicating fragrance was wafted from +it toward the quiet house. + +Within it was still a real, old-fashioned German house; for there were +dim corridors and deep niches, great vaulted rooms and large alcoves, +little staircases with steep steps worn by many feet, and curious low +vaulted doors. A flight of steps would lead quite unexpectedly from one +room into the next, and here and there a door, instead of leading out of +a room, opened, to one's surprise, into a huge closet. Then there were +cemented floors, and great beams dividing the ceilings, and the smallest +of window-panes. And yet where could more real comfort be found than in +such an old house, especially when a November storm is howling without, +and here indoors great fir logs are crackling in the gay-tiled stove? + +And just now, down the stairs from the upper story, came an old lady, +looking as if comfort itself came with the green silk knitting-bag on +her arm, her large lace cap, and the brown silk shawl over her +shoulders. She might have been in the fifties, this small, spare figure, +and she limped. Fräulein Rosamond von Hegewitz had limped all her life, +and yet a more contented nature than hers did not exist. She now turned +to the left and walked along the narrow corridor. This was her regular +evening walk, as she went to her nephew and niece in the sitting-room--a +dear old walk, which she had taken for years, since the time when the +children were little, and her brother and sister-in-law were still +alive; when twilight came she could no longer endure the solitude of +her spinster's room. + +Just as she was about to lay her hand on the bright brass door-handle, +she perceived by the dim light of the hall-lamp a girl who was sobbing +gently, her coarse linen apron thrown over her face. + +"What are you crying about, Marieken?" asked the old lady kindly, coming +back a step or two. The curly brown head was raised, and a young face, +bathed in tears and now red from embarrassment, looked up at Fräulein +Rosamond. + +"Ah, gracious Fräulein, I am to leave," she stammered, "and I----" + +"Why, what have you--?" The old lady got no further, for just then the +door was opened a little way and the clear, full tones of a youthful +feminine voice came out into the corridor. + +"That is my last word, Märtensen; I will not suffer such things in my +house. She may thank God that I have noticed her folly in good season. +Only think of Louisa Keller!" + +"God in heaven, Fräulein!" the person accosted replied in defence, +almost weeping. "The lass has done nothing bad, and he is certainly a +respectable man. O Fräulein, when one is young one knows too----" + +"For shame, Märtensen!" This came vehemently. "You know what I have +said. Take your Marieken and go. I will have no frivolous maids in my +house!" + +The door was now opened wide, and an old woman came out, her wrinkled +face red with excitement. + +"Come, lass," she called to the girl, who had just put her apron over +her eyes again; "troubles don't last forever! She'll feel it herself +some day yet! Driving away my girl as if she had been stealing!" And +without greeting the old lady, she seized her daughter by the arm and +drew her away with her. + +Rosamond von Hegewitz turned slowly to the door. A half-mocking, +half-earnest expression lay on the wise old face. "_Bon soir_, Anna +Maria!" said she, as she entered the brightly lighted sitting-room. + +A girl rose from the chair before the massive secretary, went toward the +new-comer, and received her with that formality which at the beginning +of our century had not yet disappeared from the circle of gentle +families, pressing to her lips the outstretched hand with an expression +of deepest respect. + +"Good evening, aunt; how are you feeling?" + +It was the same rich voice that had spoken before, and, like it, could +belong only to such a fresh young creature. Anna Maria von Hegewitz was +just turned eighteen, and the whole charm of these eighteen years was +woven about her slender figure and the rosy face under her braids of +fair hair. In contradiction to this girlishness, a pair of deep gray +eyes looked out from beneath the white forehead, seriously, and with +almost a look of experience, which, with a peculiar self-conscious +expression about the mouth, lent a certain austerity to the face. + +"Thank you, my dear, I am well," replied the old lady, seating herself +at the round table before the sofa, upon which were burning four candles +in shining brass candlesticks. "Don't let me interrupt you, _ma +mignonne_. I see I have broken in upon your writing; are you writing to +Klaus?" + +"I have only been looking over the grain accounts, aunt; I shall be done +in a moment. I shall not write again to Klaus, for he must return day +after to-morrow at the latest. If you will excuse me a moment----" + +"Oh, certainly, child. I will occupy myself alone meanwhile." The old +lady drew her knitting-work from the silk bag and began to work, at the +same time glancing dreamily about the large, warm, comfortable room. + +She had known it thus long since; nothing in it had been altered since +her youth--the same deep arm-chairs around the table, the artistic +inlaid cupboards, even the dark, stamped leather wall-paper was still +the same, and the old rococo clock still ticked its low, swift +to-and-fro, as if it could not make the time pass quickly enough. And +there at the desk, where the young niece was sitting, her only brother +had worked and calculated, and at that sewing-table on the estrade at +the window had been the favorite seat of the sister-in-law who died so +young. But how little resemblance there was between mother and daughter! + +The old lady looked over toward her again. The girl's lips moved, and +the slender hand passed slowly with the pencil down the row of figures +on the paper. "Makes five hundred and seventy-five thaler, twenty-three +groschen," she said, half-aloud. "Correct! + +"Now, then, Aunt Rosamond, I am at your service." She extinguished the +candle, locked the writing-desk, and bringing a pretty spinning-wheel +from the corner, sat down near her aunt, and soon the little wheel was +gently humming, and the slender fingers drawing the finest of thread +from the shining flax. For a while the room was quiet, the silence +broken only by the howling of the storm and the crackling of the burning +log in the stove. + +"Anna Maria," began the old lady at last, "you know I never interfere +with your arrangements, so pardon me if I ask why you send Marieken +away." + +"She has a love affair with Gottlieb," replied the niece, shortly. + +"I am sorry for that, Anna Maria; she was always a girl who respected +herself; ought you to act so severely?" + +"She gives him her supper secretly, and runs about the garden with him +on pitch-dark nights. I will not have such actions in my house, and know +that Klaus would not approve of it either." The words sounded strangely +from the young lips. + +"Yes, Anna Maria "--Rosamond von Hegewitz smiled "if you will judge +thus! These people have quite different sentiments from us, and--and you +cannot know, I suppose, if their views are honest?" + +"That is nothing to me!" replied Anna Maria. "They _cannot_ marry, +because they are both as poor as church mice. What is to come of it? The +girl must leave; you surely see that, dear aunt?" + +The old lady now laughed aloud. "One can see, Anna Maria, that you know +nothing yet of a real attachment, or you would not proceed in so +dictatorial a manner." + +The slightest change came over the young face. "I _will_ not know it, +either!" she declared firmly, almost turning away. + +"But, sweetheart," came from the old voice almost anxiously, "do you +think that it will always be so with you? You are eighteen years old--do +you think your heart will live on thus without ever feeling a passion? +And do you expect the same of your brother, Anna Maria? Klaus is still +so young----" + +The little foot stopped on the treadle of the wheel, and the gray eyes +looked in amazement at the speaker. + +"Don't you know then, aunt, that it is a long-established matter that +Klaus and I should always stay together? Klaus promised our mother on +her death-bed that he would never leave me. And I go away from Klaus? +Oh, sooner--sooner may the sky fall! Don't speak of such possibilities, +Aunt Rosamond. It is absurd even to think of." + +"Pardon me, Anna Maria"--the words sounded almost solemn--"I was present +when your dying mother took from Klaus his promise never to leave you, +always to protect you. But at the same time to forbid him to love +another woman, a woman whom his heart might choose, she surely did not +intend!" + +"Aunt Rosamond!" cried the girl, almost threateningly. + +"No, my child, I repeat it, your mother was much too wise, much too +just, to wish such a thing; she was too happy in her own marriage to +wish her children--But, _mon Dieu_, I am exciting myself quite +uselessly; you have such a totally false conception of this promise." + +"Klaus told me so himself, Aunt Rosamond," declared the girl, in a tone +which made contradiction impossible. + +Aunt Rosamond was silent; she knew well that all talking would be vain, +and that nothing in the world could convince Anna Maria that any object +worthy of love beside her beloved brother could exist. "_Nous verrons, +ma petite_," thought she, "you will not be spared the experience +either!" + +And now her thoughts wandered far back into the past, to the night when +Anna Maria was born. A terrible night! And as they passed on, there came +a day still more terrible; in the heavy wooden cradle, adorned with +crests, lay, indeed, the sweetly sleeping child, but the mother's eyes +had closed forever, not, however, without first looking, with a fervid, +anguished expression, at the little creature that must go through life +without a mother's love! And beside her bed had knelt a boy of fifteen, +who had to promise over and over again to love the little sister, and +protect and shield her. + +How often had Aunt Rosamond told this to the child as she grew up; how +often described to her how she had been baptized by her mother's coffin, +how her brother had held her in his arms and pressed her so closely to +him, and wept so bitterly. Indeed, indeed, there was not another brother +like Klaus von Hegewitz, that Aunt Rosamond knew best of all. + +She remembered how he had watched for nights at the child's bed when she +lay ill with measles; with what unwearied patience he had borne with her +whims, now even as then; how carefully he had marked out a course of +instruction and selected teachers for her, looked up lectures for her, +read and rode with her, and did everything that the most careful +parental love alone can do, and even more--much more! Indeed, Anna Maria +knew nothing of a parent's love; the father had always been a peculiar +person, especially so after the death of his wife: it almost seemed as +if he could not love the child whose life had cost a life. He was rarely +at home; half the year he lived in Berlin, coming back to the old +manor-house only at the hunting season. But never alone; he was always +accompanied by a young man, a Baron Stürmer, owner of the neighboring +estate of Dambitz, and two years older than Klaus. + +It was a singular friendship which had existed between these two men. +Hegewitz, well on in the sixties, gloomy and unsociable, and from his +youth distrustful of every one, and not even amiable toward his own +children, was affable only to his friend, so much younger. To this +moment Aunt Rosamond distinctly remembered the pale, nobly-formed face +with the fiery brown eyes and the dark hair. How gratefully she +remembered him! He had been the only one who understood how to mediate +between father and son, the only one who, with admirable firmness, had +again and again led the struggling little girl to her father; and he did +all this out of that incomprehensible friendship. The two used to play +chess together late into the night; they rode and hunted together; and +still one other passion united them--they collected antiquities. + +They searched the towns and villages for miles about for old carved +chests, clocks, porcelain, and pictures, and would dispute all night as +to whether a certain picture, bought at an auction, was by this or that +master, whether it was an original or a copy. They often remained away +for days on their excursions, and the treasures they won were then +artistically arranged in a tower-room--"a regular rag-shop," Aunt +Rosamond had once said in banter. "I only wonder they don't get me too +for this '_Collection Antique_.'" After the death of Hegewitz this +really valuable collection was found to be made over, by will, to Baron +Stürmer, "because Klaus did not understand such things." Stürmer +accepted the bequest, but he had it appraised by a person intelligent in +such matters, and paid the value to the heirs. Klaus von Hegewitz +refused to accept the sum, and so the two men agreed to found an +almshouse for the two villages of Bütze and Dambitz. + +That had happened ten years ago, and the collecting furor of the old +gentleman had borne good results. + +Soon after his death, Baron Stürmer went away on a journey; he had long +wished to travel, and had deferred his cherished plan only on his old +friend's account. His first goals had been Italy, Constantinople, and +Greece; he went to Egypt, he visited South America, Norway and Sweden, +and had travelled through Russia and the Caucasus. No one knew where he +was staying at present. He had written seldom of late years, at last not +at all; but his memory still lived in Bütze. Only Anna Maria no longer +spoke of him; indeed, she scarcely remembered him now: she was just +eight years old when he went away. Only this she still knew: that Uncle +Stürmer had often taken her by the hand and led her to her father, and +that at such times her heart had always beaten more quickly from fear. +Anna Maria had stood in real awe of her father, and when he died and was +buried, not a tear flowed from the child's eyes. Her entire affection +belonged to her brother, as she used to say, full of pride and love for +him. + +Aunt Rosamond had never been able to exert the slightest influence over +the girl's independent character. + +As soon as Anna Maria was confirmed, she hung the bunch of keys at her +belt, and took up the reins of housekeeping with an energy and +circumspection that aroused the admiration of all, and especially of the +old aunt, who was particularly struck by it, since she herself was a +tender, weak type of woman, to whom such energy in one of her own sex +could but seem incomprehensible. + +Anna Maria spun on quietly as all these thoughts succeeded each other +behind the wrinkled brow of her companion. She could sit and spin thus +whole evenings, without saying a word; she was quite different from +other girls! She did not allow a bird or a flower in her room, nor did +she ever wear a flower or a ribbon as an ornament. And yet one could +scarcely imagine a more high-bred appearance than hers. Whether she were +walking, in her house dress, through kitchen and cellar, or receiving +guests in the drawing-room, as happened two or three times a year, she +lost nothing in comparison with other ladies and girls; on the contrary, +she had a certain superiority to them, and Aunt Rosamond would sometimes +say to herself: "The others are like geese beside _her_!"--"Yes, what +may happen here yet?" she asked herself with a sigh. + +"A letter for the Fräulein!" A youth of perhaps twenty-five years, +dressed in simple dark livery, handed Anna Maria a letter. + +"From Klaus!" she cried joyfully, but held the letter in her hand +without opening it, and fixed her eyes upon the firm, resolute face of +the servant. + +"Well, Gottlieb, what is the matter with you?" she asked. "You look as +if your wheat had been utterly ruined." + +"Gracious Fräulein," the youth replied, with hesitation yet firmly, "the +master will have to look about for some one else--I am going away at New +Year." + +"Have you gone mad?" cried Anna Maria, frowning. "What is it here that +you object to?" She had risen and stepped up to the youth. "As for the +rest," she continued, "I can imagine why you have such folly in your +head. Because I have sent away Marieken Märtens, do you wish to go too? +Very well, I will not keep you; you may go; there are plenty of people +who would take your place. But if your father knew it he would turn in +his grave. Do you know how long your father served at Bütze?" + +"Fifty-eight years, Fräulein," replied the young fellow at once. + +"Fifty-eight years! And his son runs away from the service in which his +father grew old and gray, after a frivolous girl! Very well, you shall +have your way; but mind, any one who once goes away from here--never +returns. You may go." + +The servant's face grew deep red at the reproachful words of his young +mistress; he turned slowly to the door and left the room. + +Anna Maria had meanwhile broken the great crested seal, and was reading. +"Klaus is coming day after to-morrow!" After reading awhile, now as +happy as a child, she cried to the old lady: "Just hear, Aunt Rosamond, +what else he writes. I will read it aloud. + +"'I found my old Mattoni over his books as usual, but it seemed to me he +looked ill. I asked him about it, but he declared he was well. A +proposal to come and recuperate next summer in our beautiful country air +he dismissed with a shake of the head, "he had no time!" He is an +incorrigible bookworm. + +"'But now here is something particularly interesting! Do you know whom I +met yesterday "Unter den Linden," sunburned and scarcely recognizable? +Edwin Stürmer! He was standing by a picture-store, and I beside him for +some time, without a suspicion of each other; we were looking at some +pretty water-colors by Heuselt. All at once a hand was laid on my arm, +and a familiar voice cried: "Upon my word, Klaus, if you had not +developed that fine beard, I should have recognized you sooner!" + +"'I was exceedingly glad to see Edwin again, and rejoice still more at +the future prospect. The old vagabond is going to fold his wings at +last, and take care of his estate. He is coming shortly to Dambitz; +consequently we shall have a good friend again near us. As for the +rest, he wouldn't believe that you have become a young lady and no +longer wear long braids and short dresses.'" + +Anna Maria stopped, and looked into the distance, as if recalling +something. "I don't know exactly now how he looked," she said. "He wore +a full black beard, didn't he, aunt, and must be very old now?" + +"No indeed, _mon coeur_; he may be thirty-five at the most." + +"That is certainly old, Aunt Rosamond!" + +"That is the way young people judge," said the old lady, smiling. + +"It may be, aunt," said Anna Maria, and put the letter in her pocket. +She had begun to spin again, when an old woman in a dazzlingly white +apron entered the room. + +"Gracious Fräulein," she began respectfully, yet familiarly, "Marieken +is off, and has made a great commotion in the house, and the eldest of +the Weber girls has just applied for the place, but she asks for twelve +thaler for wages and a jacket at Christmas!" + +"Ten thaler, and Christmas according to the way she conducts herself," +Anna Maria replied, without looking up. + +The housekeeper disappeared, but returned after awhile. + +"Eleven thaler and a jacket, Fräulein; she will not come otherwise," she +reported. "You can surely give her that; she has no lover, and will +hardly get one, for she is already well on in years, and----" + +Anna Maria drew a purse from her pocket, and laid an eight-groschen +piece on the table. "The advance-money, Brockelmann; do you know that +Gottlieb wishes to leave?" + +"Oh, dear, yes, Fräulein." The old woman was quite embarrassed. "I am +sorry; he doted upon the lass at one time, and at last--oh, heavens, +fräulein, one has been young too, and if two people love each +other--see, Fräulein, it is just as if one had drunk deadly hemlock. I +mean no offence, but you will know it yet some day, and, if God will, +may the handsomest and best man in the world come to Bütze and take you +home!" + +The old woman had spoken affectingly, and looked at her young mistress +with brightening eyes. Only she would have dared to touch on this point. +She had been Anna Maria's nurse, and a remnant of tenderness toward her +was still hidden somewhere in the girl's heart. + +"Brockelmann, you cannot keep from talking," she cried, serenely. "You +know I shall _never_ marry. What would the master do without me? Is +supper ready?" + +"The master!" said the good woman, without regarding the last question. +"He ought to marry too! As if it were not high time for him; he will be +thirty-three years old at Martinmas!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +A few days afterward Edwin Stürmer came to Bütze. Anna Maria was +standing just on the lower staircase landing, in the great stone-paved +entrance-hall, a basket of red-cheeked apples on her arm, and +Brockelmann stood near her with a candle in her hand. The unsteady light +of the flickering candle fell on the immediate surroundings, and, like +an old picture of Rembrandt's, the fair head of the girl stood out from +the darkness of the wide hall. Round about her there was a great hue and +cry; all the children of the village seemed to be collected there, and +sang with a sort of scream, to a monotonous air, the old Martinmas +ditty: + + "Martins, martins, pretty things, + With your little golden wings, + To the Rhine now fly away, + To-morrow is St. Martin's Day. + Marieken, Marieken, open the door, + Two poor rogues are standing before! + Little summer, little summer, rose's leaf, + City fair, + Give us something, O maiden fair!" + +They were just beginning a new song when the heavy entrance-door opened, +and Baron Stürmer came in. Anna Maria did not see him at once, for, +according to an old custom of St. Martin's Eve, she was throwing a +handful of apples right among the little band, who pounced upon them +with cries and shouts. Only when a man's head rose up straight before +her, by the heavily carved banister, she glanced up, and looked into a +pale face framed by dark hair and beard, and into a pair of shining +brown eyes. + +For an instant Anna Maria was startled, and a blush of embarrassment +spread over her face; then she held out her hand to him and bade him +welcome. Far from youthful was her manner of speaking and acting. + +"Be still!" she called, in her ringing voice, to the noisy children; and +as silence immediately ensued, she added, turning to Stürmer: "They are +meeting me on important business, Herr von Stürmer, but I shall be ready +to leave at once; will you go up to Klaus for awhile?" + +He kept on looking at her, still holding her right hand; he had not +heard what she said at all. With quick impatience, at length she +withdrew her hand. + +"Brockelmann, bring the candle here, and take the gentleman to my +brother," she ordered; but then, as if changing her mind, she threw the +whole basketful of apples at once among the children, who scrambled for +them, screaming wildly. The baron made his way with difficulty through +the groping throng to the stairs, where Anna Maria was now standing +motionless, and with earnest gaze regarding the man who in her childhood +had so often held her in his arms, and had so many a kind word for her. + +Yes, it was he again; the slender figure of medium height, the dark face +with the flashing eyes--and yet how different! + +Anna Maria had to admit to herself that it was a handsome man who was +coming up the steps just then; and old? She had to smile. "One sees +quite differently with a child's eyes!" she said to herself. Was it not +as if years were blotted out, and he was coming up as in the old times, +to hold her fast by her braids and say, "Don't run so, Anna Maria"? + +Silently up the stairs they went together, to the top, their steps +reëchoing from the walls. + +It really seemed now to Anna Maria as if her childhood had returned, the +sweet, remote childhood, with a thousand bright, innocent hours. +Involuntarily she held out to him her slender hand, and he seized it +quickly and forced the maiden to stand still. The sound of the +children's shouting came indistinctly to them up here; there was no one +beside them in the dim corridor. + +Words of pleasure at seeing the friend of her childhood again trembled +on Anna Maria's lips, but when she tried to speak the man's eyes met +hers, and her mouth remained closed. Slowly, and still looking at her, +he drew the slender hand to his lips; she allowed it as if in a dream, +then hastily caught her hand away. + +"What is that?" she asked, half in jest, half in anger; "I gave you my +hand because I was glad to greet the uncle of my childhood, and an +uncle----" + +"May not kiss one's hand," he supplied, a smile flitting over his face. +Anna Maria did not see it, having stepped forward into the sitting-room. +"A visitor, Klaus!" she called into the room, which was still dark. + +"Ah!" at once replied a man's voice. "Stürmer, is it you? Welcome, +welcome! You find us quite in the dark. We were just talking of you, and +of old times; were we not, Aunt Rosamond?" + +A merry greeting followed, an invitation to supper was given and +accepted, and Klaus von Hegewitz called for lights. + +"Oh, let us chat a little longer in the dark," said Aunt Rosamond. "Who +knows but we should seem stranger to each other if a candle were +lighted? Does it not seem, _cher baron_, as if it were yesterday that +you were sitting here with us, and yet----" + +"It is ten years ago, Stürmer," finished Klaus. + +"Truly!" assented Stürmer, "ten years!" + +"Oh, but how happy we have been here," the old lady ran on. "Do you +remember, Stürmer, how you carried me off once in the most festive +manner, in a sleigh, and on the way the mad idea came to you to drive on +past our godfather's, and then you landed us both so softly in the +deepest snow-drift--me in my best dress, the green brocade, you know, +that you always called my parrot's costume?" + +Klaus laughed heartily. "_À propos_, Stürmer," he asked, "have you seen +Anna Maria yet?" + +"Yes, indeed, I have already had the honor, on the landing down-stairs," +replied the baron. + +"The honor? Heavens, how ceremonious! Did you hear, dear?" asked the +brother. But no answer came. "Anna Maria!" he then called. + +"She is not here," said Aunt Rosamond, groping about to find the way out +of the room. "But it is really too dark here," she added. + +"Why haven't you married, Hegewitz?" Stürmer asked abruptly. + +"I might pass the question back to you," replied Klaus. "But let us +leave that alone, Stürmer, I will tell you something about it another +time." Klaus von Hegewitz had risen and stepped to the nearest window; +for a while silence reigned in the quiet room. Stürmer regretted having +touched upon a topic that evidently aroused painful emotions. + +"Every one has his experiences, Stürmer, so why should we be spared?" +Klaus turned around, beginning to speak again. "But it is overcome now. +I do not think about it any more," he added. "Will you have another +cigar?" + +"Not think about it any more?" cried the baron, not hearing the last +question. He laughed aloud. "At thirty-four? My dear Klaus, what will +become of you, then, when Aunt Rosamond dies and Anna Maria marries?" + +"Anna Maria? I haven't thought about that yet, Stürmer; she is still so +young, and--although--But one can see that it is possible to live so: +you give the best example!" Klaus was out of humor. + +The baron did not reply. He soon turned the conversation to agricultural +matters, and a discussion over esparcet and fodder was first interrupted +by the announcement that supper was served. + +Aunt Rosamond had, meanwhile, gone through the main hall and knocked at +a door at the end of the passage. Anna Maria's voice called, "Come in!" +She, too, was sitting in the dark, but she rose and lit a candle. The +light illuminated her whole face. "Anna Maria, are you ill?" her aunt +asked anxiously, and stepped nearer. + +"Not exactly ill, aunt, but I have a headache." + +"You have taken cold; why do you ride out in this sharp wind? You are +both inconsiderate, you and Klaus! Show me your pulse--of course, on the +gallop; go to bed, Anna Maria." + +"After supper, aunt; what would Klaus say if I were not there?" + +"But you are really looking badly, Anna Maria." + +The young girl laughed, took her bunch of keys in her hand and thus +compelled Aunt Rosamond to go with her. "Don't worry," she bade her, +"and above all, don't say anything to Klaus. He might think it worse +than it is." + +"Klaus, and always, only Klaus--_incroyable_!" murmured the old lady. + + * * * * * + +"If that wasn't a remarkable company at table this evening," said Klaus +von Hegewitz, as he reäntered the sitting-room, after escorting Baron +Stürmer down-stairs. "You, Anna Maria, did not say a word, and the +conversation dragged along till it nearly died out; if Aunt Rosamond had +not kept the thing up, why--really, it was peculiar. But how nice it is +when we are by ourselves, isn't it, little sister?" + +He had put his arm around Anna Maria, who stood at the table, looking +toward the window as if listening for something, and looked lovingly in +her face. + +The brother and sister resembled each other unmistakably in their +features, except that beside his earnestness a winning kindness spoke +from the brother's eyes, and the harsh lines about his mouth were hidden +by a handsome beard. + +"Yes," she replied quietly. + +"Now tell me, little sister, why you were so--so, what shall I call +it--icy toward Stürmer?" + +Anna Maria looked over at her brother and was silent. + +"Now out with it!" he said jokingly. "Didn't Stürmer treat you with +sufficient deference, or----" + +"Klaus!" She grew very red. "I will tell you," she then said; "the +recollections of old times came between us and spoke louder than words; +my childhood passed before my eyes, and--" She broke off, and looked up +at him; it was a sad look, yet full of unspeakable gratitude. Klaus drew +her to him, and pressed the fair head to his breast with his large white +hand. + +"My old lass, you're not going to cry?" he asked tenderly; but he, too, +was moved. + +She took his hand and pressed a kiss upon it. "Dear, dear Klaus," she +said softly, "I was only thinking how it would have been if you had not +loved me so very, very much?" + +Klaus von Hegewitz was silent, and looked thoughtfully down at her. +"Quite different, my little Anna Maria," said he at last; "it would have +been quite different--whether better? Who can fathom that; it must have +been so----" + +She looked up at him in astonishment, he had spoken so slowly and +earnestly. Then he stroked her forehead, pressed his sister to him +again, and then turned quietly to the corner-shelf and took down his +favorite pipe. + +"There, now we will make ourselves comfortable," said he. "Come, Anna +Maria, 'Tante Voss' is very interesting to-day." + + * * * * * + +Anna Maria stood long at her bedroom window and looked at the drifting +clouds of the night-sky. Now and then the moon peeped out, and tinged +the edges of the clouds with silver light; as they sped in strange forms +over her golden disk, there was a continual change in the fantastic +shapes, but Anna Maria saw it not. Confused thoughts chased each other +about in her brain, like the clouds above, and now and then, like the +brilliant constellation, a bright look from the long-known dark eyes +came before her mind. "It is the memory of childhood," she said to +herself, "yes, the memory!" + +Twelve o'clock struck from the church-tower near by, as, shivering with +cold, she stepped back from the window. She heard hasty steps coming +along the corridor; she knew it was Brockelmann going to bed. The next +moment she had opened the door; she hardly knew herself first what she +wanted, when the old woman was already crossing the threshold. + +"You are not sleeping yet, Fräulein? Ah, it is well that you are still +awake. I had a fine fright a little while ago. What do you think, +Marieken Märtens, the crazy thing, tried to drown herself; a man from +the village pulled her out of the pond." + +Anna Maria had grown white as a corpse; she had to sit down on the edge +of her bed, and her great eyes looked in sheer amazement at the old +woman. "What for?" she asked hastily, and almost sharply. + +"Indeed, Fräulein, for what else but because of the stupid affair with +Gottlieb? You know what his mother is. Marieken did not dare go home all +at once--there are mouths enough to feed: so her sweetheart took her +home to his mother, and she told him he should not come to her with a +girl whom the gracious Fräulein had dismissed, that he must not think of +marrying the girl as long as she lived; you know, Fräulein, the old +woman swears by the family here. And so the stupid thing took it into +her head to go into the water." + +Anna Maria looked silently before her, and her whole body shook as if +she had a chill. + +"Heavens, you are ill!" cried the old woman. + +"No, no," the girl denied, "I am not ill; go, only go; I am tired and +want to sleep." + +Brockelmann went to her room, shaking her head. "Well, well," she +murmured, "I did think she would be sorry for the poor girl, but no!" +She sighed, and closed the door behind her. But toward morning she was +suddenly startled from her slumber by the violent ringing of a bell in +her room. + +"Good heavens, Anna Maria!" she cried. "She is ill!" In her heart the +old woman still called her young mistress by her child's name. Hastily +throwing on one or two garments she hurried through the cold passage, +just lighted by the gray dawn. Anna Maria was sitting upright in her +bed, a candle was burning on the table by her side, and lit up a face +worn with weeping. The old woman saw plainly that the girl had been +weeping, though she extinguished the candle at once. + +"Brockelmann!" she called to her, but not as usual in the old imperious +manner, and she now hesitated; "as soon as it is light, send for +Gottlieb's mother; I want to talk with her about the girl. And now go," +she added, as the old woman was about to say something, "I am so tired +to-day!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +"The time passes away, one scarcely knows what has become of it; even in +my solitude, it does not seem long to me. Really, the starlings are here +already. Where has the winter gone? Strange!" + +Aunt Rosamond held this soliloquy at her chamber-window, as her gaze +followed the little messengers of spring, who vanished so briskly into +the wooden boxes, a large number of which had been placed for them on +the trees and buildings. It was no sunny spring day there without; the +clouds hung low and gray over the earth, and a warm, sultry wind tossed +about the budding branches unmercifully, as if to shake them into +complete awakening. + +The old lady did not like the overcast sky at all, it put her out of +humor. She could not wander about far out of doors, to be sure, but she +would fain have seen the little spot of earth that lay stretched out +before her window looking cheerful, and blue sky and sunshine lighting +up the fresh green of the meadows, and the oaks in foliage. + +"It ought to be always May or September here in the Mark," she used to +say; "then it would be the loveliest country in the world. In winter one +does best to draw the curtains, so as not to cast a single look out of +doors, it looks so melancholy outside, brown upon brown, with a shade of +dirty gray." + +And so she turned from the window and its dull outlook, and limped +quickly through the room, here and there arranging or straightening +something. That was such a habit of hers. Now the candelabra on the +spinet were moved a little, and now the delicate, withered hands picked +a yellow leaf from a plant on the flower-stand, or gave an improving +touch to the canopied bed which so pretentiously occupied an entire side +of the room. Aunt Rosamond called that her throne; one had to climb up a +pair of carpeted steps to reach it, and with its crimson silk hangings, +somewhat faded indeed, and gilded knobs, it really gave you the +impression of one. Then here and there she pushed back a coverlet or +straightened a picture which tipped a little to one side. The latter she +did most frequently, for the high walls were almost covered with +pictures, a collection of portraits, mostly in oil or pastel. Aunt +Rosamond knew a history about each one of the faces that looked so +quietly from the frames in her room; she had known them all, these men +and women there above, and strangely enough it sounded to hear her, as +she stood before some picture, tell its story in a few words. + +She had just limped to a card-table, over which was hung an oval pastel +portrait of a man with curled and powdered hair and a blue silk coat. +She gave the portrait a gentle push toward the right, but whether it was +the cord or the nail that had become loose, matters not, down fell the +picture, and lay face downward before Aunt Rosamond. + +"Let it lie, aunt, I beg you!" called Anna Maria's voice at this moment; +and before the old lady could collect herself, the girl had bent her +slender form, and handed her the picture. + +"_Merci, ma petite!_" she cried kindly, and looked into her niece's +face; and, indeed, if Aunt Rosamond missed the spring without, now it +had come, bodily, into her room. + +Anna Maria still had on a dark-blue riding-habit which closely fitted +her fine, strong figure, and the young face looked out from behind the +blue veil with such a spring-like freshness, that it quite warmed Aunt +Rosamond's heart. + +"Have you been riding, Anna Maria?" asked the old lady, as the girl +endeavored to find the fallen nail. + +"Yes, aunt, I rode with Klaus for an hour on the Dambitz cross-road; +afterward we met Stürmer by chance, and took a cup of coffee at Dambitz +Manor." + +"Indeed!" Aunt Rosamond seemed quite indifferent to this, although she +looked searchingly at the reddening face of her niece, who, apparently, +was very attentively regarding the rescued nail in her hand. + +"Are the snow-drops in bloom already at Dambitz?" inquired the old lady. +"Well, the garden lies well protected. But what do you say, Anna Maria, +will you stay and rest with me? I think we will sit down a little +while--_n'est-ce pas, mon coeur_?" + +Anna Maria stood irresolute; she looked over at her aunt, who had +already seated herself on the straight-backed, gayly flowered sofa, and +pointed invitingly to an easy-chair. It was so comfortable in this cosey +old room; the rococo clock with the Cupid bending his bow told its low +tick-tack, and a sudden shower beat against the window panes; it was a +little hour just made for chatting of all sorts of possible things, of +the past and of the future. + +Anna Maria slowly seated herself in the chair; she neither leaned back +gracefully and comfortably nor rested her fair head on the cushions. +Always straight as a candle, she carried herself perfectly, and so she +remained now. But sudden blushes and deep pallor interchanged on her +face, which turned with an expression of perfect, modest maidenliness +toward the old lady's face. One could see that she wished to say +something, and that her severe, unsympathetic nature was struggling with +an overflowing heart. + +Her aunt did not seem to notice it at all; she had taken up a book whose +once green velvet binding was worn and faded with age. The delicate +fingers turned leaf after leaf; then she glanced over a page, and after +a pause said: + +"Actually, Anna Maria, Felix Leonhard has fallen from the wall on his +birthday; how singular! Now people call that chance, but how strange it +is! I have always remembered the day hitherto, until to-day, and have +been going about all the time with a feeling as if I had forgotten +something, I could not exactly think what And then he announced himself. +_Mon pauvre_ Felix! You shall have your flowers to-day, as every year." +And she caressingly touched the picture before her on the table. Then +she looked over to Anna Maria almost shyly, for she knew that her niece +sometimes smiled scornfully at signs and forebodings. + +But to-day the deep line about Anna Maria's mouth was not to be seen; +she looked thoughtfully at the picture, and asked: "Who was Felix +Leonhard, aunt?" + +"An early friend of my brother's," replied the old lady. + +"Is he the one, aunt--I think you told me a strange story once about +some one shooting himself for the sake of a girl?" + +"Yes, yes, quite right, my child. This gay, handsome man once took a +pistol and shot himself for the sake of a girl; quite right, Anna +Maria. And he was no youth then, he was well on in the thirties, and yet +did this horrible deed, unworthy of a peaceable man. Oh, it was a misery +not to be described, Anna Maria!" She shook her head and passed her +hands over her eyes, as if to frighten away a horrible picture. + +"Why did he do it, aunt?" asked Anna Maria, in an unusually warm tone; +"was she faithless to him, or----" + +"She did not love him, _ma petite_; she had been persuaded by her +parents and brothers and sisters to become engaged to him. He was in +most excellent circumstances, and one of the best men I ever knew. He +became acquainted with her at a ball in Berlin, and fell violently in +love with her, although before that no one had ever considered his a +passionate nature. She was not young at the time, not even particularly +pretty, and with the exception of a pair of melancholy great eyes did +not possess a charm. _Eh bien_, after endless doubts and struggles, she +accepted his suit. The engagement lasted a whole year, and she was as +shy and discreet a _fiancée_ as could be found; he, on the other hand, +was full of touching attentions to her; indeed, to use a worn-out +figure, he carried her about in his hands. The nearer the wedding-day +approached, the more dreadful grew the poor girl's state of mind. She +had repeatedly asked various people if they believed she could make her +lover happy, and she was always turned off with a jest, yet quite +seriously as well, on the part of her brothers and sisters. Then on the +wedding-day, half an hour before the ceremony was to take place, pale +and trembling, she announced that she must take back her word, she could +not speak perjury--she did not love him, and she did not wish his +unhappiness! Ah, I shall never forget that day--the anxious faces of the +guests as the report of this refusal began to spread, and the terrible +anger of her brother. What followed in her room was never made public; I +only know that she persisted in her refusal, and that same evening he +shot himself in the garden. _Voilà tout!_" + +Anna Maria was silent; she had turned pale. "And _she_, aunt?" asked the +girl after a pause. + +"She! Well, she lived on, and even married not very long afterward; she +did not love him at all, Anna Maria. Who knows his own heart?" + +For an instant it seemed as if Anna Maria was about to answer, but she +closed her lips again. The room was still. She was leaning back now; she +was almost trembling, and her eyes turned thoughtfully to the picture +before her. Without, the rain was beating with increased force against +the windows, and the wind drove great snowflakes about in a whirling +dance, between whiles; April weather, fighting and struggling, storming +and raging, so spring will come. + +The old lady on the sofa looked out on this raging of the elements, and +thought how such a powerful spring storm rages in every human heart, and +how scarcely a person in the world is spared such a fight and struggle; +she knew it from her own experience, though she was only a poor cripple, +and a hundred times had she seen the storm rage in the breast of +another. To many, indeed, out of the struggle and longing, out of snow +and sunshine, had arisen a spring as beautiful as a dream; but for many +was the stormy April weather followed by a frosty May, killing all +blossoms; as for herself, as for Kla--She left the thought unfinished, +and quickly turned her head toward her niece, as if fearing she might +have guessed her thoughts. And then--she was almost confounded--then +the young girl's rosy face bent down to her, and Aunt Rosamond saw a +shining drop in the eyes always so cold and clear. Anna Maria sat down +beside her on the figured sofa, and threw her soft arms about her neck. + +The heart of the old lady beat faster; it was the first time in her life +that Anna Maria had showed any tenderness toward her. She sat quite +still, as in a dream, as if the slightest movement might frighten the +girl away, like a timid bird. And "Aunt Rosamond!" came the half-sobbing +sound in her ear. "Oh, aunt, help me--advise me--for Klaus----" + +Just then the door was quickly thrown open. "The master sends word for +the Fräulein to come down-stairs at once," called Brockelmann, quite out +of breath. "He can't find Isaac Aron's receipts for the last delivery of +grain, and----" + +"I am coming! I am coming!" called the girl. She had sprung up, and +quickly thrown the skirt of her riding-habit over her arm. The spell was +broken; there stood Anna Maria von Hegewitz again, the mistress of +Bütze, as firm, as full of business as ever. + +She crossed the room with quick steps, but turning again at the door, +she said softly, and embarrassed, "I will come up again this evening, +aunt." Then she closed the door behind her. + +Aunt Rosamond remained as still as a mouse in her sofa-corner; she had +to reflect whether this blushing, caressing girl who had just been +sitting beside her were really Anna Maria von Hegewitz, her niece. She +passed her hand over her forehead, and confused thoughts passed through +her mind. "_Quelle métamorphose!_" she whispered to herself, and at +length said aloud, "Anna Maria is certainly in love; love only makes +one so gentle, so--_je ne sais quoi_! Anna Maria loves Stürmer! How +disagreeable that Brockelmann happened to come in with her grain bills! +_Mon Dieu!_ the child, the child! I wonder if Klaus suspects it? What is +to become of you, my splendid old boy, if Anna Maria goes away? But what +if he should marry, too?" + +She rose from the sofa and stepped to the window again. It had stopped +raining, and a last lingering ray of sunshine broke from the clouds and +was spread, like a golden veil, over the wet, budding trees and shrubs. +"Spring is coming," she said half aloud. And now she began to walk up +and down the room, but this time the pictures were undisturbed. Her +hands were clasped, and now and then she shook her gray head gently, as +if incredulously. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Meanwhile Anna Maria had gone quickly down-stairs and entered her +brother's room. He was sitting at his desk, rummaging about in the +drawers for the missing papers. Klaus von Hegewitz was exactly like +other men in this respect, that he never could find anything, and grew +so vexed in hunting, that from very irritation he found nothing. At the +door stood the farm inspector and a little old man who was well known at +Bütze, Isaac Aron the Jew. He made a deep reverence to Anna Maria, and +said contentedly: "Now matters will be brought into good shape; the +gracious Fräulein knows the place of everything in the whole house." + +Anna Maria paid no attention to this, but, going to the desk, +confidently put her hand into a drawer, and gave a little packet of +papers to her brother. "There, Klaus," said she, looking with a smile in +his flushed face, "why did you not call me at once?" + +The troubled face grew bright. "Upon my word, Anna Maria," he cried +gayly, "these are stupid things; I have had that package in my hands +twenty times at least. A thousand thanks! I say again and again, Anna +Maria, what would become of me without you?" + +The smile suddenly disappeared from her face, and she looked +thoughtfully at the stately figure of her brother, who had stepped up to +the men and was negotiating with them. The words fell on her ears as in +a dream, and quite mechanically she took up her train and walked out of +the room. As she was about to close the door, her brother called after +her: "Anna Maria, shall I meet you by and by in the sitting-room? The +gardener wants to talk with us about the new work in the wood." + +She had no idea, as she stood outside, whether or not she had answered +him; then she sat down in her room, and her eyes wandered about the +familiar spot and rested at length on her brother's portrait. But she +saw it not; in her mind was another picture, another man's head. The +red-tiled roof of Dambitz Manor rose before her eyes, and over him and +her the brown, budding branches of the linden-walk in the Dambitz garden +fluttered and beat in the damp spring air, and at their feet long rows +of snow-drops bloomed and shook their little white heads. + +"Anna Maria," he had called her, "Anna Maria," as in her childhood. She +started up, as if awakening from a long, deep dream. Ah, no! it was +true; scarcely an hour ago he had spoken thus to her, and Anna Maria von +Hegewitz had stood before him as if under a spell. + +What else had he said? She knew no longer, only the words "Anna Maria" +sounded to her very soul; and as on that St. Martin's Eve she had put +her hands in his, and he had drawn her close to him--only one short +moment, she scarcely knew whether it were dream or reality. Then Klaus +had come down the steps--"Klaus! ah, Heaven, Klaus!" + +She leaned her head against the back of the sofa and closed her eyes. +She saw herself going away from the old house here. Could her foot cross +the threshold? And she saw Klaus looking in the door-way, looking after +her with his kind, true eyes, perhaps with tears in them. And there came +to her all the words which she had so often spoken to him, caressingly: +"_I will stay with you, Klaus, always, always!_" And now the strong +girl began to weep; she scarcely knew what tears were, but now they +gushed from her eyes with all the force of a shaken soul. + +And yet above all this pain there hovered a feeling of infinite +happiness, through the dark veil of sadness gleamed bright rays--the +premonitions of a wonderful future, the suspicion that the life which +she had led hitherto was hardly to be called living, because that one +thing had been wanting which first consecrates and gives value to a +happy life. + +She rose and went up to her brother's portrait. "Klaus, dear Klaus, I +cannot help it, indeed!" she whispered; and then she wandered about the +room, a tender smile on her lips, and a laugh in her eyes. + +The sound of the servants' supper-bell roused her from her dreams; she +changed her riding-habit for a house-dress, but laid the snow-drops in +the Bible on her writing-desk, and gave the little white blossoms a +caressing touch before she took up her basket of keys to leave the room. +She was met on the way to the sitting-room by a fresh, curly-haired +girl, carrying an armful of flashing brass candlesticks, her black eyes +almost as bright as the shining metal. + +"Well, Marieken," asked Anna Maria, "is the outfit ready?" + +The brisk girl laughed all over her face. "Oh, not quite, Fräulein; but +it is three weeks to Easter, and Gottlieb is painting the rooms now in +our house, and the cabinet-maker is going to bring our things next +week." + +Anna Maria nodded kindly, but did not reply. Her thoughts were already +again in Dambitz, wandering through the rooms of the castle. Most of +them were still empty, but a time was doubtless coming for her too when +the cabinet-maker would bring her things. And Anna Maria looked at the +girl and smiled; she knew not why herself; it was from overflowing +happiness. And Marieken laughed too--a perfect harmony of youth, hope, +and happiness. Then the girl ran on with her candlesticks, and Anna +Maria walked down the corridor, and in both hearts was the same +sunshine. She must hurry, for Klaus would surely be waiting for her, he +wanted to speak with her about the work in the garden. + +Next to Klaus's room was a small room, where Anna Maria remembered to +have put away in her portfolio of drawings the roughly sketched plan of +the alterations, and as Klaus was not yet in the sitting-room she +hurried back to get it. + +It was almost dark, and she could but indistinctly discern the objects +in the little room, which Klaus jokingly called his library because of a +bookcase which found its place there. So the more distinctly came to her +ears a hearty laugh from her brother, and, with the laugh, the sound of +her own name. + +"Anna Maria, do you say? My own aunt, it is perfectly ridiculous!" + +"Laugh then, you unbeliever, you will soon be convinced of the truth of +my conjecture. We women, especially we old maids, Klauschen, look at +such things more sharply. Soon some one will come and carry away your +darling, and then we too may sit here and have the dumps, my beloved +boy! What will become of us?" + +"_Some one_, aunt? You speak in riddles." + +"Well, since you are so dreadfully smitten with blindness, _mon cher_, +it is a Christian duty on my part to open your eyes. Do you not see the +girl's entirely altered manner? Have you never--But to what purpose is +all this? In short, Anna Maria loves Stürmer!" + +Another hearty laugh interrupted the old lady. But Anna Maria, with +closed eyes, leaned against the door-post; the ground seemed to give way +beneath her feet. + +"Kurt Stürmer? Uncle Stürmer? But, my dear aunt," cried the young man, +"he might almost be her father!" + +"Is that a hindrance, Klaus?" + +"No! I don't believe it, however. Shall we bet?" + +Anna Maria straightened up. She was on the point of going in and saying, +"Why do you argue? I do love him--yes! a thousand times, yes!" But she +stood still; her brother's voice sounded so strangely altered. + +"Aunt Rosamond, I _cannot_ believe it!" + +"Klaus! Have you not thought for a long time that it must happen some +day?" + +"Yes, yes! But--Ah! I have stood in fear of this hour, since the child +is the only one to whom my heart clings; you do not know how much, +perhaps, aunt!" + +"Klaus,"--the old lady's voice was melting with tenderness--"my dear old +lad, you are still young: why should there not be a happiness yet in +store for you? I have often told you you ought to marry." + +"Marry? You say that to me, aunt? and you know that I have been a +wretched being for years, because----" + +"But, Klaus, do you still think of that?" sounded the anxious voice of +the aunt. + +"Still?" he repeated ironically. "Am I not daily reminded of it? Do you +think, because I live so peacefully now and can join in a laugh, because +food and wine taste good to me--I see the tower of her family home +whenever I go to the window, I see Anna Maria, I cannot pass that fatal +spot in the garden without the words she then spoke reächoing in my +soul. I know them by heart, aunt, I have called and whispered them for +weeks in fever; and ever again her enchanting figure stands before my +eyes, and that sweet, beseeching tone rings in my ears, as seductive as +Satan himself: '_Put that obstinate, disagreeable child out of your +house; she interferes with our happiness!_'" + +He laughed scornfully. "And because I would not consent to that, and did +not break a promise given to my dying mother, then--she cast me off like +a garment that does not fit comfortably enough--then--then----" + +"Klaus! Klaus! for God's sake!" The anxious voice of the old lady +interrupted his speaking, which had risen to vehemence. + +But in the little room lay Anna Maria on her knees, her head almost +touching the floor. It had become still in the next room, except for the +sound of rapid steps as the young man paced the floor. + +"And now--yes, yes, it had to happen!" said he softly. "I am no egoist, +certainly not, but it will be unspeakably hard for me to give her up. +Oh, yes, I shall see her often. I can ride over any minute; she will +come to us too--certainly. But see, aunt--but I am a fool, really, a +fool! It is the way of the world, and I do not understand why I did not +see long ago that Stürmer is fond of Anna Maria; it is, indeed, so +natural. How good it is that I am prepared; not the slightest shadow +shall fall on Anna Maria's happiness. Your eyes ask that, Aunt Rose? No, +be quiet, be quiet!" + +Anna Maria remained motionless on the cold floor, leaning her head +against the door-post. She no longer understood what they were saying +in the next room; she kept hearing only that one dreadful speech: "Put +the child out of the house; she interferes with our happiness!" His +happiness! Klaus's happiness! She passed her cold hand over her +forehead, as if she must convince herself whether or not it was a dream. +No, no; she was awake, she could move her feet as well, she could walk +out of the little room, along the corridor, to her own room. + +Marieken was just coming along the passage. Anna Maria stopped, and bade +her say to Fräulein Rosamond that she was not coming to the table; she +had a headache, and wanted to be alone that evening. + +The girl looked in alarm at the pale face of her mistress. "Shall I call +Brockelmann?" she asked anxiously. + +Anna Maria made a negative gesture, and laid her hand on the door-knob, +and then turned her head. "Marieken!" + +The girl came back. + +"It is nothing--only go!" She then hastily turned away, and shut and +bolted her door at once. + +"She wishes to be alone with her thoughts," remarked Aunt Rosamond at +the supper table, where she and Klaus sat, right and left of the absent +one's place. Klaus did not reply at once, but looked at that place and +said at length: "So it will always be, soon!" And the old lady nodded +sadly; she knew not what to reply, and a secret anxiety about the future +stole over her, since she had seen that Klaus still bore the old wound +which he had received many years ago. She had supposed it healed long +since. + +The next morning Anna Maria went as usual, with her bunch of keys, +through kitchen and cellar. She was pale, and her orders sounded +shorter and less friendly than they had of late. Only to Klaus she gave +a friendly smile, but it was forced, and her eyes had no share in it. +She looked over accounts with him for two hours, and, though he was +distracted and restless, the results were perfectly correct. Aunt +Rosamond alone was alarmed at the girl's appearance, but she did not +venture to ask any questions. Anna Maria was as icily cold as often +heretofore. + +The next day, toward evening, Klaus came into Aunt Rosamond's room. The +old lady had just hung up Felix Leonhard's portrait again, after +carefully making fast the broken cord. + +"Well, who was right, Aunt Rose?" he asked. He was standing beside her, +and she saw that his face had grown very red, and that his whole being +was stirred. + +"Right? In what, Klaus?" + +"In your assertion about Anna Maria. She does not love him!" + +"Did she say so? Oh, well, it doesn't follow at all that a girl has +spoken the truth, if she says she does _not_ love a certain person, does +not even like him. I have experienced the contrary a hundred times; +those who talk so hide a warm affection under cold words." + +"Not this time, Aunt Rose. Anna Maria has definitely refused him!" + +The old lady sank, quite overcome, into the nearest chair. "Klaus! +_Est-il possible?_ Has he spoken already, then?" + +"Not to her, but to me, aunt. He came about five o'clock this afternoon; +Anna Maria was sitting at the window as he rode into the court, and she +got up at once and went to her room. Stürmer sent in word to me that he +wanted to speak to me alone; and then--truly, Aunt Rose, you do know how +to observe--then he said to me that he loved Anna Maria, that he thought +his affection was reciprocated, and other things that people usually say +on such occasions; he spoke of his age, and said that he would be not +only a husband but a father as well to Anna Maria. I assured him that I +had the deepest respect for him, which is quite true, and after about an +hour went to Anna Maria to get her answer. Her door was open; she was +sitting at her little sewing table by the window, looking out into the +garden; she held her New Testament in her hand, but laid it down as I +came near her. I thought she had been crying, and turned her face around +to me; but her eyes were dry and burning, and her forehead feverishly +hot. As I began to speak she turned her head to the window again and sat +motionless as a statue. I must have asked her certainly three times: +'Anna Maria, what shall I answer him? Will you do it yourself? Shall I +send him to you?' 'No, no!' she cried at length, 'don't send him! I +cannot see him; tell him that I--he must not be angry with me--I do not +love him! Klaus, I cannot go away from here! Let me stay with you!' And +then she sprang up, threw her arms about my neck, and stuck to me like a +bur; but her whole frame trembled, and I thought I could feel her hot +hands through my coat. After much persuasion, and promising that I would +never force her, I got her so far as to sit down quietly at last; but I +had to give the poor fellow his answer--and that was no trifling +matter!" + +"For God's sake, Klaus, what did Stürmer say?" + +"Not one word, aunt; I spared him all I could, but he grew as white as +the plaster on the wall. At last he asked: 'Can I speak to Anna Maria?' +I said, 'No,' in accordance with her wish; then he took up his hat and +whip, and bade me good-by as heartily as usual, to be sure, but the hand +he gave me trembled. Poor fellow! I do pity him!" + +"And Anna Maria?" + +"I cannot find her, aunt, either in the sitting-room or in her own +room." + + * * * * * + +At the farther end of the Hegewitz garden stood an old, very old linden; +the spot was somewhat elevated, and a turfy slope stretched down to the +budding privet-hedge which bounded the garden. Under the linden was a +sandstone bench, also old and weather beaten, and from here one could +look away out on the Mark country, far, far out over cornfields and +green meadows, dark pine forests and sandy patches of heath. + +There stood Anna Maria, looking toward the meadow on the other side of +the road, with its countless fresh mole-hills, and the wet road which +ran along beside the quiet little river, on whose banks the willows were +already growing yellow. How often of late had she stood here, how often +waited till a brown horse's head emerged from among the willows, and +then turned quickly and hurried into the house, for he must not see that +she was watching for him with all the longing of a warm, first love. And +_to-day_? She did not know herself how she had come hither, and she +looked blankly away into the mist of the spring evening as if she +neither saw the golden rays of the setting sun nor heard the shouting of +the village children in the distance. The air was intoxicatingly soft +and played gently with the black lace veil which had fallen from Anna +Maria's fair hair. She noticed it not. Then she quickly turned her head; +the breathing and step of a horse sounded along by the hedge: "Kurt +Stürmer!" she whispered, and started to go. But she stopped and saw him +come near, saw him ride away in the rosy evening; his eyes were cast +downward. How could he know who was looking after him with eyes almost +transfixed with burning pain? She stood there motionless, and looked +after him; the horse's tread sounded ominously in her ears as he stepped +upon the little bridge which united the Dambitz and Hegewitz fields, and +she still remained motionless after the willows had hidden the solitary +horseman from sight. + +Meanwhile the sunset glow had become deep crimson, and faded again; the +wind blew harder, and rocked the budding linden-boughs, and bore along +with it the sound of a maiden's voice; an old song floated past Anna +Maria out into the country: + + "I had better have died + Than have gained a love. + Ah, would I were not so sad!" + +Then she turned and ran along the damp garden path as if pursued; she +stood still by the fish-pond, so close to it that the water touched her +foot, and looked into the dark mirror. In these Marieken had sought +oblivion when she might not have her Gottlieb! Was it really such +madness, if one--? And Anna Maria stretched out her arms and sprang into +the little decaying boat by the bank. + +"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!" called a man's voice just then, through the +still garden. + +"Klaus!" she murmured, as if awakening; she tried to answer, but no +sound came from her lips. With a shudder, she climbed out of the +floating boat and turned her steps toward the house. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Spring had come again. Two years had passed since that evening. In Bütze +Manor-house there was a vaulted, out-of-the-way room, which was entered +by a low, small door at the end of a dark passage; the windows looked +out upon the garden. Tall trees forbade entrance to the light, which had +to seek admission through an artistic old lattice-work as well. This had +been the lumber-room from time immemorial. All sorts of things lay, +hung, and stood there, in perfect confusion. Old presses and chests, old +spinning-wheels with yellowed ivory decorations, and dark oil portraits +on which one could hardly detect the trace of a face; a huge bedstead +with heavy gilt knobs--a French general had slept on it in the year +nine, and the late Herr von Hegewitz had banished the bed to the +lumber-room as a desecrated object after that, for it had originally +been made to shelter a prince of the royal family for a night. The wings +of the gilded eagle who sat so proudly at the top were broken off, and +his beak held now only a shred of the crimson curtain, as the last +remnant of former splendor. Fine cobwebs reached from one piece of +furniture to another, and yellowish dust lay on the floor, a sign that +the wood-worm was undisturbed here. + +Here Anna Maria stood and looked about her, as if in search of +something. She scarcely knew herself just why she had come in here; she +had happened to go by, and then it had flashed across her mind that it +might be well to give the old lumber-room a breath of fresh spring air, +and she had taken the bunch of keys from her belt and come in. The young +linden leaves outside let one or two inquisitive sunbeams through the +window, and myriads of grains of dust floated up and down in them. It +was so quiet in the room, among the antique furniture. Anna Maria was +just in the mood for it; she sat down in an arm-chair and leaned her +head against the moth-eaten cushion, her eyes half-closed, her hands +folded in her lap. + +She felt so peaceful; the old furniture seemed to preach to her of the +perishable nature of man. Where were all the hands that had made it? the +eyes that had delighted in it? She thought how some time her +spinning-wheel, too, would stand here, and how many days and hours must +pass before strange hands would bring it here, as superfluous rubbish. +Strange hands! She felt a sudden fear. Strange hands! For centuries +Bütze had descended in direct line from father to son--and now? + +Anna Maria rose quickly and went to the window, as if to frighten away +unpleasant thoughts; the soft, mild spring air blew toward her and +reminded her of the most unhappy hour of her life, and again she turned +and walked quickly through the room. Then her foot struck against +something, and she saw the cradle, lightly rocking in front of her--the +heavy, gayly painted old cradle in which the Hegewitzes had had their +first slumber for more than two hundred years--Klaus too, and she too. +And Anna Maria knelt down and threw her arms about the little rocking +cradle, and kissed the glaring painted roses and cherubs, and a few +bitter tears flowed from under her lashes, the first that she had shed +since that day. + +"Why did I, too, have to lie there in the cradle? It might have been so +different, so much better," she thought. "Poor thing, you must decay and +fall to dust here, and at last irreverent hands will take you and throw +you into the fire. Poor Klaus! For my sake!" And almost tenderly she +wiped the dust from the arabesques on the back, and shook up the little +yellow pillows. + +Just then came the sound of a quick, manly step in the passage, and +before Anna Maria had time to rise, Klaus stood in the open door. + +"Do I find you here?" he asked in astonishment, and at first laughing, +then more serious, he looked at Anna Maria, who rose and came toward +him. + +"I wanted to let some fresh air in here, and found our old cradle, +Klaus," she said quietly. + +"Yes, Anna Maria--but you have been crying," he rejoined. + +"Oh, I was only thinking that it was quite unnecessary that the poor +thing should have been hunted up again for me!" The bitterness of her +heart pressed unconsciously to her lips to-day. + +"Anna Maria! What puts such thoughts into your head?" asked Klaus von +Hegewitz, in amazement. And drawing his sister to him, he stroked her +hair lovingly. "What should I do without you?" + +She made a slight convulsive movement, and freed herself from his arms. + +"But, listen, sister," he continued, "I know whence such feelings come. +You must become low-spirited in this old nest; you have no companions of +your own age, you withdraw more and more from every youthful pleasure, +and, although you think you can do without these things, you will have +to pay for it some day." + +Anna Maria shook her head. + +"Yes, yes!" he continued, stepping in front of the window, and his tall +figure obstructed the sunlight so that the room grew dark all at once. +"I have seen more of life, I know it. What should you think, Anna Maria, +if you--" He paused and drew a letter from his pocket. "I had better +read the letter to you. I was just looking for you, to talk with you +about it. Professor Mattoni is dead!" + +Anna Maria looked over to him sympathetically. Klaus had turned around +and was looking out of the window; the paper in his hand shook slightly. +She knew how deeply the news of this death touched him. Professor +Mattoni had been his tutor, had lived in Bütze for years, and the +pleasantest memories of his boyhood were connected with this man. As a +youth he had had in him a truly fatherly friend and adviser, and had +since visited him every year, in Berlin, where he held a position as +professor in the E---- Institute. + +Anna Maria took her brother's hand and pressed it silently. "Yet one +true friend less," she then said; "we shall soon be quite alone, Klaus!" + +"He was more than a friend to me, Anna Maria," he replied gently, "he +was a father to me." + +She nodded; she knew it well. "And the letter?" she asked. + +"A last request, almost illegible; he wishes that I should take charge +of his little daughter, till she--so he writes--till she is independent +enough to take up the battle of life." + +"His little daughter?" asked Anna Maria. "Had he still so young a +child?" + +"I am sorry to say," said Klaus, "that I know nothing at all of his +family affairs. He married late in life, and probably had every reason +for not presenting his better half: some said he picked her up somewhere +in Hungary; others, that she had been a chorus singer in one of the +inferior theatres in Berlin. I never spoke to him about it, and when I +went to his house I saw in his study no indications that any female +being presided there. I have never noticed anything on my frequent +visits to show that such a person lived with Mattoni, and remember just +once that while we were having a pleasant hour's chat, a child's cry +came from the next room, whereupon he got up and knocked emphatically on +the door. The screaming child was probably carried to a back room, for +it grew still next door, and we talked on. Then I once heard that his +wife was dead; I have never seen any outward tokens of affliction on +him, but the child seems to be alive." + +"And now, Klaus?" + +The tall man had turned, and was looking absently at the little wooden +cradle. + +"And now, Anna Maria? I owe him so much"--he spoke almost +imploringly--"may I impose such a burden upon you?" + +"Klaus, what a question! Of course! Please take the necessary steps at +once, and have the child come." + +"The child, Anna Maria? Why, I think she must have reached the limits of +childhood now!" + +"That doesn't matter, Klaus. Then I will instruct her in housekeeping, +and all sorts of things which she may find useful in her life." + +"I thank you sincerely, Anna Maria," he replied; "I hope you will take +pleasure in the girl." He said this with a sigh of relief, which did not +escape Anna Maria's ear. + +"You act exactly as if you had been afraid of me, Klaus," she remarked, +with a passing smile; "as if I should not always wish anything that +seemed desirable to you." + +"Just because I know that, Anna Maria," he said, grasping her hands +affectionately, "I wish, too, that you might do it gladly, that it might +be no sacrifice to you----" + +"I am really and truly glad the child is coming," she said honestly. And +so they stood opposite each other in the forsaken lumber-room; it was +now flooded with sunshine, and the two strong figures stood out from a +golden background. The shadows of the young leaves about the window +played lightly over them, and the call of the thrush echoed from the +woods far away without. + +"A sacrifice!" he had said, and yet they had each already made the +greatest sacrifice of which a human heart is capable, and each thought +it unknown to the other. And at their feet rocked the heavy cradle, +moved by Anna Maria's dress, and it rocked on, long after the two had +left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Thirty years had passed away, and on a stormy autumn evening a young +couple sat before a crackling fire, in Bütze Manor-house--she, a +slender, girlish figure, fair, with pleasant blue eyes; he, tall, or +seeming so from a certain delicacy of form, and also fair; but a pair of +bright brown eyes contrasted strangely with his light hair. + +Without, the wind was raging about the old house, as it had done many +years before, and sang of past times; now and then it set up a howl of +furious rage, and then sounded again in low, long-drawn, plaintive +tones, as if singing a long-forgotten love-song. + +The young wife in the comfortable easy-chair had been listening to it a +long time; now she said in a clear voice: + +"Klaus, this would be just the evening to read aloud the journal." + +He started up out of a deep revery. "What journal, my child!" + +"That little packet of papers that we found the other day, in rummaging +about in Aunt Rosamond's writing-desk." + +He nodded. "Yes, we will do it," he said, "it will be a bit of family +history, perhaps about my parents. I was just thinking how little I know +of them, and it makes me sad. Mother Anna Maria makes her account so +short and scanty, as if she did not like to talk about it, and whenever +she mentions her only brother her eyes grow moist. Come, sit down on the +sofa with me; I will get the papers." + +He rose, went to an old-fashioned desk, and took a little packet of +papers from the middle drawer. The young wife had meanwhile taken up a +bit of dainty needlework, and now they sat, side by side, on the sofa, +before the lamp, and he unfolded the sheets. + +"What a pretty old handwriting," he said. "See, Marie!" + +She nodded. "One can make quite a picture of the writer from +that--small, delicate, and good, as loving as the first words sound." + +"Yes," he replied, "she was good and kind. I remember her so distinctly +yet. She used to give me sugarplums and colored pictures, and at +Christmas she used to come as Knecht Ruprecht, and I should certainly +have been frightened if I had not recognized Aunt Rosamond by her voice +and limp." + +"Ah, but please read, Klaus," begged the young wife impatiently; and he +began obediently: + +"My dear Anna Maria has driven away again with little Klaus----" + +"That is you!" interrupted the young wife, laughing. + +He nodded; his fine eyes gleamed softly. "But now be still," he said; +"for Aunt Rosamond surely never thought such a disturber of the peace +would ever put her nose in here." + +"You bad man! Give me a kiss for that!" + +"That, too?" he sighed comically. "There, but be quiet now!" And he +began again: + +"My dear Anna Maria has driven away again with little Klaus. It has +become very quiet at Bütze, not a sound in the great house; even +Brockelmann is no longer heard, for since last winter she has taken to +wearing felt slippers. All the rooms down-stairs are shut up, and it is +melancholy. Anna Maria consoles me, to be sure, by saying that there +will be life enough here again when the child has grown large; but, dear +me, by that time I shall have long been lying in the garden yonder! Oh, +I wish I might live to hear merry voices ringing again through the house +at Bütze, and see the rooms down-stairs occupied; but I do not believe +it possible. Well, I must not allow myself to be overpowered by the +loneliness and tediousness about me; I sit at my desk and will try to +narrate the late events here, in regular order. So much has happened +here; the stories rush to my mind all confused, but I should like to +recall the past in proper order. + +"If I only knew how to begin! I have already cut three goose-quills to +pieces! I look out of the window, the trees are clad in the first green, +the sky is blue, only a dark line of cloud rising over the barn yonder. +It is warm and sultry, as before an approaching thunder-storm, and now +another spring day rises before my eyes, and now I know. + +"It was a ninth of May, just as damp and sultry as to-day. Anna Maria +came in to me. My room was up-stairs here then, on the same story, the +same big flowered furniture stood here, and I was the same infirm, +limping old creature, only fresher and brighter; I laughed more than any +one in the house in those days. I can see Anna Maria before me so +distinctly, as she stood there by the spinet in her every-day gray +dress, with a black taffeta apron over it, and the bunch of keys at her +belt. + +"'Aunt Rosamond, will you look at the room which I have been getting +ready for the child?' she asked, and I rose, and limped along beside her +down the hall as far as the large, dark room. I never could bear the +room, and to-day, as I entered it, it oppressed me like a nightmare. To +be sure, dazzling white pillows stood up beneath the green curtains of +the canopy, and a spray of elder on the toilet-table sent its fragrance +through the room; but neither this nor the sultry air which came in at +the window could improve the damp, cold atmosphere, or convey any degree +of comfort to the room. + +"'You ought to have had it warmed, Anna Maria,' said I, with a little +shiver, 'and had that unpleasant picture taken away.' And I pointed to +the half-length portrait of a young woman looking boldly and saucily +forth into the world, with a pair of sparkling black eyes, who was +called in the family the 'Mischief-maker.' According to an old, +half-forgotten story, she had come by her nickname from her black eyes +having been the cause of a duel between two Hegewitz brothers, in which +one was killed by his brother's hand. A Hegewitz herself, and lingering +at Bütze on a visit, she had deliberately married another man. How, +when, and where, it happened, the story did not tell; but her portrait +had remained at Bütze, and hung from time immemorial in this room. + +"'Ah! let the picture stay: the child does not know whom it represents,' +replied Anna Maria. 'I think it is quite comfortable and pleasant here, +Aunt Rosamond, with the view into the garden.' + +"Anna Maria had, literally, no idea of comfort, so her remark did not +surprise me. She lacked that charming feminine faculty of making all the +surroundings pleasing with a few flowers or a bit of graceful drapery. +'The poor thing,' thought I, 'coming from Berlin--to this dreary +solitude!' + +"Anna Maria had suddenly turned around to me, and her face, usually so +austere, was glowing with tenderness. 'Aunt Rosamond,' she said, 'do you +know, I am really glad the little Susanna Mattoni is coming!' + +"'And I am glad for you, Anna Maria,' I replied, 'for you need a +friend.' + +"'I need no friend,' she replied bluntly, 'and how could that young +thing be a companion for me? She is a child, a poor orphaned child, in +need of love, and I will--' She broke off, and a hot blush spread over +her face. + +"'You are still young yourself, Anna Maria,' I interposed, 'and I think +she must be seventeen years old.' + +"'Years do not make the age, Aunt Rosamond, but the soul, the nature, +the experiences. If God will, she shall find in me rather a mother, for +as a companion I am worth nothing. I should have to conform her to +myself--oh, never!' + +"I knew that Anna Maria's whole heart, usually so coldly closed, had +opened to receive a fatherless and motherless creature, to love it, in +her way, with all her might--in her way, indeed, and that was not +understood by every one. How much time have I spent in trying to fathom +that nature, which apparently lay open to every eye, against whose sharp +corners and angles almost every one ran, who had anything to do with +her. + +"'Has Klaus gone to meet your guest?' I asked. + +"'No, he rode out into the fields. Why should he?' she rejoined. 'Old +Maier drove away to S---- yesterday, and I think every second she must +come. I only hope it will be before the approaching thunder-storm +breaks!' + +"The unpleasant stillness before the threatening storm pervaded the +outside world. I went up to Anna Maria at the open window and looked at +the black clouds looming up in the horizon. My eyes roved beyond the +trees in the garden, out into the country; strangely near seemed the +dark forests and Dambitz with its clumsy tower. + +"'How near Dambitz looks,' I remarked, 'and it is really so far away.' + +"Anna Maria turned quickly. 'Very far,' she said listlessly. + +"'Stürmer still stays away,' I began, designedly. I felt compassion for +the man whom an incomprehensible whim of a girl had driven away into the +world, just when he had hoped to find a home and heart; I had once, for +the space of half an hour, imagined that she loved him. + +"I received no answer, but about the girl's lips there lay such an +expression of pride and defiant resolution that I resolved never to +mention that name again. She gazed fixedly at the dark clouds, and at +last said, in a wearily oppressed tone: 'Is not that the rumbling of a +carriage?' + +"'Perhaps the thunder,' I replied. But before we had closed the window +and I had looked around the room again, Brockelmann stood, with flushed +face, before Anna Maria. 'Gracious Fräulein, she is--they are here--God +in Heaven!' + +"'What is the matter?' asked Anna Maria. + +"'There are two of them, Fräulein, and queer enough she looks--the old +woman, I mean. And a thunder-storm like this is just the time for them +to come to the house in!' + +"The storm had indeed broken loose, with thunder and lightning, and +torrents of rain. The old woman made haste to light the candles on the +great mantel, for it was almost dark in the room. + +"'They are coming up-stairs already!' she cried, and hurried out, +leaving the door open. + +"Anna Maria had not interrupted the old woman by a word; it was not her +way to apprehend quickly a new turn of affairs. So she snuffed the +candles quite composedly and remained standing by the mantel, so as to +keep the door in sight. Her face was as cold and still again as usual, +and did not show the slightest trace of expectation or curiosity, nor +did it alter when in the door-way. But how shall I describe the young +creature who, as suddenly as in a fairy-tale, stepped over the +threshold? + +"There never was but one Susanna Mattoni! I do not know whether she +could be called a beauty; perhaps her sparkling brown eyes were too +large for that, too widely opened for the narrow face, the nose too +short, the lips too full, and the complexion too pale; but this I know, +that only by an effort I suppressed an exclamation of surprise, as she +stood there, so small and slight, in her closely-fitting black dress, as +if she had been charmed thither. Her light mantle had slipped from her +shoulders, and a pair of very slender hands had impetuously thrown back +the crape veil from her hat. It was evident that the young girl was in a +state of great excitement; her searching, anxious eyes rested on Anna +Maria's imposing figure, and then dropped to the floor in embarrassment; +she apparently did not know what to do now, and breathed timidly and +faintly. + +"'God bless your coming, Susanna Mattoni!' said Anna Maria, in her deep +voice; and she put her arm for a moment around the slender figure. 'May +Bütze please you as a temporary home!' There was an unwonted sympathy in +these words, and as she bent down to the stranger I had to smile at my +former opinion. Anna Maria needed no friend; young as she was, she stood +by Susanna Mattoni with the maternal dignity of a woman of forty. It +was remarkable how she utterly belied her youth in everything she did. + +"But at this moment it first became clear what Brockelmann had meant +when she spoke of two--of the old woman. At the threshold of the room +appeared the figure of a small, elderly woman, in a worn black silk +gown, a shawl embroidered in red and yellow over her shoulders, and an +ill-shaped hood of black crape on her head, from which a yellowish, +wrinkled face looked forth; a pair of small dark eyes darted like +lightning about the room; then she ran to Anna Maria, who was regarding +her in amazement, and with a theatrical gesture raised her clasped hands +to her. 'Oh, Mademoiselle, pardon my intrusion, but the child--I could +not part from Susanna!' + +"'Stop that!' commanded Anna Maria, decidedly disturbed. 'Who are you?' + +"The woman dropped her eyes and was silent. + +"'Fräulein Mattoni, who is the woman?' said Anna Maria, turning to the +young girl, who, it seemed to me, looked timidly at her companion. +Susanna was silent too. There was no sound but that of the rain beating +against the windows, and swaying the branches of the trees. Anna Maria +waited quietly a few minutes. + +"'I have been in Professor Mattoni's household since Susanna's birth,' +the old woman now began, 'and----' + +"'The child's nurse, then?' Anna Maria said, cutting off her speech. +'Very well, you may stay here twenty-four hours, and see how your +demoiselle is provided for. Brockelmann,' she ordered the old woman, +who, with a chambermaid, had just brought up a trunk that seemed as +light as a feather, 'make up a bed in the gray room for the woman. And +you, Susanna Mattoni, need to be alone after so long a journey. Make +yourself comfortable till supper-time; punctually at seven, I shall +expect you in the dining-room.' She took her basket of keys from the +mantel, and noticing me, motioned to Susanna and introduced her to me as +our future household companion. The little thing shyly kissed my hand, +and as I raised her chin a little to look at her face again, I saw that +tears were shining in the brown eyes. 'Heavens!' I thought as I went +out, 'how will this little princess get on here in that gloomy room, in +Anna Maria's chilling atmosphere?' I quietly patted the pale little +cheek, and followed my niece. Outside in the corridor we met Klaus, +dripping wet, having just dismounted from his horse. + +"'And so she is really here, then, the new accession to the family?' he +asked, giving himself a shake in his wet clothes. 'Well, what does she +look like, the little Berliner?' + +"I opened the door of my room, and the brother and sister entered. + +"'You will see her, Klaus,' replied Anna Maria. + +"'Right, little sister, that is true; I will change my clothes first of +all.' + +"'Yes, Klaus, but be quick: I would like to settle something with you +before you see the young lady at table.' + +"'Young lady? Whew!' rejoined the brother, and a disagreeable expression +lay for a moment on his kind, handsome face. 'Do you wish me to put on a +dress-coat, Anna Maria?' He laughed. + +"'Well, you will open your eyes, too, Klauschen,' thought I; and all at +once a thought came to me that fell like the weight of a mountain on my +soul, whether it would not be better if this Susanna Mattoni, together +with her black-eyed witch of a nurse, were a thousand miles away? + +"When Klaus and Anna Maria had gone, I stood still in the middle of the +room and said aloud, with a fierce conviction: 'The two children have +made an unpardonably stupid move; what will come of it?' And much came +of it! If the succession of sorrow, tears, and bitter hours that +followed Susanna Mattoni's little feet could have been foreseen on her +arrival, Anna Maria would have given not only the old woman, but Susanna +herself, no longer than twenty-four hours to stay in her house! + +"I was still standing on the same spot when the door flew open, and +Susanna's old companion entered. 'Gracious Fräulein,' she cried +anxiously, 'do come; the child--she is weeping, she is ill, she will +kill herself!' + +"The excited creature wrung her hands, and her whole frame trembled. I +limped across to the girl's room, again with the thought, 'What will +come of it?' Susanna was sitting, half undressed, at the toilet-table, +her dark hair falling loosely over a white dressing-sack; her face was +buried in her hands, and she was crying. The old woman rushed up to her: +'Darling, the kind lady is here; she will be good to us, she will let me +stay here, and will speak a good word to the Fräulein; please now, my +lamb, she surely will.' + +"Susanna Mattoni raised her head and dried the tears from her great +eyes; when she saw me she sprang up, and again I felt the magical charm +that surrounded the young creature. 'What is the matter, my child?' I +asked tenderly. + +"'You are very kind, Mademoiselle,' she answered; 'it is only the +strangeness and the long journey.' And she shivered with cold. + +"'Dress yourself quickly,' I advised her, 'there is a fire in the +dining-room, and the warm supper will do you good.' + +"The old woman seized a comb and drew it with evident pride through the +beautiful hair, and waited on the Professor's young daughter as if she +were really a princess. She talked meanwhile of her delicate +constitution and her nerves. I quite forgot going, and at that stood +still in amazement. Merciful Heaven! In old houses in the Mark 'nerves' +were not yet the fashion. What would Anna Maria say, what would----? + +"Anna Maria had spoken of having Susanna acquire the art of +housekeeping, so that in the future she might help herself through life +with her own hands. And here! a maid, nerves, the beauty of a _grande +dame_ with the little hands and feet of a child. + +"And now the old woman took from the trunk a little black dress, +evidently quite new, and trimmed with bows, flounces, and the Lord knows +what! Over the shining white neck she laid a black gauze fichu, which +she gracefully arranged on the bodice, and beneath the short skirts +peeped two shoes laced up with silk ribbons, such as scarcely ever +before glided over the old floors of Bütze Manor-house. Certainly the +old woman understood her business. Susanna Mattoni was, as she stood +there, the most charming girl I have ever seen, before or since, in my +long life. + +"'God help me, what will be the end of it?' I asked myself for the third +time, as the old woman broke off a white spray of elder, and placed it, +correctly and not without coquetry, in the fichu. + +"'But, my dear,' I said aloud, 'there is no company here this evening. +We eat to-day _en famille_, buckwheat groats with milk.' + +"But I got no answer; the busy lady's maid bent quickly to pull one or +two bows straight, and I glanced from Susanna--the color in whose cheeks +had mounted to a bright red--to the trunk, which looked suspiciously +empty after the taking out of the new dress. The old woman observed me, +and quickly shut the cover. 'The clock is striking seven,' she said; and +in fact, the weak, thin tone of the Bütze church-bell was heard just +seven times, and at once began the noisy sound of the servants' +supper-bell. + +"'Come,' said I to her, 'the servants' room is down-stairs.' + +"'Thank you,' she replied, with a look of refusal. 'I am not at all +hungry; but I would like to ask for some wood, for the child cannot +sleep in this damp atmosphere.' + +"I directed her to Brockelmann, and conducted Susanna Mattoni to the +dining-room. + +"Oh, I could paint the scene now! The four candles on the table vied +with the rosy twilight, and in the vaulted window-niche stood Klaus and +Anna Maria. He had put his arm around her, and had been saying some +kind, serious word--they never stood so near each other again! I seem to +see, at this moment, how they turned around toward me--how Klaus, full +of surprise, looked past me at the slender, girlish figure; how Anna +Maria was suddenly transfixed--and I could not blame either of them! I +have scarcely ever seen Susanna Mattoni more charming, more maidenly, +than at that moment, when she stood in embarrassment before the young +friend of her father. I wondered if she had imagined he was different. + +"A warm glow overspread her delicate face; Anna Maria blushed, too. I do +not know whether it was fear or anger that caused her to touch Klaus's +arm, as he stepped forward to say some words of welcome to Susanna. + +"'Please come to the table!' called Anna Maria. 'Here, Fräulein Mattoni, +beside Aunt Rosamond.' As we stood at our places she said, in a +strangely faltering voice, the old grace: 'The eyes of all wait upon +Thee, O Lord!' The 'Amen' almost stuck in her throat, and in the look +which she gave the young girl's dainty dress, and which fell with +especial sharpness on the white flowers, I saw what the clock had struck +for Anna Maria. It was almost amusing to me to compare the two girls, so +unlike, and to wonder whether the high-necked, gray woollen dress and +the dainty little silk gown would ever live side by side, without having +to make mutual concessions. + +"Klaus talked to Susanna, who sat opposite him. He touched upon the +subject of her deceased father, but gave it up at once when he saw the +great eyes fill with tears, which she bravely tried to swallow with the +strange buckwheat groats. A fresh egg, afterward, seemed to taste better +to her, but with a timorous smile she refused a glass of foaming brown +beer, and I am convinced that she rose unsatisfied from the table. + +"The candles were lighted in the sitting-room, and at the master's place +lay a plate of tobacco and a matchbox beside the newspaper. At Anna +Maria's place lay her knitting-work, and at mine spectacles and +Pompadour, just as Brockelmann arranged them every evening, except that +in winter Anna Maria had her spinning-wheel instead of her knitting. +To-night Klaus did not take his pipe from the shelf in the corner; +Susanna Mattoni's delicate form sank into his comfortable easy-chair, +and her small head nestled back in the cushions; but Klaus, like a true +cavalier, with a chivalry that became him admirably, sat on a stool +opposite her. + +"The conversation, in which Anna Maria joined but little, turned upon +Berlin. Susanna was well informed about her native city, and now +chattered charmingly and without embarrassment; her eyes shone, her +cheeks grew red, and a roguish dimple displayed itself every instant. +Now she was in the opera-house or theatre, in the Thiergarten or in +Charlottenburg; now she related anecdotes of the royal family. All this +came out in a confused jumble, and Klaus did not grow tired of asking +questions. The newspaper lay disregarded, and his pipe did not receive a +glance. + +"Anna Maria sat silent, and knit. At nine o'clock she broke into the +conversation. 'I think you must be tired, Fräulein Mattoni,' she said; +and one could perceive what an effort she made to speak kindly. 'We +usually retire about ten, but you need an extra hour's sleep to-night.' +And as Brockelmann appeared, in answer to the bell, the little thing, +with a certain astonishment in her eyes, said 'Good-night,' like an +obedient child. She turned around at the door, and asked, with a sweet, +imploring expression on her little face: 'May Isa sleep in my room?' + +"'A bed has been made up in another room for your companion,' replied +Anna Maria; 'you are surely not afraid? Brockelmann's room is next +door.' + +"Susanna did not reply, but made another exceedingly graceful courtesy +and vanished. + +"'Do let the old woman sleep with her,' said Klaus; 'think how forlorn +her first night in a strange house must be!' + +"But Anna Maria did not reply; she got her brother's pipe from the +shelf, and, smiling, pushed him into his easy-chair, and took up her +knitting again. + +"'There, Klaus, I beg of you, don't be so nonsensical in the future as +to sit on a footstool. That was very uncomfortable.' + +"'Sooner dead than impolite!' he replied good-humoredly. + +"'Everything in its time!' she rejoined. 'Susanna Mattoni is to be a +member of our household, and there is nothing so tiresome as formal +politeness and constraint. Susanna can sit on that stool just as well as +you.' + +"'_Bon_, Anna Maria! But now, what do you really think of her?' + +"'Since you ask me plainly, Klaus, I will answer you plainly. I say that +I expected to receive something different into the house.' + +"'So did I,' he rejoined laconically, drawing the first whiffs from his +pipe. + +"'And that if anything is to be made of the girl, the old woman must go +away to-morrow.' + +"'She is right,' thought I to myself, 'if it is only not too late!' + +"Klaus took up the newspaper. 'Well, Anna Maria, there may be something +to say about that by and by; but let her stay a week or two, so that she +may see how Fräulein Mattoni gets on.' + +"'Am I to bring up the girl or not?' Anna Maria interrupted, with a +roughness such as she had never before shown toward her brother. 'How is +this spoiled lady of fashion to learn to take care of herself and to use +her hands, if that person remains at her side, to put on her shoes and +stockings for her whenever it is possible, and turn her head with +flowers and frivolities? Twenty-four hours I have said, and not a +minute longer; two such totally different methods as hers and mine +cannot agree.' + +"Klaus looked in surprise at the excited face. 'You are right, Anna +Maria,' he said appeasingly. 'I am only afraid that this being will +never develop according to your mind. She seems to me----' + +"'Made of different material!' finished Anna Maria ironically. 'I tell +you, that will be no hindrance to me, in educating a girl whose calling +it is to make herself useful in the world; affected dolls, painted +cheeks, and theatrical pomp, I will not endure in my house!' + +"She had risen, and all the indignation which the old woman's skill at +the toilet had called forth now glowed on her red cheeks and shone from +her sparkling eyes. + +"Klaus laid down the newspaper which he had just taken up. 'I beg you, +Anna Maria,' he said, almost indignantly, 'cannot that be settled +quietly? The girl has only this minute come into the house, and is she +to make discord between us already?' + +"Anna Maria sat down again in silence, and took up her knitting. But +after a little while she rose hastily, tied a black lace scarf over her +fair hair, and went out. + +"Klaus followed her with his eyes. 'Aunt Rosamond, what is this?' he +asked, sighing. + +"'She expected something different, Klaus,' I said; 'it is a +disappointment.' + +"'The girl is charming, Aunt Rosamond. I can understand the Professor's +anxiety about her. But how will she get on with Anna Maria's energy? +There are not only hens and such useful creatures in the world, but the +good God has made birds of paradise as well!' + +"'Klauschen,' came from the depths of my heart, 'let the bird of +paradise fly away; it is not suited to your nest.' + +"'Never, Aunt Rosamond,' he replied quickly. 'I am bound by the last +wish of the man whom I loved best in the whole world!' He was red, and +his eyes shone moistly, and it struck me, at this moment, what a +handsome, stately man he was. + +"Brockelmann's entrance put an end to our conversation. She was hunting +for Anna Maria, and looked irritated: 'It is too provoking, master; the +old woman isn't suited with her bed, and means to sit up all night in +her young lady's room. And there is a fire there hot enough to roast an +ox, and that in May! She is doing some cooking, too; the whole room +smells of green tea.' Muttering away, she disappeared. + +"Klaus laughed aloud. 'Open rebellion, Aunt Rosamond! Do me a favor, and +look after these two strangers. Perhaps you will be able to point out to +the old woman that--well, that she can't stay here.' + +"This really seemed to me the best thing to do, and I went up-stairs. +Through the hall window I caught sight of Anna Maria in the damp, +moonlit garden; she was standing motionless, like a dark shadow, and +looking out toward the dusky country. 'Strange girl,' thought I; 'if an +ugly little creature in a patched dress had come to the house to-day, +she would have taken it to her heart, and kissed it--and now?' + +"As I entered Susanna's room without knocking, the old woman hastily +motioned to me to come softly, for her charge was asleep. She was +sitting in a high-backed chair by the bed, and, as I came nearer, rose +and drew aside the curtains for me to look at the girl. + +"There lay the young thing in the deep sleep of fatigue, breathing +softly and quietly, a smile on the red lips; the drooping lashes rested +like dark shadows on the child's pale cheeks. Her little night-dress, +trimmed with imitation lace and adorned with a profusion of bows, did +not look badly in the dim light which came from two candles and the +dying embers in the fire-place. The slender hands were folded, and the +dark hair lay loosely over the white pillow. Yes, she was charming, this +maiden in her sweet slumber. + +"'Is she not beautiful? Is she not lovely?' said the old woman's proud +smile. + +"I nodded. 'Poor little bird of paradise!' I thought, 'how your gay, +shining feathers will be plucked. Well for you if you do not miss them!' +And, bethinking myself of my promise to Klaus, I turned and beckoned to +the old woman. By the fire-place I overturned a little silver kettle and +a cup that were standing on the floor. Aha, the tea-making apparatus! On +the sofa lay the clothes which Susanna had worn to-day, in picturesque +disorder; one little shoe was on the floor, the other I noticed on the +dressing-table, and beside it hats, ribbons, and all sorts of frippery, +in the wildest confusion. + +"'Will you not put the things away in the wardrobes intended for them,' +I asked softly, 'so that Susanna can find them without your help?' + +"'She will not need to,' the old woman replied confidently, and looked +at me with a friendly grin. 'They surely cannot be so cruel as to +separate us.' + +"'Certainly, my dear, you will leave the house to-morrow, and Susanna +Mattoni will remain under our protection, as her father was promised. +There was nothing said about you in this matter.' + +"'Then give me a rope at once,' whispered the old woman passionately, +'that I may hang myself on the nearest limb! What am I to do, then? +Where shall I go? I had a foreboding as we drove through the gate that +ill-luck awaited me!' + +"'My niece will surely allow you to visit your former charge from time +to time,' I said, to console her. + +"'And what is to become of her?' she asked, pointing to the sleeping +girl. 'She is not accustomed to be without me for a moment! No, no, I am +not going; I cannot go. If this young lady has no sympathy, surely the +kind gentleman will have, who used to come so often to the Professor. +Where is he? I will beg him on my knees, I will beg him to let me stay +here.' + +"'Listen, my friend,' I said earnestly, and took hold of the flowing +silk sleeves of her dress. 'It will be for your young lady's best good +if you are parted from her. This much I know, that Professor Mattoni has +left the girl quite without means, and it is now high time she learned +to put on her shoes and stockings alone. A poor demoiselle, of citizen's +rank, needs no lady's maid. She must learn to work and to make herself +useful.' + +"'Oh, Heaven!' sobbed the little dried-up woman, 'I thought she was to +be a guest in this house, and you will make a servant of her.' + +"A harsh answer was at my tongue's end. Had her tenderness for the girl +made this woman perfectly crazy? At any rate, she was not to be reasoned +with. 'Go down-stairs,' said I, in vexation, 'and carry your complaint +to the master. He will know better, at least, how to make you comprehend +what sort of a position Susanna Mattoni is to occupy here.' + +"She dried her tears, seized a candle, and flew to the mirror, bustled +about with comb and brush, and spread over her yellow face something +from various little jars. I began to feel a real horror of the old +woman, with her artifices. Now she tied her cap-strings afresh, pulled +from the trunk a lace-edged handkerchief, and holding it theatrically in +her hand, said she was ready to pay her respects to the master. + +"'Were you formerly on the stage?' I asked, wondering at her red, full +cheeks. + +"'For ten years, Mademoiselle!' she replied; 'I played the gay, her +mother'--she pointed to Susanna--'the tragic lovers. Oh, it was +glorious, that acting together!' + +"What she further related I did not understand. 'Merciful Heaven!' I +faltered, as I opened the door softly and showed her out into the hall, +'what has Klaus brought upon us, in his kind-heartedness?' + +"I sat still by the girl's bed, and looked at the young face. God only +knew in what slough this fair flower had grown! It was clear that the +old woman must go away, if anything was ever to be made of the girl; +please God it might not be too late! + +"The light from the candles scarcely sufficed to light up the nearest +objects. Dense obscurity lay in the corners, but the oil-portrait of the +Mischief-maker was feebly illuminated, and her black eyes seemed to give +me a demoniacal look. A vague fear came over me; involuntarily I folded +my hands in prayer: 'O Lord, Thy ways are wonderful! Lead us gently, let +not the peace go out from us that has dwelt so long beneath this roof, +let no second Mischief-maker have crossed this threshold, preserve the +old, sacred bond between Klaus and Anna Maria. Amen!' + +"At this moment the door opened and the old actress came back. She did +not deign to look at me, but knelt down by the bed, laid her head on the +pillow, and began to weep bitterly. + +"'Isa! Isa!' murmured Susanna in her sleep. The old woman raised her +head and pressed the dark hair to her lips. + +"'I am going, Mademoiselle,' she whispered to me; 'no one has a heart +here in this house. But if a hair of her head is hurt, or a tear falls +from her eyes, I--I--' She gasped out a few words more, and threw +herself down again beside the bed. + +"'When shall you leave?' I asked. + +"'Early in the morning,' she replied, in a lifeless tone. + +"'Then lie down now, and go to sleep,' I said, pointing to the sofa, and +prepared to leave the room. + +"'Oh, Mademoiselle!' She sprang up and held me fast. 'Promise me you +will be kind to Susanna, you will speak a kind word to her if she +cries!' + +"'Certainly, as far as I can; but she will receive only kindness from +every one here.' + +"'Not from the blonde lady,' she said. 'She is a girl without a heart; +perhaps she never had one, perhaps it is dead. She does not know what +youth, beauty, and love are. She never laughs. I notice that people who +cannot laugh are envious of every being that can be happy, that pleases +others by its charm; she will never love Susanna!' + +"She spoke pathetically and theatrically, yet a tone of deep pain rang +through her words. + +"'Life is so serious,' I returned. + +"'But laughing, cheerfulness, beauty are the air she breathes,' began +the strange person again. + +"'I promise you to look after the child,' said I, about to go; but in +vain. She held me by the dress, and begged me to hear first, for God's +sake, that it was not tyranny or arbitrary choice that bound her to the +child, but a sacred promise. And whether I would or not, I had to +listen to a story which the old woman delivered as if she were on the +stage, and which, in spite of the whispered tone in which it was given, +was, by means of gestures and rolling of the eyes, a perfect specimen of +high mimic art. I could not now repeat the words as they came from the +lips of the old actress, but only know now that she contrived to +announce that she was just forty years old and had been very beautiful. +The old song came into my head, which a poet puts into the mouth of his +old harpist: + + "'I once was young and fair, + But my beauty's gone--ah, where? + On my cheeks were roses red, + And bright curls upon my head. + When I was young and fair! + When I was young and fair!' + +"I did not dispute her pretended forty years, and she now unrolled +before my eyes a phase of life so varied and irregular, and yet again so +full of the poetry of a vagabond existence, that Father Goethe would +surely have been glad to have it to insert in 'Wilhelm Meister.' To make +a short story of it, Professor Mattoni had really loved _her_, when, in +consequence of a mood, to her inexplicable, he transferred his affection +to her fellow-actress. 'I was senseless from pain, Mademoiselle,' she +threw in, 'but I governed myself. I became the most indispensable friend +of Mattoni's young wife.' + +"She now described this person as a dreamy creature, beautiful as a +picture but quite uneducated; and the Professor, as an imperious man, +who, when he failed to find in his wife the companionship of his soul's +creation, treated her worse than a servant-maid. '_En vérité_, +Mademoiselle, she was stupid; the thickest wall would have--' And she +made a gesture, as if to test with _her_ head whether the walls at +Bütze were a match for it. 'Oh, the men, even the wisest and best of +them are blinded when they love, Mademoiselle! He had received his +punishment for his breach of faith toward me.' + +"Then followed a description of the Mattoni household, in which Isabella +Pfannenschmidt, as my informant was called, heartily interested herself. +She became housekeeper for Frau Mattoni, who read novels all day long or +played with her cat. The women lived in a little back room, and the +Professor occupied two rooms as formerly. They received from him such +scanty means of support that often they knew not how to satisfy their +hunger. The troupe with which Isabella Pfannenschmidt had an engagement +went away from Berlin, but she could not go with them: 'for, +Mademoiselle, she and the child would have perished in dirt and misery; +she was a person who would go hungry if food were not put right under +her nose, rather than get up from her lazy position on the sofa, and the +Professor took all his meals at a restaurant. He did not want people to +find out that he had a wife and child, anyway. We dared not stir if any +one was with him. Susanna's first frock was made from a cast-off red +velvet dress, cut over, in which her mother once used to play queens. +The father never looked at the charming child till his wife had closed +her dreamy eyes forever. Then, as he went up to her bier, and his child +reached out her little hand after the few scanty flowers I had bought +with my last penny, he was first shaken out of the stupidity of the last +few years. He knelt down with the child and prayed God to forgive him +his wrong-doing! Well, good intentions are cheap, to be sure! He did +give somewhat more for our household expenses, and I was enabled to +dress Susanna so we could show ourselves publicly without attracting +attention; he even let her have lessons, and she learned bravely. He +never inquired for me, and yet I have remained true to him all these +long years; it was as if my care and work were a matter of course. He +had no longer a look for me, the past seemed to be wiped out from his +memory; and yet I have passed my youth in sorrow for his sake, I have +taken care of his wife and child, and now--now she is taken from me! +What have I done to deserve this?' + +"I was truly sorry for the little weeping woman, though the facts as to +her age and former beauty might be somewhat different, and though her +statement that he once had loved her might not be strictly true; at any +rate, she had loved him as truly as a poor, weak woman's heart can love. +For his sake she had loved his child, and without a murmur suffered want +and hunger for her sake. And now he repaid her by taking the child away +from her. Poor Isabella Pfannenschmidt, you have lived in vain! The +flame which burns in your heart shines forth triumphantly over all the +theatrical trumpery and baubles clinging to you, poor old Isabella! And +yet it would be a pity for this child to have to breathe in that dusty, +paint-scented atmosphere any longer. No, Isabella, you must go, though +the heart of the once gay actress break over it. + +"'Susanna will always be fond of you,' I comforted her, 'and never +forget what you have done for her.' + +"'Oh, that she will--that she will! She has her father's nature,' sobbed +the old woman; 'she will forget me, and, what's more, she will be +ashamed of me.' + +"'You make a sad exposure of the child's heart, my dear,' said I +reprovingly. + +"She started up. 'Oh, no, no! she really is good.' she murmured, 'very +good. And,' she continued, 'I shall not go very far away either, only to +the nearest town. What should I do in Berlin? I should die of longing. I +will hire a room in S---- and sew for money; I can embroider well, with +colored wool and gold thread. And if the longing becomes too great, I +can run up the highway, and if need be up here, to look at the house +where she lives.' + +"And now she began, amid streaming tears, to pick out one after another +of the garments lying around, and to lay them in a white cloth, and in +so doing caught up the little shoe on the table, and pressed the narrow +sole to her cheek. + +"'Don't forget the little jar of paint,' I whispered, in spite of my +sympathy. + +"She shook her head. 'No, no, I shall pack up everything. I will do it +at once, for if she wakes I cannot say good-by. I shall go before +daybreak.' + +"I held out my hand to her, for I was sorry for her. 'Go away easy; the +child is well off here--and may the thought console you, that it is for +Susanna's best good.' I went out, and as I turned again, in closing the +door, I saw in the dim light the little gypsy-like creature sitting on +the floor, amid all her rubbish and trumpery, and weeping, her face +buried in her hands." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +"My first inquiry the next morning was for the old woman. She was gone, +I learned, and the Fräulein was already with the stranger in her room. +'Anna Maria's education is beginning,' I said with a sigh, and ate my +rye porridge less cheerfully than usual. Yesterday lay behind me like a +confused dream, and Susanna's presence in the house oppressed me with +the weight of a mountain. Soon I heard Anna Maria's metallic voice in +the corridor; she was speaking French, so speaking to Susanna at all +events. I caught only a few disconnected words, before she knocked at my +door, and came into the room with the young girl. + +"'We wish to say good-morning to you, aunt,' she began pleasantly. I +gave a searching glance at Susanna; a pair of great tears still hung on +her lashes, but the laugh--which was her element--lay hidden in the +dimples of her cheeks and shone from her beautiful eyes, as if only +waiting an opportunity to break forth. + +"She wore her black travelling-dress of yesterday, but Anna Maria had +tied a woollen wrap about her shoulders. In spite of that, the sight of +her was like a ray of sunshine. + +"'I would like to ask, Aunt Rosamond,' said Anna Maria, 'if you have +some little duty for Susanna, and beg you to let her profit, in the +future, by your skill in needlework. I have been examining her--she can +do nothing!' + +"'Certainly, Anna Maria!' I was glad to have, in a certain degree, a +slight claim on the girl. 'Do you like knitting, Susanna?' I asked. + +"She laughed and shook her head. 'Oh, no, no! I grow dizzy when I see +knitting always round and round.' + +"Anna Maria did not seem to hear this answer. 'Fräulein von Hegewitz +will teach you netting and plain knitting,' she said; 'with me you shall +learn to understand the mysteries of housekeeping. And now we will have +breakfast, and then begin at once. Klaus has been in the field for a +long time already,' she added; 'the first grass is to be cut to-day.' + +"And they went. Susanna tripped along, with hanging head, behind Anna +Maria. 'Is she pursuing the right method with this child?' I wondered. +'With her energy she will destroy all at once, all the results of former +education; but it surely is not possible. God help her to the right +way!' + +"Later, as I was taking my walk through the garden, I saw Susanna coming +along by the pond; she did not walk, she actually flew, with +outstretched arms, as if she would press to her heart the green tops of +the old trees, the golden sunshine, and all the birds singing so +jubilantly to-day, and all nature. Her short skirts were flying, the +woollen wrap had disappeared, and her white shoulders emerged like wax +from the deep black of her dress. Indescribably charming she looked, +thus rushing along; she must have escaped somehow from Anna Maria. Close +by my hiding-place she stood still, and looked up at the blue sky; then, +singing lightly, she stooped, picked a narcissus and fastened the white +flowers in her bosom, and then put her hand into her dress pocket, and +drew out something which she put quickly into her mouth, but which did +not interfere with her singing, for now as she went on she trilled the +words: + + 'Batti, batti, o bel Masetto + la tua povera Zerlina.' + +"I followed her slowly, and observed lying in the path a little object +wrapped in white paper, which she had evidently lost. 'A bonbon! Well, +that is the height of folly!' said I, taking it up in vexation. 'One +could not expect anything different from such bringing up.' And as I +unwrapped the thing, I found in it a French motto, a more sugary and +frivolous one than which could scarcely have been composed in the time +of Louis XIV., supposing that bonbon mottoes were known at that time. +'If Anna Maria knew of this, with her pure, maidenly mind!' I thought, +shaking my head. 'Oh, Klaus, for my part, I wish your bird of paradise +were in the moon, at any rate not here.' I overtook her at the next turn +of the path, where there was a red thorn in the splendor of full bloom; +it bent its branches almost humbly under this superabundance of rosy +adornment, at which Susanna was looking admiringly. + +"'Oh, how charming!' she cried, as she saw me. 'Oh, how wonderfully +beautiful!' And the purest joy shone from her eyes. How did that accord +with the bonbon motto? + +"In that moment I resolved not to lose confidence in the girl's +character, and at every opportunity to help lift the young spirit into +higher regions. I have honestly striven to fulfil this promise. I may +testify to it to myself--not so violently, not in so dictatorial and +severe a manner as Anna Maria did I proceed; not like Klaus either. Ah, +me--Klaus! Those first eight weeks in general! Ah, if I only knew how to +describe the time which now followed! There is so little to say, and yet +such an immense change was brought about in our house. + +"Whether Susanna Mattoni ever missed her old nurse, I did not know. When +she awoke on that first morning and found Anna Maria by her bed instead +of the little actress, to inform her that the latter had left the house, +great tears had streamed from her eyes. Anna Maria had said: 'Be +reasonable, Susanna, and do not make a request that I cannot grant.' And +Susanna had replied, with an inimitable mingling of childishness and +pride: 'Have no fear, Fräulein von Hegewitz, I never ask a second time!' + +"Anna Maria told me about it later, years afterward. Indeed, there was +no slight amount of pride in that little head. + +"Anna Maria began the practical education with the thoroughness peculiar +to her in everything. With her iron constitution, her need of bodily +activity, she had no suspicion that there were people in the world for +whom such activity might be too much. Susanna had to go through kitchen +and cellar, Susanna was initiated into the mysteries of the great +washing, and Susanna drove with her, afternoons, in the burning heat +into the fields, in order to explore the agricultural botany. Anna +Maria's face showed a glimmer of happiness; she now had some one to whom +she was indispensable, so she thought. + +"And Klaus? Klaus had never in his life sat so constantly in his room as +now; he went into the garden-parlor seldom or never, and only at +mealtimes came to look into the sitting-room or out on the terrace. And +then his eyes would rest on Susanna with a strange expression, anxiously +and compassionately it seemed to me. He said not a word against Anna +Maria's management. + +"'Aunt Rosamond,' the latter said sadly to me one day, 'I fear Susanna's +being here is a burden to Klaus; he is quiet, depressed, and not at all +as he used to be.' + +"'Why _that_ cause, Anna Maria?' said I. 'Klaus does seem out of humor, +that is true, but may it not be something else? Farmers have a new cause +for vexation every day, and are never at a loss for one.' + +"'Ah, no, Aunt Rosamond!' she replied. 'There has not been the prospect +of such a harvest for years; it is a pleasure to go through the fields.' + +"And Susanna, the breath of whose life was laughing? She wandered about +like a dreamer. How often, when she sat opposite me in the sewing-room, +her hands dropped in her lap, and she went to sleep, like an overweary +child. And I let her sleep, for on the pale little face the marks of the +unwonted manner of life were only too perceptible. Once Klaus came into +the room, as she sat there, fallen asleep, like little Princess +Domröschen, only, instead of the spindle, the netting-needle in her +hand. He came nearer on tip-toe, and looked at her, his arms at his +sides. Then he asked softly: + +"'Do you not think she looks wretchedly, aunt?' + +"'The altered mode of life, Klaus,' I answered, 'the strange food, +the----' + +"'Say the over-exertion, aunt,' he broke in; 'that would be nearer the +truth. Poor little one!' + +"'Why do you not say so to Anna Maria, Klaus? I, too, think that too +much is required in this early rising and continually being on the +feet.' + +"He grew very red, bit his lips, and shrugged his shoulders in place of +an answer, and left me before I had time to speak further. + +"Susanna, moreover, never uttered a word of complaint; but it would +happen that Anna Maria had to seek her, seek for hours without finding +her, and that Klaus very quietly remarked, 'She must have run away!' But +she would appear again suddenly, with bright eyes and red cheeks, to be +sure; she had gone astray in the wood, she said, or gone to sleep in the +garden. Sometimes she would shut herself into her dull room, and open +the door to no knocks. Once, as she pulled her handkerchief quickly out +of her pocket, a paper of bonbons fell to the floor. Anna Maria, who +despised all sweetmeats, confiscated it at once; I can still see the +look of punishment she gave the blushing girl. We were all sitting on +the terrace, just after supper; Klaus had been reading aloud from the +newspaper, and this was usually a moment when Susanna waked from her +dreaming; her shining eyes were fixed on Klaus, and a rosy gleam spread +over the pale face. Klaus held the good old 'Tante Voss,' and read aloud +every little story which alluded to Berlin; that habit was now quietly +introduced, whereas he had formerly read only certain political news, +that he might talk about it with Anna Maria. + +"The falling bonbon package broke right into a report from the +opera-house, where Sontag had sung with wild applause. Klaus let the +paper drop, observed Anna Maria's look and the gesture with which she +laid the unlucky package beside her, and saw Susanna's confusion. + +"'Show me the package, Anna Maria,' he asked; and unwrapping one of the +bonbons in colored paper, he said, 'Ah! these are miserable things +indeed; they must taste splendidly!' He smiled as he said this, and the +smile put Susanna beside herself. + +"'I--I do not eat them at all!' she cried, 'I only have them for the +little children who come to the fence there below; they are pleased with +them, I know, for nothing was more beautiful to me when I was a child +than a bonbon!' + +"She said this so touchingly and childishly, in spite of her excitement, +that Klaus begged for her hand as if in atonement. + +"'Susanna, you might poison the village children with this bad stuff. I +will get some other bonbons for you that will taste good to you +yourself.' + +"Anna Maria rose, apparently indifferent, put the dish of fragrant +strawberries which she had been hulling for preserving on the great +stone table, and went slowly down the steps into the garden. When she +came up again, an hour had passed, and the moon appeared over the gabled +roof and shone brightly into her proud face. + +"'Where is Susanna?' she asked. The child had just gone down to the +garden, and Klaus was smoking a pipe in peace of mind. She seated +herself quietly in her place and looked out over the moonlit tree-tops +into the warm summer night. Then she said suddenly: + +"'May I say something to you, Klaus?' + +"'Certainly, Anna Maria,' he replied. + +"'Then do not give Susanna any bonbons; that is, do not contradict me so +directly when I have occasion to reprove her.' + +"Klaus sat bolt upright in his wooden chair. 'Anna Maria,' he began, 'I +don't think you can complain of my having found fault with or revoked +any regulation of yours with regard to Fräulein Mattoni; although'--he +stopped, and knocked the ashes from his pipe against the flagstones. + +"'Did I do anything with Susanna which displeased you?' she asked. + +"But she got no answer, for just then the subject of discussion flew up +the steps, and sat down again, modestly, in her place. Anna Maria rose, +took a shawl from her shoulders, and wrapped it about the girl who was +breathing very fast. 'You are heated, Susanna, you might take cold.' +Klaus now smoked the faster, and on saying good-night held out both +hands to Anna Maria; but she placed hers in them only lightly. + +"Ah, yes, the first omens, slight and scarcely noticeable! Perhaps they +would have escaped my eyes if I had not had, from the very first, a +foreboding of coming evil. I do not know if Susanna received the +promised bonbons. Probably not; and after that episode everything went +on in the usual course, until there came a day full of unforeseen +events, full of developments, which placed us all at once in the most +dreadful entanglements. + +"It was an oppressively hot day, just in the middle of the harvesting. +In the court-yard and in the house a veritable deathly stillness +reigned, and not even a leaf on the trees stirred under the scorching +midday sun. I sat in one of the deep window-niches of the great hall +which lies on the garden side of the house and opens out on the terrace. +Here it was endurable, for the heat could not easily penetrate the thick +walls, and the tall elms which shaded the terrace, and the wild-grape +which covered it with its luxurious festoons, made a cool, green, dim +light. Even now the garden-parlor is my favorite retreat during the warm +weather. At that time, however, there was no carved-oak furniture here, +nor was there a gay mosaic pavement on the terrace; the white varnished +chairs and the couches covered with red-flowered chintz answered the +same purpose, as did the worn old sandstone flags with which the terrace +was paved, in whose crevices grass and all sorts of weeds sprung up +picturesquely; and the heavy gray sandstone railing had quite as feudal +a look as the artistic wrought-iron balustrade there now, and, to tell +the truth, pleased me better. Some of us have such an affection to the +old things; but that is pardonable, I think. + +"So I was sitting in the garden-parlor, and growing a little dreamy, as +I still like to do, and listening abstractedly to Anna Maria's voice as +she went over her accounts, half aloud, in the sitting-room close by. +Klaus was in the fields again, for the first wheat was to be brought in +to-day, and I was waiting for Susanna to come for a sewing lesson, but +in vain. She must be asleep, I thought, half content to think so, for +the heat fairly paralyzed my will-power. And so a long time passed, till +a heavy step sounded on the stone flags outside, and immediately after +Klaus, dusty and red with heat, came in and threw himself wearily into +the nearest chair. + +"'Where is Susanna?' he asked, wiping his hot forehead with his +handkerchief. + +"'She is sleeping, probably,' I replied. + +"'Are you sure of that, Aunt Rosamond?' + +"'No, Klaus, but I think it may be assumed with tolerable certainty. I +know her.' + +"'It is strange,' he remarked; 'I could have sworn I saw her vanish in +the Darnbitz pines a little while ago.' + +"'For Heaven's sake!' I cried incredulously. 'Impossible! in this heat! +It is half an hour's walk from here!' + +"'So I said to myself; but the gait, all the motions, the small, +black-robed figure--indeed, I rode across the field at once, but of +course nothing was to be heard or seen then.' + +"'I will wager she is sleeping quietly up-stairs in her canopied bed, or +staring at the "Mischief-maker,"' said I jestingly. + +"'And now, aunt,' began Klaus again, 'I have a piece of news which will +please you as it has me; but I do not know if Anna Maria--But then, it +is nearly three years since that painful affair!' + +"As he spoke he took a letter from the pocket of his linen coat, and +looking at it said: 'Stürmer is back again, indeed has been for two +weeks; I do not understand----' + +"At that instant something fell clattering to the floor, and in the +door-way stood Anna Maria, white as a corpse. In questioning alarm her +eyes were fixed on Klaus's lips. I had never seen the strong-willed girl +thus. Klaus sprang up and went toward her; I heard her say only the one +word 'Stürmer.' + +"'He is here, Anna Maria,' replied her brother; 'does that startle you +so?' + +"She shook her head, but her looks belied her. + +"'I have just received this note,' continued Klaus, and he read as +follows: + + "'MY DEAR OLD FRIEND: + + "'I landed here again two weeks ago, for the longing for home + finally overcame me; and when one has wandered about for three + years, it is time, for various reasons, to return to the + ancestral home. I come from--but I will tell you all that when + I see you. I have already been twice before your door, to say + good-day, but--I am meanwhile of the opinion that the past + should not interfere with our old friendly relations. I + certainly came off conqueror! It will not be hard for Anna + Maria to receive an old friend, which I have never ceased to + be, and which I shall always endeavor to remain. May I come, + then? To-morrow morning, after church, I had intended to make a + call, if you permit it. My compliments to the ladies. + + "'Ever yours, + + "'EDWIN STÜRMER.' + +"A deep pink flush had mounted to Anna Maria's cheeks as he read, and at +the words 'I certainly came off conqueror! It will not be hard for Anna +Maria to receive an old friend,' there was a quiver of pain on her +delicate lips. When Klaus finished, she had quite recovered her +self-possession. 'I shall be glad to see Edwin Stürmer again,' she said +clearly; 'ask him to eat a plate of soup with us.' + +"'That is lovely of you, Anna Maria!' cried Klaus, rejoiced. 'The poor +fellow has gotten over it, it is to be hoped; meeting again for the +first time is naturally somewhat painful, but you have done nothing so +bad. How could you help it that he loves you, and you not him? Splendid +old fellow, he----' + +"Anna Maria's eyes wandered with a strange expression over the green +trees outside; she kept her lips tightly closed, as if making an effort +to repress a cry, and was still standing thus when Klaus sat down at the +writing table near by, to answer Stürmer's note. + +"'Where is Susanna?' she asked at last. + +"'She must be asleep,' I replied. + +"She turned and left the room. + +"'Klaus,' I said, going up to him, 'it seems to me a dangerous +experiment for Stürmer to return here.' + +"'Why, aunt?' he asked; 'Anna Maria certainly does not love him; and he? +Bah! If he were not sure of his heart, he would not come; he simply +declares himself cured!' + +"'Are you so sure that Anna Maria does not love him?' + +"He looked at me, as if to read in my face whether or no I had lost my +senses. 'I don't understand that, aunt,' he replied, shaking his head. +'If she loves him she would have married him; there was nothing in the +world to hinder. For Heaven's sake, aunt, don't see any ghosts. I am so +inexpressibly glad to have a man again in the neighborhood with whom one +can talk about something besides the harvest and the weather.' + +"Yes, yes! He was right, of course. I did not know myself at that moment +how the thought had really come to me. + +"And Klaus rode into the field again, and I sat waiting for Susanna; +round about, the deepest silence, only a couple of flies buzzing about +on the window-panes; an hour slipped away, and yet another. Why, why, +the hands of the clock were pointing all at once at half-past six; I had +had a nap, as ailing old maids have a right to do occasionally. The +sinking sun was now peeping, deep golden, through the trees; one such +impertinent ray had waked me. Had Susanna been here? I rose and went to +my room, and then across to Susanna's: it was impossible that she should +still be sleeping. + +"No, the room was empty. The sun flooded it for a moment with a crimson +light, and made it seem almost cosey; or was it the bunches of flowers +all about on the tables and stands? Even the 'Mischief-maker' had a +garland of corn-flowers hung over the frame, and a sunbeam falling +obliquely on her full lips lit them up with a crimson light. No trace of +Susanna; her black gauze fichu lay on the floor in the middle of the +room; on the sofa, half-hidden in the cushions, was a note. I drew it +out--old maids are allowed to be curious--and my eyes fell on a bold +handwriting which, to my surprise, read as follows: + +"'Three o'clock this afternoon, in the Dambitz pines!' + +"How every possibility whirled through my head then! Klaus had seen +aright! But who, for Heaven's sake, had written this? With whom had +Susanna a meeting there! I thought and thought, and all manner of +strange ideas arose in my mind, and Susanna did not come; she had never +stayed away so long before. The supper-bell rang, and we three sat alone +again at the table, for the first time in a long while, and worried +about the girl. All the servants were questioned, and two lads sent +along the Dambitz road. + +"I did not know if I ought to speak of the letter. I should have liked +to speak first to Susanna alone; so I decided to wait and not cause any +further disturbance. Anna Maria was noticeably indifferent, and thought +Susanna would certainly come soon, she had probably gone to sleep in the +wood. But she must have felt an inward anxiety, for her hands trembled +and her face was flushed with excitement. + +"Klaus rose without having tasted anything. After a little we heard +again the sound of horse's hoofs on the pavement of the court; he was +riding out then to search for the missing one. Anna Maria mechanically +gave her orders for next day, and I walked alone through the dusky paths +in the garden. It was an unusually warm August evening; the moon was +rising in the east, the steel-blue sky above was cloudless, and from the +wood there came a light, refreshing breath of air. From the court came +the sound of men and maids singing, as they made merry after the hot +day's work. Ah! how many, many such evenings had I known here, and this +one brought back to me a precious memory of my youth, with all its +pleasure and all its suffering. Every tree, every bush I had known from +my earliest youth. Everything which life had brought to me was +associated with this little spot of ground. That feeling is known only +to one who can say to himself, 'Here on this spot you were born, here +will you live, and here will you die,' and it is a sweet feeling! So I +sat down in perfect content on a bench at the end of the garden, and in +my dim retreat rejoiced in all the beauty about me, yet at the same time +worrying about Susanna. Then I suddenly heard some one talking not far +from me: + +"'And then don't look so sorrowful to-morrow, do you hear, Susy? And in +any case wear the white dress to church to-morrow; I have my reasons for +wishing it. And to-morrow afternoon I will come; it has been long +enough, I can certainly come to visit you for once. And don't let out +anything, darling. What will you answer if they ask you where you have +been so long?' + +"'Nothing at all!' answered Susanna's voice defiantly. 'I do not like to +tell a lie, I shall not do it; but I shall not come to Dambitz again, it +is too far away for me.' + +"'Very fine!' was the reply; and I now recognized the voice of the old +actress. 'I have walked about with you in my arms all night long many a +time, no step was too much for me; and you will not go an hour's +distance away for my sake? I think of nothing but you and your future; I +devise plans and take pains to make your lot happy; I take up my abode +in a wretched peasant's house with a shingle roof, and everlasting smell +of the stable only to be near you; I sew my eyes and fingers sore--and +you--?' And she broke out in violent sobbing, which, however, it seemed +to me, made no impression upon Susanna, for she remained still as a +mouse. + +"'Go, Susy, be good,' the old woman began again. 'I have just given you +the pretty little dress to-day; look at it by and by and see how +carefully it is embroidered.' And now her voice sank to a whisper, and +immediately after Susanna's little figure ran quickly from the thicket +and passed close by me; she carried a white parcel in her hand, and her +round hat on her arm. I could distinctly see her flashing eyes and red +cheeks. I rose quickly, I _must_ speak before any one else saw her. +'Susanna!' I tried to call, but the name remained on my lips; for in the +path along which she flew stood, as if charmed thither, the tall figure +of a man, and Klaus's deep voice sounded in my ears: + +"'Susanna! Thank God!' + +"Had I heard aright? They were only three simple words, words which +perhaps every one would say to a person who had been missed and +anxiously sought. But here a perfect torrent of passion and anxiety +gushed forth, as hot and stifling as the summer night in which the words +were spoken. + +"I sat down again and leaned my swimming head on my hand. 'My God, +Klaus, Klaus!' I stammered. 'What is to come of this? This child! Their +circumstances compare so unfavorably, he cannot possibly want to marry +her; what, then, draws him to her? What conflicts must arise if he +really thinks of it! God preserve him from such a passion! It is surely +impossible; it cannot, must not be! Oh, Susanna, that you had never come +to this house!' + +"And round about me whispered the night-wind in the trees; the full moon +had risen golden, and bathed field and wood with a bluish light. And +Susanna is so young, and Susanna is so fair! Was it, then, strange if +Klaus loved her? What cared love and passion for all the considerations +which I had just brought up. And their--Oh, God! what would Anna Maria +say? + +"And I rose, quite depressed, to go to my room and collect my thoughts. +Klaus must have taken Susanna into the house long ago. Now Anna Maria +would ask where she had been. And she would not answer, as often before, +and Anna Maria would speak harsh words and Klaus walk restlessly about +the room! Nothing of all this. As I went slowly along the path I caught +sight of a dark figure on the stone bench under the linden. 'Anna +Maria?' I asked myself. 'Is she waiting here for Susanna?' She looked +fixedly out toward the dark country, and the moon made her face look +whiter than ever. + +"'Anna Maria!' I called, 'Susanna has come back!' She sprang up +suddenly, hastily drawing her lace veil over her forehead; but I saw, as +I came nearer, that tears were shining in her eyes. + +"'Have you been anxious?' I asked, and put my arm in hers, to support +myself, as we walked on. + +"'Anxious?' she repeated questioningly. 'Yes--no,' she replied absently. +'Ah, you said Susanna has come? I knew perfectly well that she would, +aunt, she is so fond of roving about; that comes from the vagabond blood +of her mother, no doubt.' + +"'Anna Maria!' I exclaimed, startled. + +"'Certainly, Aunt Rose,' she repeated, 'it is in her, it ferments in her +little head and shines from her eyes. So often I have noticed when she +is standing by me or sitting opposite me, busied with some work, how her +looks wander away, in eager impatience; how only the consciousness 'I +must obey' compels her to stay still by me. Then she naturally makes use +of every opportunity to rush out, to lie down under some tree and forget +time and the present. Happy being, thus constituted, through whose veins +runs no slow, pedantic, duty-bound blood!' + +"We were standing just at the bottom of the terrace, and I involuntarily +seized hold of the railing to steady myself. Was it Anna Maria who spoke +such words! Was not the whole world turned upside down then? And I saw +in the moonlight that her lips quivered and tears shone in her eyes. Had +Anna Maria something to regret in her life? And, like a flash of +lightning, Edwin Stürmer's handsome face came before my mind's eye. + +"'Anna Maria,' I whispered, 'what did you say? Who--?' But I got no +further, for the sound of a woman's voice fell on our ears; so full, so +sweet and ringing the tones floated out on the summer night, so +strangely were time and tune suited to the words, that we lingered there +breathless. Anna Maria looked up toward the open window in the upper +story. 'Susanna!' she said softly. + + 'Home have I come, my heart burns with pain. + Ah, that I only could wander again!' + +sounded down below. + +"But what was the matter with Anna Maria? She fairly flew back into the +garden. I stood still and waited; the singing above had ceased. 'Anna +Maria!' I called. No answer. What an evening this was, to be sure! Anna +Maria, who took the most serious view of the world, who hated nothing +more than sentimentality and moonlight reveries, was running about in +the garden, moved to tears by a little song! They were all +incomprehensible to me to-day--Klaus, Susanna, and Anna Maria, but +especially the latter. How could I talk to her about Susanna to-day? I +had to keep my discovery to myself; the best thing I could do would be +to go up myself to Susanna and ask her, for we should hardly assemble +about the round table in the sitting-room this evening, and Anna Maria +would hardly be in the mood to read aloud the evening prayers as usual. +And Klaus? No, I would not see him at all; better to-morrow by daylight, +when he would be his old self again, when his voice would have lost its +sultry summer-night cadence, it was to be hoped. No more to-day, I had +had enough. I should not be able to sleep, as it was. + +"And so I went, like a ghost, up the moonlit steps, and stole along the +corridor to Susanna's door, and knocked softly. No answer. I lifted the +latch and went in. The room was lighted only by the moon, and the heavy +odor of flowers came toward me; a pale ray shone just over the white +pillows of the bed and fell on Susanna's face. She was fast asleep; her +neck and arms glistened like marble. Should I wake her? She would surely +stifle in this air. I stole past her, opened a window, and set the +bunches of flowers out on the balcony. The room looked topsy-turvy, but +on the sofa was spread out with evident care the toilet for +to-morrow--the white dress, little shoes and stockings, even hat and +hymn-book for church. + +"I closed the window again softly and stole out of the girl's room. Let +her sleep; in this enchanted moonlight it would be impossible to say +anything reasonable, I thought. Indeed, I reproached myself afterward +for not having waked her from her dreams, in order to have brought all +my old maid's prose to bear against all this flower-scented poetry. But +what would it have availed? For God Almighty holds in his hands the +threads of human destiny. It had to be thus." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +"The next morning broke as prosaic and calm as I could desire. The sun +shone with obtrusive clearness into the most remote corner, and +mercilessly set out everything in a dazzling light. From below, +out-of-doors, I heard the sound of Anna Maria's voice, and caught +something about 'string-beans for the servants' kitchen.' Klaus whistled +out of the window, and immediately after I heard a dialogue concerning +Waldemann (the _Teckel_), who was just limping across the court, having +jammed his foot in the stable-door, according to the coachman's account. +Klaus's voice, thank God, had not a suspicion of that weak intonation of +last evening. Relieved, and smiling at my fears of yesterday, I got +ready for church. If we can only get well over the first meeting with +Stürmer, it may be quite a pleasant Sunday, I reasoned; I was wishing +some visitor would come, that we might not be so much by ourselves. + +"When our church-bell began to ring we three of the family were standing +down-stairs in the sitting-room waiting for Susanna. Anna Maria looked +weary and unnerved, and an old sort of expression lay about her mouth; +she moved quickly and was plainly out of humor at Susanna's want of +punctuality. The festal earnestness that usually pervaded her whole +being in going to church was lacking to-day. 'Rieke!' she called to the +housemaid, 'go to Fräulein Mattoni and ask if she will be ready soon; +we are waiting for her.' The girl came back with the answer that the +young lady had not quite finished her toilet, and begged the others to +go on. + +"'I will wait for her,' said Klaus quickly, right out of his kind, +chivalrous heart, but it brought to my mind the voice of last evening. + +"'You will let your old aunt limp to church alone, for the first time?' +I asked jokingly. + +"'Ah, _pardon_!' he replied at once. 'Old my aunt certainly is not yet; +on that ground I might leave you; but I--may I beg the honor?' he asked, +offering me his arm. + +"Anna Maria walked ahead; there was something majestic in her walk, and +as she stepped from the garden through the gate of the church-yard, and, +walking between the rows of graves, recognized the peasants with an +inclination of her fair head, kindly stroking the flaxen heads of the +children, and here and there saying a friendly word to an old man or +woman, all eyes followed her with reverence and admiration, while Klaus +received more trusting looks, and even cheers. When in our pew in the +church, she bent her head low and prayed long, and then cast a shy look +toward the opposite gallery, the place of the Dambitz gentry; Dambitz +had always been in the parish of Bütze, and many a happy time have the +Stürmers sat on that side and the Hegewitzes on this, and listened to +the simple discourse of the clergyman and bowed the head in devout +humility. Those were the good old times, when the nobility led the way +before the people, with the motto: 'Fear God and honor the king!' + +"All at once a thrill went through Anna Maria's body, but her face +looked coldly over to the Stürmer gallery; she bent her head slightly +and returned a greeting. There he was standing bodily, my old favorite, +and I almost nodded my head off at him and made secret signs with my +handkerchief. His dark eyes sent a happy greeting across to me--Edwin +Stürmer was really there. + +"The clear voice with which Anna Maria joined in the singing drew my +looks to her again. She sang quietly with the congregation, but a +crimson flush of deep agitation lay on her face; it was evidently +excessively painful to her to see him again. + +"What the sermon was about on that day I cannot tell, for before the +clergyman ascended the pulpit something occurred which nearly put an end +to the devotions of all the small congregation and obliged me to leave +the church. + +"I had fixed my eyes steadily on Stürmer, as if I could not look my fill +at the man's handsome curly head; and the good God surely forgave me, +for I was as fond of Edwin as if he were my own child. All at once, +during the singing, I saw him start and look intently across to me; and, +following the direction of his gaze, I observed--Susanna. She had on a +white muslin dress, her neck and arms lightly covered by the misty +material; she held her hat in her hand, her black hair clustered in rich +curls about her small head; a white rose was placed carelessly in her +hair, and a bunch of the same flowers rose and fell on her bosom, and as +white as they was her sweet face as she raised it again after a short +prayer. + +"Most beautiful was this young creature, but, may God forgive me! I was +bitterly angry with her for being so and for coming to church dressed up +as if for a ball. 'Incorrigible comedian blood,' I scolded to myself. I +thanked God that Klaus could not see her from his seat, and gave Stürmer +an unfriendly look because he kept looking over at our pew. All at once, +as the clergyman was singing the liturgy, Susanna put her hand to her +forehead, as if to grasp something there, and then sank back silently, +with closed eyes, into her seat. + +"I cannot tell now the exact order in which all this happened; I only +remember that a chair was overturned with a loud noise, that the +clergyman was silent for an instant, and that there was a movement among +the congregation; at the same time Klaus left our pew, carrying out the +white figure in his arms, like a feather. I rose at once to follow him. +Anna Maria's head was bent low over her hymn-book; was she going to take +no notice of the affair? But now she slowly rose, and went behind me +down the narrow, creaking flight of steps which led up outside the +church to our pew; it was provided with a wooden roof as a protection +against wind and storms, and the ivy which grew over the whole church +adorned it like a bridal arch with green festoons. + +"Klaus was just disappearing into one of the nearest cottages, whose +shining window-panes looked out like clear eyes beneath the gray +shingle-roof, not at all sad at the constant view of the little +church-yard. Marieken Märtens and her husband lived here; she had been +in Anna Maria's service, a quick, industrious girl, but once was sent +away in the utmost haste because she--but that has nothing to do with +the case. Anna Maria had her brought back again at that time, and she +was married from the manor-house, and since then Anna Maria and I had +each held a curly brown head over the font. When there was anything +going on at our house--that is, when there was extra work--Marieken came +and helped. + +"She was at the threshold coming to meet us already, wiping her hands on +her clean apron, and pushing back her eldest child. 'She is lying on the +sofa inside,' she whispered. 'Oh, the master looks pale as death from +fright!' Anna Maria stepped by me into the little room; she made a sign +for me to stay outside, so I sat down on the wooden stool that Marieken +placed in the entry for me, and listened intently for every sound from +within. + +"For a little while all was still. Marieken ran in with fresh water, and +then I heard Anna Maria say: 'How are you now, Susanna?' + +"'Go back to church quite easy,' came the reply; 'it was a momentary +weakness. I am very sorry to have given you such anxiety and trouble.' +And the next moment the girl was standing on the threshold, a crimson +blush overspreading her whole face, and without noticing me at all, she +flew to the outside door and across the church-yard; her fluttering +white dress appeared again for an instant in the frame of the gateway +leading to our garden; then she had vanished like an apparition. + +"Shaking my head, I rose to go into the little room and hear what was to +be done now. But I sat down again, almost stunned at the sound of +Klaus's voice, which came out to me so crushingly cold and clear: + +"'I should like to ask you, Anna Maria, to occupy the girl hereafter in +some way better suited to her; this swoon was the natural effect of +constant over-exertion.' + +"I could not picture Anna Maria to myself at this moment, for Klaus had +never used such a tone to her before. My old heart began to beat +violently from anxiety. 'It is here! It is here!' I said to myself. +'Yes, it had to come!' + +"'I think this swoon is rather a consequence of Susanna's running about +too much in the fearful heat yesterday,' she replied coldly. 'However, +as you wish; I will leave it entirely to you to decide what occupation +is most fitting for Susanna Mattoni.' + +"'Great heavens! Anna Maria, do you not understand?' Klaus rejoined, +almost imploringly. 'Look at the girl: she is delicate and accustomed to +the easy life of a large city, never to a regular life. I beg you not to +take it amiss, it is my opinion and----' + +"'I am sorry that I have made such a mistake,' Anna Maria interrupted, +icily. 'I have tried to do my best for this unfortunate child, who has +grown up in most wretched circumstances. I wanted to make a capable, +housewifely maiden of her, but I see myself that such miserable comedian +blood is not to be improved, and I ask you now only for one thing----' + +"She broke off. What would come now? I looked about me in horror to see +if any one were listening. But Marieken was clattering about with her +pots and pans in the kitchen, and the children were playing before the +outside door. + +"'That you will not require me to endure this frivolous creature, this +frippery and finery, this trifling, flighty being. I have an unspeakable +aversion to her,' she concluded. + +"'So that is your confession of faith, Anna Maria?' asked Klaus, and his +voice sounded angry. 'I tell you Susanna Mattoni remains here in the +family. I will have it, for a sacred promise binds me, and I hope that +you will never let her feel what you think of her. Her light-mindedness, +her unsteadiness, and all the faults which you have just cited, cannot +be laid to her charge, for from her youth up she has never learned to +recognize them as faults. Of frivolity, moreover, I have no evidences, +for a couple of bonbons do not seem to me sufficient proof.' + +"'I cannot act contrary to my convictions,' returned Anna Maria, 'and if +I am no longer to educate Susanna as I think well for her, you had +better find another place for her.' + +"I had sprung up and laid hold of the door-handle; for Heaven's sake! +there would be a quarrel. But the storm had already drawn near. + +"'Susanna is to remain, I tell you!' thundered Klaus. 'Do you quite +forget who is master of the house? It appears to me I have let you go on +for years in an immeasurable error, in letting you govern uncontrolled, +and assenting to all your arrangements. It is time for you to remember +whose place it is to decide matters at Bütze.' + +"Merciful Heaven! My knees trembled; how was this to end? And now there +was no sound there within; only the low singing of the young wife was +heard from the kitchen, where she was rocking her youngest child to +sleep; and I stole softly away from the door and sat down on the wooden +bench before the house. Over the quiet, green graves in the church-yard +lay a Sunday calm, only a light breath of wind rustled in the tall +trees. Over in the little church the sermon was just finished, the +sermon for the fifth Sunday after Trinity. The sound of the organ and +singing of the congregation floated across to me, and my lips repeated +the words: + + "'Ah! stay with thy clearness. + Precious light, with us stay; + Let thy truth shine upon us, + That we go not astray.' + +"Ah, yes, clearness, clearness and truth and peace; help us in all time +of need! I knew Klaus, I knew Anna Maria. An almost exaggerated sense of +duty, an iron will when she thought she was doing the right thing, +inflexibility--that was the Hegewitz character; good, solid qualities +when they got on peaceably together, but thus? And there was Stürmer +coming out of the church door; he had not waited till the hymn was +finished, and was now hastening up to me. + +"'Fräulein Rosamond, you still here?' he asked. 'Who----' + +"But I did not give him time to finish. 'Come, Edwin, give me your arm, +I have been waiting for some one to escort me back.' And actually +dragging away the astonished man, I succeeded in getting him into the +park without betraying the presence of Klaus and Anna Maria in the +little room. + +"'And now, a thousand times welcome, dear Edwin,' said I, breathing +freely again, as we walked under the shady trees. 'How have you been? +How delightful it is to have you here again, and how well and strong you +are looking!' + +"He bent to kiss my hand. 'Yes, thank God that I am among old friends +again!' he replied heartily. 'How have things gone here? But why do I +ask? Well, of course; at least, I saw you all unaltered in church. But I +would like to ask, at the risk of appearing curious, who was the young +lady who--oh!' He stopped, and pointed toward the thick, dark shrubbery +at one side, holding my arm so firmly in his that I was obliged to stand +still. + +"There sat Susanna in the deepest shade of the thicket. She was leaning +her elbows on the table, and her oval face rested on her clasped hands; +motionless, like a lovely statue, she was looking down before her. + +"A golden sunbeam flitted back and forth over the white figure; an +expression full of pain and woe lay on the lovely face, which I had +never before seen so sad and tearful. + +"'The poor child!' I sighed involuntarily. And as Stürmer almost forced +me into a side-path, I briefly satisfied his curiosity. 'She is the +daughter of Professor Mattoni; you remember Klaus's old tutor?' + +"My head was in a whirl, for I knew not what more might happen to-day. + +"'And is she to live here always?' inquired Edwin Stürmer. + +"'Yes--no!' I returned hesitatingly; I did not know what to answer. I +sought to reach the terrace and garden-parlor as quickly as possible, +and to my inexpressible relief saw Klaus, as if transported there by +magic, coming to the door to meet his guest; an uninitiated person would +scarcely have seen the slight cloud on his brow. + +"I did not linger with them, but went to seek Anna Maria, and found her +in the sitting-room, pale but calm. I was glad to avoid the greeting +between her and Stürmer, and caught only his look as he bent low over +her hands. + +"Anna Maria was a perfect enigma to me; I understood the outbreak of +passion of last evening as little as this decided opposition to-day. Yet +the latter was less inexplicable, for she too, must have seen the sparks +already glowing in Klaus's heart. But she had taken the wrong course. +Any man of chivalry, if told that he must turn a weak, helpless woman +out of the house where she has found a shelter, will refuse to do it; +particularly if she be as young, as strikingly beautiful as Susanna, +and--if he is already in love with her. To me it was an incontestable +fact: Klaus loved the girl! Perhaps he did not know yet himself how +much; but that he did love her I had seen and--feared. + +"I came to the table in a thoroughly unpleasant frame of mind. 'To-day +is the beginning of the end: what will the end be?' I said to myself, +sighing. That was a strange dinner; Susanna had excused herself, Klaus +was chary of words, and Anna Maria forced herself to be talkative and +affable in a way quite contrary to her nature; a little red spot burned +on her chin, the sign of violent agitation. + +"Brockelmann announced that the old actress had suddenly arrived; to be +sure, I had quite forgotten about her. Anna Maria made no answer; Klaus +looked sharply at her, and then gave orders for the old woman to be +given some dinner. Stürmer talked a long time about his travels, and +Pastor Grüne came to coffee. The gentlemen were soon involved in a +scientific conversation about the excavations at Pompeii, at which +Stürmer had been present several times, and Anna Maria walked slowly up +and down on the terrace, now and then casting a look at the gentlemen, +through the open door of the garden-parlor. + +"I sat under the shady roof of the wild-grape, and knitted, and followed +her with my eyes. Anna Maria had on a light-blue linen dress, and a thin +white cape over her rosy shoulders; her heavy plaits shimmered like +gold, and her complexion was fresh as a flower. Anna Maria had made her +toilet with especial care to-day; she was the picture of a typical North +German woman, tall, fair, slender, and clear-sighted, serene, and calm. + +"All at once she stopped in front of me. 'Aunt Rosamond, do you think +that Susanna Mattoni has been overworked in any way? I mean, can her +temporary weakness be the result of that?' + +"'Yes, Anna Maria,' I replied, 'I am convinced of it, for she had not +been accustomed to doing anything. She has hitherto sat in a cage like a +bird; when such a creature tries to fly all at once, it is soon made +lame by the motion.' + +"She made no reply, and continued her walking. The conversation grew +louder indoors; the gentlemen were now sitting over their Rhine wine. +The cool breeze of approaching evening began to blow, and the sun was +hidden behind a bank of clouds. + +"'Ah! Stürmer, do stay till evening,' I heard Klaus say. 'It will never +do not to finish the day together, after beginning it so; do not pervert +our good old custom.' + +"Anna Maria stood still and listened. But instead of an answer we heard +the chairs pushed back, and then Klaus's voice again: + +"'Ah! Susanna, have you quite recovered? Allow me to present Baron +Stürmer.' + +"Anna Maria turned and looked out toward the garden. + +"Pastor Grüne inquired after the health of the young girl, and soon they +all came out on the terrace. Susanna went up to Anna Maria at once, and +held out her hand, saying: 'Forgive me for having frightened you this +morning. I do not know how it happened; everything grew dark before my +eyes, and----' + +"'Oh! certainly,' interrupted Anna Maria, touching the girl's hand but +lightly; 'I was not at all frightened; a swoon is nothing so unusual.' + +"Susanna blushed up to her black curls, and sat down quietly by my side. + +"'Has Isa gone?' I asked her. + +"She nodded. 'She went half an hour ago.' + +"'Just where does she live?' I inquired. + +"'In Dambitz,' was the reply. + +"I let my work drop from astonishment. 'In Dambitz? How did she happen +to go to Dambitz?' + +"'S---- was too far away, Fräulein Rosamond,' stammered Susanna shyly, +'and so she has hired a little room there at the blacksmith's. But she +says she does not notice the noise of the forge at all; her windows look +out on the castle garden, and that is wonderful, she says. She may live +there, may she not?' she added, beseechingly; 'it is certainly far +enough from here.' + +"'Of course she can live where she pleases, Susanna,' said I; 'we have +no right to lay down commands about that.' + +"Meanwhile Brockelmann had set the table for supper on the terrace, and +we seated ourselves. Candles were now burning on the table, and their +unsteady, flickering light fell on Susanna's beautiful pale face. Her +white dress was made quite fresh again, and even the withered roses were +replaced by fresh ones; one could see that the old Isabella had been +helping the child. + +"Susanna was seated between Klaus and me, Stürmer and Anna Maria +opposite. There was a strawberry _bowle_ on the table, and Susanna drank +eagerly; gradually color came into her cheeks, and her dark eyes began +to shine. And then all at once she was in her element--laughing, +jesting, and mirth. And how she could laugh! I have never heard such a +laugh as Susanna Mattoni's. It ran the whole compass of the scale, so +light and delicious that one was forced to join in it; and as she +laughed, her red mouth displayed the prettiest white teeth, and prattled +mere nonsense and follies, and as she held high her glass to touch with +Stürmer, I saw Klaus look at her with an expression that spoke even +more plainly than his trembling voice yesterday. + +"Anna Maria sat silent opposite her, and not the faintest smile passed +over her lips; this graceful trifling was decidedly unpleasant to her. +But Susanna had the majority on her side, for even honest old Pastor +Grüne did not conceal the fact that he was fascinated by her. + +"I tried to think how I might silence the little red lips, but in vain. +At last a thought struck me. 'Susanna 'I cried in the midst of her sweet +laugh, 'Susanna, what do you say to a song? I heard you singing so +prettily last evening.' + +"'Ah! no, no, Mademoiselle,' she objected; 'I cannot sing before +people.' + +"But the gentlemen echoed my request with one voice, and Stürmer +proposed to extinguish the candles, saying that one could surely sing +better by moonlight. + +"'Yes, yes!' she said joyfully, 'then I will sing!' And soon the reddish +light had disappeared, and the pale moon's silvery rays fell on the +bright figure of the girl, who had sprung up and was now standing by the +railing. + +"'What shall I sing?' she asked, 'Italian or German?' + +"'German! German!' cried the gentlemen. + +"'Oh! please Susanna,' said I, 'the song you were singing last evening; +Anna Maria and I did not understand the words very well.' + +"Anna Maria suddenly rose, but as if thinking better of it, sat down +again. Stürmer had turned half around in his chair and was looking at +Susanna. + +"And now she began, leaning on the balustrade; and the same tones came +to us, soft and sweet, and the same words we had heard last evening: + + "'Far through the world I have wandered away, + And the old strife goes with me wherever I stray; + Home have I come, and my heart burns with pain, + Ah, that I only could wander again! + I am held not by walls, not by bolts, not by bars-- + Two great blue eyes hold me, that shine like the stars I + And were but my fiery steed by my side, + Again on his willing back fain would I ride; + He would bear me away, far away from my home-- + But I've seen thee again, and can never more roam!' + +"I looked at Anna Maria in alarm, but her face was turned away, and only +in her trembling white hands, which she had clasped, did I detect the +agitation wrought in her by this song. Who had thought of such a song? +And Stürmer? He had sprung up and stood close by Susanna. + +"'Another song, Fräulein,' he demanded, almost vehemently, 'a different +one. You are much too young for such melancholy!' + +"'A German knows no different songs, Herr Baron,' objected Pastor Grüne. +'Old national songs are sad, usually the lament for a faithless love, +for a dead treasure. Let our nation be as it is in this. I would rather +have one little German national song than a dozen French _chansons_.' + +"Stürmer did not answer, and there was a painful silence. + +"'Another song?' asked Susanna at last--'a lively one?' + +"'Yes!' cried Klaus, 'a lively one, a hunting-song, Susanna, or a +drinking-song! 'He had risen in embarrassment at the critical situation, +and filled his glass afresh. + +"And Susanna began, in a merry strain: + + "'In the early morn + A-hunting I went, + Past my darling's house + My steps I bent. + + "'Up to the window + A glance I threw. + Ah! if she would look down, + Good luck would ensue. + + "'In vain, she's still dreaming; + But something stirred. + By the apple-tree yonder + A laugh was heard. + + "'And bright as the rosy + Morning so fair, + My dear little treasure + I saw standing there. + + "'Nodding and smiling, + She beckoned away, + But not one lucky shot + Had I on that day. + + "'Are they bewitched, then, + My powder and lead? + Each ball flies away, + Bringing down nothing dead.' + +"Susanna suddenly stopped, as if exhausted, and drew a long breath. The +laugh had vanished for a moment from her face. + +"'More, more!' cried the gentlemen. 'The charming song cannot possibly +be finished?' asked Stürmer. + +"'No, the conclusion is surely wanting,' added Pastor Grüne. And Susanna +drew a long breath and sang on: + + "'And again past the house + I was going to-day; + Little grandmother peeped at me + Over the way. + + "'With a shake of the head. + She calls with sweet grace, + "God greet you, and are you + Off to the chase?" + + "'And with all my might + I cursed the old dame; + But my arm remained steady, + I missed no aim. + + "'And when in surprise + I told Liebchen the tale. + She began to laugh + In a perfect gale.' + +"The last verse ended in a real laugh, so roguish and charming and so +irresistible that we were all drawn into it. + +"'Now that is enough!' she cried at last. 'Oh! I do so like to hear how +people have to laugh with me when I begin! Oh! I have done it so often +when Isa tried to scold me, but now'--she suddenly stopped--'I haven't +laughed for so long, I thought I should have forgotten how, but, thank +fortune, I can still do it! Oh, I do like to laugh so!' + +"Anna Maria rose and went into the garden-parlor, as if she had +something to attend to there, but she did not come back, nor did she +come when Stürmer and the clergyman wished to take their leave of her. +Klaus looked for her in the sitting-room, and even went up to her +bedroom, but he returned alone, and the gentlemen had to leave without +bidding her good-by. + +"'Pray excuse Anna Maria, dear Edwin,' I heard Klaus say; 'she probably +does not dream of your going so early; you are certainly in a great +hurry.' + +"It was true; Stürmer's departure was very abrupt; toward the last he +had scarcely spoken a word. I thought it was because he was reminded of +his first love; that melody and the words still kept ringing in my ears; +an unfortunate song! + +"Susanna had long been in bed when Klaus and I stood together in the +sitting-room again. I had firmly resolved to inform him of my +observations of the evening before, for I saw that Anna Maria was not to +be spoken to again about Susanna. + +"'Klaus!' I began. He was walking slowly up and down, his hands behind +him, and an anxious wrinkle on his brow. 'Klaus, do you know where the +old actress is living now?' + +"He stood still. 'No, aunt, but--do not take offence--it is quite a +matter of indifference to me. Forgive me, my head is so full.' + +"I was silent. 'Good!' thought I; 'he is indifferent at last, then.' + +"'Please tell me,' he now turned around to me, 'what you think about +Anna Maria? I do not understand her at all as she is now.' + +"'You do not either of you understand each other, as you are now,' I +replied, not without sharpness. + +"Klaus blushed. 'That may be,' he said, stroking his face. + +"'Klaus,' I continued, 'do not let it go further, do not let this +discord between you take root. You are the eldest, Klaus, a reasonable +man----' + +"'No, aunt, no; in this I am right!' he interrupted vehemently. 'You do +not know what passed between us this morning----' + +"He broke off abruptly and turned to his newspaper at at the table, for +Anna Maria had come in. The basket of keys hung at her side, and she had +tied a white apron over her dress. Brockelmann followed her with the +silver that had been in use to-day, and was now rubbed up, ready to be +put away. Anna Maria opened the carved corner-cupboard, and began to lay +away the shining silver, piece by piece, in its place. + +"Klaus had seated himself and was turning over the newspapers; the clock +already pointed to midnight. The windows were open, and from time to +time faint flashes of lightning lighted up the sky over the barns and +stables. I had become wide awake again all at once; I could not and +would not let these two be alone again to-night; they should not speak +together about Susanna. + +"But Anna Maria now closed the cupboard and went up to her brother. +'Klaus,' she said in a soft voice, 'let us not leave each other thus; +let us talk the matter over once more, quietly.' + +"He laid down the paper and looked at her in surprise. A faint flush lay +on her face, and her attitude was almost beseeching. 'Gladly, Anna +Maria,' he replied, rising; 'you mean concerning Susanna's future +employment? Have you any proposals to make?' + +"'Yes,' she said, firmly; and after a pause continued: 'I will yield to +your opinion that physical labor is not the right thing for Susanna. But +a life of dreamy idleness I consider far more injurious to her. Indeed, +Klaus, my personal feelings toward Susanna do not speak in this. I do +not hate her, but that her nature is uncongenial to me I must own. So, +then, without regard to that, Klaus, I must repeat what I said this +morning: let Susanna go away from here, take care of her somewhere else; +she is out of place here; do it for her own sake.' + +"She had spoken beseechingly, and stepping nearer him, laid her right +hand on his shoulder. + +"'Well, what more?' he asked, rapidly stroking his beard. 'Where would +you think best to banish this child?' + +"'Send her to a good boarding-school; let her be a teacher; she is poor, +and it is an honorable position, or----' + +"'You are probably thinking of Mademoiselle Lenon in this connection, +Anna Maria?' rejoined Klaus. 'I still have her "honorable position" +distinctly before my eyes, which she held in dealing with your +stubbornness. If there ever was a being totally unfit to take upon +herself the martyrdom of a governess, it is Susanna Mattoni!' + +"A slight shadow passed over Anna Maria's face as he spoke of her +stubbornness, but she was silent. + +"'Perhaps,' continued Klaus bitterly, 'you would also like to make an +actress of her because she happens to have a voice and recites +charmingly.' He pushed away the newspapers and sprang up. 'I am +unutterably exasperated, Anna Maria, that you should venture to repeat +this proposition. I was not prepared for it, I must confess! What makes +you appear so hostile toward Susanna? Do you know, you who live here in +happy security, what it means for a girl so young, so inexperienced, to +be thus thrust into the world? Surely not! You fulfil your duties here, +you care and labor as hundreds would not do in your place; but here you +act the mistress, inapproachable, untouched by all the common things of +life. You do not know, even by name, those humiliations which a woman +in a dependent position must endure. I know, indeed, that hundreds +_must_ endure them, and hundreds, perhaps, do not feel what they are +deprived of; but this girl _would_ feel it, and would be unhappy, most +unhappy! + +"He paused for a moment and looked at Anna Maria. She had clasped her +hands, and coldly and steadily returned his look; an almost mocking +smile lay on her lips, and put Klaus beside himself. + +"'You certainly have no comprehension of this!' he cried, his face +flushed with anger. 'You have everything, Anna Maria, but you have never +possessed a heart! You can do everything but that which glorifies and +ennobles a woman--love. Anna Maria, that you cannot do! I feel deep pity +for you, for you lack a woman's sweetest charm; love and pity go +hand-in-hand. I could not imagine you as a solicitous wife, or even as a +mother; how can I expect pity for a strange child?' + +"'Klaus! for God's sake, stop!' I entreated in mortal terror, for Anna +Maria had grown pale as death, and her eyes stared out into the dark +night with a vacant, terrified expression, but not a word of defence +passed her lips. Klaus shook off my hand, and continued with unchecked +vehemence: + +"'It is time for me to tell you, Anna Maria; it must be said some time. +I am your guardian, and it is my right and my duty. I must, alas! accuse +myself of having given you too much liberty, and you have abused it. You +have become cold and hard; I said before I could not imagine you as a +loving mother, as a wife--that you will never be, for you will not bend. +You would never do a rash, thoughtless act, but you are unable to make a +sacrifice from real affection from your innermost heart--because you do +not understand loving, Anna Maria. As I looked at Edwin to-day, my +heart and courage sank; if ever a man was created to win a maiden's +love, it is he! But you, Anna Maria, just as you let him go away, so you +will let Susanna; it is not hard for you, because you have no heart----' + +"'Stop, Klaus, stop!' Anna Maria's voice rang through the room, in +piercing woe; despairingly she stretched out her arms toward him. 'Say +nothing more, not one word; I cannot bear it!' One could see that she +wanted to say more; her trembling lips parted, but no sound passed them, +and in another moment she had turned and gone quickly out of the room. + +"'Oh, Klaus!' I cried, weeping, 'you were too hard; you had no occasion +to speak so!' But I stood alone in my tears, for Klaus also left the +room, for the first time failing to pay attention to his aunt, and +slammed the door behind him. + +"Yes, I stood alone and believed myself dreaming! Was this the +comfortable old room at Bütze, where formerly peace had dwelt bodily? +The candles flickered restlessly on the table, a chilling draught of air +came through the open window, and thunder faintly muttered in the +distance. No, peace had flown, and injustice, care, and animosity had +entered, had pressed their way between two human hearts which till now +had been united in true love; and there, up-stairs, lay and slept a fair +young fellow-creature, and the picture of the Mischief-maker smiled down +on her, as if glad of a successor. Yes, Klaus was right, and Anna Maria +was right; how was the difference to be made up? Ah! how quickly is a +bitter, crushing word said and heard, but a whole world of tears cannot +make it unsaid again." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +"I could not sleep that night; I rose from my bed again and sat down by +my window in the gray dawn, and my old heart was fearful for what must +come now. I loved both the children so much, and, God knows, I would +have given years of my useless life if I could have blotted out the last +few months. And I was groping about wholly in the dark, for Anna Maria +was reserved and uncommunicative, and Klaus--what would he do? He could +not come and say, 'Aunt Rosamond, I love Susanna Mattoni, and I wish to +marry her!' I should have had to throw up my hands and laugh! Klaus, the +last Hegewitz, and Susanna Mattoni, the child of an obscure actress! And +Klaus would have had to laugh with me. + +"It was a rainy day, just beginning; wonderfully cool air came through +the open windows and the leaves rustled in the wind, and the rain +pattered on the roofs; the maids were running across the court with +their milk-pails, the poultry was being fed, and Brockelmann talking to +the maids, and there went the bailiff in the pasture; everything was as +usual and yet so different. + +"Then a carriage came rolling into the court-yard. Heavens! that was our +own with the brown span. It stopped before the front steps, and Klaus +came out of the house and greeted the gentleman getting out. I had +leaned far out of the window, but now drew back in alarm--it was the +doctor, our old Reuter, and at this early hour! Anna Maria was my first +thought. I ran out; but no, there she was, just coming out of Susanna's +room. She still wore her blue dress of yesterday, but there were +blood-stains here and there on the large white apron. + +"'Susanna?' I faltered. She nodded, and gave me her hand. 'Go in, aunt; +I wish to speak with Reuter first,' she said softly; 'Susanna is ill.' +Almost stunned, I let myself be pushed through the open door. The +curtains were drawn, but on the chimney-piece a candle was burning, and +threw its dim, flickering light on the girl's face, so that I could see +the dark fever-roses which had bloomed upon it during the night. Her +eyes were wide open, but she did not know me; she thought I was Isa. + +"'Isa, I have sung, too; Isa, don't be angry; it was so beautiful in the +moonlight, and it did not hurt me at all.' And she began to sing: + + "'Home have I come, my heart burns with pain-- + Oh! that I only could wander again!' + +"And then she passed her small hands over her white night-dress. 'Take +away the red flowers, Isa!' + +"I laid a white cloth over it for her. Poor child! The swoon, the +laughing, the sweet singing, that was already fever. + +"Old Reuter came into the room and stepped up to the bed. Anna Maria +stood behind him, the torment of expectation on her pale face, and from +outside, through the unlatched door, came the sound of heavy breathing; +that must be Klaus. The old gentleman felt Susanna's pulse long and +cautiously; he was not a man of many words, and one could scarcely find +out from him what one's disease was; but he turned at last to Anna +Maria: + +"'A pitiful little lady, Fräulein; the good God made her expressly for +a knick-knack table; wrapped in cotton, sent to the South, and treated +like a princess, without making any sort of exertion herself, something +might yet be made of her. But first'--he drew his watch from his pocket +and took hold of her hand again--'first we have enough to do here. Who +will undertake the nursing?' + +"'Doctor, do you think that bodily exertion--I mean, very early rising +and domestic activity--could be the cause?' asked Anna Maria, with +faltering voice. + +"'Up at four, and from the kitchen into the cold milk-cellar, and then +again in the glowing sun, at the bleaching place, and so alternately, +was it not?' asked the old gentleman. 'By all means the surest way to +completely prostrate a person of such a constitution; moreover, you +might have perceived it before, Fräulein.' + +"Anna Maria grew a shade paler. 'But day before yesterday she walked for +an hour in the heat, and sang a great deal,' I interposed, for I felt +sorry for Anna Maria. "'Then one thing has led to another,' declared the +old gentleman. 'Singing is poison--no more of that! Will you undertake +the nursing, Fräulein Hegewitz?' he asked me. + +"'No, I,' replied Anna Maria. + +"'Isa! Isa!' called Susanna. + +"'Where is she staying?' asked Anna Maria, while Dr. Reuter had gone out +to write a prescription. + +"'In Dambitz,' I returned, oppressed; but she did not look at all +surprised. She only begged me to stay with Susanna till she had changed +her dress, and sent a messenger to the old woman. Then she came back, so +as not to stay long away from Susanna's bed, for, strangely enough, +Mademoiselle Isa Pfannenschmidt did not appear. + +"Anna Maria had sent Brockelmann in a carriage to fetch the old woman. +Meanwhile Susanna pushed Anna Maria away with her weak hands, and called +'Isa!' incessantly in her delirium. With a white face Anna Maria pushed +her chair behind the curtains and listened to the low, eager whispering +of the sick girl. But once the surging blood shot from neck to brow, as +Susanna spoke of Klaus, and Anna Maria turned her eyes almost +reproachfully toward the door, behind which a light step had just +stopped. + +"That was surely Klaus again; certainly twenty times during the day he +came to the door to listen; yet who could have closed the little red +mouth which had just called his name again, quite aloud, and laughed, +and talked of bonbons, of moonlight, and of songs? + +"On the way to my room I met Brockelmann, who had just returned, and was +standing in the corridor by Klaus. Her face was very red; she pointed to +my room, and here began to describe, in a voice half-choked with +indignation, all that she had found in the dwelling of the old comedian, +excepting herself. The blacksmith's wife had told her she had lately +boiled some red pomade, and put it in a number of little porcelain jars, +and taken them away to sell. She would often go away so, and be gone a +fortnight. 'She is an old vagabond,' added Brockelmann, 'a beggar-woman +whom the constable ought to shut up in the nearest tower!' And with a +contemptuous air she drew forth one of the little boxes in question, +which was correctly tied up with gold paper, and bore a label which +explained at length the red pomade and its value: '_Rouge de Théâtre, +première qualité!_' + +"'Paint!' said I, smiling. + +"'And for these sinful wares she gets a pile of money,' continued the +old woman, 'and what does she do with it? She eats cakes and chocolate, +and the children at the forge run about with gay silk ribbons on their +rough pig-tails; and all around in the corners there were heaps of +knick-knacks, enough for ten fools to trim up their caps with. It is a +shame!' + +"'When is she coming back?' asked Klaus. + +"'The Lord only knows; she went away yesterday.' Brockelmann turned to +go, irritated by her vain mission, which had taken so much time. But she +stopped at the door, and a friendly expression lay on her face. 'I am +charged with best greetings from the Herr Baron,' she said; 'he was not +a little surprised to see me looking into his garden from the old +woman's window; I explained to him shortly what brought me there.' + +"'Is the house so near the castle garden?' I asked. + +"Brockelmann nodded. 'Yes, indeed, the old woman sees the whole +beautiful garden; and what a garden!' With that she went out. + +"'It is well, on the whole,' said Klaus, after a pause, 'that the old +woman is not there. But will Brockelmann be able to nurse her?' + +"'No,' I replied, 'Anna Maria.' + +"'Anna Maria?' he asked, and his lip quivered. + +"'Klaus,' I begged, 'don't humbug your own self. You must be convinced +in your inmost heart that this girl could not have a better nurse than +Anna Maria.' + +"'I have been perplexed about her,' he answered gloomily. + +"'And she about you!' I replied. + +"He grew red. 'For what reason?' he asked. 'Because I took this girl +under the protection of my house? Because I interfered with an +over-taxation of her strength? Because----' he broke on. + +"'Anna Maria fears that--well, that _la petite_ will be too much +spoiled,' I replied. + +"Klaus shrugged his shoulders. 'Well, and now?' he asked. 'Listen, aunt, +I thought nothing in the world could alter me; I thought I had become a +calm, quiet man; but every nerve has twitched since I have been +compelled to see how this girl is treated. Once, as a little boy, I +looked on, powerless with rage, to see two great boys tormenting a +may-bug; they had climbed a tree because I had scratched and bitten +them; my small limbs would not carry me up there, but the dumb fury, the +rising tumult in my childish heart, I have never forgotten to this day; +and I felt exactly the same way when I heard those little feet tripping +here and there about the house--on, on, now on the kitchen-stairs, now +in the corridor. Do you not suppose I could see how they kept growing +more and more weary, and what a mighty effort they made when Anna +Maria's merciless voice called, "Here, Susanna!" or "_Venez donc_, +Susanna!" "Quickly, we will go into the milk-cellar!" "Susanna, where is +the key of the linen-press?" I was a coward to endure it, not to have +interfered till it was too late. Great heavens! it shall be different,' +he cried, and his clenched fist fell threateningly on the table. The +great, strong man was beside himself with anxiety and rage. + +"I did not venture to answer, and after a few minutes he left the room. +I heard him lingering again at Susanna's door, and then go away softly. +The misfortune was here! Poor Anna Maria! Poor Klaus! + +"Toward noon Anna Maria came to me, even paler than before. 'She talks +incessantly of Klaus,' she said slowly. 'I knew that it must come, but +Klaus did not understand me. She loves him, aunt, believe me.' + +"My thoughts were so full of Klaus that I said, quite consistently: 'And +he loves her!' + +"Anna Maria did not understand me aright. 'What did you say, aunt?' she +asked, the weariness all gone from her eyes. + +"'I said Klaus is tenderly inclined toward Susanna Mattoni,' I repeated +boldly. + +"The girl broke into a smile--nay, she even laughed--and I saw her firm +white teeth shine for the first time for many a day; then she grew +grave. 'How can you joke now, aunt?' + +"'_Mais, mon ange_, I am not joking,' I replied warmly. Anna Maria +puzzled me; she must have noticed it for a long time; then why was she +so opposed to the child? + +"'You are not joking, aunt?' she asked icily. 'Then you little +understand how to judge Klaus. Klaus, with his cool reason, his calm +nature, he who might have had a wife any day if he had wished, should +care for this child--it is ridiculous, perfectly ridiculous!' + +"'But, Anna Maria, are you so blind?' I cried. + +"'I am not blind,' she replied, with one of her glances which showed +plainly her contempt of my opinion. 'Not till I see the two come, +united, out of the church will I believe that Klaus loves her, and that, +Aunt Rosamond, neither you nor I will live to see.' + +"'Stop, Anna Maria!' I begged. 'It is, of course, possible that I am +mistaken, but--God grant that you are right,' I added. + +"Anna Maria was silent for a moment. 'No,' she said then, as if to +herself, lifting up her arms--'no, Klaus is not capable of such an +error. I believe in Klaus. His kind heart, his compassion for the +orphan, impel him to be hard toward me; our opinions as to Susanna's +welfare are so contrary. But I know, aunt, that Klaus loves me so much, +that I stand before any other in his heart, so I will gladly bear the +harshness; perhaps he has borne something harder for my sake. When +Susanna is gone we shall find the old good-will back again.' + +"'I do not believe that Susanna will go away, will be allowed to go +away,' I threw in, uncertainly, touched by her confidence. + +"Her eyes shone. 'Leave that to me, Aunt Rosa,' she replied; 'she +_shall_ go, take my word for it.' + +"'And if you vex Klaus afresh by such a demand?' + +"'Klaus desires Susanna's best good, and he will find some other place +for her as soon as he learns that he is not an object of indifference to +her. Klaus is a man of honor, and a glance will suffice.' + +"'What, Anna Maria?' I groaned; 'you would inform him that--that----' + +"'Yes,' she replied. + +"'I beg you, Anna Maria, do not do it; do not pour oil on the fire, my +child; be silent----' + +"'Never, aunt; I have been silent too long already!' she said decidedly. +'I saw it coming on, it had to come, and I had not the courage to warn +Klaus, and say: "Protect this child from the saddest thing that can come +to a maiden's heart; do not let it awaken into a first love, which must +then be renounced."' + +"'Anna Maria, for Heaven's sake,' I implored, 'how do you know so +certainly that Susanna no longer regards Klaus with indifference? You +cannot take her feverish talk for anything positive. She talks about +Stürmer as well as Klaus. I beg you, keep silent. It is only a +conjecture of yours; Susanna may be in a state of uncertainty still, +herself.' + +"'A precocious, passionate nature, like that girl's?' she asked, and +went to the door, about to leave; 'there is nothing uncertain there. I +owe it to her.' + +"'Anna Maria, let her get well first; it is over-hasty, and may make a +dreadful jumble!' + +"She did not answer, but gave me a nod that agreed with her earnest +look, and then left me alone with my thoughts. + +"How sorry I was for her, this young maiden with the heart of an old +woman! How this firm confidence in Klaus touched me! I had expected a +little jealousy from her, had supposed that Susanna's appearance seemed +dangerous enough to her to rob her of her brother's heart; but nothing +of all this--that she wished to preserve the girl's peace of mind. She +believed in Klaus with a firm, unshaken trust. 'I know that I stand +before all others in his heart, only our opinions about Susanna differ +widely.' Klaus was a man of honor, Klaus could not marry Susanna; it lay +beyond the reach of possibility! A love without this final end was not +conceivable to her pure mind; of a passion which could outreach all +bounds she seemed to have no foreboding. It did not occur to her to +consider her brother's altered manner, his hasty vehemence of the day +before, as anything but the expression of his lively anxiety about an +orphaned child, as excessive chivalry, as a justified irritation at her +energetic opposition; but if she had only first spoken---- + +"Ah, me! My old head showed me no outlet. What should I do, with whom +speak? Neither of them could judge of the matter as it lay now; the only +remaining way was to appeal to Susanna's maidenly pride. But dared I? +Had I the right to contrive an intrigue behind Klaus's back? For, +although I meant well, still it was an intrigue. And suppose that I did +tread this by-way, what certainty was there that it would lead to the +goal? And how, after all, should I tread it? + +"Susanna's illness was violent but brief. The delirium had ceased by the +next day, but she lay very feeble for a week after, without speaking or +showing interest in anything. But her great eyes continually followed +Anna Maria, as she moved noiselessly about the sick-room. Anna Maria's +manner toward Susanna was altered; there was a certain gentleness and +tenderness about her that became her wonderfully well. Whether it was +sympathy with the invalid, or whether she wanted to show the girl whom +she had wished to send away from the shelter of her home that she +cherished no ill-will toward her, I do not know; at any rate, she took +care of her like a loving mother. + +"After about a week Susanna raised her head, begged to have the windows +opened, and showed an appetite; and when the doctor came he found her +sitting up in bed, eating with excellent appetite the prescribed +convalescent's dish, a broth of young pigeons. + +"'Bravo!' cried the gay little man, 'keep on so! A small glass of +Bordeaux, too, would do no harm.' + +"'And to-morrow I shall get up!' cried Susanna. + +"'Not to-morrow; and day after to-morrow I shall inspect you again +before you do it,' answered the doctor. + +"Susanna laughed, and then, with the pleasant feeling of returning +health, lay back on the pillows, took a hundred-leaved rose from the +bunch of flowers which Klaus sent daily through Anna Maria, to be placed +by the sick-bed, and asked--what! did I hear aright? Horrified, I turned +my head away and looked for Anna Maria; fortunately, she had gone out +with the doctor--and asked: 'Has Klaus--Herr von Hegewitz--ever inquired +for me?' And as she spoke her dark eyes flashed beneath the long lashes. + +"'Oh, yes, Susanna, but he is very much occupied with the harvesting +now,' I said deceitfully, 'and he knows you are having the best of +care.' + +"She nodded. 'And has not Herr von Stürmer been here? Did he not know +that I was ill?' + +"'Stürmer? Yes, I think he has been here frequently,' I replied. + +"'And hasn't he asked at all how I was?' she questioned me further. + +"'You are assuming, _ma mignonne_!' said I, irritated. 'He has inquired +for you, perhaps--yes, I remember--nothing more.' + +"'How ungallant!' whispered Susanna, sulkily. At that moment the door +opened and Brockelmann entered with a little basket of choice apricots, +with a fresh rosebud placed here and there among them. + +"'An expression of regard from Baron von Stürmer, who sent his wishes +for the Fräulein's improvement, hoping that she might like to eat the +fruit.' With these words the basket was set down rather roughly on the +table beside the bed. The old woman's glance met mine, and in her eyes +was plainly to be read: 'Well, let anybody who can understand such a +state of affairs; I can't!' But Susanna, with a cry of joy, had seized +the basket, and buried her nose in the flowers, inhaling their spicy +odor. Then she rested it on her knees, put her delicate arms around it, +leaned her head on the dainty handle, and with a happy smile closed her +eyes, and thus Anna Maria found her. She frowned at this ecstasy. 'It +is very kind of Stürmer,' she said, quietly; 'he always shows such +delicate attentions when he knows any one to be ill and suffering.' Then +she rang for a plate and silver fruit-knife. 'Give them to me, Susanna; +I will prepare some of the beautiful fruit for you.'" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +"Late in the afternoon one dull rainy day we were sitting in the +garden-parlor, Anna Maria with her sewing, Klaus reading the newspaper +and smoking, when Stürmer came in to talk over some matters with Klaus. +Then conversation about horses ended in a political discussion, in which +Anna Maria took part with a certain degree of liveliness, and Klaus +joined warmly, drawing strong whiffs from his pipe. Stürmer, who had +never taken a pipe in his mouth, now and then drove back the clouds with +his silk handkerchief in sport, and I amused myself with listening to +the ready answers which came from Anna Maria's young lips. + +"The demeanor of brother and sister toward each other was singular. Anna +Maria waited upon her brother with almost humble tenderness, while he +seemed distrustful, and then again secretly touched by the +self-sacrificing spirit of the nurse who devoted herself to Susanna. He +especially avoided looking at her, or speaking to her directly. + +"'How is Fräulein Mattoni getting on?' broke in Stürmer in the midst of +a well-turned sentence of Klaus's about the recent attempts to make +beet-root sugar. + +"'Well!' replied Anna Maria; 'she is reading an old family history which +I hunted up the other day, and enjoying your delicious apricots. Thank +you for them, Stürmer; they give Susanna great pleasure.' + +"Then the conversation turned upon the lately deceased Duke of Weimar, +Charles Augustus, and from him to his celebrated friend, Goethe, of whom +Stürmer affirmed that he was intending to marry again after the death of +his wife. Anna Maria rejected the idea incredulously; she could not +believe that he, at his great age, would be so foolish. She was a sworn +enemy to Goethe. Her plain, straightforward mind had been disagreeably +affected by Werther; such an overflow of feeling could but seem strange +to her. Goethe's numerous love-affairs set him out in a light which +brought the ideal conception of him down to the atmosphere of common +mortals. That genius draws different boundaries, that a fiery spirit +like his was not to be measured by the common standard, did not occur to +her, and so she now indignantly shook her head. + +"'A fable!' I, too, cried, smiling. + +"'Not at all,' rejoined Stürmer; 'I have it from Von N----, who is +correctly informed, depend upon it!' + +"'My!' said Klaus, 'he must have become an old icicle by this time, +scarcely able to go among people any more.' + +"'A man who has created a Gretchen ossify?' threw in Stürmer. 'Never!' + +"'And a Werther?' said I, in joke. + +"'Werther is insupportable!' declared Anna Maria, 'bombastic, overdrawn! +A man who behaves like Werther is in my eyes no man at all, but a +weakling!' + +"Stürmer's dark eyes looked quietly over at her. 'Your opinion, Fräulein +von Hegewitz, is surely a rare one among women. A woman usually +discovers from her standpoint, and naturally, that with a lost love the +value of life is gone, and why should not this be the case with a man +as well? Of course, in a man's occupation, in the demands which his life +makes of him, there are a thousand aids offered to enable him more +quickly to recover from such a pain. But to regard it purely +objectively, that demands such a cool manner of contemplation that I am +fain to believe that those who thus judge do not know what loving really +means.' + +"At these last words Anna Maria had grown as white as the linen on which +she was sewing. She dropped her head, as if conscious of guilt, and her +trembling hand could scarcely guide the needle. A painful pause ensued; +Klaus cast a compassionate glance at Stürmer; it was the first time that +he had given expression to the pain of his bitter disappointment in her +hearing and ours. + +"'Heavens, what a storm!' I cried, as a perfect flood of water was +hurled against the windows; even the despised subject of water satisfied +me to break the awkward silence. + +"'Indeed,' said Stürmer, rising, 'it is bad; I must make haste to get +under shelter while it is yet daylight.' He took leave with a haste that +left me to imagine he wished to be alone with his bitter feelings. + +"'Adieu, dear Edwin,' said I, tenderly, pressing his hand. Neither +brother nor sister gave him the customary invitation to spend the +evening here. Anna Maria had risen and laid her hand on Klaus's +shoulder, who was now standing beside her. She was still very pale, and +said her 'Good-night, Stürmer!' with a wearily maintained steadiness. + +"As soon as the gentlemen had left the room, she went to the door and +opened it impetuously; breathing hard, she stood in the door-way, and +the storm blew back her skirts, and the rain-drops beat in her face and +lay like pearls on her fair locks. Once or twice it seemed to me as if +her bosom heaved with suppressed sobs, so that, in alarm, I turned my +head to look around the curtain, but to no purpose, for as Klaus +reëntered the room she turned back too, and an almost transfigured +expression lay on her face. + +"She went up to him and took his arm. + +"'Dear brother,' I heard her say, and again there was a quiver in her +voice; she leaned her head against his breast. 'Dear Klaus!' she +repeated. + +"'Anna Maria?' he asked, taking hold of her hand. + +"'Klaus, let what has lately passed between us be forgotten! Forgive me +for having so violently opposed you; it was very wrong of me----' + +"'No, no, my old lass; I was more violent than was necessary,' he +replied hastily, drawing her to him; 'we were both in fault.' + +"'Yes, Klaus; you see I was not honest; I ought to have spoken at once, +but I was not sure enough of it. I did not wish to make you uneasy.' + +"'By what?' said Klaus hastily. + +"Anna Maria hesitated, but held her brother's arm more firmly. I cleared +my throat as a warning from my corner by the window, but Anna Maria paid +no attention to it; she acted from quick, firm resolution in all that +she did, and when occasion came she bravely met the difficulty, which +she thought easy enough to overcome. + +"'By telling you of a fact which makes Susanna's remaining in this house +questionable,' she said, quietly, but decidedly. + +"'The old song again, Anna Maria?' he said. 'Your vehemence did not +suffice; do you think to catch me this way?' + +"'No, Klaus, in Heaven's name, no!' she replied. 'Something different +drives me to you now; I did not mean to speak of Susanna to you again; I +wished in this hour only one word from you as of old, a single kind +word; that it happened thus was the course of the conversation. Forgive +me!' + +"'You have judged Susanna very severely, Anna Maria,' Klaus began, after +a pause, 'and now you have nursed her devotedly and made up for it a +hundred times; and yet the same sentiments?--now, when she is ill, and +may perhaps remain sickly?' + +"'I have expected too much of Susanna's constitution, Klaus, and day and +night I have prayed that God might restore her to health. I have desired +only her good, believe me. But my opinion of Susanna's character I +cannot alter.' + +"They were not standing close together now, but opposite one another. +'But beneath all the show and glitter which I despise there beats a +quick, warm human heart, Klaus. Susanna is no longer the child you think +to see in her. Susanna has--Susanna is--Susanna _loves_ you, Klaus!' + +"The twilight had gradually deepened. I could no longer see Klaus's face +distinctly, but only heard a quick, violent breathing. He did not +answer, he stood motionless. 'Foolish child!' thought I, looking at Anna +Maria. + +"'You do not believe me, Klaus?' she asked, as he remained silent. 'But +it is so; I am not mistaken! Susanna talked of you incessantly in her +delirium; I know it from a hundred little indications. Such an affection +increases daily and hourly--is the girl to become unhappy? Perhaps she +does not know it yet herself, but the awakening must surely come.' + +"Again no answer. Klaus sat down in the nearest chair, and looked before +him, motionless. The servants' supper-bell was now ringing outside, a +fresh shower of rain came pelting against the sandstone pavement of the +terrace, and there was a spectral light in the great, dim room. I +imagined phantoms were rising out of every nook and corner, and the +great flowered portière moved slightly, as if some one were standing +behind it, listening. + +"'You are right,' said Klaus, at length, in a lifeless tone; 'what is to +become of her? The wife of a Hegewitz--that is impossible; so you think, +do you not, Anna Maria?' + +"'Yes,' she replied, simply. + +"'Yes,' he repeated, springing up and pacing the room with long steps. +'And whither would you banish the girl?' he asked, stopping before his +sister. + +"'Not _banish_, Klaus; that sounds so different from what I intend,' she +said, frankly. 'Take her to a _pension_ in a southern district, perhaps +in Switzerland, and so give her an opportunity to thoroughly heal her +sick heart.' + +"'That sounds reasonable and well-considered,' he returned, bitterly. +'Meanwhile, Susanna is not yet restored to health.' And after a pause he +added: 'I have put off for a long time a necessary journey; I shall go +to-morrow to O----, in Silesia; I shall be acting to your mind so, shall +I not?' + +"Anna Maria started. 'To O----, do you say?' + +"'Yes,' he replied, very red; 'I have been a little negligent, and +affairs are in such a bad condition there a meeting of creditors is +unavoidable. Platen has repeatedly urged me to come myself, in order to +check the thing; you know my mortgage is the largest, but----' + +"'And you have not gone, Klaus?' said Anna Maria reproachfully. 'Why?' + +"'I shall start to-morrow morning,' he answered, shortly. + +"She evidently did not understand him aright, but she went up to him and +put her arms around his neck. 'Do not let a misunderstanding arise +between us again, Klaus. Shall I act contrary to my conviction?' + +"'No, no!' he replied in a hollow tone; 'I thank you.' But he did not +draw her to him, he freed himself from her arms and left the room. Anna +Maria stood motionless for a moment looking after him. Then she shook +her head energetically, as if to ward off intrusive thoughts, and taking +up her basket of keys went out too. + +"Half an hour later we were sitting at the supper-table. Anna Maria had +brought Klaus from his room; he looked disturbed and let his soup grow +cold, and crumbled his bread between his fingers in a distracted manner. + +"'Have you been to Susanna's room?' I asked Anna Maria. + +"She nodded. 'I was in a hurry, but stopped at her door up-stairs, and +called to ask what I should send her for supper. But I got no answer; +she was probably asleep, so I closed the door softly and came away.' + +"'And what do you intend to tell her as a pretext for her removal?' I +asked further. + +"'Her health is a sufficiently cogent reason, aunt,' replied Anna Maria. + +"I was silent and so were the others; we finished the meal in silence, +and then sat silent about the table in the sitting-room, without a +suspicion of what was happening meanwhile. Each was occupied with his +own thoughts, and without the monotonous rain still fell splashing on +the roof and poured from the animals' heads on the gutters upon the +pavement of the court. There was an incessant drizzle and splash, and +the storm, coming over the heath, swept together the rain-drops, and +drove them pelting against the well-protected windows. + +"All at once Brockelmann entered the room; frightened and startled her +eyes sped about. 'Is not Fräulein Mattoni here?' she asked excitedly. + +"'Susanna?' we all three cried with one voice, and Klaus sprang up. + +"'She is not in her room! Merciful Heaven, where can she be!' she +continued. 'Before supper she got up and dressed herself, laughing and +tittering; she meant to go down-stairs to surprise the family. I +scolded, but what good did it do? Oh, she must be hiding somewhere!' The +old woman's voice was choked with anxiety; Anna Maria had hurried out of +the room, and her flying steps reëchoed from the corridor, fear lending +her wings. Brockelmann took a candle from the table and began to search +the adjoining garden-parlor, and Klaus stood, pale as a corpse, as if +rooted to the spot. + +"'She must be here!' said I. + +"He did not hear. His whole attention was concentrated upon Anna Maria, +who was just crossing the threshold, and looked at her brother's serious +face with eyes that seemed twice their usual size. + +"'She is gone, Klaus,' she said, tremulously; 'I know not whither--why?' + +"He stepped past her without a word. + +"'Klaus!' Anna Maria called after him, 'take me with you!' But she +received no answer. 'She heard it, my God, she heard what I said to +him,' she whispered. 'Aunt, I beg you, go with him, do not let him go +alone!' She hastened away and came back with shawls and wraps. I could +hear from the court the hasty preparations for departure--indeed, how I +got to the carriage, where Klaus was already sitting on the box, I do +not know to this day. + +"It was a half-covered chaise in which we rolled out on the dark +highway; the rain beat against the leather hood, and the wind assaulted +us with undiminished strength; Klaus's coat-collar flapped in the light +of the carriage lamps, whose unsteady light was reflected in the water +of the one great puddle into which the whole road was transformed. Klaus +drove frantically; to this day I do not understand how we came, safe and +sound, in the pitch-dark night, before the Dambitz blacksmith's shop. +The little house lay there without a light. When Klaus pounded on the +door with his whip-handle the watch-dog gave the alarm, upon which a +man's voice soon asked what we wanted, and if anything had happened to +the carriage. It happened sometimes, doubtless, that the man was called +from his sleep because of an accident. + +"'Is your lodger at home?' asked Klaus, in place of an answer. + +"'Since this noon, your honor!' was the polite answer. The man knew the +master of the Hegewitz manor from his inquiry, for it was known all over +the village that the Bütze people had the foster-child of the old +actress with them. + +"'Is she alone?' + +"'Ah! has your honor come on account of the young mam'selle?' cried the +man. 'She came here an hour ago, wet as a rat, and is lying in bed +up-stairs there. I will open the door at once.' + +"Klaus helped me out of the carriage. 'Will you go up to her?' he +asked, and pressed my hand so hard that I nearly screamed. + +"'Certainly, certainly, my lad!' I made haste to say; 'we will soon have +the fugitive back at Bütze.' But sooner said than done. The blacksmith's +wife, who had also appeared on the scene, carefully lighted the way up +the creaking, dangerous flight of stairs, which I was scarcely able to +climb with my lame foot, and there, in the low, whitewashed back room of +the forge, stood Isabella Pfannenschmidt before me, like a roused +lioness. She stood with outstretched arms before the bed, which was in +an alcove-like recess, and was half covered with fantastic hangings of +yellow chintz. With theatrical pathos she called to me: 'What do you +want? You have no more right to this child!' + +"Without further ado I pushed her aside and looked at the bed; from a +chaos of blue and red feather-beds emerged Susanna's brown head. + +"She turned her face to the wall without looking at me, and remained +thus, motionless. + +"'Susanna, was that right?' I asked. + +"No answer. + +"'Why did you run away so suddenly, my child? Do you know that you may +have made yourself ill and miserable for life by this recklessness?' + +"Silence again, but the breathing grew heavy and loud. + +"'You are an obstinate, naughty child!' I continued. You frighten the +people who love you half to death, and sin against yourself in an +unheard-of manner!' + +"The old actress meanwhile stood with folded arms, and an indescribable +smile played about her mouth. + +"'Are you well enough to get up and drive home with me, Susanna?' I +asked. + +"'No!' cried the old woman. 'Why should she go to you again? Sooner or +later they will be sure to show her the door!' + +"'Susanna, Klaus is below; he has been anxious about you; and Anna Maria +is impatiently waiting at home. Be reasonable, be good; you owe us an +explanation.' + +"But in place of an answer a violent fit of coughing followed; she +suddenly began to toss about and clutch at the air, and her eyes looked +over at me, large and fixed, strangely unconscious. The old actress fell +on the bed with a piercing cry, and wound her arms about the girl. 'Oh, +Lord, she is dying!' + +"Had Klaus heard this cry? I know not; I only know that all at once he +was in the room, and pushed the old woman away from the bed, and that +that moment decided the fate of two human beings. All that had been +fermenting in him for weeks, the stream of his passion which had been +wearily held back by cold reason, was set free by the sight of the girl +lying thus unconscious. No more restraint was possible; he threw his +arms about her, he kissed the little weak hands, the dark hair; he +called her his bride, his wife, his beloved; never again, never, should +she go from his heart, who was dearer to him than all the world! In dumb +horror I heard these impetuous words rush on my ears. Thank God, +Isabella Pfannenschmidt had left the room; she had evidently rushed out +for a restorative, for tea or water. + +"I laid a heavy hand on the man's shoulder. 'Are you mad, Klaus? Do you +not see that she is sicker than ever?' Susanna now lay in his arms, +really swooning; her head had fallen on his shoulder, and the small +face, like that of a slumbering child, showed a slight smile on the +lips. + +"'Aunt,' said the tall, fair man, without getting up, tears shining in +his honest blue eyes, 'she shall not die; I should reproach myself with +it forever!' He pressed his lips to her forehead again and went out, +without looking about him; he sat on the stairs there a long time. +Susanna opened her eyes at last, under our efforts. She then let dry +clothes be put on her without resistance, but there was no sign, no +look, to betray to me whether she had heard Klaus's wild whisperings of +love. But she did not for a moment object to accompanying me to Bütze, +and energetically chid the old woman's lamentation. Warmly wrapped, I +led her over the threshold of the low room; she wavered for a moment, as +she saw Klaus on the stairs by the light of the oil-lamp. Then he raised +her in his arms, and in the smoking, unsteady light of the lamp, which +was being put out by the draught, I saw how he went down the steps with +her, how two slender arms were put around his neck, sure and fast. With +tottering knees I followed them, to take Susanna Mattoni to Bütze again. + +"And the way home! Never has a drive seemed so endless to me. I sat +silent beside the girl; I was angry with her, bitterly angry for being +loved by Klaus. The pride of a pure and ancient stock arose in my heart +in its full strength, and if ever I hated Susanna Mattoni it was on that +night, in the dark carriage. Then I felt her lightly touch my clothes, +slip to the floor beside me, and embrace my knees and lay her head on my +lap. 'I was going away, Fräulein Rosamond,' she whispered; 'why did you +come after me?' + +"They were only a few simple words, but such a persuasive truth lay in +them that my anger vanished almost instantly. A feeling of deep sympathy +pulled at my heart, and sent a flood of tears to my eyes. + +"What avail the arduously established limits of human law and order, +even though uprightly preserved for centuries long, against the storm of +a first passion? A single instant--the proud structure lies in ruins, +and the crimson banner of love waves victoriously over all +considerations, over all reflections. + +"I felt Susanna's hot lips on my hand; they burned me like glowing iron. +I did not draw away my hand, but left it to her, without pressure, +without a sign that I understood her. Before my eyes hovered the image +of Anna Maria. 'Oh, Anna Maria, I could not prevent its happening thus!' + +"And now the carriage rolled under our gateway, rattled over the paved +court, and stopped before the steps. I saw Klaus swing himself down from +the box, and saw Anna Maria, in the light of the lantern, standing in +the vaulted door-way. Klaus opened the carriage-door; Susanna first +raised herself up now, and he carried her like a child up the steps, +past Anna Maria, into the house. They had forgotten me; the lame old +aunt clambered out of the carriage with Brockelmann's help, and on +entering the sitting-room I found Anna Maria and Susanna alone--Susanna, +with a feverish glow on her cheeks, in Klaus's arm-chair, Anna Maria +standing before her with a cup of hot tea. + +"Not a question, not a reproach passed her lips; she silently offered +the warming drink, and Susanna silently refused it. 'You must go to bed, +Susanna,' she then said. The girl rose and took a step or two, but +tottered, and held on to her chair. 'Put your arms around my neck, +Susanna!' Anna Maria cried, and in a moment had raised her in her strong +arms, and went toward the door as if she were carrying a feather. +Brockelmann followed; I heard her muttering away to herself, 'That caps +the climax!' + +"Utterly exhausted, I sank into my chair. What was to be done now? God +grant that Klaus and Anna Maria might not see each other again this +evening, only this evening! + +"Half an hour had passed when I heard Anna Maria's step in the hall; the +door was wide open, and I could distinctly see her tall figure approach, +in the faint light of the hall-lamp. She stopped at Klaus's door and +knocked. I leaned forward to listen; all was still. 'Klaus!' I heard her +say. No answer. Again I thought I detected a suppressed sob in her +voice. 'Klaus!' she repeated once more, imploringly, pressing on the +latch. She waited a minute or two, then turned away and went up-stairs +again. + +"'He is angry with her,' I murmured, half aloud, 'and she wants to +conciliate him. My God, turn everything to good!' I put out the lights +in the sitting-room and went over to Klaus's door and listened. Regular +and heavy came the sound of his steps; he was there, then! 'Klaus!' I +called, with an energy which frightened myself. The steps came nearer at +once, the key was turned, and he opened the door directly. + +"'Come in, aunt,' he bade me. I looked at him in alarm, he looked so +pale, so exhausted. His hand seized mine. 'It is well that you are +looking after me, aunt; something has come over me, I know not how.' + +"'And now, Klaus?' I asked, letting him lead me to the sofa, which had +descended from my father and still stood on the same spot as of old, +under a collection of about fifty deers' antlers, all of which had been +taken on the Bütze hunting-grounds, and had decorated that wall as far +back as I could remember. + +"He had stopped in front of me. 'And now?' he repeated, passing his hand +over his forehead. 'It is a strange question, _au fond_, aunt--Susanna +will be my wife. I can give you no other answer.' + +"It was out! I had long known that it must come, and yet it fell on me +like a blow. + +"'Klaus,' I began. But he interrupted me impatiently and indignantly. + +"'I know all you would say, aunt; I have said it to myself a hundred +times! I know as well as you that Susanna belongs to the common class, +that her mother came from doubtful antecedents. I know that Susanna is a +trifling, spoiled child, who seems little suited to my seriousness. I +know that I am old in comparison to her; and I know, above all, that +Anna Maria will never regard her as a sister. Nevertheless, aunt, my +resolve stands firm, for I love Susanna Mattoni, love her with all her +childish faults, which are hardly to be called faults. I love her in her +charming, trifling maidenhood; it will make me happy to be able to +educate and guide her further, and the love that Anna Maria denies her I +will try to make up to her.' + +"I was silent, there was nothing more to be said. + +"'You do not look happy, aunt,' he said, bitterly. 'Listen: this +afternoon I was thinking of flight; but when Anna Maria said, "Susanna +loves you!" it almost crushed me. Amid all the happiness which this +revelation opened to me, yet much that has been sacred and not to be +trifled with forcibly appealed to me. But when I beheld Susanna, like a +dying person, in that poor room, all at once it was clear to me that +everything in the world is powerless against a true, deep passion, and +then----' + +"'And Anna Maria, Klaus?' + +"'I cannot talk with her any more this evening, aunt,' he replied; 'wait +till I am quieter; there is time enough. I grow violent if I think that +it was her words that drove Susanna out in the stormy night. God grant +that it may do her no harm!' + +"'Yet do not misunderstand the fact, Klaus, that Anna Maria wished +Susanna's best good,' I besought him, tears streaming from my eyes. +'Think how she loves you, how her very existence depends upon you. I +shall wish from my heart, Klaus, that what you have chosen may be the +right thing; but do not expect that Anna Maria will, without a struggle, +see you take a step which may perhaps bring you heavy burdens and little +happiness.' + +"Klaus did not answer. He stood before his writing-desk and looked at +Anna Maria's portrait, which she had given him at Christmas three years +before; it was painted at the time that she refused Stürmer. The clear +blue eyes looked over at Klaus from the proud, grave face, which had the +slightest expression of pain about the mouth, as if she were again +speaking the words she had said to him at that time: 'I will stay with +you, Klaus; I cannot go away from you!' + +"'I do not wish to proceed violently, aunt,' he began, after a long +pause; 'I am no young blusterer who would take a fortress by storm. +Susanna, too, requires rest; she ought not to be disturbed and excited +any more now. Believe me, I love Anna Maria very dearly, but I cannot +give up a happiness a second time for her sake; then she was a child, +and toward the child I had obligations; to-day she is a maiden, who +sooner or later will be a wife.' + +"'No, no, Klaus," I cried. + +"'Very well, not so, then. She is different from others I admit; at any +rate, hers is a nature that is sufficient to itself. She is, and +remains, in my heart and in my home, my only and beloved sister, who +will ever hold the first place, next to--Susanna. But with that she must +be satisfied, and in return I demand love, and above all, consideration +for her who will be my wife. But, as I said before, I cannot possibly +speak quietly with Anna Maria about it now. I will let it wait over, +with my absence, perhaps three weeks, perhaps longer, and we shall all +have time to become more calm--I, too, Aunt Rosamond. I thought of +writing to Anna Maria about this affair, calmly and lovingly, and almost +believe it is the best thing to do.' + +"'And when shall you start, Klaus?' + +"'Frederick is packing my trunk now; the bailiff is coming at four +o'clock for a necessary conference; at five the carriage will be at the +door.' + +"'And does Anna Maria know?' + +"'No--I would like--to go without saying good-by.' + +"'You will make her angry, Klaus; it is not right.' I sobbed. + +"'Let time pass, aunt, that the breach may not grow wider; you know her +and you know me. There have been discussions between us of late which +have left a thorn in my heart. I do not want to be violent toward her +again.' + +"'And Susanna?' + +"'Susanna knows enough,' he replied, simply; 'you will be so kind as to +explain to her that I had to go on a necessary journey, and hope next to +see her well and sound again.' + +"'Will she not interpret it falsely, after that vehement storm of love +to-night?' + +"He blushed to the roots of his curly hair. + +"'No, aunt,' he said, 'it would be untimely were I to make her any +assurances. Susanna knows now that I love her, and I think she returns +my love; of what use are further words?' + +"Honest old Klaus! I can still see you standing before me, in the +agitation which so well became you, and so truly brought out your fine, +brave character. + +"'Farewell, then, Klaus,' said I, placing my hand in his, and he drew it +to his lips and looked at my tearful eyes. 'Hold your dear hands over my +little Susanna,' he asked tenderly; 'I will thank you for every kind +word you say to her. And should she be in danger, should she grow worse +again, write me. I will leave a few lines for Anna Maria.' + +"'God be with you, Klaus; may all be well!' + +"He accompanied me through the dim hall as far as the stairs. A short +whirr from the old clock, and two hollow strokes were heard. Two o'clock +already! I waved my hand again, and went up-stairs, with how heavy a +heart God only knows! + +"I stopped at Susanna's door and softly lifted the latch. By the +uncertain light of the night-lamp I saw Anna Maria in the arm-chair +beside the bed; her head rested against the green cushion of the high +back, her hands were folded over her New Testament in her lap, and she +was sleeping quietly and soundly. I glided softly in and looked at +Susanna; she lay awake, her eyes wide open. As she caught sight of me +she dropped her long lashes, pretending deep sleep, but raised them +again, blinking, as I withdrew. Was it any wonder that she did not sleep +and that her cheeks glowed like crimson roses? + +"My sleep was restless that night, full of confused, troubled dreams. +Toward morning I woke with a start; I thought I heard the rumbling of a +coach. 'Klaus,' I cried, and a feeling of anxiety came over me. I rose +and glided to the window; a thick, white autumnal mist hung over the +trees and roofs of the barns; it was perfectly still all about, but the +door of the carriage-house stood open and a boy was slowly sauntering +into the stable; the gates were opened wide, showing a bit of the +lonely, poplar-shaded highway. + +"I stole away and sought my bed again; so far everything was certainly +quiet and orderly. I had been sleeping soundly again, when suddenly +opening my eyes, I perceived Brockelmann by my bed. + +"'Fräulein,' she said, unsteadily, 'the master has gone off early this +morning!' + +"'He will come back, Brockelmann,' I said, consolingly. 'Does Anna Maria +know yet?' + +"'To be sure!' replied the old woman; 'and she was not a little +frightened when Frederick brought her the letter which the master left +for her. But you know, Fräulein, she always judges according to the +saying, "What God does and what my brother does is well!"' With that the +old woman went. + +"I believe I sat at the window for two hours after that in _déshabillé_, +thinking over yesterday's experience; Klaus had gone, and when he +returned Susanna would be his wife--that was ever the sum of my +reflections. + +"When I came down-stairs I found Anna Maria engaged in business +transactions with the bailiff and forester. How clearly she made her +arrangements! The men had not a word to reply. Offers had been made for +the grain; the harvest was richer than ever before, and the price of +grain low. Anna Maria did not wish to close the bargain yet; in Eastern +Prussia the grain had turned out wretchedly. 'Let us wait for the +potato-crop,' I heard her say. 'If that turns out as badly as seems +probable now, we shall need more bread, for our people must not suffer +want.' + +"She proceeded with calmness and caution. Oh, yes. Klaus was right; his +house was in good care. As she followed me afterward into the +garden-parlor she pressed my hand. + +"'Klaus's departure seems like a flight,' she said; 'but it must be all +right.' + +"Not a word of yesterday's occurrences! Nor in the future either. +Susanna observed the same silence. When I went to her bed to inform her +that Klaus was gone on a journey, a bright flush of alarm tinged her +pale face for an instant, but she was silent. + +"For some time yet she had to keep her bed; then her childish step was +heard again about the house, her slender figure nestled again in the +deep easy-chair in the garden-parlor, and she went about the park as of +old, idling away the days, and gradually signs of returning health +appeared in her cheeks. + +"She evidently missed Klaus; it was most plainly to be seen in her +dress. She seemed astonishingly negligent; at a slight word of blame +from me, the question, 'For whom?' rose quickly to her lips, but she did +not speak it, and turned away her blushing face. Isabella Pfannenschmidt +came to the house a few days after Klaus's departure, while Susanna was +still in bed. I entered the room soon after her, and found the old woman +by the bed, a vexed expression on her face. My ear just caught the +words: 'Yes, now, there we have it: the egg will always be wiser than +the hen!' + +"She was embarrassed at my entrance, but remained fierce and surly. I +purposely did not leave them alone, and toward evening she took her +leave, with a thousand fond words to Susanna, and a cold courtesy to me. +'All will yet be well, my sweet little dear; only wait!' she whispered +before she went." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +"Life went on quietly in the house without a master. Anna Maria was busy +until late in the evening; she possessed an endless capacity for work. +'I can bear Klaus's absence easier so,' she said, when I urged her to +give herself some rest. 'I miss him infinitely, aunt!' Stürmer came +occasionally to inquire for the ladies. Once he arrived at the same time +with Anna Maria; she, like him, was on horseback; they had probably met +on the highway, for Anna Maria came from the fields, the bailiff behind +her. I was standing at the window with Susanna. 'What a splendid +couple!' said I, involuntarily, and indeed I thought I had scarcely ever +seen Anna Maria look so handsome. + +"Klaus wrote rarely; those times were not like the present, and one was +well satisfied to receive a letter once a fortnight. Anna Maria answered +promptly; her accounts must have been sufficiently detailed, for no +letter or inquiry in regard to our secret came to me. Anna Maria used to +read Klaus's letters, with the exception of the business portions, +aloud, after supper. There was a certain homesick sound in the words, +calmly and coolly as they were written. But her face beamed at every +word which he wrote from the enchanted Silesia in praise of the poor +home in the Mark; it stirred her whole heart. Next to her tender +affection for her brother, she clung with an idolizing love to her +home; no mountain lake could compare with the brown, oak-bound pond in +the garden, no high mountain-range with the charm of the heath, with the +pine-forests in the cradle of Prussia. + +"And the object which doubled all the longing, which made the old +manor-house at Bütze seem in the eyes of the distant owner like a fairy +castle, like a rendezvous of the elves--this object sat playing with her +kitten during the reading, and now and then I even had to tap her +shoulder as she yawned slightly. + +"'Is that only feigned indifference?' I asked myself. Then, again, a +sad, weary smile would play about her mouth if Klaus were the subject of +conversation. I thought at the time that she was fretting over the +long-delayed continuation of that hot declaration of love; that she, +with her ardent nature, was tormenting herself to death with doubts. And +I could not speak a consoling word to her; Klaus did not wish it. Why +should Susanna be spared a + + "'Hangen und Bangen + In schwebender Pein'? + +"One morning a peasant lad came running into the yard, bringing a letter +for Susanna; the old mam'selle at the forge had sent him, he said. I met +him on the steps, just as I was coming in from the garden, and bade +Brockelmann go up to Susanna with the note, which was written on the +finest letter-paper. The boy trotted away, and I sat down with Anna +Maria in the sitting-room. In a few minutes Susanna's light step was +heard in the hall, and she entered the room in haste. + +"'I must beg you for a carriage, Fräulein Anna Maria!' she cried, out of +breath; 'my old Isa is ill: I must go to her.' + +"Anna Maria put down her pen, rather unwillingly, at this disturbance; +she had been making out accounts. + +"'But, Susanna, how often have I requested you not to walk so fast? You +are out of breath again.' + +"'Shall we not find out first what is the matter with Isa?' said I, for +all at once Klaus's words, 'Hold your hands over this girl!' fell +heavily on my soul. Klaus had asked it of me. Klaus was no child; he was +a calm, strong-willed man, and he was going to make her his wife, and I +knew he would accuse me, bitterly accuse me, if a hair of her head were +hurt. + +"'It might be a contagious disease, Susanna,' I continued, with all the +decision at my command, as her eyes sparkled at my opposition. + +"'And what if it were the plague?' she cried, and clinched her little +hands, and swung her foot impatiently under the folds of her dress. + +"Anna Maria stood up. 'For shame, Susanna! I think you are quite right +to wish to take care of Isa; it would be unnatural if you did not have +this desire. But you have scarcely recovered, and a long stay in that +musty little sick-room would be poison to you; and besides, as Aunt +Rosamond says, the disease may be contagious; we must find out about it +first.' + +"'And meanwhile she may grow worse and die!' cried Susanna passionately. +'What if I do take the disease? I must go to her!' And bursting into +tears, she threw herself into a chair, and buried her head in the +cushions. Anna Maria went up to her and bent over her. + +"'Susanna,' she said, kindly, 'a sensible woman shall go at once to your +Isa. And now compose yourself; I have a quiet word to say to you when I +come back.' + +"'God knows what that may mean!' I thought, looking at the weeping girl. +'What does she mean to say quietly to her?' I stroked Susanna's hair +gently. 'Do not cry, _ma petite_,' I said, consolingly. 'Everything is +in God's hand. He guides and rules every human life according to his +will; trust him, he will bring it right!' I do not know if Susanna +understood me; a fresh burst of tears was the reply, and all +inconsolable sounded this bitter sobbing. + +"Anna Maria came back and sat down opposite Susanna. 'Will you listen to +me rationally?' she said, somewhat severely. + +"Susanna started up and gave her a defiant look. 'I am listening,' she +said. + +"Just then I was called away; the pastor's sister, an early friend of +mine, had come to pay me a visit. I went, not without anxiously +regarding the two girls. What in the world could Anna Maria have in +view? + +"After two mortal hours Mademoiselle Grüne took her leave; she no doubt +found me more distraught than is usually permissible; even talking over +a wedding festivity which we had attended together in the remote period +of our youth, at which Minna Grüne came very near becoming engaged, and +which ended in a fire, failed to interest me as usual. When I came +down-stairs again I found Anna Maria over her housekeeping books; +Susanna was not to be seen. + +"'Anna Maria,' I asked, more hastily than is my wont, 'what have you +been talking about with Susanna?' + +"'I wanted to talk with her about her future,' she replied, 'but----' + +"'About her future?' I repeated, faintly. + +"'Yes, indeed, aunt, for things cannot go on in this way any longer. +Susanna suffers from a dreadful disease--she has _ennui_. In my opinion +this doing nothing is enough to make the most healthy people ill.' + +"'And what did she say, Anna Maria?' + +"'She? she ran away as soon as she heard the one word future! Susanna is +a naughty child, and it is high time for Klaus to come back and put her +in a pension; she is worse than ever since he went away.' + +"I had to smile, and yet tears came suddenly into my eyes, and yielding +to an involuntary impulse, I asked: 'Anna Maria, do you really believe +that Klaus will send Susanna away.' + +"She turned about and gave me a startled look. 'Can you doubt it? He has +no doubt gone away for that express purpose. Do you not suppose the +justice could have despatched that business?' + +"The next day Susanna, pale and low-spirited, drove to Dambitz, to take +care of her Isa. She had cried all night long, did not get up in the +morning, and kept on crying in her bed, till Anna Maria ordered a +carriage for her. + +"Isa was said to be suffering from a stitch in the back, quite free from +danger, so there was no contagion to be feared. Susanna packed up a host +of things, as if she were going to a watering-place. Without ado, Anna +Maria took flowers, ribbons, laces, and white dresses out of the trunk, +and put in half a dozen strong aprons. 'You will have more use for +these,' she explained, gently. I was entirely opposed to this journey; +in consideration of my private instructions, I could not approve of it, +yet it seemed right to Anna Maria. 'I cannot bear the old woman either,' +she said; 'but if she is ill and wants Susanna, she must go.' + +"'How could a man fall in love with this childish little creature?' I +thought, as she leaned back in the carriage with a happy smile of +satisfaction; the black crape veil floated about her small face, her +little feet were propped against the back seat, and she gracefully waved +her hand to me again. Oh! mademoiselle had the manners of a duchess, +mademoiselle will already act as Frau von Hegewitz. If Anna Maria +dreamed of that! + +"A letter from Klaus came that evening. My heart began to beat, as it +always did when one came, for each time I thought Klaus would write his +sister of his love. I watched Anna Maria closely as she read; she +frowned and shook her head. + +"'Klaus has had to take possession of the property, in order not to lose +everything,' she said. 'He writes that he had expected to be back in a +week, but now, alas! he is obliged to stay longer. "The harvest festival +should be kept just as if I were there,"' she read on. "You can say a +few words to the people in my place. As may easily be imagined, I have +my hands full, and there are not a few disagreeable things: in the midst +of the harvesting and nothing in order; the people a lazy, Polish +element; the bailiff a knave whom I sent off the first day! The +situation of the manor is wonderful, as well as the building itself and +the great, shady garden; however, I shall be glad when I am free from +the business at last. The high hills not far away depress me; they shut +out the view too much; how far do you suppose I can see from my window? +Just through the space between the two barns, over the wall of the +court-yard. As soon as I have things in some degree of order here I +shall have Beling (the bailiff) come and take the management in my +place. I hope you are all getting on well. Is not Aunt Rosamond going +to write me at all? Is Susanna well, perfectly well? You did not mention +her in your last letter."' + +"'Aha!' thought I, as Anna Maria, reflecting, let the letter drop, 'the +longing! Oh, you foolish Klaus! And if I were to write him now, "Susanna +is in Dambitz," what would he say?' + +"'I should like to drive over to-morrow to look after Susanna,' said I, +turning to Anna Maria, who was drawing in and out the colored wools on +the table-cover she was embroidering for Klaus. + +"'I will wager, aunt, she will be back again to-morrow; do you think she +will hold out long there in that mean room, with the uncomfortable bed +on that neck-breaking sofa? Just wait; she will be here again before we +know it.' + +"The next day Anna Maria was sitting with her table-cover beside my bed; +I had wrapped a rabbit-skin about my arms and shoulders, for the evil +rheumatism. Such an attack sometimes chained me to my bed for a week or +more, and this time I lay there feeling like a veritable culprit. I kept +thinking of Susanna, and this tormented me into a state of nervousness. +And there sat Anna Maria beside me, in her calm way taking one stitch +after another. I followed her large yet beautifully formed hand, and the +trefoil which grew under it; the lions supporting a shield were already +finished, and the last leaf would be done to-day. 'Fear thy God, kill +thine enemy, trust no friend,' was the strange motto of our family. It +doubtless originated in those times when races lived in perpetual feud +with one another, each ever ready for combat on the fortress of his +fathers. + +"'Anna Maria!' I began, at length. + +"She started up out of a deep revery. 'Shall I read the paper to you?' +she asked. + +"'No, thank you, _mon ange_; but tell me, do you know if Susanna--is +she----' + +"'She is still with her Isa, aunt,' replied Anna Maria. 'I packed up a +little basket of food for her this morning. Marieken carried it, +and----' + +"'Well, Anna Maria?' + +"'Oh, well, she sits by the old woman's bedside, Marieken tells me, and +round about her lie laces and ribbons and flowers; Susanna is making a +new hat or two for herself. Marieken says she had no eyes for my +appetizing basket; with cheeks as red as roses, she was all absorbed in +her finery.' + +"'Incorrigible!' I murmured; 'Anna Maria, why have you let her stay +away? Is the old woman really so ill?' I added, out of humor. + +"'Well, it did not seem to me so alarming from Marieken's account. If +you were not a patient yourself, aunt, I would have driven over.' + +"I lay back with a sigh. Of course, I had to be ill just now. Out of +doors a cold wind was blowing over the bare fields; we should have an +early autumn. My good times were over, and now were coming again the +days of stove-heat and confinement to the house, of rabbit-skins and +herb-bags. + +"'I shall invite no one to the harvest festival this year, aunt,' began +Anna Maria, after a pause. 'What would all the people do here without +Klaus? It will give me no pleasure without him; on the contrary, it is +painful to me.' + +"'But Klaus wishes----' + +"'Ah, aunt, but he will be content _au fond_. I know him!' said the +girl, with a smile. + +"Just then Brockelmann announced Baron Stürmer. Like a flash of fire a +sudden blush mounted to Anna Maria's face, the fingers which held the +needle trembled, and her voice was unsteady. + +"'Excuse me to the baron. I am prevented, unfortunately; aunt is ill.' + +"Anna Maria had hitherto seen him only in the presence of others; she +feared being alone with him; was that indifference? + +"'Ask the baron to come up here,' said I with sudden resolution. 'I am +certainly old enough to receive him in bed,' I added to Anna Maria. + +"'Come, _mon cher_ Edwin, if you are not afraid to see a sick old woman +in bed,' I called to him, as he was now entering, and pointed to a chair +by the head of my bed, opposite Anna Maria. Edwin Stürmer was the most +versatile man I ever saw, and at once master of a situation. And so he +was soon sitting by me, chatting pleasantly. The twilight deepened, and +Anna Maria let her hands rest. She listened to us as we spoke of old +times; I saw how her eyes were fixed on his face, how now and then a +slight flush spread over it. She spoke little, and all at once rose and +left the room. + +"'Anna Maria is quiet, and looks badly,' I remarked; 'the work is too +much for her.' + +"He did not answer at once; then he said: 'She was always so still and +cold, Aunt Rosamond.' + +"'No, no, Stürmer, she is in trouble, she is worried about Klaus.' + +"'Of all things in the world, that is a needless anxiety,' he returned, +laughing. And evidently trying to get away from the subject, he asked: +'But where is Fräulein Mattoni?' + +"'Nearer to you than you think, Edwin.' + +"'With the old witch, her duenna?' he asked, with that indifference +which involuntarily suggests the opposite quality. + +"'Yes; the old woman is ill and Susanna is taking care of her. _Eh +bien_, you will come, of course, to our harvest festival? Anna Maria +intends to celebrate it very quietly, quite _entre nous_; but you must +come, Edwin.' + +"'What?' he asked, absently. + +"'For pity's sake, tell me where your thoughts are hiding?' I scolded, +irritably. + +"He laughed, and kissed my hand. 'Pardon, Fräulein Rosamond, I was still +thinking about Klaus.' + +"'And the result, Edwin?' + +"'Is that I have come to none; he is really incomprehensible to me.' + +"'Why?' + +"'Do allow me _not_ to say it,' he replied; 'but I _envy_ him.' + +"'May I not also know what?' + +"'Yes,' he said, rising, 'his cool temperament. How much needless +agitation, how many sleepless nights one to whom such calmness has been +given is spared!' + +"'But Klaus is not cold; I do not know what you mean,' said I, +reproachfully; 'as little cold as Anna Maria, and--as you.' + +"He sat down again, and without regarding my objection, continued: 'For +Heaven's sake, do tell me where they got this even temperament, this +indifference, this coolness. The father was an eccentric, energetic man, +warmly sensitive, even to passionateness--perhaps the mother was so?' + +"'I assure you, Edwin,' I repeated, almost hurt, 'you know them both +very little yet when you speak thus. They are neither indifferent nor +cold-hearted; but both have, alas! inherited too much of the father's +warm feelings and eccentricity. Believe me,' I added with a sigh. I was +thinking of the scene in the Dambitz forge. + +"Edwin Stürmer laughed. 'Well, well,' he said, 'I am far from +reproaching Klaus with it; it is only incomprehensible to me. I suppose +I seem odd to you?' + +"'Oh, Stürmer, such a hot-head as you Klaus has never been, certainly, +and I know that you owe to your vivacity my brother's love, which +preferred you before his own son. You may be convinced that just that +passionate, changeable nature of my brother has made the children so +earnest, so deliberate.' + +"'Klaus is the best, the noblest of men; he is my friend!' cried +Stürmer, with warmth. 'Do I say, then, that I reproach him? But he has +not learned to know life; he has never come from mere fidelity to duty +and deliberation, to call his a moment of inspiration which is able to +carry one quite out of himself; he has ever kept to the golden mean, +blameless; he has always done enough, but not too much. In short--in +short, such men are model men. But what life means, Aunt Rosamond, that +he does not know, and only _he_ could trust himself----' + +"He broke off suddenly. 'I should like to know how I came to deliver +such a lecture to you,' he added, jokingly. + +"It was almost dark in the room now. I could scarcely distinguish +Stürmer's profile. He twisted his beard rapidly and nervously. + +"'You may say what you will, Stürmer, but cold my two children are not,' +I declared, and just at that moment Anna Maria entered. + +"'A light will be brought directly,' she said, cheerfully, stepping over +to her chair. 'Pardon me, baron, for staying away so long; I was kept by +domestic duties, which occupy me more closely than when Klaus is at +home.' + +"He made no reply; I only saw him bow. Anna Maria could have said +nothing more pedantic, I thought. Conversation would not flow, the light +did not come. Anna Maria was just on the point of ringing for it when +the bell in the church-tower began to ring in quick, broken strokes. + +"'Fire!' cried Anna Maria, in alarm, hurrying to the window. Already +there was a commotion in the court-yard; Stürmer had also thrown open a +window. 'Where is the fire?' he called down. + +"With beating heart I sat upright in bed. 'Where?' called Anna Maria, +'where is the fire, people?' Then the words were lost in the tumult. + +"'In Dambitz,' at last came up the reply, amid all the tramping of +horses and noise of the people. '_Sacre Dieu!_' murmured Stürmer, +overturning a chair in the darkness; 'Dambitz!' + +"'I will light a candle,' said Anna Maria, calmly; 'give me a moment and +I will go with you.' Below, the fire-engine was just rattling across the +court. The candles flared up under Anna Maria's hand. + +"'Send me a wrap, aunt, please; I wish to go over on Susanna's account; +do not worry. I am ready, if you will take me with you in your +carriage,' she added to Stürmer; and again a red glow spread over her +face. + +"'The carriage is ready, if you please, Fräulein.' He was already +hurrying out of the room. + +"'For God's sake, Anna Maria, bring back Susanna to me!' I cried. And +then I lay alone for hours. Brockelmann came up once: 'The whole sky is +red,' she informed me; 'it must be a big fire.' The little bell rang +unremittingly its monotonous alarm, and before my eyes stood the burning +houses, and I fancied Anna Maria beside Stürmer in the carriage, driving +rapidly along the lonely highway, and Susanna in danger. And my thoughts +flew to Klaus: 'Hold your hands over this girl. I will thank you for it +all my life!' 'My God, protect her!' I prayed in my anxiety. + +"And hour after hour passed, the bell became silent, after long pauses, +and Anna Maria did not come. Brockelmann said the fire-light had +disappeared. I heard the carriages and people returning home; then the +court was quiet. And then Brockelmann came in again: 'It broke out in +the second house from the forge, the lads say, and the forge is +half-burned, too.' Oh, Heaven, and Anna Maria does not come! + +"The old woman sat down by my bed. 'She does not think of herself,' she +complained; 'she will run into the burning house if it is possible. Ah, +if the master were only here!' Good Brockelmann, she knew better than +Stürmer how to judge Anna Maria. + +"'Fräulein,' she whispered, already following another train of thought, +'do you know--but you must not take it amiss--the baron comes so often +now, and as I saw them both drive out of the yard to-day, then--I keep +thinking she will marry him yet.' + +"'Oh, how can you talk such nonsense?" said I, chiding these words in +vexation. + +"'Yet, I say, the next thing will be a wedding in the house!' declared +the old woman. 'The great myrtle down-stairs is full of buds, and I also +found a bridal rose in the garden. And last New Year's eve I listened at +the door and heard the young master just saying: "Invite to the +wedding!" And that will all come true. And then--but you must not act as +if you knew it--I have had Anna Maria in my arms from the day she was +born, and know her as no one else does, and I know how she cried over +the note that the baron wrote her at the time when he went far away into +the world, and, Fräulein, she always has it with her! Oh, I see so much +that I am not intended to see; but she cannot dissemble, Anna Maria.' + +"Ah! what the old woman was saying was of no importance to me; only news +of Susanna; everything else later! 'My God, Susanna,' I murmured, 'if +anything has happened to her!' And unable to stay quietly in bed any +longer, I bade Brockelmann help me dress. At last a carriage rolled in +at the gate and stopped before the house. I sat up in bed, and kept my +eyes on the door. Susanna _must_ come! Brockelmann had hurried +down-stairs; I heard Anna Maria's voice on the stairs, and her +footsteps, and then she came in. + +"'For God's sake, where is Susanna?' I cried to her. + +"'With her old nurse, who has been made really ill from fright,' she +said quietly, and sank exhausted into the chair by my bed. + +"'But, Anna Maria,' I wailed, 'the forge is burned down!' + +"'They are at the castle,' she replied, gently. 'Stürmer has given a +shelter to all who were burned out.' + +"'In the castle?' At the first moment the thought was quieting to me, +but then my heart grew heavy. 'Oh, but that is impossible! How could you +let Susanna accept the hospitality of an unmarried man? It is wrong of +you; you are usually so observant of forms. You _ought_ to have brought +her with you, and the old woman too!' I had spoken impetuously, in my +anxiety. Anna Maria gave me a strange look. + +"'Isa is so ill she was in no condition to make the journey hither,' she +replied. 'But Susanna lies across her bed with torn hair and face bathed +with tears; she is nearer to her than all of us, and at such a moment, +aunt, one does not think of--etiquette.' I first noticed now how pale +and exhausted Anna Maria looked. Her fair hair had fallen down, and one +golden tress falling over the white forehead lay on her plain dark-green +dress; her eyes were cast down and her lips quivered slightly. + +"'Poor child!' I cried, seizing her hands. 'It has been too much, and +here am I reproving you!' + +"She let her hand remain in mine, but did not look up. 'I am quite +well,' she replied; 'but it is painful--to behold human misery and not +be able to help. It was fearful, aunt! And it has cost one human +life--nearly two.' Her voice was strangely lifeless as she said this. +'An old man,' she continued, 'in the act of saving his cow from the +burning stable, was buried beneath the falling building. Stürmer carried +out his grand-daughter, who was trying to help him, unhurt--but it was +at the very last moment--a falling beam injured his arm.' + +"She had spoken in snatches, as if it were hard for her to breathe. And +now the peculiar sobbing sound came from her breast; I knew that so +well, for even as a child she had thus suppressed a burst of tears. I +grasped her hands more firmly; she was feverishly hot, and her bosom +heaved violently. + +"'The splendid, warm-hearted man! Just the same to-day as he ever was!' +said I, gently. 'God be praised for having protected him!' + +"Then we sat silent for a long time. The candles in front of the mirror +had burned low, and flickering they struggled for existence; and the +clock on the console ticked restlessly. I longed to beg the girl beside +me: 'Anna Maria, confide in me; it is not yet too late! See, I know now +that you love Stürmer--since to-day I am sure of it. Anna Maria, it is +not yet too late!' But how could I do it? She had never given me the +slightest right, never allowed me to share in what moved her heart. Oh, +that she would come of her own accord, then, and speak, that she might +know how much easier it is for two to bear a burden. + +"I pressed her hand, beseechingly. 'Anna Maria, my dear child!' I +whispered. Then she roused herself as out of a confused dream, and +pushed the hair from her forehead. + +"'Susanna?' she asked; 'Susanna got off with a fright. I led her over to +the castle myself, and Stürmer's old servant carried Isa; they are safe. +As soon as the old woman can be moved I shall have her brought here, of +course; to-day it was impossible. The excitement might be bad for +Susanna, too, for such a passionate outburst of grief I never dreamed +of. She loves the old creature more than I ever mistrusted, and her cry: +"Isa, Isa, if you die I have no one else in the world!" was repeated +till she broke down from exhaustion.' + +"I listened as if stunned. 'Anna Maria,' I said, 'I must go over +to-morrow.' + +"She nodded. 'If it is possible--for I should be glad to avoid it." + +"'It must be possible, Anna Maria. Go and rest, we are both tired; sleep +well.' + +"Wall, there I lay, and no sleep came to my eyes. Klaus and Susanna, +Anna Maria and Stürmer, revolved in wildest confusion in my brain. I +started up out of my dozing, for I thought I heard Susanna's voice: +'Isa, Isa, if you die I have no one else in the world!' And I dreamed +that I cried in anger to her: 'Ungrateful one, have you not more than a +thousand others--have you not the heart of the best and truest of men?' +And I awoke again with a cry, for I had seen Stürmer hurry into the +burning house, and seen it fall on him; and Anna Maria stood by, pale +and calm, with disordered locks of fair hair over her white forehead; +her eyes looked fixedly and gloomily on that ruin, but she could neither +weep nor speak." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +"It was a fearful night! I was almost astonished to see the bright +sunshine streaming in my window, and the blue sky, the next morning. +Brockelmann helped me dress, for my shoulder was still painful. + +"Some trouble oppressed the old woman; it was always to be observed that +when anything weighed on her heart she used to smooth her hands over the +hem of her apron, and therewith take aim at the person on whom she had +designs. For a little while I watched it to-day, but when, after tying +my shoes, she remained sitting on the deal floor, stroking her +dazzlingly white apron, and seeking for a way to begin her speech, +evidently a difficulty to her, I said: 'Well, speak out, Brockelmann; +what is it?' + +"But instead of an answer she threw her apron over her face and began to +weep bitterly. + +"'Do write, gracious Fräulein, for the master to come back soon, or +things will not go right in my life-time with Anna Maria,' she sobbed. +'It eats into my heart like a worm that he went away without a good-by. +She says nothing, but, Fräulein, I have known her ever since she was +born; I know her as well as I do myself. She stays for hours in the +master's room, and when she comes out her eyes are red with weeping, and +then it is always: "Brockelmann, the master would certainly do this so, +and wish that so," and "When the master is here," or "When the master +comes," is the third word with her. When Christian brings the mail she +runs out into the court to meet him, and the first time the master wrote +I was just going through the room, as she read the letter. She did not +see me, but I saw how the letter trembled in her hands, and then she +said to herself: "He is different from what he used to be; it is past!" +And then she got up and went into the garden, and I looked after her and +watched her as I used to when she was yet a wild thing with long braids. +And then she walked up and down by the spot where her mother lies +buried, up and down, up and down, oh! certainly for an hour. It was +nothing to her that it rained, and that the wind blew her half to +pieces. At last I went out there and asked her something about the +housekeeping; I could not see it any longer. Then she came in with me. +But last night, when she came back from the fire, when I had brought her +a glass of mulled wine, she looked so wretched. When I knew she was in +her own room I took it to her--I did not wish to disturb her here. But +listen, Fräulein Rosamond, when I went in there Anna Maria had just been +crying, crying as if her heart would break. She did not see me; she had +laid her head on the table, and on Herr Klaus's picture, and her whole +body shook and trembled. Then I closed the door again softly, for, +believe me, it would have been dreadful to her to have had any one see +that she was crying. Indeed, she does not like it if anybody cries +aloud. But to-day I could not rest. Only write, Fräulein; when the +master is here all will be well again!' + +"'Ah, good old Brockelmann, if that would settle it! Yes, Klaus would +come, but it would never be again as it used to be, never again!' + +"The old woman took my silence for acquiescence. 'And, Fräulein,' she +continued, drying her eyes, 'I know perfectly well since when things +have been different. If I had had the power I would have said to +Christian at the time when the coach came driving into the yard with the +theatrical people: "Turn around, for Heaven's sake, Christian; these are +birds which are not suited to this nest!" But, good heavens, some of us +are silent, and see and hear! The master is so kind-hearted, Fräulein, +so kind-hearted; God grant that it may remain kind-heartedness! I could +have fretted myself to death when it was rumored in the servants' hall, +and in the village, that the Ma'm'selle who had snowed down was not +unpleasing to the master. In Rieke, it has gone to a blockhead; she was +not bad, but what is the use--the talk is once out--if Fräulein Anna +Maria only doesn't hear of it, although it is nothing but lies,' she +continued, after a short pause, and looked at me confidently, 'for the +master could have the fairest and best any day, and doesn't need to wait +upon such a vagabond thing, yet it would make the Fräulein ill if she +were to hear of it.' + +"'So the servants are already talking about it,' said I softly, when the +old woman had gone. 'And they are not far from the truth! Brockelmann, +too, only sings so loud because she has fears, and she wanted to know +what I thought of it. But Anna Maria will not believe, Anna Maria has +other troubles.' + +"As I went down to get into the carriage which was to carry me to +Dambitz, Anna Maria was just coming out of Klaus's room. She was quiet +and friendly as usual; there was no sign of yesterday's tumult. She +asked how I had slept, and said she had just come in from the fields. +'The harvest is a blessing of God this year,' she added; 'look at the +crops as you drive past the rye-fields. How pleased Klaus will be!' And +as I was sitting in the carriage, she put a little parcel into my hand: +'Give that to Stürmer for the burned-out people, will you, please? Klaus +will approve.' She was blushing crimson. 'It is out of the milk-fund; +you know that is my own!' + +"Touched, I nodded to her, and then the carriage rolled away with me, in +the misty autumn morning. What a refreshing odor came from the +pine-forests; a golden mist hung over the distant heath, and the sky +seemed higher and bluer than I had seen it for a long time. And yet it +seemed as if I were breathing the heavy air before a thunder-storm the +nearer I came to Dambitz and the shaded manor-house. We drove past the +burned houses; the charred beams and timbers were still smoking, and +thin columns of smoke circled up from the ruins; a loathsome odor lay +about the unfortunate spot, but human hands were already at work again. +The blacksmith's shop was half demolished, the gabled wall was warped by +the heat of the fire, and the blacksmith's young wife was bravely +rummaging among her household goods, which had been thrown, _nolens +volens_, into the street, a promiscuous heap of beds, clothing, and +furniture. A little woman was sitting on a chest, weeping bitterly; it +was her husband who had met with the fatal accident last night, the +coachman told me. A young girl of perhaps sixteen was hunting about the +half-burned and partially wet rubbish; her eyes were swollen with +weeping. + +"'You poor people,' thought I; 'no one can give you back what has been +taken from you, but we will help to replace the earthly property.' And I +looked at the small but heavy roll in my hand; it was a not +insignificant sum in gold. Well for him who can give, and gives gladly +and lovingly! + +"We now drove along by the park wall; the great gate of skilfully +wrought iron stood open; the luxuriant foliage of the beautiful park +here parted, and let the eye roam over velvety green lawns and broad +flower-beds to the white, castle-like buildings. Awnings protected the +terrace from the sun's rays, and a black and white flag waved gayly in +the morning wind. A delicious freshness lay over the garden; not a +yellow leaf was yet to be seen on the broad gravel-walk; everywhere most +painstaking neatness. + +"I called to the coachman to stop, and had myself lifted out of the +carriage, so as to walk through the park. I do not know myself how the +idea came into my head. How long it was since I had been here! I was +then still a girl; my sister-in-law was by my side, and Klaus and Edwin, +wild lads, rushing about us. I felt very strangely; there was still the +little bridge of tree-trunks, the ingeniously planned moat, which always +used to be dry; to-day water was splashing in it. The trees had grown +taller, the shrubbery more luxuriant, and a marble Diana stood out +against the green of the taxus-hedge. Stürmer's taste for the beautiful +struck me at every step. At home no one thought of marble statues and +English turf; at home the wish had never yet been spoken to see such +jets of crystal water as those shooting up before the group of fine old +elms; there was still the same old garden with its gnarled oaks, its +primitive arbors, its flower-sprinkled grass-plots; but it was pleasant +and home-like, as it is to-day. + +"I followed a shady path which I knew would bring me to the side of the +house, but all at once I stopped short. I could not be deceived; that +was Susanna's ringing laugh, floating like the note of a nightingale +through the shrubbery. Susanna in the garden and Susanna laughing? I +walked on and went up on a little knoll surrounded by old lindens; in +the middle was a Flora on a stone pedestal; monthly roses were blooming +in the flower-beds, mingling their fragrance with that of the +mignonette. At one side was a group of pretty garden furniture, and in +one of the seats was Susanna, leaning back and looking with a smile of +delight at the spray of roses which Stürmer had just offered her. + +"He stood in front of her, his arm still in a sling, and looked down at +her. She had evidently made her toilet with the greatest care; the time +at Isa's sick-bed had not passed unused, it seemed. She still wore a +black dress, but her white neck gleamed beneath a quantity of delicate +black lace, and filmy lace also fell over her arms; the fichu knotted +below her bosom was held together by a pale rose, and there was also a +rose in her hair; Susanna Mattoni looked charming in her half-Spanish +costume. And yet if, with disorderly hair and careless toilet, and, +instead of the lace, one of Anna Maria's aprons, I had found her at +Isa's bed, could I have detected in her face a single sign of the fearful +night before, I would have thrown my arms about the child and said: +'Come, Susanna, my little Susanna, your refuge is at Bütze.' But now? But +thus? + +"My heart seemed almost paralyzed. In another moment I was standing by +Susanna, and was able to say pleasantly that I had come to take her +home. + +"Stürmer drew my hand to his lips, much pleased, 'Ah! my dearest, best +Aunt Rosamond, again at Dambitz at last," he cried. Susanna stood as if +petrified by my unexpected appearance. 'Well, my child,' I said to her, +as Stürmer, after pushing up a chair for me, went into the castle; 'how +is your Isa? She is quite well again, is she?' + +"Susanna shook her head. 'No,' she replied, 'Isa is still very weak.' + +"'Who takes care of her then?' I asked, sharply. + +"'Herr von Stürmer has engaged a woman to nurse her,' she informed me, +'who probably understands it better than I.' + +"'And you were on the point of returning to Bütze, were you not?' I +asked, severely. + +"Susanna bent down her crimson face, and uttered a low 'Yes!' She had +understood me. + +"'_Allons donc_, my child, we will not delay.' I rose and went forward; +slowly she followed me, with a decided expression of ill-humor. At the +front steps of the castle we met Stürmer, a look of happy surprise still +on his face. + +"'Oh, dear Aunt Rosamond, you will breakfast with me!' he begged, giving +me his well arm to escort me up the steps. 'Such a rare occasion!' And +he gave me a look so winning, so truly delighted that it would have been +more than uncivil to refuse. And the personality of my old favorite +exercised such a charm over me that, smiling, I let myself be dragged +away. + +"Susanna flew past us up the steps; her lace-trimmed skirts stood out as +she ran, fluttering about her light feet; the rose fell out of her hair +and dropped in front of Stürmer. He picked it up, and held it absently +in his hand. Susanna disappeared behind the glass door of the vestibule; +Stürmer's eyes, which had followed her, now looked at me again, and our +eyes met and remained for a moment fixed on each other, as if each would +read the other's thoughts. Then he silently led me through the rooms of +his house. + +"How often had I been here before! I had always liked to think of the +comfortable great rooms, which, with their oak wainscoting and huge +tiled stoves projecting far out from the walls, presented such an +attractive appearance to the half-frozen guests who had come in sleighs +from Bütze. It had always been a dream of mine to see Anna Maria ruling +here some day, but the picture was erased from my mind when I entered +the first room. + +"Where were they, the comfortable rooms, the dark oak wainscoting, the +old tiled stoves? Gilding and colored mosaics shone, with a foreign air, +on the walls; odd draperies concealed doors and windows; low, dark-red +couches in place of the sofas; fragile little bronze tables, and vases; +everywhere mirrors reaching to the floor; groups of exotic flowers in +the corners; a Smyrna rug on the floor, in which the foot sank deep. +Astonished, I stood still on the threshold. + +"'_Mon Dieu_, Edwin, have you fallen among the Turks?' + +"'It is my furnishing from Stamboul, that I brought home with me,' he +replied, simply. 'But, alas! I could not charm hither the view. Imagine +that wall gone, Fräulein Rosamond, and in its place slender marble +pillars, forming a covered walk, and then imagine yourself looking out +between them on the blue sea; see the sweet pines, swaying in the fresh +sea-breeze; yonder a cypress-wood, and on the waving billows a hundred +white sails; and imagine a child of that South, slender as a gazelle, +leaning on the balustrade, a pair of sparkling dark eyes shining through +a white veil--then you have what I saw daily in those beautiful days.' + +"How did it happen? In the midst of this imaginary picture which he had +just drawn for me I saw Anna Maria standing, in her dark dress, her +basket of keys on her arm, and saw her great clear eyes wander in +astonishment over this splendor. I smiled involuntarily; I could never +imagine Anna Maria resting, in sweet indolence, on those cushions. I had +to laugh at this idea, but it was a bitter laugh, and pained me. + +"I followed him through several rooms; everywhere luxury, foreign +furnishings; but at least the chairs were sensible. Everywhere a perfume +of roses, costly rugs, a profusion of foreign draperies. In a +one-windowed room was a little table spread for three persons, shining +with glass and silver. Edwin escorted me to the seat of honor. 'Your +little protégée will appear directly,' he said gayly. And kissing my +hand, he assured me again how happy he was to have me here at last. 'I +really do not know why you have not visited my solitary abode long +before,' he said, jokingly. + +"'Why have you never told me, Edwin, that you have so many treasures +from the "Thousand and One Nights" here?' I returned. + +"'I do not like to seem boastful,' he said, offering me a mayonnaise, +which I declined, taking some cold fowl. 'My acquaintances have looked +at the things _en passant_, and Klaus has been here often. I really +supposed you were not interested in such things at Bütze.' + +"Indeed, Klaus had told us nothing about all this; at the most had +mentioned the costly furnishings and various rare articles from foreign +countries; he had himself no fancy for curiosities of that sort. Just +then Edwin Stürmer rose. I thought I saw a faint smile on his lips, +which vexed me, I know not why. But it vanished again at once, and gave +way to a different expression. He opened the door and let Susanna in; he +had probably heard her step. She sat down opposite him at the richly +appointed table; above her dark head waved the fan-shaped leaf of a +great palm, and white blossoms crowded against the back of her chair; +from a group of southern plants in another corner rose the Venus de Milo +in purest marble. + +"And yet this sumptuous little room seemed but to form the frame for +Susanna's own peculiar beauty. She looked sad; she ate nothing, and only +now and then lifted her slender cup to moisten her lips; she did not +speak, either, and when she raised her lashes tears shone in the dark +eyes. Stürmer was also quieter; he spoke of the fire at last, and told +me that work was to be begun on the new buildings to-morrow. + +"I delivered Anna Maria's little parcel to him; he grew red for a +moment, but did not thank me with the warmth I had expected. + +"'And now,' said I, rising, after the dessert, 'I will relieve you of a +burden; I will drive Isabella and Susanna home. In a bachelor's +establishment such patients must be more than a disturbance. Susanna, +have the kindness to conduct me to Isa.' + +"Susanna's eyes sought Stürmer, but he turned away. 'I fear the old +woman is not yet able to be moved,' he said, politely. 'Besides, she is +no burden to me. She cannot, to be sure, find such a nurse as at Bütze; +we have to depend upon hired persons.' He offered me his arm and led me +along the hall to a door which Susanna, running ahead, opened, and then +he withdrew. + +"Isabella lay in a beautiful large room, in a fine bed with white +hangings; evidently a guest chamber. It looked out on the garden, and +great linden-trees shaded the windows from the sun's rays. That +Isabella and Susanna both slept here was evident. There was a second +bed, still unmade, the pillows tumbled over each other; and Susanna's +whole stock of knick-knacks and trumpery lay, just as it had been +brought hither from the burning house, with the dress, cooking utensils, +and salve-boxes of the other, tumbled together on the floor. An old +woman in a neat dress and white cap stood among them, trying to restore +order. She was probably the nurse of whom Susanna had spoken. + +"I went straight up to Isa's bed. 'Mademoiselle Pfannenschmidt, are you +well enough to drive to Bütze with Susanna and me?' I asked. + +"'No!' she replied, looking at me very angrily. + +"'Well, then, come after us as soon as you are well enough,' said I, +coldly; 'are you ready, Susanna?' + +"'Susanna stays with _me_!' she declared, her voice trembling with +anger. + +"'She is going with me,' I replied, quietly; 'spare yourself all further +pains. I shall not leave Susanna in the house of an unmarried man; +according to _our_ views, it is improper.' + +"'Under my charge?' shrieked Isabella, sitting up in bed with a jerk; +'under my charge?' + +"I shrugged my shoulders in silence, and turned to Susanna; she stood +motionless, and looked at Isa. + +"'Will you take away the girl a second time?' cried Isa, wringing her +thin hands. 'You will not even let me have the child on my death-bed? +Susanna, my darling, stay with me!' + +"'You are far from dying, my dear,' said I, in a clear voice. 'Have the +kindness to submit quietly to my arrangements; they are for Susanna's +good.' She was silent, and looked on, as I put a shawl over Susanna's +shoulders, pulled out her straw hat from under a heap of clothing, and +put it on her head. + +"'I shall ask Baron Stürmer to have you driven to Bütze as soon as you +are at all well enough,' said I, turning to Isa again; 'till then I know +you will be well cared for. Farewell.' Without further ado, I pushed +Susanna toward the door, and heard once more the shrill cry: 'Susanna, +Susanna, stay here!' + +"She stopped, and looked at me as if she meant to defy me and run back. + +"'_En avant!_ my child,' said I, energetically; 'you have been away from +Bütze too long already; I shall never forgive myself for having let you +go at all.' She was pale, and I saw her clench her little hands; but she +followed me. + +"Stürmer was waiting for us at the carriage, which was standing before +the front steps. He was holding the spray of roses which Susanna had +left lying in the garden in the morning, and handed it to her with a bow +which, in my opinion, was lower than was really necessary. I could not +see the look he gave her with it, for his back was turned to me, but I +saw a crimson glow mount to Susanna's cheeks and a bright look flash +over to him from under her long lashes, which alarmed me. I scarcely +heard Stürmer commission me with greetings for Anna Maria, adding that +he would bring his thanks himself for the money. I drew down my veil and +motioned to the coachman to start, and we rattled across the court and +out on the highway. Susanna's head was turned around, and her eyes sped +over the rows of windows of the stately house; two shining drops escaped +from them and fell on the roses. + +"How it came about I know not, but all at once I had seized her firmly +by the arm. 'There before you lies Bütze, Susanna Mattoni!' I cried, +sternly. She started, and gave a little cry; her face had grown pale, +but her eyes sparkled in rebellion. + +"'You punish me like a naughty child!' she cried, her lips quivering. +'What wrong have I done? I followed you without opposition.' + +"'Ask your own heart, Susanna,' I returned, gravely. She blushed, and +then began to cry bitterly, incessantly. + +"'Isa! Isa!' she sobbed. + +"'Are you really crying about Isa?' I asked, gently now, and took her +hand. 'I do not believe it, Susanna; you have some other grief. Only +place confidence in me. _Could_ I not help you, if you were frank?' + +"She pushed away my hand. 'No, never, never!' she burst out, violently. + +"'But if I only knew what is the matter with you, Susanna, I might, with +a word----' + +"She stopped crying, and a defiant expression came over her face. 'I +really want no sympathy,' she said, with a gesture of inimitable pride. +'There is nothing the matter with me; am I not to be allowed to cry when +the person who watched over my childhood lies ill and alone in a strange +house?' + +"I was silent; I thought where I had found her to-day--not indeed at the +sick-bed! And she understood my silence better than my words, for she +dropped her eyes in embarrassment, and remained quiet during the whole +drive. Ah, and it was such a sunny day! I followed a lark with my eyes, +as it joyously and on trembling wings rose high in the blue sky, till it +looked like a mere dot. A herd of deer ran away over the stubble as we +drove quickly past; in the meadows over yonder the peasant's cows were +feeding; far in the distance earth and sky blended in a blue haze; and +now the roofs of Bütze emerged, peaceful and sunny, from the dark +foliage of the oaks and elms--the dear old father-house! To me it seemed +all at once as if I were coming home from a long journey from distant +lands. + +"Anna Maria was standing in the door-way, with apron and bunch of keys, +as ever. She had a few beautiful white asters in her hand, and as +Susanna came up the steps she said, drawing the girl to her: 'Thank God, +Susanna, that you have returned unharmed; it was a bad night!' And she +shyly put the flowers in the girl's little hand, beside the bunch of +roses. One could see that she was really pleased. 'How is Isa doing?' +she asked, 'and how is Stürmer's arm?' She turned to me when she saw +that Susanna had been crying, and on my reply that the condition of both +was hopeful, she turned again to Susanna. + +"'Do not cry,' and a lovely expression beautified her serious young +face; 'as soon as Isa can drive she is coming, and you will nurse each +other quite well again.' + +"Anna Maria seemed transformed; there was a tenderness in her actions, +in her voice, which only the consciousness of a great happiness, an +endless gratitude for something undeserved, can give. This tone cut my +heart like a hundred knives. + +"Susanna begged to be excused from the dinner-table, on the plea of a +headache, and she did not come down to the garden-parlor during the +afternoon; she was sulky. Anna Maria had taken up her sewing, and sat +opposite me in the window-recess; it was quiet and cosey in the +comfortable room, so peaceful--and yet the threatening storm was +drawing near with great haste, to drive away our peace for a long time. + +"'I would like to know if Klaus would miss me if I--were suddenly no +longer here; if I should die, for instance, aunt?' asked Anna Maria all +at once, quite abruptly. Then she quickly laid her hand on my arm: 'No, +I beg you,' said she, preventing my answer; 'I know of course he would +miss me, miss me very much!' + +"After we had sat silent together for a little while the coachman +entered with the mail-bag, which he handed to Anna Maria. She felt in +her pocket for the key, opened the bag, and drew out letters and +newspapers. + +"'Ah, from Klaus!' she cried, in joyful surprise; 'and what a thick +letter, aunt; just look!' She held up a large envelope. How strange,' +she remarked then; 'it is for you, aunt.' + +"I started as if I had been apprehended of a crime. 'Give it to me!' I +begged, and broke the crested seal with trembling hand, for I suspected +what it was. An enclosure for Anna Maria fell out of the letter +addressed to me, and I stealthily threw my handkerchief over it--Anna +Maria had opened a business letter--and began to read: + + "'DEAREST AUNT: When I went away a few weeks ago, I said to you + at the last moment I should write to Anna Maria to tell her + that I love Susanna Mattoni, that she is to be my wife. + Meanwhile, I had given up the idea, and thought I would speak + quietly with Anna Maria on my return. But now I am again of the + opinion that a written confession is best. When I ask you now + to give the enclosed letter to Anna Maria, it is chiefly for + this reason, that she may have a support in you. If I were to + write to her directly, she would keep the matter all to + herself, she is so reserved; but in this way she must speak, + and will be more easily reconciled to what cannot be altered. + That it will be hard for her I cannot conceal from myself, + after various scenes between us. But my decision stands + irrevocably firm. I love Susanna, and God will help us over the + near future, and not separate the hearts of brother and sister, + who have so long clung to one another in true love. I shall + come as soon as I have news; the longing takes hold of me more + than I can tell.' + +"I let the sheet drop, the letters danced before my eyes. How should I +begin to make this news known to her? + +"As I rose hastily, the letter fell at Anna Maria's feet. She raised her +head and looked searchingly at me, and saw that I was making a great +effort to compose myself. + +"'Aunt Rosamond!' she cried, stooping and picking up the letter, 'what +is it? Bad news from Klaus? Please, speak!' She knelt by my chair, and +her anxious eyes tried to read my face. + +"'No, no, my child!' I caught hold of the letter which she held in her +hand. + +"'It is certainly to me!' she cried, quickly taking it back. + +"All at once I became master of my trembling nerves. 'It is to you, Anna +Maria,' I agreed, 'and contains----' + +"'I will see for myself, aunt,' she said, and there was a tone of +infinite anxiety in her voice. She rose and sat down in one of the deep +window-niches of the hall. I could not see her face from my seat; I +heard only the rattling of the paper in the stillness, and my heart +thumped as if it would burst. The anxious pause seemed to me an +eternity; then a cry of pain sounded through the room. I sprang toward +Anna Maria; her fair head lay on the window-seat, her face was buried in +her hands, and an almost unearthly groaning was wrung from her breast. + +"'For God's sake, Anna Maria!' I cried, embracing her. 'Compose +yourself, be calm; you do him injustice; he is not lying on his bier!' +But she did not stir; she groaned as if suffering from severe physical +pain. + +"'Anna Maria, my dear Anna Maria!' I cried, weeping. + +"'For that, ah, for that, all that I have suffered!' she cried out, and +raised her pale face, transfixed with pain. She stretched up her arms, +and wrung her clasped hands. 'My only brother!' she whispered, 'my only +brother!' Then, springing up impetuously, she ran out. + +"As if stunned, I remained behind; I had not expected this; for such an +expression of pain I was not prepared. + +"And the old house was still; my steps creaked on the cement floor of +the corridor before Anna Maria's room, and a long, long time I stood +there and listened for a sound, but it remained quiet behind the closed +door. The autumn evening drew on, night closed in, solemn and clear +shone the stars from the sky upon the earth beneath. 'What art thou, +child of man, with thy small trouble? Look up to us and fold thy hands,' +said they in their dumb language. And I clasped my hands. 'He who +created the stars to give us light by night will also lighten this +spot!' I whispered. + +"Eleven o'clock struck as I knocked at Susanna's door. She did not +answer. I went softly into the room; a candle on the mantel, just on the +point of going out, threw its unsteady light on the girl. She was lying +on one side, her face turned toward the room, a smile on the red lips; +beside the bed Stürmer's spray of roses, carefully placed in water. + +"It was a dismal morning that followed. Anna Maria remained in her room; +she did not answer our knocks, and there was no movement within. +Brockelmann's eyes were red with weeping; she shook her head, and went +about the house on tip-toe, as if there were a dead person in it. I was +in sheer despair, and limped from Anna Maria's door to my room, and back +again. The bailiffs came and inquired for her, and went away +astonished--she did not appear. + +"About eight o'clock I went softly to Susanna's room. She had just +risen, and was arranging her hair. The windows were opened wide; through +the branches of the trees golden sunbeams slipped into the room and +played over the young creature who, trifling and smiling and fresh as a +rose, stood, in her white dressing-sack, before the mirror. She did not +hear me enter, for she went on trilling a little song half aloud; clear +as a bell the tones floated out on the clear morning air. Isa's +death-bed was forgotten; ah! and something else, probably. + +"I closed the door again cautiously; I was never so anxious before in my +life. + +"'Is Fräulein Anna Maria ill?' asked Susanna, as she found only two +places set at dinner. She had come from the garden, and had a bunch of +white asters at her bosom, and her eyes shone with delight. + +"'I think so,' said I, softly, and folded my hands for the grace. +Susanna showed a pitying face for a moment, and then began to chatter; +she was in a most agreeable mood. + +"The day wore on. Anna Maria remained invisible. Brockelmann was quite +beside herself. 'She is crying, she is crying as if her heart would +break,' she said, coming into my room before going to bed. + +"'She is crying? That is good!' said I, relieved. + +"'She has never cried so much in all her life before, whispered the old +woman; 'something must have happened that cuts deep into her heart.' + +"'I cannot confide it to you, Brockelmann,' I replied, 'but you will +know it soon.' I was sorry for the old woman; she was trembling in every +limb. + +"'Oh, I can guess it already, Fräulein,' she said; 'it would surprise me +above all things if it did not come from that quarter!' She pointed in +the direction of Susanna's room. 'One woman's head can ruin a whole +country!' + +"The following day was a Sunday, and a Sunday stillness lay over the +house and court; even more than ordinarily, for the house down-stairs +was stiller than usual, as Anna Maria had not yet left her room. + +"Sadly I got ready for church, and then went to Susanna's door to call +for her. As I looked in I saw her still lying in bed, still sleeping, +her limbs stretched out, like a tired kitten. On the whole, I was glad; +I would rather go alone to-day, with my heavy heart. + +"The little church was unusually full on this Sunday, especially of +Dambitz people. A danger commonly encountered, a great misfortune, +brought them hither. They wanted, too, to hear what the clergyman had to +say about the calamity of the fire. So it happened that the little nave +was full to the last seat; only the seats of the gentry, above, were +empty. + +"'What God does is well!' sang the congregation. I folded my hands over +my book, and tears fell on them. I spoke no words, but more warmly I +surely never prayed, for Klaus, for Anna Maria. God knows all the sad +thoughts that came to me. I had already fought in vain against one of +them the night before: 'What if Anna Maria were not to yield; if she +were, perhaps, to go out from the ancestral home, in defiance, in order +to live no longer with Susanna? Oh! it was possible, with her +temperament, and then what would become of them both?' + +"Just then the door of the gallery moved, creaking slightly, and there, +on the threshold, stood--Anna Maria! Was it really she? Her face was +pale, with deep bluish shadows under the eyes; and beside her, even +paler, her great eyes directed toward me, as if seeking help, +stood--Susanna! Anna Maria held her hand and led her to the chair in +which the mistress of Bütze had always sat, and which, of late, had been +Anna Maria's seat. + +"The girl sank into it, a crimson glow now on her cheeks, and bent her +head. Anna Maria sat behind her, and folded her hands. It had been done, +then; she had yielded to her brother's will. What she had suffered in +that her face showed plainly. + +"Anna Maria raised her head only once during the sermon, when Pastor +Grüne, in speaking of the Dambitz fire, mentioned the man who had +perished, and, in a few moving words, uttered a prayer of thanksgiving +that God had protected him who had risked his own life to save another, +almost lost. Then she cast a long look across at Stürmer's empty seat. +Susanna, too, raised her lashes, but dropped them at once, shyly, as if +she were doing something wrong. + +"On the way home Anna Maria walked beside me with her usual firm step, +Susanna's hand in hers. There was something solemn in her manner, and +when we stood in the garden-parlor, the tall, fair girl drew Susanna to +her. + +"'Make him happy,' she bade her softly; 'a nobler, a better man does not +exist. God has bestowed a very rich happiness upon you.' She kissed the +girl on the forehead, and went down into the garden. But Susanna +suddenly fell on my neck and broke out in convulsive sobs. + +"'Why, Susanna, are you not happy?' I asked. No answer; she only clung +more closely to me. + +"'Have you thought that you have now a home and the heart of a noble +man; that you are his bride-elect, loved beyond everything?' + +"She gave a shiver, and stopped crying. + +"'Come, Susanna,' I begged, kindly; 'you belong to us now; you have now +a family home and I am now your aunt,' I added, jokingly. 'Stop crying. +Come, let us go down to Anna Maria; you have not said a friendly word to +her yet.' + +"She threw her head back, and seemed to be deliberating for a moment; +then she ran out. I heard her swiftly retreating steps in the corridor. +'I will seek Anna Maria, at least to learn what has passed,' I murmured, +arid turned at once to the garden. So it had come about. Klaus was +betrothed; how often I had imagined it formerly. And to-day? A sort of +film came over my eyes, and the grayest of gray seemed the world round +about. + +"Anna Maria was standing by the little pond, looking into the brown +water; she gave me her hand, quietly and kindly. + +"'My dear Anna Maria,' said I, 'God leads human hearts together.' + +"She nodded mutely. + +"'Shall you write Klaus?' I continued. + +"'It is already done. I wrote on that night,' she replied. + +"'It has not been easy for you, Anna Maria?' + +"She raised her hand, defensively. 'I love Klaus very much,' she said, +gently. + +"'When did you speak with Susanna, Anna Maria; may I know?' + +"'This morning,' she replied. 'I went to her, as Klaus wished. He wishes +the marriage to be very soon, and will return just a little while +before, so that Susanna may not need to seek another shelter beforehand. +So she will pass her time of being engaged without her lover. He does +not wish that the engagement should be made public, either; he does not +intend to give notice of his marriage until after the ceremony is over.' + +"She had spoken very fast, and was silent now, drawing long breaths. + +"'And did he write you everything, Anna Maria, in that letter, day +before yesterday?' + +"'Everything, aunt.' + +"'And Susanna?' + +"'I do not know,' she replied; 'I did not look at her, and she did not +speak. Perhaps happiness makes one dumb?' she added, questioningly. It +sounded as if she meant: 'I do not know--I am sure I do not know--what +happiness is.' + +"'Tell me just one thing, dear, good child,' I begged, seizing her +hands. 'Did the thought really never come to you that Klaus might have a +feeling of affection for this beautiful young creature?' + +"She was silent for awhile, and her breast heaved with suppressed sobs. +'No,' she said, 'I had never thought that he would stoop for a +poison-flower----' + +"An infinite bitterness, a deep woe, lay in these few words, and as if +she had said too much, she whispered: 'He is my only brother!' And then, +no longer able to control her emotion, she cried, throwing her hands +over her face: 'And I cannot hold him back, I cannot keep him from a +disappointment; I have no right to!' It sounded like a wild cry of pain. +And a hot stream of tears gushed forth between her fingers. + +"I stepped up to her to embrace her consolingly, but she hastily averted +it. 'Let me alone; I did not mean to cry, I thought I was stronger.' And +drawing out her handkerchief, she turned into the nearest shady path. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +"A few hours later a carriage drove into the court. I recognized +Stürmer's livery, and from my chamber window saw Brockelmann help out +the old actress, hardly with the haste of anticipation. + +"'There, we really ought to have just such a sort of mother-in-law in +the house!' I whispered, and smiled bitterly; but tear after tear fell +on my lilac cap-strings. Like misfortune itself, the old woman came up +the steps. Ah! Klaus, Klaus, whither have you gone astray?' Our whole +family seemed to me unspeakably fallen in this moment, and I could do +nothing in the unfortunate affair, but only try to raise Susanna to us, +to keep her away from everything which might remind her of the folly, of +the frivolity of the sphere from which she sprang; again and again to +point out to her what a rich, fair lot had fallen to her; to make her +comprehend that the wife of a Hegewitz must also be a pattern of dignity +and noble womanhood. I should have much preferred to bundle Isabella +Pfannenschmidt into the carriage again, to send her to some place miles +away, and against my will I was going out of my door, when I heard her +slow, shuffling step in the hall. + +"'Please, ma'm'selle, come into my room a minute before you go to +Susanna,' I said to her. Frankly confessed, I do not know myself why I +did it; but I felt instinctively that I must speak with her first, +before she learned the latest turn in Susanna's fate from her own lips. + +"The small person came slowly over the threshold, looking at me +distrustfully. She seemed to me infinitely wretched in her rumpled +bonnet and threadbare silk cloak, her face yellower than ever, and +sunken, and she was somewhat bent, as if still suffering pain. She sat +down in the nearest chair, and looked at me with her sharp, sullen eyes. +I stood before her and tried to speak, yet no word passed my lips. All +the craft, all the low sentiments which flashed out of those small eyes +toward me reminded me anew of the sort of atmosphere in which Susanna +had grown up. I had been walking up and down the room with these +thoughts; now I took a seat opposite the old woman, who had silently +followed me with her eyes. I wanted to tell her that a great, great +happiness had befallen Susanna, and found no words for it. It seemed as +if I were choked. + +"'I would like to inform you,' I began, hesitatingly, but I got no +farther, for Anna Maria came in. 'Dear aunt,' said she, 'I have to speak +with Isabella Pfannenschmidt a moment.' I drew a breath of relief, and +went into the adjoining room. + +"Then I heard Anna Maria's sonorous voice. She spoke of a great piece of +good fortune that had come to Susanna, and said that she hoped Susanna +would reward so much love, such infinite trust, with all her powers, in +order to make the man happy who offered her a name, a home, and a heart. + +"Tears came into my eyes again; there was something in Anna Maria's +voice that pained me infinitely. I pictured to myself the proud maiden +before the vagabond actress, to whom she was now speaking as to an +equal. That which I had considered impossible now happened, out of love +to her brother. Now I thought the old woman must break out in an ecstasy +of joy; I shuddered already at the thought of the theatrical +glorification in her darling's good fortune. Far from it; she spoke +quietly and coolly. I could not understand her, but it sounded like a +murmur of discontent. + +"'I do not comprehend you,' Anna Maria said, now icily; 'if I have +rightly understood my brother's letter, Susanna gave her assent on the +evening when she fled to you. What? Is she, meanwhile, to have changed +her mind?' + +"Again a murmur; then I heard disconnected words between the old woman's +sobs: 'Defence--true love--' and so forth. This homeless woman was as +pretentious as a ruling princess making arrangements to give her +daughter in marriage to a man of a lower class. + +"Then I heard her leave the room. When I reëntered Anna Maria was +standing at the window, her forehead pressed against the panes, her +clenched hand rested on the window-sill, and her lips were tightly +closed. + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'this person must leave the house.' + +"'Klaus may decide that,' she replied, gently; 'I have no longer any +voice in this matter.' + +"'She is an arrogant thing!' I continued, in my wrath. + +"Anna Maria turned. 'Ah, aunt,' said she, 'the old woman loves Susanna +like a mother, and such a relative naturally asks, in respect to the +most brilliant match: "Will it be for the child's happiness?" I ought +not to have taken it amiss; it was unjust in me.' + +"I pressed her hand softly. Anna Maria's noble sentiments sprang forth +in her pain, like flowers after rain. God grant that she was right in +her excuse! + +"Half an hour afterward, Isabella Pfannenschmidt came in with Susanna, +whose eyes were red with weeping, and hair dishevelled. Isabella led her +to Anna Maria, and Susanna made a motion as if to take her hand, but her +own fell to her side again, and so, for a moment, the two girls, so +unlike, stood opposite each other. Anna Maria had turned pale, to her +very lips; then she put her arm about Susanna's delicate shoulders, and +drew her to herself. But Susanna slid to the floor, and, sobbing, +embraced her knees; it seemed as if she wished to ask forgiveness for a +heavy offence, but not a word passed her lips. She only looked up at +Anna Maria, with an expression which I shall never forget my life long, +she seemed so true in those few moments. But before Anna Maria could +stoop to raise the girl, Isabella had already pulled her up with the +sharp, quick words: 'Susanna, be sensible!' + +"Did the old woman consider prostration before the sister of the future +husband too much devotion, or did she fear that thereby her darling was +subordinating herself, once for all, to the sister's strict _régime_? I +could not decide at the time; I did not know till later that this moment +was a fearful crisis in Susanna's heart. + +"The next three days passed quietly. Anna Maria had given Isabella a +little room next Susanna's, had told her Klaus's plans for his wedding; +and the old woman agreed to all the arrangements without a word of +opposition, but without showing any joy either. The sewing for the +trousseau was to be begun immediately after the harvest festival. +Isabella had arranged a cushion for lace-making, and under her thin, +skilful fingers grew filmy lace of the finest thread--'for the wedding +toilet!' she said softly to me. + +"Susanna's manner was quite altered; she unsociably avoided not only our +company, but Isa's as well. Meanwhile the old woman seemed little +concerned that her darling ran about half the day in the wood and +garden, looked pale, and ate little or nothing, and now and then started +up impetuously from her quiet, absorbed state, looking about with +terrified eyes. 'That is the way with people in love,' she would say in +excuse, with a peculiar smile, if I worried about Susanna's pale looks. + +"In a few days there came a letter from Klaus for Susanna. I went +up-stairs to give it to her. The first love-letter, a wonder in every +girl's life! With beating heart it is opened, read in the most secret +corner, kissed a thousand times, and kept forever. After long years +there still rises from such a yellow, crumpled paper a faint odor of +roses; a blush flits over the wrinkled cheeks, the dimmest eyes shine +once more in recollection of the hour when they first fell on those +lines. I was in quite a festive mood. What might not be enclosed in that +blue envelope? All the love, all the trust, all the true, noble +sentiment that could come only from such a heart as Klaus's! And all +this fell like a golden rain into the lap of the little vagabond girl. + +"I opened her door and looked in. Isabella sat, making lace, at the open +window. Susanna lay on the sofa, her head buried in the cushions, +apparently dreaming. The golden autumn sun streamed in through the +trees, which were already becoming less shady, and played upon the +inlaid floor, and Susanna's little kitten, with a blue ribbon around its +neck, was jumping nimbly about after the bright, moving flecks. + +"'Susanna, a letter from Klaus!' I cried, going to the sofa. + +"She started up, and stared at me with frightened eyes, but she did not +reach out for the letter in eager haste; her little hand made rather an +averting gesture. Isabella, on the other hand, was standing beside me in +an instant. 'A letter from the lover, Susanna!' she cried, cheerfully. +'Well, well, before I would be so affected! Quick, take and read it!' +The words had a certain harsh sound, and Susanna seized the letter, took +her straw hat from the nearest chair, and slipped out of the door; but +it was not the joyous haste of anticipation, it looked rather like a +speedy escape from Isa's sharp eyes. + +"'A strange child, Fräulein Rosamond,' said the old woman, smiling and +shaking her head. 'She is different from others, God bless her!' Then +she began to rummage in Susanna's bureau, and brought out a little +portfolio, from which she took a sheet of gilt-edged paper, with a +bird-of-paradise with outstretched wings, sitting on a rose, on the +upper left-hand corner, and arranged blotter, pen, and ink-stand. 'She +will want to write immediately, when she has read the letter,' she +explained, 'and a first love-letter like that is not easy, for one dips +in the pen a hundred times, and still what one would like to say does +not come.' + +"I went away with the thought that Susanna would know well enough what +to write. When the heart speaks, the pen is easily guided. Anna Maria +had a great deal to do on this day; the animals were to be killed for +the harvest festival. In the housekeeping rooms a restless activity +reigned. Marieken was required to help, as on all such occasions, and +Brockelmann had poured the flour to be used in cooking for the festival +into a great tray in the baking-room. Anna Maria was in the storeroom; +I found her sitting on a great sugar-firkin, with a slate in her hands; +at her feet lay the scales with different weights, and Brockelmann was +just bringing great bowls of raisins and sugar to be weighed for the +cakes. Anna Maria wore, as usual, her great white housekeeping apron +over her simple dress; her fair hair lay, smooth as a mirror, in +luxuriant plaits on her beautifully shaped head; her sleeves, being +pushed up a little, exposed her white arms; not a blemish on the whole +appearance, from the lace-trimmed mull kerchief about her shoulders to +the shapely foot in the little laced shoe. Would Susanna ever practise +household duties thus? + +"Never! That princess, that will-o'-the-wisp, with the curly hair and +little, childish hands! But would Anna Maria remain here forever? Lost +in thought, I stood for a moment at the door of the cool cellar. Anna +Maria drew a line below her figures, laid the slate aside, and took up a +letter. 'From Klaus,' she said, as she caught sight of me. 'I will read +it by and by in my room.' On the table lay another letter, significantly +smaller than the first, and already opened. Anna Maria noticed that my +eyes rested on it a moment, questioningly. + +"'Stürmer announces his coming to the harvest festival,' she explained, +bending forward quickly and putting something on the table. When she +raised her head again a slight flush still lay on her cheeks. + +"'You have accepted, Anna Maria?' + +"'Yes,' she said, quickly; 'I think it is only right to Klaus.' + +"'Klaus has written to Susanna too,' said I; 'did you know it?' + +"She quivered, noticeably. 'No,' she replied, 'but that must be.' + +"'She has run, the Lord knows where, with her treasure,' I continued, +smiling; 'she will probably answer it to-day, too.' + +"Anna Maria nodded. 'We will go up,' she said; 'I would like to read, +too.' We went through the busy kitchen and up the stairs. Anna Maria +went at once to her room, and I to the upper story, to seek my own room. +In the hall I stopped; the sound of Susanna's sobbing came to my ear, +and the indignant voice of the old woman: + +"'For shame, Susanna!' + +"'No, I cannot, I will not!' sobbed the girl. + +"They had forgotten to latch the door; I slipped nearer, but did not +understand Isabella's hissing whisper, nevertheless. + +"'No, no!' cried Susanna again, but with little resistance. Fresh +whispering, then a kiss. 'My little hare, my Susy, it may all be yet; +now the thing is, to put a good face on the bad game!' in genuine Berlin +speech. 'Now at it; you are brave!' + +"An icy chill crept over me, even to my heart; I could not account for +it to myself. But I was in no mood then to open the door, and went to my +room with the consciousness that something wrong, something mysterious, +was going on over there. + +"An hour later Isabella came to me with a letter. 'Here it is,' said she +proudly. 'Susanna is ready with her pen, she gets it from her father, +and all that she says in this is beautiful. It is a shame that you +haven't read it, Fräulein; how pleased Klaus will be.' + +"'Herr von Hegewitz!' I corrected, bluntly. + +"'Pardon!' returned Isabella, 'the name came so easily to my lips; I +have heard it so often from Susanna that----' + +"'Very well!' I interrupted. 'Now, to return to the letter; it almost +sounds as if you knew the contents. I hope Susanna does not conduct her +correspondence under your direction!' + +"Isabella Pfannenschmidt grew crimson. 'Heaven forbid!' she said, +casting an angry glance at me. 'Susanna only spoke in a general way of +what she was going to write, to tell him how grateful she is and how +honored and how she loves him.' + +"'I do not wish to know anything about it,' I replied, coldly. 'I only +expect of Susanna that she will not allow all that she has to say to-day +to her lover--something which, it seems to me, should be as sacred as a +prayer--to be desecrated by meddling eyes.' + +"Isabella smiled in embarrassment; she evidently did not understand me. +'To whom can I give this letter,' she asked, 'to send it to the +post-office?' + +"'Leave it here; I will see that it is put into the mail-bag,' I +replied. When I went down later, I found Susanna sitting motionless on a +bench in the garden. She seemed to be buried in a book; but her first +letter was already with a messenger, on the way to the city. + +"Anna Maria had grown calmer than I expected; it seemed as if some great +force had carried her half over her sorrow about Klaus. She brought me +his letter at supper time; it contained warm expressions of thanks, +infinite love for his sister, permeated with rapture at the possession +of Susanna. The world seemed to him more beautiful than ever; he +pictured to himself such a wonderful future, with Susanna, with Anna +Maria. Again and again came a fervent, 'But how shall I thank you, Anna +Maria, for this, that you will love my little bride as a sister? I have +always known that we think an infinite deal of each other, and it seems +to me as if my love for you had become even greater! Anna Maria, how I +wish for you such a happiness as mine!' He added that he should be as +pleased as a child at the first lines from Susanna, that he had an +endless longing to come home, but, unfortunately, business made it +impossible; the fatigues of the journey he would think nothing of. + +"Anna Maria silently folded the letter which I returned to her, and put +it in her pocket, 'Have you seen Susanna since she received her letter?' +she asked. + +"'No, Anna Maria.' + +"'How happy she must be, aunt!' + +"'I find Susanna very quiet for an engaged girl,' I replied. + +"'Yes,' she agreed. 'But I cannot describe to you how infinitely better +she pleases me; it is quieting to me that she does not take the matter +lightly.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +"The harvest festival was celebrated more quietly than usual this year, +at least at the manor-house. Otherwise everything was as usual. Under +the four great oaks in the yard, near the garden wall, the dancing-floor +was laid; gay garlands, tied with bows of ribbon, hung on the old trees, +the whole court-yard seemed to be made as clean as a room, and +everywhere there was an odor of pine-boughs and fresh cake. + +"The weather was splendid on this October day, a little hoar-frost, to +be sure, on the roofs, but the sun soon melted that away. Early in the +day everything was under way; the village children, in new red flannel +dresses and dazzling white shirts, appeared first to receive their cakes +from Brockelmann. In the servants' kitchen three maids were cutting a +regular wash-kettle full of potato salad, and the odor of roast beef and +veal rose seductively to the noses of the farm people and day-laborers +just assembling in the court for the festal church-going. + +"Anna Maria was standing in the hall waiting for me as I came +down-stairs. 'Are you bringing Susanna with you?' she asked. At the same +time steps were heard behind me; Isa came down, begging excuse for +Susanna, who felt fatigued, and could not make up her mind to go to +church. + +"Anna Maria frowned. It was the custom in our family that not a single +member should be absent to-day. 'Is it absolutely impossible?' she +asked. + +"'Yes!' declared Isabella, and Anna Maria and I went alone. The bells +were ringing gayly, and the sun shone brightly in at the windows of the +little church, upon the garlands of corn with their red and blue +ribbons, on the altar, and upon the happy faces of the people. With +festal gladness was sung the 'Now thank we all our God.' It had, indeed, +been a blessed harvest year. And in earnest words the clergyman charged +the people with heartfelt gratitude to God, who gave this year of +blessing, gradually passing on to speak of the seed in the heart of man. +'Take care that there may be a blessed harvest here, too, when, by and +by, it will be autumn with you; think of the heavenly Harvest Home; well +for him who brings precious fruits, ripened in humility, planted in +love!' He then counselled the men to labor, the women to gentleness in +the home, and finally remembered in his prayer the absent master of the +manor. Anna Maria's head was bent low; I saw how she joined with her +whole heart in the prayer for her brother, how a great tear fell from +her eye upon the leaves of her hymn-book. + +"When the last verse had been sung we had to hurry home; for immediately +after service the people always brought the harvest wreath, and to-day +Anna Maria had to thank them in her brother's place. She cast a glance +across to Stürmer's seat; it was empty. Perhaps he was already waiting +at the manor. We walked through the greeting throng as rapidly as my +lame foot would allow, and Anna Maria quickly laid aside hat and shawl +in the garden-parlor, for we already heard the music in the village +street. + +"'I don't know about it, aunt,' she said. 'It is dreadful to me without +Klaus; if only Stürmer, at least, were here!' + +"'The baron has been in the garden for an hour,' remarked Marieken, who +had just run in, in dazzlingly clean attire, to inform us that the +people were coming. + +"'Then go and look for him, Marieken,' I bade. 'I will call Susanna and +Isa.' + +"'There comes the baron, now,' cried Marieken, with a glance at the +window, and opened the door leading to the terrace. + +"I could not believe my eyes; yes, there he was coming along the +garden-path, and beside him--Susanna. She did not walk, she floated, as +if carried along by the sound of the march, borne hither on the warm +autumn air. A pink dress fluttered and blew about her delicate figure, +and her lips and cheeks were tinged with the same color. With +outstretched arms she flew up the steps. + +"Oh, Anna Maria, oh, Fräulein Rosamond, listen, just listen!' she cried, +in ecstasy. + +"Stürmer followed her, smiling, and offered Anna Maria his arm. +Hesitatingly, with a long look at Susanna, she took it. The latter +looked after them in wonder, and walked silently beside me. + +"Before the house a crowd of people had assembled, in eager expectation; +then came the children, dancing and skipping, in at the gate; behind +them came the musicians, and over the long procession which followed +hovered the wreath of golden corn, adorned with colored ribbons, waving +gayly in the warm autumn wind. + +"Anna Maria stood beside Stürmer, on the front steps, her hand still +resting lightly on his arm; she wore her blue dress and white lace +kerchief. A sad smile lay on her lips as the speaker, followed by two +girls bearing the wreath, now advanced to the steps, and, making a sign +for the music to stop, began the old speech: + + "'God be praised, who gives sun and rain; + God be praised, who gives his blessing again; + God be praised, who, in this year, + Has blessed our fields so richly here. + May he give further fortune good, + To man and beast, to field and wood, + And may his gracious blessing fall + On man and beast, on people all. + And on the house we hang to-day + The wreath, that blessings here may stay. + A pious wife, and children fair, + May they ere long be dwelling there! + That is our wish upon this day; + God will provide for come what may. + Take not this speech of ours amiss. + Full of good-will, indeed, it is!' + +"A peal of music accompanied the three hearty cheers of the people; the +two pretty girls laid the wreath at Anna Maria's feet as she kindly +shook hands with the speaker. 'I thank you heartily, people,' she said +in her deep, mature voice. 'I thank you in the name of my brother far +away, who is much grieved not to be able to stand here to-day. I thank +you for the honest diligence and labor of this year, and wish that the +good old harmony may continue between gentry and people as has ever been +the manner at Bütze. And now, in my brother's name, enjoy the present +day, and be happy as befits this feast.' + +"'Long may she live, our gracious Fräulein!' cried the people; the lads +tossed their caps in the air, and with music the procession went into +the great barn, where long tables were set for the harvest banquet. + +"Anna Maria had dropped Stürmer's arm as she stepped forward to speak. +He appeared strangely moved, and a slight, indefinable smile lay on his +lips. I remembered his once saying that nothing was more dreadful to him +in a woman than to see her, even for a moment, assume the position of a +man, and in that light he evidently regarded the speech. + +"During the shouting I looked around for Susanna; she had disappeared. +There was not much time to reflect where she might be. Anna Maria now +made the round of the tables; she had to have her health drunk, and +drink in return. Stürmer accompanied her; it was a pretty sight to see +them walking together across the court. + +"On that day not the slightest thing escaped me, but now I cannot tell +exactly what this and that one did; it only came to me upon reflection, +much later; and then one thing after another came into my mind. At the +time I did not wonder at the rose-colored dress which Susanna wore, and +which was so charmingly suited to her transparent complexion; it did not +occur to me at all that she was still in mourning for her father, nor +did I think about her having been too indisposed to go to church in the +morning, and then, soon after, coming running from the garden, with rosy +cheeks. I thought nothing of it, that at the table--to-day there was a +long row of us, the clergyman and his sister, two bailiffs, three +farm-pupils, a forester, and Isabella (by way of exception)--she laughed +through the entire scale every minute, and carried on all manner of +nonsense. + +"Anna Maria sat at the head, beside the clergyman, Susanna at her right, +and Stürmer next; I sat next to Pastor Grüne, and we formed the upper +end of the table. I could see that Anna Maria often looked gravely at +Susanna; yet a ray of pleasure broke from her eyes when they rested upon +this embodied rosebud, and saw how roguish were the dimples in her +cheeks, how her eyes shone, and her little teeth flashed behind the red +lips, and how she chattered all manner of pretty, foolish stuff. +Isabella's face shone with pride and she looked at the guests in turn; +almost every eye was fixed on the girl. + +"Then Stürmer rose, and proposed the health of the master of the +house--'his best friend,' as he said--and 'the house that was as dear to +him as a paternal home.' + +"And Anna Maria's face glowed as she raised her glass to touch with him. +But Susanna trembled, and put her glass down untouched; she grew pale +and quiet, and scarcely spoke again. + +"Pastor Grüne raised a full glass to the lady of the house; 'the +mistress of Bütze,' he called Anna Maria. The old man was much moved as +he made mention of her youth and how serious and careful she was; +nevertheless, a Martha, who was never weary in working and doing. Anna +Maria let the current of his remarks pass her by, and quietly thanked +him as she raised her glass. All crowded about her to touch her glass, +last of all, Stürmer; she did not look at him as their glasses touched. +But Susanna fixed her eyes on Anna Maria with an expression of +astonishment; she had probably never reflected that there was anything +great about such activity. I noticed, too, that she shivered suddenly, +as if under a disagreeable impression. + +"Then there came sounds of music through the wide-opened windows; the +dancing was beginning under the oaks, and the family must not be wanting +there. Anna Maria rose from the table, and beckoned to Susanna; we old +people sat still longer, and chatted of this and that. My old friend was +enjoying her afternoon coffee, which she declared she never could do +without, too much to leave; the pastor lighted a pipe, and leaned +comfortably back in his great arm-chair. Ah! how long we had known each +other, had borne together joy and sorrow. We had, indeed, no lack of +conversational matter. + +"But I did not stay here long, for there is nothing I like so much to +see as happy young people dancing. 'Oh, let us go under the oaks,' I +said; but Mademoiselle Grüne preferred to take a nap up-stairs in my +quiet room, assuring me that she would follow soon; so the pastor +escorted me down. When we arrived at the dancing ground, which was +surrounded by people, I saw Anna Maria with the head-servant, and +Stürmer with the upper housemaid, turning in the floating waltz, for +they had to dance with all in turn. But where was Susanna? + +"I went around the living wall of people. Under one of the oaks, chairs +and tables had been set apart for the family, and, the people had +respectfully kept away from this spot. Here stood Susanna, her arm +thrown around the rough trunk of the tree, her great eyes fixed on the +dancing couples; her delicate nostrils quivered, her breast heaved +violently, and tears sparkled in her eyes. + +"'I want to dance, too,' she burst forth, passionately; 'I want to +dance, too, just one single time!' + +"Already Stürmer was coming through the crowd and hurrying up to her. +There was no ceremonious request, for a dance, he forgot every formal +bow, she was even stretching out her arms toward him, longingly. I think +he carried her through the throng rather than that they walked; then he +put his arm around her. Was it my imagination, or did he really press +her so fast to him that they scarcely touched the ground? As in a dream, +I heard Pastor Grüne say something about a Titania. I only saw the +gracefully swaying figures, the fluttering pink dress, the bright rose +in the dark hair, whirling in the rapid dance, and heard the floating +melody of the waltz. And above them the old oaks swayed their branches, +letting sportive sunbeams through. So distinctly, ah! so distinctly, I +can see all this before me. + +"Then she stopped, out of breath, and leaned on his arm, a smile of +rapture on her glowing face. Was it all only my fancy? Anna Maria so +quiet yonder, scarcely breathing after the quick dance; it was surely my +imagination that made me think Susanna ought to have looked a little +less enchanted, that she ought not to have danced, being betrothed to +another. Yes, indeed, I was carrying it too far. And with whom was she +dancing then? With Stürmer, with Klaus's best friend. Could there be any +danger in that now, when everything was plain between them? + +"My thoughts went no farther, for just then the clear tone of a +post-horn rang out in the midst of the dance-music, a yellow coach +rattled into the court and stopped before the steps, and a man swung +himself out. + +"'Klaus!' I cried out, and at the first moment would have gone to meet +him; then I thought of Susanna--he came on her account, of course; they +could not meet here, in the face of all these witnesses. I turned +hastily to lead Susanna through the park to the house. + +"She was lying unconscious in Isa's arms. 'The dance, the fatal dance!' +lamented Isa; 'she cannot bear it!' + +"Anna Maria, pale with fear, bent over her. 'Alas! just at this moment! +Aunt,' she whispered, 'go to Klaus, or I--no, you, I beg you.' + +"I limped across the court as quickly as I could; he was already coming +toward me in the hall, his whole handsome face glowing with pleasure; +without further ado, he took me in his arms. + +"'They are under the oaks, are they not?' he asked. 'I wanted to be here +to dinner, but these post-horses are miserable nags; they went like +snails.' And he took my hand and pressed it to his lips. 'Is she +not--Susanna--she----' + +"'No, Klaus, they are no longer there. Wait a minute, come into your +room; Anna Maria will be here at once. The fact is, Susanna is not quite +well to-day; I would rather tell her first that you have come, so +unexpectedly.' + +"I pushed him back into the sitting-room; Stürmer was just coming in +through the garden-parlor. A frightened look came over Klaus's face, but +the question died on his lips as Stürmer cordially held out both hands +to him, and then, turning to me, said: 'What is the matter with Fräulein +Mattoni? Can it really be the effect of dancing? Only think, Klaus, a +moment ago she was rosy and happy, and just as you came rattling into +the yard, I saw her turn pale and totter, and before I knew what it +meant, her old duenna had caught her, and was lamenting, "That comes of +dancing!" Is that possible?' + +"'Of course!' I declared, quickly; 'Susanna is delicate, and the giddy +round dance--' I broke off, for Klaus looked so anxious I feared he +might betray himself on the spot. + +"'Dear Edwin,' I begged, 'will you take my place with the guests outside +for a moment longer? Pastor Grüne is sitting quite alone on the bench; +you know he is sensitive. Klaus, you will excuse me; I will see how +things are going up-stairs, and send Brockelmann to you with something +to eat.' + +"I do not know if Edwin Stürmer was enraptured at my request, but like +an ever-courteous man he went down at once. + +"Anna Maria met me on the stairs. + +"'Where is he?' she asked hastily, without stopping. + +"'Susanna is not seriously ill!' she called back; 'she has opened her +eyes again already.' Her blue dress fluttered once more behind the brown +balustrade; then I heard the cry, 'Klaus, dear Klaus!' a sob, and the +door closed. + +"Susanna was lying on her bed; her dress had been taken off, and she was +lightly covered with a shawl; she held both hands pressed to her +temples. Isabella was perched before her, holding a flask of +strong-smelling ether. She tenderly stroked the girl's cheeks, and +whispered eagerly to her. When she saw me, she got up. + +"'How disagreeable, Fräulein! Just in this joyful hour the foolish child +has to faint; but so it goes, if young people will not listen,' she +began, in a remarkably talkative mood. 'Susanna, my heart, are you +better? I have said a hundred times you mustn't dance; it isn't even a +refined pleasure to whirl about among those common people. Heavens! what +a smell! But, obstinate as ever--wait, I shall tell your _fiancé_ of it, +that he may keep a firm hand over you. Oh, yes, young people----' + +"Susanna gave her nurse a look which expressed everything possible +except love and respect. + +"'Come, come, be brisk, Susy,' she continued inexorably, 'or do you +think it is pleasant for Herr von Hegewitz to be waiting for you like +this?' + +"Susanna raised herself with a jerk. 'Do be still,' she said, folding +her hands, 'I am so dizzy, so ill!' + +"'Lie still, Susanna,' I said, to calm her. 'Perhaps you will be better +toward evening. Klaus must have patience. Shall I take any greetings to +him, meanwhile?' + +"She lay back on the pillow, her face turned away from me, and nodded +silently. 'Let her sleep,' said I to Isabella; 'she is really +exhausted.' + +"The old woman shrugged her shoulders. 'I cannot do anything to help +matters, either,' she whispered. 'It is unpleasant, but she will soon +recover. I know--the nerves, yes, the nerves!' And she sat down on the +girl's bed. She looked strangely grotesque and weird, in her enormous +black cap with bright orange-colored bows. + +"Anna Maria and Klaus were just going down the front steps to the +dancing-ground, and he had his arm around her. When they saw me they +turned around. Klaus looked troubled, and in Anna Maria's eyes there +were traces of tears. + +"'You will see her to-day, yet,' I said to him, consolingly. He pressed +my hand, and sighed. + +"'He is only going to stay till to-morrow, aunt," Anna Maria informed +me; 'he only came on Susanna's account.' She spoke pleasantly, and +looked up at him with a smile. + +"'Alas, alas!' said Klaus, 'affairs are so involved there; but I just +wanted to see how such an engagement is good-for-nothing without having +once expressed one's self in words. Anything written sounds so cold, +doesn't it? It seemed so to me! And then I am glad that I have come, for +Susanna's health does not seem to be quite firm yet. I will speak with +the doctor, and after the wedding will go south with her.' A very +anxious expression lay on his countenance. + +"'Poor Klaus, such a reception!' bewailed Anna Maria. 'I do not +understand it, either; Susanna was so suddenly seized; she was just +seeming so bright again.' + +"'You must not let her dance,' said he in reproof. + +"'Oh, the kobold was between them before we could prevent it,' I joked. + +"'Stürmer dances so madly,' remarked Klaus. + +"Meanwhile we had arrived at the scene of festivities. The dancers were +still floating gayly about there; Stürmer was leaning, with folded arms, +against a tree, and was apparently out of humor. As soon as the people +discovered their master, he was received with a storm of greetings, for +they were all waiting to welcome him. Klaus spoke a few words to them, +and then would have withdrawn, but that was not permitted; he had to +dance with the upper housemaid. With a half-amiable, half-morose +expression, he took a few turns with the girl, who blushed red at the +joy and honor. + +"Anna Maria had seated herself in one of the chairs under the trees; +Edwin was standing before her, and a happy smile was on her lips. The +rays of the setting sun glimmered over her fair head and tinged her face +with a warm color. + +"She looked wonderfully pretty at this moment; Stürmer looked +meditatively down at her. I thought of everything possible as I looked +at the two. What will one not think under a blue sky, amid sunshine and +gay music? + +"It was deep twilight when Isabella came into my room to say that +Susanna was ready to see Klaus, and to ask if the meeting might be here. +I assented joyfully; the old woman went away, and a moment after a +slender white figure entered, and leaned, almost tottering, against the +great oaken wardrobe by the door. Isabella went away, saying she would +inform the master. + +"Slowly Susanna came as far as the middle of the room. I made haste to +light a candle, but she begged me not to do it; her voice sounded almost +breathless. When I heard Klaus's rapid step in the hall, I went into the +adjoining room, whereupon Susanna took a few hasty steps after me, as if +she would detain me; but I would not have spoiled this quarter of an +hour for Klaus by my presence for anything in the world. Why should a +third person hear what two people who are to belong to each other +forever have to say? And so I drew the door to, and only heard a voice, +full of emotion, cry: 'Susanna!' + +"I stood at the open window, and looked out on the moonlit court; in the +house all was still. Edwin Stürmer had driven away before supper, +rightly supposing that we should have a great deal to talk about during +Klaus's short stay; the guests from the parsonage, too, had gone home +early. Isabella had doubtless called Klaus from Anna Maria's side to +Susanna; the people were dancing on gayly under the oaks, by the light +of lanterns; the sound of music, and now and then of a bold shout, came +over to me, or the beginning of a song from a girl's fresh voice; and +the air was mild as on a spring evening. + +"'Anna Maria?--what is she doing now?' thought I. And the minutes ran +away and became quarter-hours; with a clank, the old clock struck seven. +I sprang up; no, the old aunt did not quite forget the requirements of +etiquette. I opened the door and went into my room. I saw the two +standing at the window; he had put his arm around her, and was bending +low over her. + +"'And now, say _one_ word, Susanna; say that you love me as I love you!' +I heard him whisper, hotly and beseechingly. + +"The moonlight fell all about her bright, delicate figure, and I could +distinctly see her arm begin slowly to slip from his shoulder. The music +out of doors had just ceased; for an instant there was a breathless +silence, then the deep, sad tones of a young man's voice floated in at +the open window: + + "'I thought I held thee wondrous dear, + Ere I another found; + Farewell, I know it first to-day + What 'tis to be love-bound,' + +came up the sound. Susanna's arm slipped quite down Once more I heard +him whisper, more softly than before. 'Yes!' said Susanna, quickly and +in a half-stifled tone, and I saw Klaus take her in his arms impetuously +and kiss her. + +"The following day fairly flew away, I can scarcely toll how, now. There +were so many things to be talked about, agreed upon, and arranged. + +"Klaus had talked with Isabella about the wedding, and they were agreed +that the 22d of November should be the festal day. Isabella came out of +his room with a new silk dress on her arm; she did not look wholly +enraptured, for he had told her that he was going to hire a comfortable +little dwelling in Berlin, and provide for her support; until the +wedding she might stay here. Anna Maria had prevailed upon him to do +this, and he himself did not consider the old woman exactly a desirable +appendix to his wife. She cast an enraged look at Anna Maria as she went +out; she knew to whom she owed this arrangement, so little to her mind. + +"On Susanna's hand sparkled a brilliant ring. Klaus was constantly at +her side. I saw them in the morning wandering up and down the +garden-paths, and once, too, heard her charming laugh, but it was +shortly broken off. She was quiet, but nevertheless let herself be +adored like a queen by her attentive lover. + +"How happy he looked, the dear old fellow, and how truly concerned he +was about the little maiden to whom he had given his heart! Like an +anxious mother, he bundled her up in shawls and rugs when she sat out on +the terrace in the warm midday sun. Every sentence which he uttered +began: 'Susanna, would you be pleased if it were thus?' and concluded: +'If you are content, of course, my darling!' + +"Anna Maria had a great deal to do out of doors. Was it really the case? +Did it pain her to see the two thus? Had a feeling of real jealousy come +over her? She left the tiresome business of a _dame d'honneur_ almost +entirely to me. + +"At evening Klaus had to go away again, and the hour drew quickly near; +he grew silent and tender the nearer the moment of separation came. +After supper we sat in the garden-parlor, about the lighted lamp. +Klaus's travelling cloak and rug lay on a chair; Susanna had gone to her +room for a moment, and Anna Maria to the kitchen to prepare a glass of +mulled wine for Klaus, for he had grown icy cold. Klaus held a knot of +ribbon in his hand, which he had taken from Susanna's hair. + +"'Aunt Rosamond,' said he, suddenly, looking over at me, 'Stürmer comes +here very often now, doesn't he?' + +"'Yes, Klaus, very often.' + +"'Does he intend to ride a pair of horses to death to--to play whist +with you?' he asked, smiling. + +"'I don't know, Klaus,' I replied. + +"He came nearer to me. 'If it only might be, aunt,' he said gently; 'do +you think that this time Anna Maria would, again----' + +"'No, Klaus; if I understand Anna Maria aright, she still loves +Stürmer.' + +"'Still, aunt? _Now_, you mean to say?' + +"I knew not what answer to make. + +"'I should be so glad,' he began again, 'if Anna Maria and Edwin----' + +"He broke off, for Susanna had entered; she had such a light, floating +gait that we did not notice her till she was already standing in the +middle of the room. Slowly she came nearer; she was doubtless suffering +at the thought of separation, for she looked very pale and scarcely +spoke that evening. When Klaus folded her in his arms on his departure +she looked up into his true, agitated face, and for an instant, raising +herself on tip-toe, she put both arms around his neck, but for his +affectionate words she had no reply. + +"She remained standing beside me on the front steps, looking after him, +as, wrapped in his great cloak, he got into the carriage. Anna Maria +went down the steps with him, and put extra rugs and foot-sacks in with +her own hands. The brother and sister held out their hands to each +other, but Klaus's looks sped past Anna Maria up to the delicate figure +standing motionless in the flickering light of the lanterns. Brockelmann +looked, suddenly transfixed, at the girl, who only waved her hand +lightly. The carriage drove rattling away; once more he leaned his head +out; then the carriage rolled through the gateway, out into the night. + +"Susanna did not wait till Anna Maria had come up the steps; she ran +back into the house as if pursued, and I heard her light step going +up-stairs. + +"Anna Maria and I went back to the garden-parlor. Neither of us spoke; I +laid my knitting-work and glasses in my work-basket, and Anna Maria +stood, reflecting, in the middle of the room. All at once I saw her take +a few steps forward and quickly stoop over; when she stood upright again +she had grown pale. Her hand held a small, shining object--Susanna's +engagement ring! + +"She said not a word, but put the ring on the table and sat down. She +waited for Susanna. She _must_ miss the ring, and would hurry down +directly, anxiously hunting for it. + +"An hour passed. Anna Maria had taken up one of Scott's novels; she +turned the pages at long intervals. I had taken out my knitting again. +At last she laid aside the book. + +"'We will go to bed, Aunt Rosamond,' said she. 'Will you give the ring +to Susanna?' + +"I took the little pledge of love, wrought in heavy gold. 'It must be +too large for her,' said I, in excuse. + +"'Yes,' replied Anna Maria, harshly, 'it is not suited to her hand.' And +nodding gravely, she left the room before me. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +"It seemed as if the autumn had only delayed commencing its sway in +order not to interfere with the Bütze harvest festival. Now it broke in +all the more violently, with its gusts of rain, its storms, and its +hatred toward everything which reminded one of summer. Each little green +leaf was tinged with yellow or red, and the garden was gay as a paper of +patterns; the purplish-red festoons of the wild grape hung moistly down, +and in the morning a heavy white mist lay over the landscape. The +storks' nest on the barn roof was empty, whole flocks of wild geese flew +away screaming over the village, and inevitably came the thought of the +long, monotonous winter which Anna Maria and I were to pass alone. + +"Anna Maria did not give herself up to idle reveries; she took hold of +work, even too much work, as the best defence against worry and against +a growing sadness. Only in the twilight she would sometimes stand idle, +and look away across the court-yard, and listen to the measured sound of +the threshing that came across from the barn. Then she would pass her +hand over her forehead, light a candle, and move up to the table with +her work--and work there was in abundance. + +"Anna Maria had taken Susanna's outfit in hand without delay. She led +the young girl to the huge linen-chests, and, with the pride of a +housewife, showed her the piles of snow-white linen, told her which +pieces she had spun herself, and spread before her eyes the choicest +sets of table linen. Susanna stood beside her, and cast a look rather of +astonishment than admiration at these splendors; she did not understand +what one could do with such a monstrous pile; it was more than one could +use in a hundred years, she thought. Isa, too, seemed to have no +appreciation of the important treasures. 'Too coarse, too coarse, +mademoiselle!' was all she said, letting the linen, which three +seamstresses were making up into Susanna's underclothing, slip through +her fingers. 'That will last forever, and will rub the child's tender +skin to pieces.' + +"Susanna grew somewhat more interested when dress-patterns arrived from +Berlin, by Klaus's order. The small hands turned over the gay little +pieces with real satisfaction; she ran from Anna Maria to Isa, and from +Isa to me, asking whether we preferred satin or moiré antique, brocade +or _gros de Tours_. And every evening, punctually at seven o'clock, came +Edwin Stürmer, through autumn darkness, rain, and wind. + +"I remember how one day he came into the room and inquired after the +health of the ladies; how, when he was preparing to leave, Anna Maria +said her friendly: 'Will you not stay with us, baron?' And how he then +laid aside hat and riding-whip again, ate supper with us, and then sat +down at the whist-table--all as usual, and yet so different. + +"Susanna was a careless and not a clever player; she threw her cards +down at random, never knew what had been played, and had no idea of the +real meaning of the game. Anna Maria took this, like every occupation of +life, seriously, and examined it thoroughly. + +"'But, Susanna, do pay attention; you are playing into your opponent's +hand!' she would say during the game; or, 'Please, Susanna, do not look +at Aunt Rosamond's cards; you must not do that!" It had a pedantic sound +when one looked at that smiling, rosy creature, who held the cards in +her little hands with such charming awkwardness, forgot every instant +what was the trump, laughed out from pure pleasure when she took a +trick, and would be so truly disheartened when she lost. 'Oh, _est il +possible_?' she would ask, shaking her head; 'not a trick?' + +"Stürmer played this whist with the patience of an angel; he picked up +Susanna's fallen cards unweariedly, smiled when she laughed, and when +Anna Maria scolded an almost imperceptible wrinkle came between his +brows. Occasionally, when he was Anna Maria's partner, she would appear +confused and embarrassed, and he distracted; and once or twice they lost +the rubber, just as they had done before. 'Unlucky at cards, lucky in +love!' said Pastor Grüne, who sat behind Anna Maria's chair on such +evenings. She blushed suddenly, and her hand, which still held the last +card, trembled. Edwin Stürmer, with fine tact, seemed not to hear the +allusion, and Susanna was silent and looked at Anna Maria with, all at +once, a strange sparkle in her eyes. Of her relation to Klaus no mention +had ever been made in the presence of a stranger, according to +agreement; she herself had the least thought of betraying herself by a +hasty utterance. Once I had asked if Stürmer might not be initiated. But +Anna Maria declared that Klaus would not wish it, so I kept still. + +"Susanna rarely spoke of her absent lover; but Isa put two letters +to him into the mail-bag, regularly, every week, in answer to +his frequent, longing epistles. In her room, meanwhile, all +manner of presents accumulated, which Klaus bought for her in +Breslau--knick-knacks, ornaments, fans, and such useless things, which I +could never think of in connection with Anna Maria. Klaus had never +cared for such things before, either, and therefore did not exactly +understand choosing them, and many an old, unsalable article may have +been put into his hand as the latest novelty for the sake of heavy +money. Susanna had a remarkably well-developed sense of beauty, and the +charming way of women, of wearing a thing out of devotion because a +beloved hand gave it, seemed totally unknown to her. But she exulted +aloud when she discovered a little old lace handkerchief which Anna +Maria had found, in rummaging in a long-unopened chest; and in the +evening, when Stürmer came, she wore it daintily knotted about her neck, +and in the delicate yellowish lace placed the last red asters from the +garden. + +"Anna Maria was more serious and chary of words after every visit from +Stürmer; but an unmistakable expression of quiet, inward happiness lay +on her proud face. She reminded me daily, more and more, of that Anna +Maria who once, on a stormy spring day, came into my room, fell on my +neck, and almost--oh, if it had only happened!--confided to me the +secret in her young heart. Unspeakably pleasing she appeared, in her +quiet happiness, beside that young, childish bride-elect, who was never +still, who now laughed more wildly than a kobold, and the next minute +wept enough to move a stone to pity. Yes, Susanna Mattoni could laugh +and cry like scarce another human being. + +"Often I saw Anna Maria standing in the twilight under the old linden; +motionless, she looked over yonder, where, in the evening haze, the +dark, gabled roofs of Dambitz emerged from the trees of the park. She +had fallen into a dreamy state, out of which she would suddenly start, +when she was reminded of Klaus by some eccentricity of Susanna's. Then +she would look again in warm anxiety at the mercurial little creature, +and then run into her solitary room, and not appear again for several +hours. + +"One day, just three weeks before the appointed wedding-day, I was +returning, toward evening, from a visit to my old friend, Mademoiselle +Grüne, at the parsonage. It was windy and wet and cold, a regular autumn +evening, such as I do not like at all. I drew my veil over my face for +protection, wrapped my cloak more tightly about me, and took the +shortest way across the church-yard and through the garden. The +manor-house looked gloomy behind the tall trees; not a window was +lighted, but from the great chimney the smoke blew away over the roofs, +like long, dark, funeral banners, and wrestled with the wind which +dissipated it in all directions. + +"I began to think with pleasure of the comfortable sitting-room, of a +warm beer-soup, and the regular evening whist-table. Just as I was +passing a side-path, I saw a dark figure sitting under the linden. 'Anna +Maria!' I murmured, 'and in this storm!' For an instant I stood still, +with the intention of calling to her, for a fine, drizzling rain was now +falling, and I feared she would take cold on this dreary evening. But I +gave it up, because I thought, on reflection, she would not probably +want to be seen at all, or have an inquisitive look taken at a shyly +guarded secret, and I made haste to walk away down the path as quickly +as possible, to get away unobserved. + +"But my foot stopped again; a horseman was coming along by the hedge, +and, in spite of the gray twilight, I recognized Stürmer; he waved his +hat in greeting over toward the arbor, and there some one beckoned--I +very nearly had palpitation of the heart from joyful fear--with a white +cloth, and this little signal waved in the misty evening air till he +disappeared behind the trees on the other side of the bridge. + +"'Anna Maria! Is it possible?' said I, half-aloud, as I walked on--that +it sounded like a cry of exultation I could not help. Ah, all must be +well yet, and surely all would be well! I hurried up the steps to write +a few words to Klaus. 'Anna Maria and Edwin were nearer than he had +hoped'--how pleased he would be! But I did not accomplish that to-day. +Brockelmann came to meet me in the entrance-hall, and in spite of my +happy agitation, I had to listen to a long story, for which she even +urged me to come into her neat little room. A married niece of hers, +living in the village, had had a quarrel with her husband yesterday, in +the course of which he had emphatically tried to prove conclusively the +'I am to be your master!' with a heavy stick. The good Brockelmann was +beside herself at the 'wicked fellow,' and would not let me go till I +had solemnly promised to take the tyrant to task. 'Anna Maria +understands it even better, perhaps,' she added, 'but I don't know what +is the matter with her now. I think I might tell her a story ten times +over, and at the end she would look at me and ask: "What are you saying, +Brockelmann?" I wish I could just get at the bottom of it!' + +"'Well,' I said, smiling, 'I will see to it; send the rude old fellow up +to me to-morrow.' She followed me into the hall, and clattered +down-stairs in her slippers, scolding away, and in a very bad humor, +because Rieke had not yet lighted the hall-lamps. + +"In my room still glimmered the last ray of daylight, and in this +uncertain light I saw a figure rising from the arm-chair by the stove. +'Anna Maria, is it you?' I asked, recognizing her. + +"She came slowly over to me. 'Yes, aunt, I have something to deliver to +you. Stürmer has been here; he wanted to speak to you; about what, I +don't know.' She spoke hesitatingly and softly. 'Then he asked me to +hand you this note, which he wrote hastily.' + +"She pressed a note into my hand. 'Here, aunt, read.' I sat down in the +low chair by the stove, and held the sheet in the flickering light of +the flames, but the letters danced indistinctly before my eyes. 'We must +have a light,' said I; 'or read it aloud to me, Anna Maria, it takes so +long for Brockelmann to bring a lamp.' + +"Anna Maria knelt down beside me, and took the letter. 'Ought I to know, +too, what it contains?' she asked. + +"'Oh, of course I allow it, only read!' And Anna Maria began: + + "'MY DEAR, ESTEEMED AUNT ROSAMOND:--Unfortunately I did not + find you at home. Please expect me to-morrow afternoon at five + o'clock. I have something to discuss with you, and want your + advice in a matter upon the issue of which the peace and + happiness of my heart will depend. Say nothing yet to Anna + Maria! + + "'In haste and impatience, + + "'Your most devoted + + "'EDWIN STÜRMER.' + +"Anna Maria did not read it just as it stands here; it came out in +broken sentences; then the sheet fluttered to the floor, she buried her +fair head in my lap, and threw her arms impetuously about me. 'Aunt, +ah, aunt!' she groaned. + +"I took her head between my two hands, and kissed her forehead; tears +flowed from my eyes. 'Anna Maria! ah, at last, at last!' I sobbed; 'now +everything may yet be well.' + +"She did not answer; she rose and began to walk up and down the room, +her arms crossed below her breast, her head bent. I could not +distinguish her features in the deep twilight, but I knew that she was +deeply affected. 'Aunt,' she said at last, coming up to me, 'what answer +shall you make to Stürmer?' + +"'That I will receive him, Anna Maria.' + +"'No'--she hesitated--'I mean to-morrow, to his question--'she said, +slowly. + +"'What you will, Anna Maria. Shall I say yes?' + +"Slipping to the floor, she threw her arms around my neck. 'Yes!' she +said, softly, and burst into tears. The pain borne quietly for years +gushed with them from her soul; I stroked her smooth head caressingly, +and let her weep. How long we sat thus I know not. Then the girl rose +and kissed my hand. 'I will go down,' she whispered. + +"'Yes, Anna Maria,' I bade, 'you ought to rest a little or your head +will burn. Let Brockelmann make you a cup of tea; you have surely caught +cold in your head out in the wet garden.' + +"She had her hand already on the door-latch, and now turned about again. +'I have not been in the garden, aunt,' she said; 'I have been waiting +here up-stairs for you, certainly for half an hour, since he went away.' +She nodded to me once more, then she went out, and left me standing in +unutterable bewilderment. + +"Anna Maria not in the garden? Who in the world could have stood there +and beckoned to him? An oppressive fear overwhelmed me, and almost +instinctively I went across to Susanna's room; my first look fell upon +her, sitting on the floor before the fire-place; the bright light +illuminated her face with a rosy glow, and made her eyes seem more +radiant than ever. Her hands were clasped about her knees, and she was +looking dreamily at the flickering flames. Isa was bustling about at the +back of the room; she came nearer as she caught sight of me. + +"'Susanna,' I asked, 'were you in the garden a little while ago?' + +"She started up and looked at me with frightened eyes. 'No!' answered +Isabella in her place. 'Susy has not left the room all the afternoon. +What should she be doing out of doors in this weather?' + +"'I do not know--but I surely thought I saw you, Susanna?' + +"She turned her head and looked in her lap. 'I was not down there,' she +said, hesitatingly. + +"I went away; my old eyes were failing then. Close by the door my foot +caught in something soft. I stooped down; it was the lace veil that +Susanna used to wear over her head, heavy and wet with rain. Without a +word I laid it on the nearest chair. Why did Susanna tell a lie? Why was +she frightened? + +"And all at once an ugly, shocking thought darted like lightning through +my brain, that made me almost numb with fear. But no, surely it was not +possible, it was madness; how could one imagine such a thing? I scolded +myself. With trembling hand I lit a candle and went to my writing-desk; +to this day I cannot account for my answer to Stürmer being as it was, +and not different. I wrote under the influence of an inexplicable +anxiety. Strangely enough the letter sounded: + + "'MY DEAR EDWIN:--I shall be glad to see you here to-morrow + afternoon at five o'clock, and can also tell you an important + piece of news, which will please you. What do you say to this, + that Klaus, our old Klaus, is engaged; and that the bride-elect + is no other than Susanna Mattoni? Very likely you have guessed + it easily? + + "'They have been engaged for some time, but it has been kept a + secret for the mean time; but an old chatterbox like me may + surely make an exception in your case. + + "'Affectionate greetings from your old friend, + + "'ROSAMOND VON HEGEWITZ.' + +"In the greatest haste I folded the note, rang, and gave it into the +immediate charge of the coachman. I was seized with a nervous trembling +as I heard him ride out of the yard. I sent down word to Anna Maria that +I should not come to supper; I was rather fatigued. + +"About eight o'clock I heard Susanna's light step in the hall; she was +coming from supper, and trilling a love-song. Then the door of her room +closed, and all was still. + +"It was long past midnight when I stole out to the hall window to see if +Anna Maria had gone to bed. She was still awake; in the candle-light +which fell from her windows over the flower-beds of the garden a shadow +was moving to and fro, incessantly, restlessly. In the anxiety of my +heart I folded my hands: 'Lord God, send her no storm in this new +spring-time,' I whispered; 'let her be happy, make me ashamed of my care +and anxiety. Let my fear be an error. Ah! give her the happiness she +deserves!' + +"The next day broke gray and dark, not at all like a day of good +fortune. Anna Maria stood at the open window in the sitting-room, +breathing in the warm air, which was unusually sultry for a November +day. She had a stunted white rose in her hand. 'See, aunt,' she said, +holding the flower up to me, 'I found it early this morning on the +rose-bush on mother's grave; how could it have bloomed now? We have had +such cold weather lately, it is almost a miracle, like a greeting for +the day.' And she took a glass and carefully put the awkward little rose +in fresh water, and carried it to her room. + +"In the mail-bag which came at noon there was, beside a letter for +Susanna from Klaus, also one for Anna Maria from him concerning +arrangements for the longer absence of the master of the house. 'Since I +do not know how long I shall be away with Susanna,' he wrote, 'and since +I probably shall not find time in the short stop at home to talk this +over quietly with you, I have written down for you about how I think +this and that will be best arranged.' Various arrangements of a domestic +nature now followed. 'If any alteration seems necessary to you,' he +continued, 'do as you please; I know it will be right. The furnishing of +Susanna's rooms can be attended to during our absence. I should be very +grateful to you if you would sometimes have an eye upon the work, that +the nest for my little wife may be as comfortable as possible. In her +last letter she told me a great deal about Stürmer's furnishings, and I +have taken care to get something similar, at least, for her, as far as +it in any degree agrees with my own sober taste; the terrace is to be +re-paved, too. Now for the chief matter, my dear Anna Maria: on the +right hand, in the secret drawer of my writing-desk, lie the papers +which are necessary for the banns. Take them out and carry them to +Pastor Grüne; Susanna's baptismal certificate and marriage license, +which I had sent on from Berlin, will already be in his hands, as I am +sending them off with this letter. Remember me to the old man, and say +to him that he must not let us fall too roughly from the pulpit next +Sunday.' + +"Anna Maria had given me the letter, and gone with her key-basket into +her brother's room. 'How will it be,' I whispered, looking over the long +columns of these domestic arrangements, 'when he has _her_ no longer? He +has been fearfully spoiled by her.' As I read about the banns, my old +aunt's head began to whirl like a mill-wheel with what had happened +yesterday--what was to come to-day. How would it result? + +"I limped over to Anna Maria; she was standing before her brother's open +desk, the papers in her hand. 'Aunt Rosamond,' said she, 'I wish this +day were over, for see, when I think of Klaus I almost lose my courage!' +And she laid the yellow papers on the flat shelf of the wardrobe-shaped +desk, and folded her hands over them. 'It will seem almost wrong to me +that I should think of my own happiness when he--is not going to be +happy. Aunt, ah, aunt!' she sobbed out, 'I cannot help it; I love him +none the less on that account, believe me! But I have not the strength +to thrust from me a second time something which--' She did not finish; +she colored deeply, took up the papers again with trembling hands, and +closed the desk. 'I don't know what I do to-day,' she whispered, 'and I +don't know what I say. I wish it were night, I am so anxious!' + +"'You need not speak out, Anna Maria,' said I, seizing her hands. 'I +have long known that you gave Stürmer up at that time only because you +would not forsake Klaus.' + +"She took a step back, and gave me a frightened look. 'No, no; it is +not so!' she cried, 'it was my duty; he had lost so much for my sake!' + +"'Anna Maria, I do not understand you,' I rejoined. + +"'His bride! I know it,' she nodded. 'Because I was in the way, she +forsook my poor, dear Klaus. How he must have suffered!' + +"'How you came to know of that affair, my child, is a riddle to me,' I +returned; 'but tell me, was that the reason that you--' + +"'Oh, hush, aunt!' she cried, 'I know nothing any longer, it all lies +behind me like a dark, oppressive dream. I could not tell you now what I +thought and felt at the time, for it is not clear even to me. Some time +I will tell you everything, but not now, not to-day. But you must +promise me one thing,' she continued, beseechingly, looking at me +through her tears; 'you must always keep an eye on Klaus; you must read +from his face if he is in trouble, if he is unhappy, and then you must +tell me. Ah! aunt, I cannot really believe that he will be happy with +her! Dear Aunt Rosa, why must it be _she_? Why not some one else who +would be more worthy of him?' + +"'Do not worry about it, Anna Maria,' I begged her; 'all is in God's +hands.' + +"'You are right, Aunt Rosa,' she replied, a crimson flush spreading over +her face. 'I will not let this trouble me to-day; I will rejoice, will +be happy. Ah! aunt, I do not know, indeed, what that really is; I am +such a stupid, dull being. Listen, last evening I could have opened my +arms and embraced the whole world from happiness. I could not sleep, I +walked about my room restlessly, and read his letter a hundred times; as +long as my eye rested upon it I was calm, and when I had folded it up +doubts came to me, such anxious, evil doubts, such as, "What if you +have made a mistake? What if he has something to say to Aunt Rosamond +which does not concern you at all?" And then it seemed to me as if I +were sinking into a deep, black abyss, and there was nothing that I +could hold on to, aunt. Oh! it was frightful, so empty, so cold, so +dead! Dear Aunt Rosamond, do laugh me out of these foolish thoughts, +scold me for a stupid girl; tell me how faint-hearted I am, that a doubt +of Edwin's love should come to me! He does love me, Aunt Rosamond, does +he not? One can never forget it when one has once loved a person with +his whole heart. I know it; yes, Aunt Rosamond, I am a foolish, childish +creature; do laugh me right out of it, please, please!' + +"She had drawn me to the sofa as she spoke, and hidden her face on my +shoulder. Amid laughing and crying the words came out, all +self-consciousness was gone, that unapproachable harshness of her nature +had disappeared, and she was now like any other girl expecting her +lover. She trembled and sobbed, and wound her arms tightly about my +neck--the proud, cold Anna Maria had become a happy child. What a +fulness of love and resignation now gushed from her heart, now that +happiness touched it! 'So do laugh me well out of it, aunt,' she said, +again. + +"I stroked her hair caressingly; how gladly would I have laughed her out +of it! But in my soul, too, there were doubts, inexplicable doubts; and +why? There was really no reasonable ground for them, no, no! Susanna +might have denied the walk in the garden because the evening air was +prohibited on account of her health; and just because she stood under +the linden and waved her handkerchief--was that any proof? And I thought +of my letter to Stürmer, and really had to laugh. + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'I will laugh at you, but you must laugh back at +me. Only think, yesterday I sent an announcement of the engagement to +Stürmer; I could not keep it to myself any longer that Klaus is +engaged.' + +"She straightened up with a start. + +"'Heavens, the papers! I forget everything. The banns--I must see to +that first, aunt.' + +"To-day the hours seemed to pass much more slowly than usual. Toward +four o'clock I sat waiting at the window; my heartbeat as violently as +Anna Maria's, perhaps. She, I knew, was down-stairs in her room, +restless and anxious. Half-past four struck, five, and Stürmer was not +yet here. Instead, Susanna came into my room and sat down opposite me; +she had her kitten in her arms and began to play with it. + +"I should have liked to send her away, but no suitable excuse occurred +to me at that moment. It is fearful how slowly the minutes pass when one +is counting them in anxious expectation; heavy as lead, each second +seems to spin itself out to eternity, and one starts at every sound. No, +that was a farm-wagon, now a horseman; ah! it is only the bailiff. + +"Susanna felt my silence and restlessness painfully at any rate. 'Oh, it +is fearfully tiresome in the country in winter!' she sighed. 'What can +one do all day long?' + +"'Have you written to Klaus yet?' I asked. + +"'O dear, no!' she replied, with a suppressed yawn. 'I don't know what +to write him; I have no experience, I hear and see nothing.' + +"'Well, an engaged girl is not usually at a loss for something to write +to the future husband,' I remarked. + +"'Indeed?' she asked, absently. 'Yes, it may be, but I--I find it so +stupid just to drag out variations of the theme, "I love you."' + +"'Klaus has written you, no doubt, Susanna, that you are to be published +from the pulpit on Sunday?' + +"She started, and stared at me with wide-open, awestruck eyes. 'I don't +know,' she stammered, 'I----' + +"'But you must know what is in his letter,' I said, impatiently. + +"'Yes, I--' She put her hand in her pocket and drew out a letter. 'I +haven't read it yet; I was going to this evening--but----' + +"'You have not opened the letter yet?' I cried, quite beside myself. +'Well, I must say, this case is unparalleled! You complain of _ennui_, +and yet carry quietly about in your pocket the most interesting thing +that can exist for you! The variations on the familiar theme do, indeed, +seem tiresome to you, Susanna!' + +"I had spoken bitterly and loud. Susanna remained silent, and the same +choking feeling of fear came over me as yesterday. I heard the girl sob +gently, and was sorry at once for my vehemence. + +"'Susanna,' said I, softly, 'you are standing before a very serious turn +in your life, and you trifle along like a child!' + +"She suddenly broke out in loud weeping. 'What can I do, then?' she +cried, wringing her hands. 'Have I not a will of my own? must I be +treated like a child?' And the passionate little creature flung herself +on the floor and embraced my knees. 'Have pity on me, dear, dear +Fräulein Rosamond. Do not let me be unhappy. I----' + +"She got no further; the door opened, and the sound of Anna Maria's +voice came in, so constrained, so forbidding, that my heart stopped +beating, and the girl sprang up hastily from the floor. + +"'Aunt Rosamond, Susanna--Baron Stürmer wishes to--say farewell to you.' + +"I can see them all so plainly as they were at that moment: Anna Maria, +pale to her lips, holding firmly on to the back of a chair for support; +Stürmer beside her, his eyes fixed on Susanna; behind them Brockelmann +with the lamp, and the trembling, sobbing girl, clinging to me, a +troubled expression on her tear-stained face, and her great eyes +unintelligently returning the man's look. + +"At the first moment all was not clear to me; I did not understand how +Stürmer had come to Anna Maria, but that a deep wound had been made in a +young human heart, that I saw, and an icy chill crept over me. + +"'Anna Maria,' I stammered, and sought to free myself from Susanna's +arms. Then Stürmer came up to me. + +"'I am going away to-morrow for a long time, Fräulein Rosamond,' said +he, in a firm, clear voice, 'and want to take my leave of you. It is a +hasty decision of mine, but you know that is my way. I thank you, too, +for the letter, Fräulein Rosamond.' He kissed my hand and turned to +Susanna. There was a tremble on his lips, as with a formal bow, he +expressed a brief congratulation on her engagement. + +"She looked fixedly at him, as if she did not understand him, her arms +slipped from my waist, and she made a movement toward him; but he had +already turned away. He bent again over Anna Maria's hand and left the +room. I can still hear the closing of the door and his reëchoing steps +in the hall, and can still see the vacant expression with which Anna +Maria looked after him. She was standing, drawn to her full height, her +proud head slightly bent, yet she seemed inwardly broken, and a ghastly +smile lay on her firmly closed lips. + +"'Anna Maria!' I cried, hastening over to her. She did not look at me, +but pointed to Susanna, who had slipped, fainting, to the floor. + +"'Her!' she said, lifelessly--' he loves _her_!--both love _her_! And +I?' She passed her hands over her forehead. 'Nothing more, aunt, nothing +more, in the great wide world; nothing more!' + +"She bent down to the unconscious girl and raised her in her arms, and +the beautiful head with the dark curls rested on her breast. Anna Maria +looked for an instant at the pale, childish face, and then carried her +over to her room and laid her on the bed. + +"'Take care of Susanna,' said she to Isabella, who stood before the bed, +wringing her hands. 'If it is necessary, send for the doctor.' She went +past me out of the room; I hurried after her; what did I care for +Susanna at this moment? + +"'Anna Maria,' I begged, 'where are you going? Come into my room, speak +out, have your cry out; do not stay alone, my poor, dear child!' + +"She stood still. 'I do not know what I should have to speak about, +aunt--and cry? I cannot cry. Don't worry about me; nothing pains me, +nothing at all. I would like to be alone, I must think about myself. Do +let me.' + +"She went away with as firm a step as ever; she even turned down a +smoking lamp in passing, and the sound of her deep, pleasant voice came +up to me from the stairs as she spoke to Brockelmann; then I heard her +steps die away in the hall. + +"What sort of storm may have shaken her in her solitary room I know not. +When, late in the evening, I listened at her door there was no sound of +movement within; but that she watched through the saddest hours of her +life in that night, her pale face, her sunken eyes, and the expression +about the corners of her mouth told me the next day. + +"Ah, and over it all lay, like a veil, that old coldness, and her fair +head was poised just as obstinately as before, and her words had an +imperious sound. Anna Maria was not desperate, Anna Maria had no +passionate complaints to make. With her maidenly pride she had subdued +the sick heart; no one saw, now, that it was mortally wounded. The pain +within, the struggles, they were _her_ affair. Who would dare even to +touch that closed, strongly guarded door? + +"And so the next morning she went up to the bed in Susanna's room, where +the sobbing girl lay. Susanna had begun to cry on regaining +consciousness the day before, and kept on crying, as if she would +dissolve in tears. Isabella sat by the bed, with a red face; she had +doubtless talked herself hoarse with consolatory arguments during the +night; now she was silent and feigned ignorance of all that had passed. +'I don't know, Fräulein Anna Maria,' she whispered, 'what is the matter +with Susanna--these unfortunate nerves; I don't understand it!' She +looked very much cast down, the little yellow woman. + +"'Susanna,' said Anna Maria, clearly and severely, 'stop crying, and +tell me the cause of your trouble; perhaps I can help you.' + +"'Oh, heavens! no, no!' screamed Isa, vehemently, pressing close up to +Anna Maria. 'She is so excited; don't listen to her words, she doesn't +know what she is saying!' + +"But Susanna made no answer; she stopped sobbing, turned her head away +from Anna Maria, and lay still as a mouse; but in the quick rising and +falling of her bosom one could see how excited she was. + +"'Be calm, Susanna,' repeated Anna Maria; 'and where you are, I have to +speak with you concerning the explanation of a great mistake.' + +"She turned quietly from the invalid, and observing the glasses beside +the bed, asked Isabella if Susanna liked lemonade, and went away. She +had given me only a hasty greeting; now she came back, and we stood +together in the hall, and I held her hand in mine. + +"That words of consolation were not to be thought of in dealing with a +nature like Anna Maria's, I knew well; yet I could not help tears coming +into my eyes as I looked at her. She looked at me for a moment, her face +quivered as with a passionate pain, and the sobbing sound came from her +breast. But she composed herself by an effort, and pointing to Susanna's +door, said: 'There is the worst thing--my poor Klaus!' She pressed my +hand, and then went about her household duties as usual. It is not every +one that would have done as she did! + +"When I entered Susanna's room again I found her sitting up in bed, +wringing her clasped hands. 'Nobody has asked _me_ about it!' she +repeated, amid streaming tears; 'my wish is of no account; they have +pushed me away where they wanted me to go! And now, now--' She murmured +something to herself, which I did not understand, and stopped weeping, +only to begin anew with the passionate cry: 'No one loves me, no one!' + +"'Do not listen to her,' Isabella implored me; 'she really does not know +what she is doing; leave me alone with her! 'The little creature was in +a thousand terrors. She ran from the bed to the window, and then back +to the bed; she called the weeping girl all sorts of pet names, she +besought her by heaven and earth to be quiet--it was in vain. Susanna +wept herself into a state of agitation that made us fear the worst; she +struck at Isa, and then wrung her hands again, like a person in perfect +desperation. I stood by, helpless; as long as the girl was in this state +of excitement I could not step up to her, and say: 'Susanna, what have +you done? You have given your word to a man of honor, and you love +another! You have made mischief in the house which was so hospitably +opened to you; you have made three human hearts miserable! Is that your +gratitude for all this kindness?' + +"And then her cry, 'No one asked me; they pushed me away where they +wanted me to be, and I had not the power to defend myself!' sank deeply +into my heart, and my thoughts went back to that evening when she had +run away in the storm and rain, and how Klaus had brought her back, and +called her 'his!' Had he asked if she loved him? No; he had not even +thought of the possibility that such might not be the case; he had gone +away with firm confidence in her love. And then Anna Maria had pressed +her to her heart one day, and called her 'sister,' and Klaus had come, +and had put the engagement ring on her hand. She had not dared to send +him away, and had gone on, in her light manner, trifling with that +engagement ring, while becoming deeper and deeper involved in the +passion for another. Her lover was away, he did not hear her. Now +Stürmer was going into the wide world, a fresh thorn in her heart. +Susanna was shaken out of her dreams, and near despair. And Anna Maria, +and Klaus--what was to become of them? + +"Then Brockelmann brought me a letter from Stürmer. I went into my room +and read it; it was written from Dambitz, and ran as follows: + + "'HONORED FRÄULEIN:--I do not like to go away from you without + a word of explanation, or without thanking you for your letter, + which kept me from taking a step which would have been + painfully hard for me in more than one respect. You have, with + delicate tact indeed, rightly discerned that Susanna Mattoni is + not an object of indifference to me, and you wanted to save me + from a disappointment. My dear Fräulein Rosamond, why should I + deny it? I love Susanna very much, and I intended yesterday to + beg for your mediation in my suit. I _had_ to suppose that she + returned my love. + + "'I have no luck in your house--a second time I have been + bitterly undeceived. Now I have come to consider myself one of + the most arrogant men the world contains. Anna Maria does not + love me. I required years to get over that first + disappointment; it was not easy, for I believed myself + perfectly sure of her reciprocal love. Well, I succeeded at + last; I will even assert that Anna Maria was right. We were + ill-suited to each other; perhaps she would have been unhappy + with a man of such entirely different inclinations. Then I see + Susanna and--love the betrothed of my best friend! + + "'What remains to me? Again I turn my back on my home and seek + to forget. + + "'In Bütze everything will remain as of old, and I--go. But I + do not like to leave you, who have suspected it, in darkness. + Pardon me if have caused you anxiety; I did so unconsciously. + Think of me kindly! When I come home again some day, Susanna + will be the wife of my friend, and I--a calm man, who will have + forgotten all the dreams of youth. I kiss your dear hands, and + beg you to let what I have said here remain our secret. Susanna + will be most likely of all to suspect why I went--she will + secretly mourn for me, but only soon to forget me in her young + happiness. + + "'Farewell, with most heartfelt respect, + + "'Your most devoted + + "'EDWIN VON STÜRMER.' + +"The sheet trembled in my hands, and every instant tears hindered my +reading. + +"About half-past three in the afternoon Pastor Grüne came with his +sister to offer congratulations on the engagement. Ah, me! yes, +yesterday the appointment for publishing the banns was made. Anna Maria +and I sat in painful embarrassment, receiving the hearty congratulations +of the two old friends. They inquired for the young bride-elect, and the +pastor praised her beauty and her happy, child-like nature. When he saw +Anna Maria's pale face, he took her hand: + +"'My dear child,' said he, kindly and earnestly, 'marriages are made in +Heaven. God leads the hearts together, and when they have found each +other no human being may disturb them. So few marriages are made to-day +out of true, unselfish love that it ought to be a real joy for every one +who experiences it, to see a couple go before the altar who are +restrained by no earthly consideration from belonging to each other in +true love. God's blessing be upon Klaus von Hegewitz and his bride!' He +was much moved, the old man who had held Klaus and Anna Maria over the +font, but in surprise he let the girl's hand drop, with a look of +disapprobation at the cold, unsympathetic face. She did not answer a +syllable. + +"My old friend had, a little while before, drawn a sheet of paper from +her knitting-bag and put it in my hand. I first glanced at it now; it +was the printed notice of the engagement of Klaus and Susanna. 'We +received it this morning,' she nodded, 'but I saw it yesterday at Frau +von R----'s at Oesfeld; I was there to coffee. You ought to have been +there, Rosamond, to see how the ladies contended for that little sheet.' + +"I looked in alarm at Anna Maria, who blushed suddenly and then grew +pale again. Now the engagement was in everybody's mouth, and up-stairs +lay the bride-elect, wringing her hands and weeping for another! Of what +importance was Anna Maria's own sorrow in the face of that which +threatened Klaus? She seized the sheet, and after the first glance +pushed it from her in abhorrence. It was a most painful quarter of an +hour, and many, many such followed that day. + +"The news of Klaus's engagement had spread with lightning speed. Visitor +after visitor came; it seemed as if the whole neighborhood wished to +make our house a rendezvous. Carriage after carriage drove into the +court; people whom we had not seen for years came to offer +congratulations on the happy event. Anna Maria sat like a statue among +the questioning, chattering people, and with trembling hands and ashen +face Brockelmann offered refreshments. The faithful old soul felt with +us the pain that every question gave; only by an effort could she +suppress her tears, and as she passed me she said, in a hasty whisper: +'I truly believe the end of the world is coming!' + +"Anna Maria had, nevertheless, forced a smile. She said that she was +sorry not to be able to present Susanna, but the young girl had been +suddenly taken ill; it was to be hoped it was nothing serious. + +"'But now do tell us how it came about. When did he become acquainted +with her? From what sort of a family does she come?' asked the elder +ladies. + +"'Is she pretty, Fräulein Rosamond? Ah, do describe Klaus von Hegewitz's +_fiancée_ to us; she must be something remarkable!' the young girls +teased me. + +"And beneath all these curious, interested questions there lurked +something which could not be defined and which seemed like a very slight +sort of surprise, and I heard Frau von B---- whisper to the wife of +Counsellor S----: 'The sister doesn't seem exactly enchanted?' and she +was answered: 'No, her rule is at an end now; until now she has just had +the good Klaus under her thumb.' + +"Poor Anna Maria! she answered all the questions so mechanically. She +told them that Susanna was very beautiful; she said that the girl's +father had been a most fatherly friend to her brother--but the way she +did it was strangely stiff and uncomfortable. They looked at her in +surprise and interchanged glances. + +"Meanwhile the brisk housemaid brought the lamps and lighted the candles +on the old chandelier of antlers, and the outside blinds were closed +with a creak. Some of the guests rose; the ladies looked about for their +fur cloaks, the gentlemen took up their hats. I thanked God, for Anna +Maria's appearance frightened me. Then something unexpected happened, +something which caused me to drop back into my chair, quite +disconcerted. Brockelmann had suddenly opened the door, and there stood +one whom I had certainly not expected to see at that moment--Susanna! +Isabella's small figure was seen for an instant in the background, then +the door closed again. + +"A pause ensued, all eyes being directed toward the young girl. She was +really embarrassed for a moment, and this gave her beauty an additional +bewitching charm. Like a shy, confused child she stood there, in the +little black lace-trimmed dress, which so peculiarly suited her, her +head somewhat bent, and the blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. + +"It was an infinitely painful moment, for Anna Maria did not take a step +toward her. I saw how Susanna's beseeching eyes turned away at her fixed +look, which seemed to ask: 'What right have you to be here?' and here +her lips were firmly closed. It was only one moment; the next I was +standing by Susanna and introducing her as Fräulein Mattoni, and +therewith the ice was broken. They crowded about her, shook hands with +her, and devoured her with admiring eyes. Her cheeks grew crimson, her +eyes shone, and not a trace of the morning's tears remained; the mouth +which had poured forth such fearful laments now smiled like a child's, +and Anna Maria stood alone yonder. God knows what pain she must have +felt! + +"The guests sat down for another minute, out of respect to Susanna, and +after the storm of customary formalities had subsided, they spoke of +country life, wondering if a city girl could accustom herself to it. +They asked Susanna how the Mark pleased her, and at last the old wife of +General S----, whose estate touched Dambitz on the south, remarked: +'Tell me, Fräulein von Hegewitz, is it true that Stürmer is going away +on a journey again?' + +"She had turned to Anna Maria, who was sitting bolt upright beside her, +and whose color now suddenly changed. 'He is on his way to Paris, your +excellency,' she replied. + +"'The butterfly!' joked the amiable old lady. 'I did hope that he would +settle down here with us, but he seems to prefer the unfettered life of +a bachelor. To Paris, then?' + +"'Well, Paris is not a bad place for a man of Stürmer's stamp,' said +Captain von T----, smiling, who was known as a pleasure-loving man. 'Any +one who can avoid it would be a fool to bury himself in this old +sand-box and the _ennui_ of the Mark.' + +"Anna Maria looked into space again. Susanna's eyes sparkled at these +words; she seemed to be considering something, and then she laughed. Was +this the same Susanna whom I had seen afflicted to death this morning, +who was now sitting, in all the bliss of a happy bride, among these +people, and turning red with pleasure at each admiring look? Oh, never +in my life was there so long a half-hour as this! + +"And now, at last, the guests rose and took their departure. Susanna was +commissioned on all sides with greetings and congratulations for Klaus, +and she thanked them with her most charming smile and a beaming look +from her great eyes. + +"'By Heaven, Fräulein,' said the captain to me, twirling his mustache, +'your future niece is the prettiest girl I ever saw, a pearl in any +society. I hope the young ladies will not disdain our winter balls?' He +turned to Susanna with this request: 'The place is not very comfortable, +but the society--' He kissed the tips of his fingers, murmuring +something about the crown of all ladies, and Susanna laughed and +promised to come, 'because she was so fond of dancing.' + +"And by the time the last of the guests were in their carriage Susanna +had made at least a dozen promises which all had reference to a +pleasant, lively intercourse. We accompanied the guests to the steps; in +the confusion of parting words Susanna must have taken herself off, for +when the last carriage rolled away I was standing alone beside Anna +Maria in the dimly lighted hall. + +"'Come, my child,' said I, taking her cold hands and drawing her into +the room. And then she sat in Klaus's chair for perhaps a quarter of an +hour, without speaking a word, her hands folded on the table, her eyes +cast down. The clock ticked lightly, the wind rustled through the tall +trees out-of-doors, and now and then a candle sputtered; it began to +seem almost uncanny to me, sitting there opposite the silent girl. + +"'Anna Maria!' I cried at last. + +"She started up. 'Yes, come,' she said, 'We will ask her! Rather the +shrugs of those people than a misery here in the house. I would rather +see Klaus unhappy for a time than deceived all his life long. Come, +aunt.' And with firm step she went out of the room, along the corridor, +and up the stairs. + +"I followed her as quickly as I could; my heart beat fast with anxiety +and grief. 'Anna Maria,' I begged, 'not to-day, not now. Come into my +room, you are too excited.' But she walked on. Up-stairs, in front of +Susanna's door, I perceived by the light of the hall lamp a great flat +chest; white tissue-paper showed under the lid, which had not been +tightly closed. + +"'What is that?' Anna Maria asked Brockelmann, who was just coming out +of the room. + +"'The chest came from Berlin to-day,' the old woman replied; 'I suppose +from the master.' + +"Anna Maria nodded and opened the door quickly. A flood of light +streamed out toward us, and surrounded the slender white figure before +the large mirror; soft creamy satin fell in heavy folds about her, and +lay in a long train on the floor; a gauzy veil lay, like a mist, over +the nearest arm-chair, and a pair of small white shoes peeped out from +their wrapper on the table. She turned around at our entrance, and stood +there with a shamefaced smile--Susanna Mattoni was trying on her +wedding-dress. + +"Anna Maria let go of the door-handle and stepped over the threshold, +looking fixedly at Susanna, her face crimson. + +"'Take off that dress!' she commanded, in a voice scarcely audible from +excitement. + +"Susanna drew back in alarm, and turning pale looked up at Anna Maria. + +"'Take off that dress!' she repeated, in increasing agitation; 'you are +not worthy to wear it. So help me God, this wretched comedy shall come +to an end!' + +"'Anna Maria,' I begged, full of fear, catching hold of the folds of her +dress, 'keep calm! For God's sake, stop!' But she paid no attention to +me; the girl, usually so cool and collected, was beside herself with +pain and anger. Her _own_ suffering she had borne in silence; but the +thought of Klaus, the conviction that he was deceived where he had +completely surrendered his kind, honest heart, robbed her of all +consideration and self-control. + +"Susanna stood speechless opposite her, an expression of penitence on +her childish face. She was incapable of a defence, of an apology. Then, +as ill-luck would have it, the old woman stepped between them, with a +theatrical gesture placing herself in front of Susanna. + +"'Do not forget that you are standing before your brother's betrothed,' +she said, with a tone and a gesture which would have been ludicrous at +any other time. + +"Anna Maria contemptuously pushed the small figure aside like an +inanimate object, and laid her hand heavily on the girl's shoulder. +'Speak,' she said, with a wearily forced composure; 'do you not feel +what you are on the point of doing? Are you then still so young, still +so spoiled, that you have entirely lost the sense of honor and duty? Is +this wretched comedy your gratitude for all that this house has given +you?' + +"Susanna tried to shake off her hand. + +"'I do not know what you mean!' she cried, in anxious defiance; 'I have +done nothing wrong!' + +"Anna Maria stared at her as if she could not grasp the words. There was +a pause of breathless silence in the room; then the storm broke loose, +and the proud girl's wrath carried her away like a whirlwind. + +"'You have done nothing wrong?' she blazed forth. 'You have done nothing +wrong, and you are on the point of deceiving the best of men; you are +ready to perjure yourself? Your eyes have looked after another, and wept +for another. I tell you, so long as I have power to move my tongue, I +will not cease to accuse you before my brother! He shall not fall a +victim to you!' And she shook the girl violently for a moment; then, +recollecting herself, she pushed back the delicate form. The girl fell +staggering to the floor, and struck her head heavily against a carved +chair-back. + +"It was a fearful moment; Susanna had cried out in pain as she fell, and +Isa now held her in her arms and wailed. The girl's eyes were closed, +but a narrow red stream was trickling down from her temple, staining the +white lace of the bridal dress. A sort of numbness had come over us; +even Isa grew silent, and with trembling hands dried the blood on +Susanna's cheek. + +"Anna Maria looked absently at the swooning girl; then suddenly, +recollecting herself, she threw her hands over her face, and hastily +turning around, left the room. I helped Isabella carry Susanna to the +bed, and take off the unfortunate dress. It is still hanging in the +wardrobe over there, just as we hung it up at that time, with the +blood-stains on the white lace frill. Isa did not speak; she did all in +a tearless rage. Now and then she kissed the girl's small hands, and +dried the tears that were trickling, slowly and quietly, from under the +dark lashes, over the young face. + +"I did not speak either; what would there have been to say? I went away +to look for Anna Maria as soon as I saw that Susanna was coming to +herself, and left it to Isa to put the compresses on the wounded temple. + +"I found Anna Maria in the sitting-room, in her chair, with her +spinning-wheel before her, as on every evening, but her hands lay +wearily in her lap, and her eyes were cast down. As I came nearer she +started up and began to spin; her foot rested heavily on the frail +treadle, her hands trembled nervously as they drew the threads, and her +face was fearfully white and her lips tightly closed, as if no friendly +word were ever to pass them again in the course of her life. + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, stopping in front of her, 'what now?' + +"She did not answer. + +"'You have let yourself be carried away,' I continued. 'How will it be +now between you and Klaus?' + +"Again she made no reply, but the treadle of the spinning-wheel broke in +two with a snap; she sprang up, and pushed back the stretchers. 'Leave +me, leave me,' she begged, putting her hand to her forehead. + +"'Write to Klaus; tell him he must come,' I advised. She sat down again, +and leaned her head on her hand. 'I will bring you paper and ink, Anna +Maria, or shall I write?' + +"She shook her head. 'Do not torment me,' she wailed; 'I no longer know +if I am in my senses; leave me alone!' + +"I still lingered; she looked fearfully. Her face was so pale and +distorted one could scarcely recognize the blooming, girlish +countenance. 'Go,' she begged; it is the only thing that you can do for +me.' + +"I went; no doubt she was right. In such an hour it is torment even to +breathe in the sight of others. But why did she not fly to her room? I +turned around once more at the stairs; I wanted to ask her to drink a +glass of lemonade, and go to bed. The sitting-room was dark, but through +the crack of the door which led to Klaus's room came a ray of +candle-light; she was in there. + +"Two days had passed since that evening, and Anna Maria continued to go +about without speaking. At dinner she had sat at the table, but had +eaten nothing, and she wandered about for hours through the garden, in +rain and storm. Brockelmann insisted upon it, with tears, that I ought +to send for the doctor, for her young lady was bent upon doing something +which, she thought, pointed to the beginning of a disease of the mind. +Anna Maria was no longer like herself. Did she rue her violence, or did +she fear seeing Klaus again? I knew not. She had not written to him. I +intended to do so in the beginning, but then gave it up; he _must_ come, +and the more time that elapsed, the calmer our hearts would be. + +"Susanna sat by the window up-stairs, in her room, a white cloth bound +about her forehead, and her eyes, weary and red with weeping, looked out +upon the leafless garden. I had been to her room several times to speak +with her as forbearingly as possible. I wished to set before her her own +wrong, to tell her that a warm, almost idolatrous love for Klaus, and +the fear that he might not be happy, had driven Anna Maria to an +extreme. But here, too, I met with silent, obstinate resistance--that +is, I received no answer, only that Isabella said to me, with a sparkle +in her black eyes: 'She has been abused, and she has been pushed, my +poor child!' Whether or not Susanna had written to Klaus I did not +learn." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +"It was almost evening, on the 13th of November, as an extra post drove +quickly into the court. 'Another visit!' was my first thought, so many +people had been turned away in those days. 'You will fare no better,' +thought I; 'you will soon turn around and drive home.' But, no, the +carriage stopped, and a gentleman swung himself out. My heart stood +still from fear--Klaus! How came Klaus to-day? + +"Should I hurry out to meet him? Prevent him from meeting Anna Maria? +Prepare him, forbearingly? But how? Could I speak of the conflict +without mortally wounding him? It was too late already; I heard his step +on the stairs; he was going up to Susanna first of all; he had probably +been told that she was up-stairs. I stepped into the hall quite +unconsciously, and at the same time Susanna's door opened, her light +figure appeared on the threshold, then she flew toward the man who was +standing there with outstretched arms. 'Klaus, Klaus! my dear Klaus!' +sounded in my ear, tender and exultant with joy. Oh, Anna Maria, if you +were to speak to him with the tongue of an angel it would avail you +nothing; it is too late! + +"I saw Klaus press the slender figure to him, and saw her throw her arms +about his neck, and again and again put up her lips to be kissed; and I +heard her begin to sob, first gently, then more vehemently, and cry: +'Now all is well, all, now that you are here!' And she clung to him +like a hunted deer. + +"I stepped back softly; I still saw how Susanna drew him into her room, +caressing him, and heard his deep, passionate voice; then the door was +closed behind them. 'Caught!' said I, softly, 'caught, like Tannhäuser +of old in the Hörfelsberg!' And bitter tears ran from my old eyes as I +went down-stairs to go to Anna Maria. + +"Brockelmann came toward me in consternation. 'The master is here,' she +called to me, 'but Anna Maria will not believe it.' I went into her room +without knocking; she was sitting on the little sofa, her New Testament +before her on the table. In the dying daylight her great blue eyes +looked forth almost weirdly from the face worn with grief. + +"'Klaus has come, my child,' I said, going up to her. + +"She looked at me incredulously. + +"'I have seen him, Anna Maria; it is true.' + +"'Where is he, then?' she asked. 'Why does he not come to me?' + +"'My dear child'--I took her hand--'Klaus is with Susanna.' + +"She let her head drop. 'But then he will come,' she said; 'he must +come, of course! He will want something to eat, and he will want to +scold me. I wish he would tell me how bad I am, how unjustly I have +acted, so that I might tell him everything, everything that lies so +heavily on my heart. Perhaps, perhaps my voice may penetrate him once +more, when he thinks of all that we have lived through in common, when +he thinks how I love him!' + +"I pressed her hand and sat down silently beside her; that sweet, clear +'Klaus, Klaus! my dear Klaus!' still rang in my ears, and then the +sobbing. And now, if he should hear from her own lips why she wept? If +he should lift the white cloth from her brow? The calmest man would +become a tiger, and he was not calm, any more than Anna Maria--God help +them! I trembled at the thought of those two standing face to face. + +"And the darkness fell and concealed the objects in the room; before the +windows the branches of the old elms swayed, ghost-like, in the wind, +ever bending toward us, as if beckoning with their lean arms. And Anna +Maria waited! At every sound in the house she started up--I thought I +heard her heart beat--and each time she was deceived. + +"At last, at last! That was his step on the stairs! She rose, all at +once, to her full, proud height. 'Klaus,' she said, 'my brother +Klaus!'--as if she must be encouraged in mentioning the entire, +intimate, sacred relation in which they stand to each other--'my only +brother!' In these few words lay the destiny of her whole life. + +"The sound of Klaus's voice came in to us; it sounded as if he were +giving various orders; now it came nearer in the hall, then the steps +retreated, and at last reëchoed the creaking of the front door. + +"'He is going!' shrieked Anna Maria, 'he is going, and I have not seen +him, and he has not asked for me!' + +"'No, no, my child,' I sought to calm her, 'he is not going away, he +cannot go; whither should he? Only be calm; he wants to speak to the +bailiff, or to see about his baggage. Let me go, I will find out; and +you--come, sit down quietly in your place. I will bring Klaus to you, I +promise you.' + +"It was an easy thing for me to lead her back from the door and push her +to the sofa; the tall, strong girl seemed stunned by anxiety and +weariness. + +"I kissed her forehead and hurried out; Brockelmann was in the hall, +coming toward me with rapid steps. She looked heated, and her white cap +was all awry on her gray hair. She carried a lighted candle in one hand, +and with the other quickly unfastened her great bunch of keys from her +belt. The housemaid followed her with a basket of fire-wood. + +"'Great heavens, gracious Fräulein,' said the old woman, when I asked, +in surprise, the meaning of her haste; 'if I knew myself! The hall is to +be heated and lighted; in an hour everything must be ready, and the +dust-covers haven't been taken off for a whole year in there. I think +the master has lost his head!' And with trembling hands she unlocked the +folding-doors which led to the two rooms which, under the names of the +'Hall' and the 'Red Room,' had been, from my earliest youth, opened only +on particularly important occasions. Here was formerly assembled, +several times a year, a very aristocratic company, who, after a fine, +stiff dinner-party, would close the evening with a dance; here had been +held, for generations, the christening and wedding feasts of the +Hegewitzes; here, too, had many a coffin stood, before it was carried +out to the vault in the garden below. + +"What did Klaus mean to do to-day? Involuntarily I followed Brockelmann +into the hall; the candle lighted the great room but faintly; its feeble +light made here and there a prismatic drop among the pendants of the +crystal chandelier sparkle, and the gray-covered pieces of furniture +stood about like ghosts. The old woman began to arrange things in the +greatest haste, and under the hands of the maid the first feeble flame +was soon flickering up in the fire-place. I beheld it as in a dream. + +"'What, for God's sake, does this mean?' I asked again, oppressed. + +"Brockelmann did not reply at once; she wanted to spread out the rug in +front of the great sofa. 'Go, Sophie, the fire is burning now; +Christopher may come in a quarter of an hour to light the candles.--They +will surely last,' she added, with a glance at the half-burned candles +in the chandelier and sconces. + +"The girl went; the old woman stopped taking off the dust-covers. 'One +experiences a great deal when one is old and gray, and nowhere are there +stranger goings on than in this world!' said she, excitedly; 'but that +anything like this should happen! Do you know, Fräulein, where he has +gone, the master, without even having said "Good-day" to his sister? To +Pastor Grüne. And there up-stairs sits the old Isa, and has cut bare the +little myrtle-tree which you gave to the--the strange young lady, so +that it looks like a rod to beat naughty children with. And the young +thing lies on the sofa, playing with her cat, and laughs out of her red +eyes, and she laughs with all her white teeth, because things have gone +so far at last. Gracious Fräulein, they have wept and lamented. If the +master has lost his reason, I can understand it. Not an hour longer will +they stay here in the house, the little one cried, where they were +trodden under foot and scolded. And when the master sent for me he was +holding her in his arms, and looked as pale as the plaster on the walls. +I must put things in order here as well as possible, said he, but +quickly--in an hour, Fräulein; there will be no more disturbance to be +made about it. And though the king himself were to come, in an hour they +will be man and wife.' + +"'Is it possible?' I stammered. 'Anna Maria--' My head whirled about +like a mill-wheel. It was decided, then; Susanna was to be his wife! + +"Klaus had been stirred up to the utmost extent; that his hasty decision +proved. Of what use would it be if I were to go now to Anna Maria and +say: 'Compose yourself, it is not to be altered now!' In her present +state of mind she would throw herself at his feet and accuse Susanna, +though he were already standing with her before the priest. In his +passion for this girl he would believe nothing of all this; he would +require proofs. And proofs? Who would accuse her of infidelity? How +could _she_ help it that Stürmer loved her? That she had wept and wrung +her hands, was that anything positive? That Stürmer fancied himself +loved by her, could that be made out a crime on her part? It would have +been madness to excite Klaus further, to say to him now: 'Leave her; she +will not make you happy.' + +"With fixed gaze I followed the old woman about, and in restless anxiety +saw her begin to light the candles beside the great mirror; their light +was reflected from the polished glass and fell sparkling on the gilt +frames of the family portraits; deep crimson color shone from the +curtains and furniture, and a warm breath now came from the fire through +the chilly air. Was it a reality? + +"Then I started up. Anna Maria was still sitting alone and waiting; my +place was with _her_. I found her in the dark, still in the same spot, +and sat down beside her. + +"'He has gone away,' she asked, 'has he not?' + +"'No,' said I, 'he is coming back directly.' + +"'To me?' + +"'I do not know, my child.' + +"'What is that loud slamming of doors?' she asked after a while. 'And +why do I sit here so cowardly, as if I had something to fear, when I +have done nothing wrong? I need not wait for him to come to me; I can go +to him first.' + +"And she stood up again. With firm step she went to the door, but before +she could put her hand on the latch the door opened, and Pastor Grüne, +in full official robes, crossed the threshold. + +"Involuntarily the girl drew back at this unexpected appearance. The old +man was plainly embarrassed. After a moment's hesitation, he went up to +Anna Maria and took her hands. 'I come, commissioned by your brother,' +he began. 'He wishes, through me, to put a request most fervently to +your heart. Herr von Hegewitz intends, for reasons which he has not +shared further with me, to consummate his marriage with Fräulein Mattoni +to-day.' + +"Anna Maria's pale face turned crimson. 'It is impossible!' she said, in +a lifeless tone; 'it is not true!' + +"'But, my dear child,' the old gentleman went on, laying his hands +kindly on the girl's shoulders, 'look at me. I stand all ready in +official robes to perform the solemn act. But first your brother would +have peace made with his sister; he would not take this step until she, +to whom he has been hitherto so closely bound in fraternal love, has +again extended her hand to him in reconciliation.' + +"'I am not angry with my brother,' came the denial. + +"'Not with him, perhaps, but with her who in a short time will be his +wife. His heart is heavily oppressed by this situation, and he begs you +earnestly to speak a single word to his bride.' + +"Anna Maria suddenly shook off his hand. 'I am to beg her pardon?' she +cried, raising herself to her full height, her eyes flaming--'I beg +Susanna Mattoni's pardon? Has Klaus gone mad, to think that I will +humble myself before that girl? Go, Herr Pastor, tell him he must come +himself to speak with me. I will fall at my brother's feet if I have +grieved him, but I will also tell him what drove me to push the girl +from me, and--go bring him before it is too late, or I----' + +"'Anna Maria,' the old man broke in, raising his voice, 'cease from this +defiance! Judge not, that ye be not judged, says the Scripture! You have +no right to press yourself between these two; you have been prejudiced +against your brother's bride from the first moment, you have judged her +childish faults too harshly. Do you think by complaint to tear a man's +love from his heart? Foolish child! then you do not know what love is, +which forgives everything, overlooks everything. Stop, control yourself! +Anna Maria, you have an uncommonly strong will, a courageous heart; do +not wholly imbitter the solemn hour for your only brother; it lacks +already the consecration of a festal feeling. Your brother tells me he +means to go away this evening with his young wife. Come, my child, +follow your old teacher and pastor once more; come!' + +"She drew back a few steps. 'Never!' said she, gently but firmly. + +"'Anna Maria, not so, not so; bitter regrets may follow,' he said, +appeasingly. + +"'Never!' she repeated. 'I cannot go against my conscience; I should be +ashamed to stand at the altar and listen to a lie! I had placed my +entire hope on speaking to Klaus, on begging him to leave her. He does +not wish to see me, or he would have come. I cannot do what he wishes; +believe me, I have my reasons. Farewell, Herr Pastor!' + +"She turned and went to the window, and pressing her head against the +panes, looked out on the sinking darkness of the November evening. She +was apparently calm, and yet her whole body shook. + +"Meanwhile a familiar step was heard outside, pacing up and down. I +stepped out. 'Klaus,' I begged, looking in his pale, excited face, 'why +this terrible haste?' + +"'How am I to do it, then?' he cried, impatiently. 'I cannot stay here, +I am still needed in Silesia, so I must take Susanna away; what else can +be done? Do you think I will expose her to this treatment any longer? By +Heaven, aunt, when the girl's desperate letter came, it was fortunate +that I could not come here on wings, that the vexations of the journey, +and in M---- the procuring of the marriage license, detained me, or I +should not have been able to control myself. Anna Maria is a stubborn +thing; she has no heart or feelings, or she would at least be ready now +to hold out her hand to Susanna and me.' + +"'Anna Maria loves you more than you think,' said I, grieved, 'and if +she was angry with your bride, she had sufficient cause.' + +"He stood still, white as chalk. 'Aunt,' he implored me, with a wearily +maintained composure, 'do not completely spoil this hour for me. Susanna +has told me everything, and Anna Maria, in her views of united prudery +and onesidedness, has regarded as a deadly sin what was an innocent, +perfectly innocent act on Susanna's part.' + +"At this moment Pastor Grüne came out of Anna Maria's room--alone. I +shall never forget the sad look with which Klaus met the eyes of the old +man. + +"So we three stood there; Klaus was just taking a step toward the door +when in the same instant Isa stood beside him, as if charmed hither. +She already had on her black silk dress, and her withered face shone +with joy and triumph. + +"'Susanna is waiting, sir,' she whispered. + +"'I am coming,' he replied, and turning around he said to me: 'It is +better for me not to see her. I know _her_, I know myself, and I wish to +remain calm.' + +"Indeed it was better! God knows what would have happened if they had +met. I promised to be present at the marriage ceremony, but first I went +again to Anna Maria. She was still standing at the window, and did not +turn on my entrance. + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'I will come back soon; you shall not remain +alone long.' + +"Then she suddenly slipped to the floor, and buried her head in her +mother's old arm-chair. 'Alone!' she cried, 'alone, forever, forever!' + +"A few minutes later I was on my way to the hall. Several lamps had been +lighted in the corridor, and the servants, with curious, pleased faces, +were pressing before the open door. The report that the master was to be +married to-day had, with lightning speed, reached even to the village. +Right in front by the door stood Marieken, looking anxiously into the +lighted room, in which Brockelmann was still busy, helping the sacristan +arrange the improvised altar. She put another pair of cushions before +the table, covered with a white damask cloth into which the crest was +woven, and set the heavy silver candlesticks straight. + +"Pastor Grüne stood waiting at the back of the room. He came toward me +with an inquiring look. + +"I shook my head. 'She is not coming!' + +"'It is bad,' said he, 'when a good kernel is covered by such a prickly +shell. Anna Maria lacks humility and gentle love; she has no woman's +heart.' + +"'You are mistaken in the girl!' I cried, imbittered, with tears in my +eyes. 'She is better than all the rest of us put together!' + +"'And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,' said he, +impressively, 'and though I give my body to be burned, and have not +charity, it profiteth me nothing.' + +"My poor, proud, honest Anna Maria! If they only knew what I know, if +they could only see right into your heart! thought I, and bitterly my +eyes fell on the ravishing, lovely creature, now crossing the threshold +on Klaus's arm. She did not wear the unfortunate white dress; she was in +that little black lace-trimmed dress which she had worn the first time +Klaus saw her, nothing but the myrtle-wreath adorned with white flowers +in her hair to remind one of a bride. But if ever Susanna understood how +to make her external appearance effective, it was now, as she came, +without ornament or parade, to the altar. It was no wonder that Klaus +did not turn his eyes away from her, that he pressed the delicate arm so +closely to him, that he dismissed as groundless chattering what people +might say about this pure, childish brow. + +"And then the low whispering stopped; Pastor Grüne was beginning to +speak. + +"If I could only tell now how he opened his address! The words went in +at one ear and out at the other; I saw only Klaus, his handsome face, so +proud, so penetrated with kind, honest sentiment, with a glimmer of +tender emotion over it; and I thought of Anna Maria lying over there on +the floor, in pain and fear. Then I saw Klaus make a quick, convulsive +motion, and now every word went to my heart: + +"'It was on this spot that you once stood by the coffin of your dead +mother, holding in your arms a dear legacy, promising with hand and +heart to take care of the child and protect her in all the vicissitudes +of life. And the way you did this, it was a joy for God and man to see! +There is no more intimate bond than that which united the orphaned +brother and sister; and let not this bond be broken, let not the knot be +untied by the coming of a third person! The wife'--he turned to +Susanna--'must be a peacemaker; she must strive that unity may dwell +under her husband's roof; that she may be to him a blessing and not a +curse! A love between brother and sister is not less holy than between +married people. There are old, sacred claims which brother and sister +have upon one another, and therefore, young bride, let your first word +in your new life be a word of peace; take your husband's hand and join +it in reconciliation with that other which is not folded here in this +place with us to pray for you. Do not leave this house without a word of +peace, even if you think injustice has been done you in this hour which +gives you, the homeless orphan, a home and a protector. Be gentle and +ready for peace; ask yourself how great a share in the burden you bear.' + +"A few shining drops ran down the cheeks of the bridegroom, while +Susanna, like a child, listened with wide-open eyes to the clergyman's +words, evidently painfully affected by the seriousness which he imparted +to the situation. + +"Then the affair came quickly to an end; the rings were exchanged, the +solemn decisive 'Yes' died away--Susanna Mattoni was Klaus's wife. The +servants withdrew, the doors of the hall were closed, Pastor Grüne +spoke a few more affecting words to Susanna, and Klaus silently pressed +my hands. + +"Brockelmann served a cold lunch and presented a glass of champagne; Isa +brought in furs and cloak; the young couple intended to start in half an +hour. Then the clergyman went away, Brockelmann and Isa had already left +the room, and I was alone with Klaus and Susanna. He had drawn the +smiling young wife to him. 'Susanna,' I heard him whisper, 'let us go to +her, tell her that you forgive her; let us part in peace from Anna +Maria, my sister.' + +"The smile vanished, she stood there defiantly looking down to the +floor, a deep blush on her face, and gradually her eyes filled with +shining tears. + +"'My first request, Susanna,' he repeated beseechingly. She remained +silent, but rising on tip-toe, flung her arms about his neck; with +infinite grace her head was slightly thrown back, and she looked up to +him with her sweet eyes moist with tears. Impetuously he drew her to him +and kissed the red lips and the little red scar on her forehead again +and again. + +"I stole softly out. The word of peace remained unspoken! + +"An hour later the candles in the hall were extinguished, the house lay +dark and silent." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +"Anna Maria did not become ill, as we expected; hers was too firm, too +strong a nature; but she had grown bitter and gloomy. She did not belong +to that class of people whom a great sorrow makes tender. + +"Joyless times followed that wedding--days and weeks, empty and cold. At +first I had besought her to write to Klaus, not to let the breach become +wider. She had answered me with a cold smile, and torn in two a letter +from her brother after the first glance. I saved the pieces and found an +effusion of honeymoon bliss, and nothing different could have been +expected. Anna Maria had probably not observed the short business +announcement that he had advantageously sold the estate in Silesia, and +now thought of going to Paris with Susanna. + +"Klaus wrote again, several times, to Anna Maria. She would carry a +letter from him about with her all day, unopened, then occasionally tear +it open, and begin to read, only to throw it into the fire before she +had half finished. Later these letters to Anna Maria were discontinued. +The old bailiff appeared now and then in the sitting-room, to tell her +that the master had written him, and wished this and that, thus and so. +Anna Maria would usually nod her head silently, and the man would +stand, embarrassed, at the door a little while, and then go quietly away +again. + +"'Things are not as they ought to be any longer,' he declared to me. +'Formerly the Fräulein used to concern herself about every trifle, so +that I often cursed her zeal; to-day anything may happen that will, it +is all the same to her; and even if all the barns and granaries should +burn down in the night, she would not stir.' + +"It was true, Anna Maria no longer asked about anything; she seemed to +have sunk into a regular apathy. It was a grief to see this young +creature, from whom everything on which her heart was fixed was taken, +and who now, without check or purpose, in the most tormenting pain of +soul, shut her eyes and ears in dark defiance. + +"'Diversion!' said the doctor. + +"I looked at him in astonishment. 'I beg you, you have known the girl +since her childhood, have you ever known a time when trifles and +nonsense could give her pleasure, or could divert her at all from a +sorrow?' + +"'Nonsense!' replied the old man, 'but she is only a woman. She ought to +marry, then everything would be different! It would be a pity if that +girl should become a dried-up old maid.' + +"I shook my head sadly. + +"'Why the devil is she so unreasonable, too, as to fret about her +brother's marriage?' he continued, undisturbed. No gray hair need be +made grow over that. Take the young lady, pack her trunk, and go to +Berlin for a few weeks. Go to the theatre every evening for my sake, and +see something classical; but take her away from here!' + +"'Ah, doctor, you do not know Anna Maria.' + +"I made an attempt, nevertheless. She let me have my say, and then +said: 'I do not understand the outside world at all. I miss nothing +here, I complain of nothing. Do not tease me any more!' + +"When the workmen appeared, one after another, to put in order the rooms +for the young couple, when the dear old articles of furniture were taken +out and the wall-papers torn off, she fled to her room. The writing-desk +at which her father had formerly sat and worked was to remain in its +place, at Klaus's express desire; but the old thing looked so +ridiculously awkward beside the _Boule_ furniture that paper-hanger and +cabinet-maker refused to receive it, so Anna Maria had it taken into her +room. She now sat there all day at the window before her mother's +sewing-table, and looked blankly out on the wintry garden, every stroke +of the hammer from the workmen making her start. The bunch of keys no +longer hung at her belt; Brockelmann had taken charge of that. + +"No one came to see us in those desolate winter days, except the old +brother and sister from the parsonage, and even from them she fled. I +stood by her faithfully, and beheld the struggles of her proud heart. + +"At first Isa had lived on quietly up-stairs by herself, disregarded by +Anna Maria. Then one day toward Christmas she came into my room, beaming +with joy, and announced to me that the young Frau wanted her to come to +her; she was in need of her help at her toilet, and she was to have the +position of lady's maid with her. '_Je vais à Paris ce soir, à Paris_, +and from there to Nice. Oh, I speak French excellently!' + +"I wished her a prosperous journey, and commissioned her with messages. +Then I sat down and reflected. Klaus, quiet, easy-going Klaus, who +valued the comfort of his arm-chair in the evening beyond everything, +in Paris, the gay Paris, with a young wife who needed a maid to make +her toilet? I could not make that rhyme without a dissonance. + +"In the rooms down-stairs an exquisite elegance was being gradually +revealed, and I learned from the workmen that the pale blue silk +hangings of the boudoir (the little library next to Klaus's study was +converted into a boudoir), and the dainty rosewood furniture, Frau von +Hegewitz had chosen herself in Berlin; that the crimson silk drapery for +the salon cost ten _thaler_ a yard, and that the Smyrna rug in there was +real. Tears came into my eyes. What had become of our dear old, +comfortable sitting-room? What had we ever known of salons and boudoirs +at Bütze? + +"As in passing through the garden-parlor one day Anna Maria's feet sank +in a Persian rug, and she perceived the low divans which ran along the +sides of the room, and the gold-embroidered cushions; and as she caught +sight of a gleaming, gay mosaic floor on the terrace instead of the +honest stone flags over which her childish feet had so often tripped, on +which she had stood so many a time beside Klaus; and saw, instead of the +gray stone balustrade, a gilded railing, a slight tremble came upon her +lips, and a few great tear-drops ran down her cheeks, and she slowly +turned her back to the room. She always went to the garden through the +lower entry afterward. + +"It was on a stormy evening in March that Anna Maria for the first time +broke her long, habitually sober silence. I had not seen her all day; +her door remained closed to my knocking. And yet I would have so gladly +said a few affectionate words to her--to-day was her birthday. + +"In vain had Brockelmann made the huge pound-cake wreathed with the +first snow-drops, and in vain placed a couple of blooming hyacinths on +the breakfast-table. The door of Anna Maria's room had not been opened. +A letter addressed to me had come from Klaus, requesting me to give to +his sister the enclosed open letter. It was affectionately written, +begging that she would soften her heart, and requesting a few lines from +her hand. 'What sort of a home-coming will it be for Susanna and me,' he +wrote, 'if the unhappy misunderstanding is not forgotten? We are ready +to consider all as not having happened, if you will come to meet us in +the old love. Be friendly to Susanna, too. I can honestly confess to you +that I long to be at home, in our dear old house, regularly employed. A +life like this here is nothing to me; I always hated idleness. Susanna's +health, so far as temporary demands are made upon it, is satisfactory; +but for her, too, I wish, especially now, the quiet of the less exciting +life at home. Let me once more add to the heartiest wishes for your +welfare the desire that we may soon meet again in the old fraternal +love.' A dainty visiting-card, 'Susanna, Baroness von Hegewitz,' with a +lightly scribbled wish for happiness, lay with the letter. + +"In his letter to me Klaus repeated that he was longing for home, that +he earnestly besought me to induce Anna Maria to be gentle, for he made +his home-coming especially dependent upon her state of mind, as he could +not possibly expose Susanna now to excitement and unfriendly treatment. +But he cherished a strong desire to return at the beginning of spring at +the latest, for this and other reasons. + +"The two letters lay before me on the table; how should I make their +contents known to Anna Maria? For she read no letters at all. And how +would she receive the news of his return? A change in her feelings was +not to be hoped for so soon, not even at the announcement of this glad +news. + +"Brockelmann had come in and complained, with a shake of her head, that +Anna Maria had not eaten a mouthful to-day, and it was four o'clock +already. 'She is growing old before her time,' added the old woman; +'does she look now as if she were under thirty? Yesterday I brushed her +hair and found two long silvery threads in it. O Lord! and so young!' + +"In the depth of twilight Anna Maria came suddenly into the room. She +did not say 'Good evening' at all, but only, 'Please do not allude to my +birthday, aunt!' And after a pause she added: 'Things cannot remain as +they are here; Klaus will want to come home, and then there will be one +too many in Bütze. I have been considering lately how I should manage +not to be in his way, and have at last decided to go at once to the +convent in B----.' + +"'You would grieve Klaus to death, Anna Maria,' said I; 'it does not do +to carry a thing too far. You are both defiant, you are both stubborn, +but Klaus has been the first to extend his hand, and he still offers it. +Here, read his letter, read it just this once, and be of a different +mind.' + +"I lit a candle, and pressed the letter into her hand; and she really +read it. A slight blush rose to her pale face, then she nodded her head +seriously. 'Believe me,' she said, 'he will really be best pleased if he +does not find me here. Write him that, aunt. In this way no possible +conflict can ensue.' + +"'Anna Maria, you would--you could really go away from here?' cried I, +pained. 'How can it be possible? Truly I had expected more feeling, more +attachment in you. You can be heartless sometimes!' + +"She was silent. 'Stürmer is coming back next month,' she said at last, +in a strangely trembling voice, 'and I would like to be as far away as +possible.' + +"I sprang up, and threw my arms around her. 'My poor, dear child,' I +begged, weeping, 'forgive me!' + +"And she went, she really went away! On one of the first days of April, +early in the day, the carriage which was to take her away stopped before +the front steps. + +"Anna Maria went down the steps with me, followed by Brockelmann. She +quickly got in, and drew her dark gauze veil over her face. 'Greet Klaus +heartily for me,' she whispered to me again; 'all the happiness in the +world to him and his wife!' + +"Then she was gone, and I went quietly up the steps. It seemed +unspeakably strange and lonely here to me all at once. I wandered +through the newly furnished rooms; they had all been heated and the +windows opened. Comfortable, elegant, very pleasant it looked all about +here, as if made expressly for Susanna's beauty; but they were no longer +the old Bütze rooms, with their ancestral comfort, their dear +associations. I stood now in Susanna's little boudoir; I noticed a fold +of the pale blue portière yonder hanging, out of order, over an +indistinguishable object--the upholsterer surely had not intended it so. +I went over and lifted up the heavy silk to lay it again in regular +folds on the carpet, when my eye fell upon a little old wooden cradle, +painted with a crest, and oddly curved, strangely contrasting, in its +rude form, with the elegant appointments of the room; and gently rocking +in it were shining white, fine, lace-trimmed pillows, daintily tied +with little blue bows; a basket pushed half under the couch of the young +wife concealed little clothes of the finest linen, most beautifully +sewed, hem-stitched, and trimmed with lace, made as only a skilled hand +knows how. + +"'Anna Maria,' I said, softly, looking with moist eyes upon the old +cradle in which she, in which Klaus had once lain, and which now stood +here, a greeting of reconciliation to the heart of the young wife who +had robbed her of her peace and happiness. + +"Two days later there was a lively stir at Bütze. Unfortunately, a bad +headache banished me to a sofa in my dark room, so that I could not +welcome the young couple on the threshold of their home. But I heard up +here the unusual moving about; the bell in the servants' room, which had +been formerly so seldom used, rang a regular alarm, and there was such a +slamming of doors and rushing and running about for the first few hours +that I had to draw the thickest pillow over my aching head in order to +have any quiet. + +"Klaus came up to me very soon; he sat down quietly by my bed and +pressed my hand. + +"'You are glad to be at home again?' I asked kindly. 'How is your little +wife?' + +"'Thank you,' he replied, 'she is asleep now. I do not know; I must +accustom myself to it first; it has been made so different, so strange, +with all these alterations. And then'--he was silent--'one misses Anna +Maria everywhere,' he added. + +"'You incorrigible people, you!' I scolded vexatiously, 'Bend or break, +but not yield, and then perish with longing for each other! A silly, +stupid set you are!' + +"He made no reply to that. 'After three months in the country,' said +he, 'I will go and get her. Now it is better that Susanna should remain +alone.' + +"'You have been living very happily there?' I asked. + +"'Oh, Heaven, yes!' he replied. 'The gay life was new to Susanna, and +amused her delightfully. Thank God that we are here! How do you really +like the rooms down-stairs?' + +"'Well, they are very beautiful, Klaus, without doubt. But if I am to be +honest, it was more comfortable before.' + +"'Susanna is quite enchanted with them,' he continued. 'But I had a +melancholy feeling when I found the sitting-room without the old stove, +the great writing-desk, and Anna Maria's spinning-wheel. I really cannot +sit in these spider-legged easy-chairs without fear of breaking down.' +He laughed, but it had not a hearty sound. + +"'Shall you be able to eat supper with us?' he asked. + +"I promised to do so if I were well enough. If you will let me sleep a +little longer now, Klaus, I shall be able to come down.' And then he +went away. + +"Toward evening I was awakened from a light slumber by the ringing of +bells again; again I heard doors shutting, and footsteps of people +hurrying to and fro. At the first instant I thought of an accident, but +then recollected that it had been just so in the afternoon, and made my +toilet and went down. + +"The first person to step up to me was Mademoiselle Isa. She greeted me +very warmly, and with a certain pretentiousness. 'The gracious Frau had +drunk a cup of chocolate and was quite well,' she added, as she opened +the door of the former sitting-room, which was agreeably lighted by two +lamps, and pointed to the drawn-back portière: 'The gracious Frau is in +her boudoir.' + +"Indeed, I was curious to see Susanna again as 'gracious Frau,' and +limped quickly across to the little room. The soft carpet had deadened +the sound of my steps, and I entered the snug little room unperceived. +Susanna was resting on the divan; I saw her beautiful black curls +falling over the blue cushions, a tiny lace cap was half-hidden among +them. Her face was turned toward the fire, which, notwithstanding the +warm April evening, was burning brightly in the little fire-place. + +"'Susanna!' I called softly. She started up, and with a cry of joy fell +on my neck. 'Aunt Rosamond, dear aunt!' she cried, and kissed and patted +me with the pleasure of a happy child. 'My good Aunt Rosamond!' And she +seized my hands and drew me, without letting go, to the sofa. She +exercised the same old charm upon me; I had never been able to be angry +with her; her grace was irresistible, and took heart and mind prisoner. + +"I raised the round chin a little and looked at her. It was the old, +sweet, childish face, only still more attractive by reason of a slight +pallor and a strange, sad look about the mouth; the eyes had lost the +questioning look which sometimes gave them such a peculiar expression, +but I thought they had grown larger and more brilliant. She threw her +arms about my neck again, and kissed me and laughed, and then came a +tear or two, and then she laughed again. + +"She chattered about Nice, about Paris, and said she wanted to live here +quietly only a little while, and then fell on my neck again and +whispered a thanks. + +"'No, no!' said I, smiling, 'I am not guilty of that; your thanks belong +to Anna Maria.' + +"She grew silent and pale. Then she sprang up and drew me into the +salon. I had to gaze at a hundred things which she had brought with +her--worthless toys, knick-knacks, fans, and all manner of folly, of +whose existence I had never dreamed till now, and which struck me as +infinitely useless. 'Klaus has had to give me everything, everything,' +she cried, joyfully, 'except this. Aunt, do you see?' She pointed to a +charming shepherdess of Sevres porcelain. 'That is a present from +Stürmer.' + +"I stared at her. 'Have you met him on the way?' She did not return my +look, but her face glowed as rosy red as the ribbons on her white dress. +'Yes,' said she lightly, 'we were with him a day in Nice, but he went +away in haste, and this is a souvenir.' And then she told me about the +sea and the palm-trees, of gondola-sails by moonlight, till her cheeks +grew crimson at the recollection. + +"'Ah, life is so beautiful, so beautiful!' she cried, 'and--' She broke +off, for Klaus entered. He wore a short coat and high boots, and his +face was radiant with joy in the long-suspended activity. + +"'I have been clattering all over the fields,' said he gayly, 'and am +tired as a dog, little wife, and hungry and thirsty. Do you know what +would particularly please me?' He pushed the curls from her forehead and +kissed her. 'A slice of honest German ham and a good glass of beer! The +French sauces had a miserable after-taste to me, brrr--! Holla! ho!' he +called out at the door, 'will supper be ready soon?' + +"He did not seem to notice at all that Susanna made a wry face at his +declaring it was unnecessary for her to make a fresh toilet for supper, +and that she took his arm reluctantly. 'Ah, but we will live here in +comfort,' said he beseechingly, holding her two hands over the table, +'not as in a hotel. When we go to Nice again I promise you always to +appear in dress-coat. Here I should have no time at all for the +continual changing of dress; and as for you, you do not look more +charming in any state costume than in that white thing there.' + +"She shook her head, laughing, and showed him a little fist. 'Wait,' +said she, 'what did you promise me?' + +"'Well, then, in the future,' he persevered; 'but to-day, and to-morrow +too, let me enjoy the comfort I have so long done without--do.' + +"Susanna smiled; and he ate German ham and drank German beer to his +heart's content, while she took a roll spread with something or other, +with her tea, which Klaus prepared for her. I saw, in astonishment, how +carefully he made the tea, how he heeded her every glance; now +attentively passed her pepper and salt, and now cut a fresh sausage and +roll, or carefully removed bones and tail from a sardine, every instant +asking if it tasted good to her, if she were satisfied with her rooms, +if she liked the flowers in the salon. He treated her like a little +spoiled princess. + +"After supper I was going to withdraw; I thought they must be tired from +their journey. Susanna had lain down again on her couch; she kissed me +once more, and Klaus accompanied me as I went out. I saw that he held a +book in his hand. 'Good-night, aunt,' he said, 'I am going to read aloud +to Susanna.' + +"'For heaven's sake!' I cried, 'you are already yawning privately!' + +"'Yes, I am tired to-night,' he replied, 'but Susanna is so accustomed +to it; she does not go to sleep before one o'clock.' + +"'Klaus, Klaus!' I warned him, 'if she has accustomed herself to it, let +her become disused to it. Only think, when you want to rise early in the +morning!" + +"He heard me not. 'Aunt,' said he, holding me fast by the hand, his +eyes shining so happily, 'is she not a good, charming little wife?' + +"I smiled in his face. 'Very charming, Klaus!' + +"'And who prophesied to me that I should be unhappy all my life, eh?' he +asked. + +"'Oh, Klaus, not I, indeed!' I contradicted earnestly. 'If Anna Maria +had apprehensions, they were certainly not without foundation, and a +housewife Susanna will never be.' + +"'No, she is not yet a German housewife,' he broke in, in a somewhat +disheartened manner, 'but she can be, and will be yet.' + +"I nodded to him: 'Sleep well, Klaus!' + +"'Is it not so?' he asked, holding me back.' You will write to Anna +Maria that we are happy with one another; you will tell her how good and +charming she is?' + +"'Yes, my boy, and now, good-night.' + +"Anna Maria's letters were brief and meagre; her handwriting very large +and angular, as it is to-day. She wrote me that she was very well there, +occupied a pair of pretty rooms, and was much with the abbess, who had +been a friend of her mother. 'But I miss activity,' she added; 'a life +on the sofa, in the company of stocking-knitting and books, is hateful +to me; that is not resting.' A greeting for Klaus and Susanna was added. + +"I answered her, writing that Klaus worshipped his wife and was happy. + +"'May God keep him thus!' she answered laconically. She was not to be +reached with that; she had no belief in a happiness with Susanna. + +"Stürmer, who, as Anna Maria thought, was to come in April, was not yet +here. He was a migratory bird, only without the regularity of one." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +"May came on in the country in all its glory; the trees blossomed and +the seeds sprouted, and Bütze lay as in a snowy sea. The sun laughed in +the sky, as Susanna walked through the trim garden-paths on Klaus's arm. +Now and then I saw her cross the court, with straw hat and parasol, in a +light summer dress, and go a little way into the fields to meet him. The +people stood still as she passed, the women and girls courtesied, the +men made as deep a bow to her as to the rest of us from the house, and +the children ran up to her in troops, and the sound of their 'Good-day, +gracious Frau,' and Susanna's clear, laughing voice came up to me; her +charms fairly bewitched everybody. Then she would return on her +husband's arm, a great bouquet of field flowers in her hands, he leading +his horse by the bridle and carrying her parasol and shawl; and her +chatter and his deep voice, calling her a thousand pet names, reëchoed +from the old walls when they had come into the house. + +"If Anna Maria could only have seen them thus, thought I, would she have +been reconciled? Poor, lonely Anna Maria! + +"Susanna never inquired for her; her stay here seemed to be entirely +taken up with all manner of little trifles. Occasionally there came a +perfect swarm of guests, and then the sound of laughing and chattering +was heard in the garden-parlor till far into the night, and +Brockelmann, with a very red face, bustled about at the sideboard. + +"'I don't feel my feet at all, any more,' the old woman would sometimes +complain; 'I really must have some one else to help me. In old times one +used to know it beforehand when there was to be a great supper; but if +any one came unexpectedly, he took just what there was in the house and +was satisfied. But how should I dare take thinly sliced ham and fresh +eggs and a herring salad to the Frau? I tried it once--how she turned up +her nose and begged her guests to excuse it! And then the master comes +and says: "Good Brockelmann, though it is a little bit late, do get us a +couple of warm dishes, and this and that, and a little fowl, for my wife +does not like a cold supper when there is company; you must have some +asparagus or green peas?" Heavens and earth! And then old Brockelmann is +so stupid, too, as to run her heels off and make the impossible +possible. Oh dear, oh dear, if Anna Maria knew how my storeroom looks, +and my account books!' + +"And she put her hands up under her cap and shook her head. + +"'You may believe it, Fräulein Rosamond,' she would sometimes add, 'the +Frau is well enough yet, at least she doesn't concern herself about me; +but the old woman--O Lord! She sticks her nose into everything, and more +than a hundred times she has brought her chocolate out to me again--it +wasn't hot enough, or was burned, or the Lord knows what! As if the old +creature understood anything about it, anyway! Oh, yes, and then, if my +patience is utterly exhausted, the master comes into the kitchen. "Good +Brockelmann," he says, in his friendly way, "do keep peace with Isa, +that my little wife may not be vexed." Well, then I keep still; but I +see how he takes to heart everything that concerns his wife. And then I +think how loud and angrily he has often spoken to Anna Maria in spite of +all his love, and here he even spreads out his hands for the little feet +to walk on!' + +"Indeed, she had not said too much. He did lay down his hands for the +little feet, and they walked on them without particularly noticing it. +Klaus had a boundless love for his wife, and she received this love as a +tribute due her. She had no conception of what she possessed in him. + +"I do not know if he felt this. Occasionally, when Susanna was asleep, +or making her toilet, or gone to a drive, and he had an hour to spare, +he would sit with me up in my room, and would look so weary and +oppressed. We spoke often, too, of Anna Maria; but when Susanna was +present he did not mention her name, for at that a shadow regularly +passed over her face, and her chattering lips grew silent. + +"'My old Anna Maria!' he would say; 'she is still angry with me, and yet +she is such a good, reasonable girl.' The last words were unconsciously +accented. 'How pleasant it would be if she and Susanna could live +together like sisters--the unfortunate stubbornness. Do you suppose, +aunt, she will come when the old cradle down-stairs--?' And his eyes +grew moist at this thought. + +"'I do not know, Klaus, but I think so,' said I, 'if Susanna can only +forget--' + +"'Ah, aunt, I place my entire hope on the cradle about her, too. Anna +Maria shall be godmother; I will not have it otherwise. Please God, it +may not be far off!' + +"And was it then so far off? On a dull, sultry August night, I was +still sitting in my easy-chair by the window, and could see distant +flashes of lightning over the barns; the air was uncomfortable and +stifling, or was it only the imagination of my old, restlessly beating +heart, and my thoughts, which were below with Susanna, anxious and +prayerful? + +"Ah, what does not pass through one's soul in such an hour--trembling +joy and happy fear, and each minute seems to stretch out endlessly. I +listened to the walking down-stairs, to the sound of the opening and +shutting of doors; would some one never come up with the glad news? + +"And my thoughts wandered back to the night when Anna Maria was born, +when I sat up here in the same fear and anxiety. Klaus had gone to sleep +in the arm-chair over there. I had not disturbed him, had let him sleep, +till his father came to call him to his mother's death-bed. The boy's +pale, frightened face stood before me so plainly this evening, as he +knelt before the cradle of his little sister. + +"Below, in the court-yard, it was still as death; only old Mandelt, the +watchman, was going slowly along, shaking his rattler; and above the +slumbering world glittered the brilliant stars of the August sky as +through a light mist. + +"Then I started up; heavy steps were approaching my door, and now +Brockelmann called into my room: 'A boy, Fräulein Rosamond! Come +down-stairs--such a dear, splendid boy!' + +"Never did I hurry down those stairs so quickly as on that night, nor +did Klaus ever take me in his arms so impetuously, so full of thankful +jubilation, as then, when he came toward me to lead me to the cradle of +his child. The strong man was quite overcome, and the first words that +he whispered to me were again: 'How Anna Maria will rejoice!' + +"If ever a child was welcomed with joy it was this one. His presence +worked like a deliverance upon us all; even Brockelmann and Isa spoke +pleasantly to each other to-day. Isa's anxiety about her darling had +reached the highest pitch, and she had left her place in the room of the +young mother to the quiet old woman; and Brockelmann--well, she would +not have been the honest old soul that she was not to rejoice with her +master over his son. Whatever grudge against Susanna may have still +lingered in her heart, this day wiped out; with a truly motherly +tenderness she presided at the sick-bed. And did it fare better with me? +I, too, old creature that I was, knelt down between the bed and the +cradle, and kissed the little pale face again and again; in this hour +everything with which she had once troubled us was forgotten. + +"And Klaus sat at his writing-desk and wrote to Anna Maria. 'Do you +think she will come?' he asked as he came in again. He had sent a +special messenger to E---- with the letter to his sister. 'Will she +come?' + +"'Surely, Klaus!' I replied. + +"The messenger was gone three days; then he returned with a letter from +Anna Maria. Heartfelt words it contained, here and there half blotted +out by tears. She would come soon, she wrote, come soon--in a week or +two, perhaps--but would it be right to Susanna? + +"I was sitting by the bed of the young wife as Klaus came into the room +with this letter. She was holding the small bundle of lace in her arms. +Isa had had to adorn the young gentleman's toilet to-day with blue +ribbons. Susanna played with him as if he were a doll, and wanted to +know what color would best suit the young prince. She was so merry and +pretty about it, and laughed so heartily when the little thing made a +queer, wry face. + +"'Oh, see, just see!' she called to her husband. 'Who does he look like +now? Only look!' Of course we stood in dutiful admiration and looked at +the little creature. But Brockelmann, who was just going through the +room, said: 'Ah, I have seen it from the first moment. He has a real +Hegewitz face; he looks most like his aunt, Anna Maria.' + +"Susanna started up as if the greatest injury had been done her. 'It is +not true!' she whispered, and kissed the child. But Klaus had heard it, +nevertheless; he had grown very red, and slowly put the folded letter in +his pocket, and an expression of disappointment passed over his face. He +sat down by Susanna and kissed her hand, but did not mention his +sister's name. + +"What Klaus wrote in reply to Anna Maria I never learned; but he said: +'Anna Maria is always right; it was well that she did not come +immediately, as I wished.' + +"And three weeks more passed. Susanna already walked up and down on the +gay mosaic pavement of the terrace occasionally, and Isa walked about in +the sunny garden with the blue-veiled child. Then one rainy evening, +about six o'clock, a slender woman's figure walked into my dim room. + +"'Anna Maria!' I cried joyfully; 'my dear old child, are you really here +again?' + +"She put her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder. 'Yes, +aunt,' she said softly, and I felt her heart beat violently. 'Yes--but +now take care that I may greet Klaus first alone; we have so much to +say to each other!' + +"He had entered, meanwhile, before I could answer. 'I saw you coming +through the garden, Anna Maria,' he cried joyfully, holding her two +hands; 'thank God that you are here again!' + +"The next instant she fell, weeping, on his neck. They had so much to +say to each other; I would not hear them beg forgiveness of each other, +and went softly out. + +"And Susanna? I asked myself. I found the young wife down-stairs in the +salon the sound of her merry laugh came toward me. There were one or two +ladies from the neighborhood there, and Isa had just brought in the +child. There was so much laughing, chattering, and congratulating that I +got no chance at first to inform Susanna that her sister-in-law had +arrived. At last the ladies took their leave, and we two were alone. +Susanna walked up and down the great room, playing with the child. + +"'So stupid,' she scolded, 'that I don't know a single cradle-song! But +I can't bear the silly things they sing here, about goslings and black +and white sheep. But it is all the same, he doesn't understand the +words.' And lightly she began the old refrain: + + 'Home have I come, and my heart burns with pain. + Ah, that I only could wander again!' + +"'Susanna,' said I, quickly, 'Anna Maria has come back, a little while +ago.' + +"She stood still, as if rooted to the spot. I could no longer +distinguish her features in the deep twilight, and she spoke not a word. +'Susanna!' I cried, in a low, reproachful tone. + +"Just at that moment Brockelmann brought in a light. 'The master is +coming with Fräulein Anna Maria!' she cried joyfully. 'Oh, Fräulein, +Anna Maria--how pleased she will be with that little doll!' + +"Hand in hand Klaus and Anna Maria entered the room. She had been +weeping hot tears, but now a smile was on her lips, and she went up to +Susanna, who had dropped into the nearest chair. + +"'Let everything be forgotten, Susanna,' she begged. 'Let us be +sisters!' She knelt beside her and kissed the slumbering child. 'I shall +love him very much!' And now she raised her tear-stained face to Susanna +and offered her lips, but the young wife slowly turned her head to one +side. + +"Anna Maria stood up instantly; a reproachful look met Klaus. + +"'Susanna!' said he, going up to his wife and taking the child from her +arms, 'give Anna Maria your hand and be at peace with her!' + +"Slowly she extended her right hand, coldly and briefly the two hands +touched, then the young wife went quickly out of the room, and directly +after Isa came to take away the child. + +"'Why have I come?' said Anna Maria, bitterly. + +"Klaus walked up and down with long strides. 'Forgive her, Anna Maria,' +he begged; 'she is still ill, still weak. I will speak quietly with +her.' + +"'No, Klaus,' replied the girl; 'wherefore? I will be no disturber of +the peace. She is your wife, you are happy, and I--I will go away +again.' + +"'But this is your father-house! This is _your_ home as well as _mine_!' +he cried, irritated. 'By Heaven, I would never have believed that it was +so hard for two women's hearts to agree!' + +"Isa called him to Susanna. He went in; we heard him speak loud and +vehemently, and then heard Susanna crying. + +"'I shall go away again to-morrow, aunt,' said Anna Maria, and her pale +face with the red eyes had the old stubborn expression. 'I did not come +to make discord.' How I pitied the girl! I knew well how hard it had +been for her to take the first step toward Susanna, what a struggle it +had cost her proud heart, and yet she had done it for Klaus's sake, and +for---- + +"Klaus returned, leading Susanna on his arm; he took her hand and placed +it in Anna Maria's. + +"'There now, be reconciled," he said, with a sigh. 'Give each other a +kiss; there must be no more allusions to old tales. I forbid it +herewith!' + +"They did kiss each other, but their lips touched only lightly. We then +sat down, and Klaus and I started a conversation with difficulty. Anna +Maria talked about her convent, but after had to stop; it seemed all the +time as if she were choking down the tears. Susanna spoke still less, +and only answered when Anna Maria asked about the child, and upon a +direct remark of Klaus. Brockelmann, who summoned us to the table, burst +out with the question whether Anna Maria were to assume the direction of +the housekeeping again. + +"'I am not going to remain here,' she replied, smiling sadly. + +"'We shall see about that,' said Klaus, quickly. 'First of all, the +child is to be baptized, and then I have so much to talk over with +you--everything has been lying over! No, you can't go away again so +quickly.' + +"'When is the christening to be, then?' I asked. + +"'Oh, we have not talked about that at all yet, have we, Susanna?' said +he, turning to her. + +"'No, but it must be soon,' declared the young wife. 'Isa says it is not +proper to wait more than four weeks.' + +"'As you like,' he replied, heartily glad to have the way paved for some +sort of an understanding. He hoped, indeed, that these two would become +reconciled, and that Anna Maria would stay in the father-house. + +"Yes, she did stay, but it came about in a different way from what he +thought. + +"Anna Maria came in search of me the next morning. To-day I first saw +how she had altered; her face had grown thin, and fine lines were drawn +about her mouth. She was sad and sat still by the window. + +"'Have you seen the baby to-day?' I asked cheerfully. + +"She shook her head. 'Klaus wanted to take me in with him, but Isa said +Susanna was at her toilet. I only heard him try his voice.' + +"'And have you talked with Klaus about the christening?' + +"She nodded. 'On Monday,' she replied, 'and in the day-time. Susanna +wishes a great festivity.' + +"'Well, Brockelmann will be in despair!' I cried; 'and Klaus will not be +exactly enchanted. But what is he to do?' + +"'What is he to do?' asked Anna Maria, in astonishment. 'He is to +exercise his authority as her husband, and say "No!" Great heavens! has +she entrapped you all together, that you still do what _she_ wishes?' +She had sprung up. 'Everything, everything here dances as she pipes, +even Brockelmann. She has trained you all like poodles; you do +beautifully, if she only raises a finger!' + +"'Anna Maria,' I begged, 'do not be so angry right away; she is still +ill, and she----' + +"'No, no,' cried the girl, 'it is dreadful here! What has become of +Bütze, our dear old Bütze? Where now are order and regularity? +Everything goes topsy-turvy, and things run over each other in order +that the gracious Frau need not wait. Whether or not the master of the +house gets his dues, or the servants theirs, is of no consequence, if +only madame smiles and is friendly. I wish I had never come back!' + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'are these your good resolutions?' + +"'Oh, have no fear,' she replied, her lips quivering. 'I have repented +bitterly enough letting myself be carried away _once_; I shall not do so +again. But in my father-house I shall not stay; the torment would be +greater than I should be able to bear.' + +"She went to the window and looked out. Klaus was just riding in at the +gate; he had probably been in the fields. His eyes sped to the +ground-floor, and he kissed his hand up there. 'Susanna is standing at +the window with the child,' thought I. + +"'Klaus looks fatigued,' remarked Anna Maria. 'Is he well all the time?' + +"'I think so,' I replied; 'at least, I do not remember his having +complained.' + +"'Complained!' she repeated. 'As if Klaus would ever complain!' + +"But he did complain; we met him at the breakfast-table down-stairs. +Anna Maria was right; he looked wretchedly. 'I have a fearful headache,' +he said, as she looked at him with a troubled face. + +"Susanna did not hear it. 'Klaus,' she begged, coaxingly, 'we will +illuminate the garden day after to-morrow, shall we not? Will you get me +some more colored paper lanterns?' + +"'Yes, Susy, willingly,' he replied; 'but I have no messenger. If you +had only spoken of it earlier; Frederick has already gone to the city +for Brockelmann, and I can spare no one from the harvesting, for I must +make use of the little good weather.' + +"'But you did know it, Klaus,' she pouted; 'I thought it would look so +charming when evening comes, with the whole garden hung with lanterns.' + +"He passed his hand over his aching head. 'Forgive me, my darling, I had +forgotten it; I had so much on my mind. You shall have the lanterns.' + +"'Have you written the invitations, Klaus?' the young wife continued. + +"'Yes, yes,' he replied, 'I did it all very early; they are already on +the way, and you shall have the lanterns to-morrow.' + +"'To-morrow?' she asked, disappointed. + +"'If my headache is better I can ride over this afternoon,' he said. + +"Anna Maria sat by silently and looked at her plate. Then Isa brought in +the child; Susanna was still eating. 'Oh, do give it to me,' begged Anna +Maria, her eyes shining. She rose and went to the window, and +scrutinized the little face. + +"'He resembles our family, Klaus,' she said; 'he has your nose and your +kind eyes.' And she kissed him tenderly. + +"Isa had hurried out again. There was a great din in the usually quiet +house; beating and brushing everywhere, and everything seemed to be +turned upside-down. Klaus rose at length. 'Anna Maria,' he asked, going +up to her, 'would you help me to go over some things in my books which +it is necessary to attend to?' + +"She looked up joyfully. 'Gladly,' she said, 'but must it be done +to-day? You look so wretchedly.' + +"'Yes,' he replied, 'I would like to put the matters in order; the +headache will surely go away.' I took the child from Anna Maria, and the +brother and sister went out. + +"Klaus did not come to dinner; he had gone to lie down. When he appeared +at coffee he looked red and heated. Anna Maria looked at him in concern. +'Only don't be ill, Klaus,' she said anxiously. + +"He smiled. 'Perhaps the ride to the city will do me good.' + +"'For Heaven's sake!' cried Anna Maria and I in one breath. 'You surely +are not going to take that long ride?' + +"'Oh, it will do no harm!' And he looked tenderly at Susanna, who lay on +one of the low divans, playing with the bows of her dress. She made no +reply; she did not say: 'If you have a headache, why stay; it is only a +childish wish of mine.' She did not ask: 'Is it really so bad?' She was +simply silent, and Klaus went to order his horse. + +"'Susanna,' begged Anna Maria, very red, 'I think he really has a +violent headache; do not let him go.' She spoke in real anxiety. Susanna +stared at her coolly. 'He is his own master,' she replied, 'he can do as +he pleases.' + +"'Yes; but you know that only your wish--if he should be ill you would +reproach yourself.' + +"Susanna laughed. 'Klaus ill? How funny! Because he has a little +headache?' And she went humming into the next room. Then we heard her +call out of the window: 'Good-by, Klaus, good-by!' + +"'She means no harm,' I said, taking Anna Maria's trembling hands. + +"'It is heartless!' she said, and went down into the garden. + +"Klaus did not return until nearly dark. + +"'Your package will come soon,' he said to Susanna. 'Stürmer has it in +the carriage; I met him in the city; he had just arrived with the +Lüneburg post.' + +"'Stürmer?' she asked, in an animated tone. 'Did you invite him to the +christening, Klaus?' + +"'No; indeed, I forgot it,' he replied. + +"She flung her arms about his neck. 'Oh, do write to him yet,' she +coaxed. 'Yes, please, please! Mercy,' she cried then, 'you are quite +wet!' + +"'Well, it has been raining hard for two hours,' he replied. 'But don't +be offended if I do not write to-night, for I feel miserably; to-morrow +will do? I would like to lie down.' He kissed her forehead and went into +his sleeping-room. I saw how he shivered, as if he had a chill. 'Thank +God that Anna Maria did not hear,' I thought; but I went to tell her +that Klaus was not feeling well, while Susanna sprang up to hasten to +her writing-desk, and with a happy smile took up a pen. + +"Anna Maria was in her room. I told her that Klaus was lying down on his +bed. She sat quite still. 'Poor Klaus,' she whispered. + +"'Stürmer is back again, too, my child,' I added. She made no answer to +that. We sat silent together in the dark room. + +"After a while Brockelmann's voice was heard at the door. 'Fräulein, +perhaps it would be better if you were just to look after the master. +The gracious Frau'--she spoke lower--'probably knows no better; she sits +there chattering to him, and he doesn't seem at all well to me.' + +"'Anna Maria had sprung up impetuously. Then she slowly sat down again. +'Dear aunt, go,' she begged. + +"'Willingly,' I replied; 'I only thought you should be the one to go to +him.' + +"'I?' she asked, in a tone that cut me to the heart. 'I? No; it is +better that I should not go; I could not keep calm.' + +"I found Klaus's sleeping-room brightly lighted, Susanna sitting by the +bed, her tongue going like a mill-clapper. Over the nearest chair hung a +pale blue silk gown, richly adorned with lace; the candelabra were +burning on the toilet table, and the lamp stood on the little table +beside the bed, throwing its dazzling light right into Klaus's red eyes. +He held a cloth pressed to his fore head and was groaning softly. + +"From out-of-doors came the sound of beating carpets and furniture, and +in the hall opposite they were at work with wax and brushes, none too +quietly. + +"'Then I may send off the note, Klaus?' Susanna was saying. 'Can +Frederick ride over now, or shall the coachman take it? Do you think +Stürmer is at home by this time? Klaus, do answer, dear Klaus!' + +"He made a motion of assent with his hand, and turned his head away. + +"'If you are so tiresome, I sha'n't try on the dress again,' she pouted. + +"'But, dear child,' I whispered, 'do you not see that your husband is +ill?' I took away the lamp, and laid my hand on his white forehead. + +"'Ah, only a little quiet,' he moaned. + +"'Come Susanna.' I begged the young wife, gently; 'go over to your +room; I think Klaus is in a high fever, and he must have quiet." + +"Susanna looked at me incredulously. 'But it will be better to-morrow?' +she asked quickly. 'You will be well again to-morrow, won't you, Klaus?' + +"He nodded. 'Yes, yes, my darling; don't worry.' + +"'Well, then, I will go away quickly, so that you can sleep. Good-night, +Klaus!' she said, taking the silk dress on her arm. And she hastily bent +over him and kissed his forehead. Then she disappeared, but her silvery +voice floated over here once again: 'Isa, Isa, here; Christian is to go +to Dambitz directly, to Herr von Stürmer; he must wait for an answer.' + +"Suddenly Klaus gave a deep groan. 'My poor boy.' I lamented over him; +'are you feeling very badly?' + +"'I think I am going to be very ill,' he whispered. 'I can't control my +thoughts, everything turns round and round. Anna Maria, bring me Anna +Maria.' + +"Brockelmann was just outside in the hall. 'Call the Fräulein,' I bade +her, 'and make them be quiet outside.' Anna Maria came, and went up to +the bed. He seized her hand. + +"'My old lass,' he said feebly, 'I fear I shall give you a great deal to +do.' + +"'Do you feel so ill?' she asked anxiously, and bent down to him. He +groaned and pointed to his head. 'Don't worry Susanna,' he begged. + +"Anna Maria did not answer, but she had grown very pale. Then she set +about procuring him some relief. Cold compresses were soon lying on his +forehead, a cool lemonade stood on the table by the bed, and outside the +tired horses were once more taken from the stable, to go for the doctor. +It had become quiet in the house, quiet in the next room also. Susanna +lay in her boudoir, reading; she did not know that the doctor had been +sent for, she did not hear how her husband's talking gradually passed +into delirious ravings, or know how his sister sat by the bed, her fair +head pressed against the back, and her eyes fixed on him in unspeakable +anxiety. + +"When the doctor came, Susanna was sleeping sweetly and soundly; and +with noiseless steps Isa carried about the awakened child, that it might +not disturb the mother. + +"Klaus was ill, very ill. The dreadful fever had attacked him so +quickly, so insidiously, and had prostrated him with such force, that a +paralyzing fear came over the spirits of us all. + +"The servants went about the house whispering, no door was heard to +shut, and the bailiff had straw laid down in the court, so that no sound +might penetrate the curtained sick-room. + +"Susanna would not believe at all that Klaus was seriously ill. She had +come merrily into the room, the child in her arms, and had found the +doctor at the bedside, and looked in Anna Maria's red eyes. She resisted +the truth with all her might. 'But he must not be ill,' she cried, 'just +now. Oh, doctor, it is too bad!' But when the confirmation in the +wandering looks of the invalid was not to be rejected, she flew to her +sofa and wept pitifully. It was not possible to reach her with a word of +consolation; she sobbed as I had seen her do but once, and Isa knew not +which she ought to quiet first, the screaming child or the weeping +mother. But Susanna did not for a moment attempt to make her hands +useful at the sick-bed. + +"The doctor came again toward evening. The fever was raging with +increased power; Klaus talked about his child, called for Susanna, and +even in his delirium everything centred in his wife. Sometimes he seized +Anna Maria's hand and pressed it to his lips, with a half-intelligible +pet name for Susanna; he called her his darling, his wife. And Anna +Maria stroked his forehead, and tear after tear rolled down her cheeks. + +"'Shall I have her called?' I asked the doctor. The old man shrugged his +shoulders. 'Well, since she has not come of her own accord, she spares +me a great deal of trouble,' said he; 'I should have had to carry her +out. She is still weak, and----' + +"I went away to look up Susanna. Isa informed me that she was in the +salon. + +"'Is she still crying?' I asked. + +"The old woman shook her head. 'Baron Stürmer is in there.' I heard +Susanna's voice through the portières. I heard her even laugh. My first +impulse was to hurry in, but it suddenly became impossible to me. I only +looked at the child, and went away, weary and weakened from watching and +anxiety, up to my room. + +"A basket of garlands was standing in the corridor, and beside it the +package of the unfortunate lanterns. The baptism was to have been +to-morrow, but the coachman was already on his way to inform the +numerous guests that it was given up, as the master was ill. My God in +heaven, let not the worst come, be pitiful! What would become of +Susanna, of his child--ah! and of Anna Maria? + +"Then I sat down in my arm-chair and listened to the pattering of the +rain, and the wind blowing against the windows; after a little while +there came a knock at my door, and Edwin Stürmer entered. He was quite +changed from what he used to be; indeed, the news of Klaus's illness +might well make him so. Conversation would not flow. I could not help +thinking of how I had last seen him, when he took leave of Susanna and +me; how she had wept, and how he had written to me afterward. 'There +have been great changes here!' said I, in a low tone. + +"He did not answer immediately. 'How does Anna Maria get on with--with +her sister-in-law?' he asked. + +"'Anna Maria?' I was embarrassed. Should I tell him that those two had +not learned to understand each other yet? + +"'She is here very little,' I said at last; 'she has been living in the +convent since Klaus's marriage.' + +"He started. 'Still the old quarrel?' he murmured. 'Anna Maria never +liked her; I noticed it from the beginning. She is a strange character. +There are moments when one might believe she has a heart; but it is ever +deception, ever delusion!' + +"'Edwin,' I cried bitterly, 'you think you have a right to affirm that; +you are mistaken! Perhaps she has more heart than all of us.' + +"'It may be,' he remarked coldly, 'but she never shows it.' + +"He too, he too! My poor Anna Maria! If I could have taken him down to +the sick-room, if I could have shown him how she knelt beside her +brother's bed and buried her weeping face in the pillows, if I could say +to him: 'See, that is the secret of all her actions; she has too much +heart, too much generosity. She has done everything for the sake of her +only brother, who once lost a happiness on her account.' If I only might +show him this---- + +"Slowly the tears ran from my eyes. + +"'I did not mean to grieve you, Aunt Rosamond,' said he, tenderly. 'I +am in a hateful mood, and ought not to have come over. The empty house +has put me out of humor; an old bachelor ought to have no house at +all--everywhere great empty rooms, everywhere solitude. One wants to +talk to one's self to keep from being afraid. I knew it well, and for +that reason put off my return from day to day.' He gave a shrug. 'I +shall go away again; that will be the best thing.' + +"I now first looked at him attentively. He had altered, he had grown +years older. I did not know how to answer, he had spoken so strangely. +After a while he rose. 'I wish for improvement with all my heart. Do not +worry; God cannot wish that he should go now, right from the most +complete happiness.' + +"God cannot wish it! So we mortals say when we think it impossible that +some one should leave us on whose life a piece of our own life depends. +God does not wish it--and already the shadow of death is falling deeper +and deeper over the beloved face. Such times lie in the past like heavy, +black, obscure shadows; that they were fearful we still know, but _how_ +we felt we are not able to feel again in its full terror. + +"Days had passed. Anna Maria had long ceased to weep; she had no tears, +for breathless fear. Without a word she performed her sad duties, and +listened benumbed to the wandering talk of the invalid--Susanna and the +child, and ever again Susanna. + +"Then came a day on which the physicians said, 'No hope.' In the morning +Klaus had recovered his senses, and Anna Maria came out of the sick-room +with such a happy, hopeful look that my heart really rose. She beckoned +to me, and I took her place at the sick-bed for a moment. + +"He reached out for my hand. 'How is Susanna?' he said softly. + +"'Well, dear Klaus; do you wish to see her? Shall she come in?' + +"'No, no!' he whispered, 'not come; it may be contagious--but Anna +Maria?' + +"'She will be here again directly, Klaus,' said I. And, as if she had +been called, she came in at the door, and, kneeling by his bed, laid her +cheek caressingly on his hand. + +"'Anna Maria,' he complained, 'my thoughts are already beginning +again--my child, my poor little child----' + +"She started up. 'Klaus, do not speak so, dear Klaus!' + +"'It is so strange,' he whispered on; 'I don't see Susanna distinctly +any longer, but I hear her laughing, always laughing. I shut my ears, +and yet I hear her laugh.' + +"Anna Maria gave me a sad look. 'I will stay with your child, Klaus,' +said she. He pressed her hand. His eyes were already glowing feverishly, +and all at once he started up, the sound of a silvery laugh came in. +Susanna was actually laughing, perhaps with her child--I know not. The +next moment the door opened a little way. 'How is Klaus to-day?' she +asked. + +"Anna Maria did not answer; her eyes were looking at Klaus; he had +already fallen back, and his fingers began to play, unnaturally, over +the silk quilt. + +"I hastened to Susanna. 'He is not very well, my child,' I whispered to +her; 'the fever is returning.' Her face grew grave, and she quietly +closed the door. 'Always the same thing!' I heard her say, disappointed. + +"Stürmer came toward evening, almost at the same time with the two +physicians. Susanna was sitting in her blue boudoir, reading. With a +sigh of relief she laid her book on the table when Stürmer was +announced. He entered quickly. 'Well,' said he, sympathetically, and +breathing fast, 'I hear he is not so well again to-day?' + +"Susanna gave him her hand. 'So-so, baron,' she replied; 'they are not +very wise about the case. The physicians themselves do not know what +they ought to say, and Anna Maria is so fearfully anxious, and Aunt +Rosamond no less so. They think he is going to die right away. People do +not die so easily, do they?' she asked confidently. 'I know from myself; +I have been delirious, I----' + +"She got no further, for our old family physician suddenly came into the +room. I knew what he meant as soon as I looked at him--Klaus was worse. + +"Susanna gave him her hand, and went to the bell to order wine, she +said. Isa came with the child and presented it to the old gentleman. +'How is my husband?' asked Susanna. 'He is better, is he not, than Aunt +Rosa's and Anna Maria's funeral faces predict?' + +"He did not answer, but looked at her, almost benumbed. At last he said +slowly: 'All is in God's hands. He can still help when we mortals see no +longer any way before us.' + +"Susanna sprang up out of the chair in which she had just taken her +seat, the color all gone from her face. Her horrified eyes were fixed on +the old man's face as if they would decipher if those words were truth. +And when she saw his unaltered, sad expression, she began to totter, and +would have fallen to the floor if Edwin Stürmer had not caught her. + +"'Is it really so bad?' he asked the doctor, reluctantly, as he carried +the young wife to the couch. + +"'The end has come,' he replied, looking after Susanna. + +"She had lost consciousness only for a moment. She awoke with a loud +cry, and now all the passion that dwelt in the delicate woman broke +forth in its full force. She screamed, she fell at the doctor's feet; he +should not let Klaus die, she could not live without him! She wrung her +hands and began to sob, but not a tear flowed from her great eyes. She +sprang up and threw herself upon the cradle of the child, whose +frightened crying mingled with a terrible sound with her sorrowful +laments: 'I will not live if Klaus dies, I will not!' + +"'Calm yourself, gracious Frau,' bade the doctor, much shaken; 'think of +the child, take care of yourself.' + +"'I made him ill,' screamed the young wife. 'I sent him to the city in +the rain, in spite of his feeling poorly then; I am guilty of my +husband's death!' The lace on her morning dress tore under her +convulsively trembling hands; she ran up and down the room, accusing +God and demanding death. Silently Isa took the cradle with the child and +carried it into another room. Meanwhile Dr. Reuter had poured a few +drops of a sedative into a spoon and begged the young wife to take it. + +"She pushed the medicine out of his hand. 'I will not!' she cried, +sobbing. 'If you knew anything you would have saved Klaus! Oh, if I had +only taken care of him! But you did not let me go to his bed once, and +now he is dying!' + +"'Susanna, control yourself,' said I, severely, as the doctor shrugged +his shoulders. 'Is this proper behavior in the hour in which a human +life is making its last hard struggle? Surely there should be peace,' I +added, weeping. + +"She grew silent, not at my words, but at the entrance of Anna Maria. + +"'Come, Susanna,' said she, in a lifeless tone, 'let us go to Klaus. +Before the last parting, the doctor has told me, there sometimes returns +a clear moment. His last look will seek you, Susanna, he has loved you +so much.' + +"The young wife let herself be led away without resistance, but her face +had grown deathly pale. When they reached the door, she tore her hands +impetuously away from Anna Maria's. 'I cannot!' she cried, shuddering, +and turning her terrified eyes toward us; 'I cannot see him die, I +cannot!' + +"Anna Maria looked sadly at the young creature, who was now on her knees +before her, beginning afresh her despairing lamentations. Then she +silently turned away and went back to Klaus. We carried the young wife +to the sofa, and Dr. Reuter busied himself with Isa about her. + +"I started to go into the death-chamber, and Edwin Stürmer followed me. +In going out he cast a peculiar look at Susanna. In the next room, +through which we had to pass, stood the cradle; alone and unwatched +slumbered the poor little fellow in it, without a suspicion that the +black wings of death were hovering so near to his young existence. 'No +hope!' They are fearful words. + +"Stürmer came with me into the chamber of death. I did not wonder at it; +it seemed to me as if it must be so, as if he, the best and oldest +friend of the family, had a right to come to the dying bed of our Klaus. +Anna Maria was on her knees beside the bed, her hands folded; she was +waiting for that last look. + +"Then the house grew still, the servants stole about on tip-toe, and +outside, before the front door, stood the day-laborers and the men, with +their wives, looking timidly and with red eyes up to the windows. Edwin +Stürmer sat opposite me, deep in shadow, behind the curtains of the bed; +he leaned his head on his hand, and looked at Anna Maria and at the pale +face there on the pillow. I could not distinguish his features, but I +heard his deep and heavy breathing. I do not know if Klaus looked at +Anna Maria again, I could not see the two from my place. But I heard him +whisper once more: 'My child--Susanna' and 'Anna Maria, my old lass!' +with an expression of warm tenderness. + +"It was deathly still in the room; no sound but the swift, low ticking +of the clock. I started up all at once at this stillness. When I came up +to the bed Anna Maria was still on her knees and holding her brother's +hand, her fair head buried in the pillow. + +"Seized by a terrible foreboding, I went up to her. She started up. 'My +only brother!' she sobbed out. To my heart penetrated this shrill, +broken cry: 'My only brother!' + +"Then I heard the door open softly, and saw Stürmer go out; he held his +hand over his eyes, though it was so dark round about us, so fearfully +dark." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +"As formerly Anna Maria had been baptized beside the dead body of her +mother, so now was the little boy at his father's coffin. On the same +spot where, scarcely a year before, the clergyman had married the young +couple stood the black, silver-mounted coffin, almost covered over with +wreaths and flowers. The folding-doors of the hall were opened wide; the +last crimson ray of the setting sun fell through the windows and made +the light of the numerous candles appear feeble and yellow, and touched +Anna Maria's face with a rosy shimmer, as she bent over the child in her +arms. + +"The long white christening-robe of the child contrasted strangely with +the deep black of the mourning dress which enveloped the tall figure of +the girl. I stood beside her, my hands resting on the child; by my side +was Isa in a profusion of black crape. A throng of mourners filled the +hall, gentlemen and ladies. I do not remember who they all were, but I +can still see Stürmer's pale face. + +"A chair had been placed aright for Susanna, and she sat in it as if +petrified in pain and sorrow--a strange sight, this child in widow's +garb. The raging pain had abated, she had wept and sobbed herself weary; +now only great tears rolled down her marble cheeks. Bluish rings lay +about her eyes, and made them shine more ardently than ever. She kept +her slender hands folded and listened to the words of the clergyman, a +picture of the most hopeless and comfortless pain. + +"How many eyes then grew moist; how the servants wept outside the door! +The clergyman spoke affectingly; once before he had thus baptized a +child in this house. A quiver went through Anna Maria's tall figure, but +she pressed her lips firmly together. She did not weep, she only pressed +the child closer to her; then she took it to the young mother. I can +still see how Susanna sat there, with the little boy on her lap, as the +clergyman blessed them. She bent her head so that the black veil almost +covered her and the child. + +"But now the clergyman passed on to the funeral address, and when he +mentioned the full name of the dead man I saw Isa spring up quickly--the +young wife had fainted. She was carried to her room. A murmur of +sympathy went through the assembly. 'A bruise for her whole life,' I +heard whispered behind me. 'Poor young wife--still half a child! She +will never recover from it!' + +"Of Anna Maria, who stood there, no one thought. No one had said a +sympathetic word to her. All the pity belonged to the young widow, still +so young, so charming, and already so unhappy! They knew she was not on +good terms with her sister-in-law. They knew Anna Maria only as proud +and cold. + +"Anna Maria, if they could have seen you late that evening, in the dark +garden, at the fresh grave; if they had found you, as I found you, so +undone with grief and pain, kneeling on the damp earth, unwilling to +leave the flower-strewn mound under which your only brother lay--would +they not have granted you, too, a word of sympathy? + +"Those were sad, dreadful weeks which now followed, weeks in which we, +first regaining our senses, began to miss him who had left us forever. +Everywhere his kind, fresh nature, his ever-mild disposition, were +wanting. It seemed every moment as if he must open the door and ask in +his soft voice: 'How are you, aunt? Where is Anna Maria?' + +"Anna Maria! The whole weight of the extensive household management +rested on her shoulders, the whole wilderness of the inevitable domestic +business which her brother's death had caused. She found no time to +indulge in her grief. She had to drive into the city at fixed times, she +had to look through Klaus's books, letters, and papers, with her +trembling heart. And if then, in her swelling pain, she but threw her +hands over her face, she always regained the mastery over herself, and +could work on. + +"Susanna mourned in a different way. She fled to her little boudoir, and +always had some one about her. She was afraid in bright daylight, and in +twilight her heart would palpitate, and she was short of breath, and Isa +had to read aloud to her constantly. The little boy, who had been named +'Klaus' for his father, was not allowed to be called so; she called him +her little Jacky, her treasure, the only thing she had left in the +world, and yet sometimes would start back from the cradle with a cry, he +had looked at her so terribly like Klaus! + +"Then came the mourning visits from far and near, and Susanna received +them in the salon. She sat there, so broken down, her charming face +surrounded by the black crape veil, the point of her little widow's cap +on her white forehead, and her black-bordered handkerchief always wet +with bitter tears. + +"Anna Maria was never present during such calls. She fled to the garden +and did not return till the last carriage had rolled away from the +court. She was gentle and tender toward Susanna--'he loved her so much!' +she said softly. + +"It was November. In Susanna's little boudoir the lamp was lighted, and +the young wife lay, in her deep black woollen dress, on the blue +cushions; she held a book in her hand, and now and then cast a glance at +it. Occasionally she coughed a little, and each time quickly held her +handkerchief to her lips. I had come down, as I did every evening, to +look after her and the child. The little fellow was already +asleep--'thank God,' as Susanna added. The nurse was probably asleep +with him in the next room, it was very still in there. Isa was bustling +busily about the stove, for it was bitterly cold out-of-doors; on the +table beside Susanna lay a quantity of colored wools, as well as a piece +of embroidery begun, and extremely pleasant and comfortable was this +little room. Who in the world could have desired a more comfortable spot +on a snowy, stormy evening? + +"'Where is Anna Maria?' I asked pleasantly, after the first greeting. + +"Susanna shook her head. 'I don't know,' she said feebly, and let her +book drop. + +"'Fräulein Anna Maria is in the master's cabinet,' Isa answered. 'Herr +von Stürmer has just ridden away.' + +"Susanna's eyes flamed up for a moment. 'Why did he not come in here?' +she asked. She raised herself a little. 'Ah! aunt,' she whispered, 'I +think I am going to be ill. I have a constant irritation in my throat, +and I feel so wretchedly. Dr. Reuter said last week I ought not to spend +the severe winter here. Ah! and yet I cannot bring myself to decide to +go away.' + +"'I can feel with you, my dear child,' I returned. 'I would not go +either, in your place.' + +"Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. 'Yes, it is all the same if I die +_here_!' she replied. + +"'Oh, don't believe any such thing, Susy,' I said jestingly. 'You must +live for your child; you are exhausted by all this dreadful affair; the +winter will soon be over.' + +"At this juncture Anna Maria entered. 'How are you feeling, Susanna?' +she asked kindly. + +"'I am ill,' sobbed the young wife; 'very ill! I shall stifle yet in +these overheated rooms; I have not your sound lungs.' + +"Anna Maria looked down at her in astonishment. 'I am very sorry for +that,' she said sympathetically. + +"Oh, if Klaus were only alive, he would have gone south with me long +ago!' cried Susanna; and Isa shook her head doubtfully. + +"That was Anna Maria's weak spot. 'Dear Susanna,' she said tenderly, 'if +it is necessary, then go. I know that you are delicate, that you have a +cough; let us consult with the doctor to-morrow, and decide where. And +then we will pack you both up and----' + +"'Both?' asked Susanna. 'That is just it; I cannot take the baby with +me!' + +"'And you cannot make up your mind to part from him?' Anna Maria asked +hesitatingly. + +"'No, no!' sobbed Susanna. + +"'I suppose,' said the maiden softly, the bright blood mounting to her +cheeks, 'you will not intrust him to me'--she hesitated--'even if I +promise to watch over him day and night?' + +"Susanna stopped sobbing. 'But why not, then?' she cried. 'He is Klaus's +child, and you are so fond of him!' + +"Anna Maria turned and went out of the room, and Susanna sprang up and +followed her. After a while they came back, and for the first time there +was a smile on the lips of each. Susanna would fly away out of the +desolate, snowed-in house of mourning, and Anna Maria had one more care. +She might fondle and care for the child of her only brother to her +heart's content; the child to whom she had only ventured timidly, in +order not to excite Susanna's jealousy, should now belong to her alone +for a long time. + +"And Susanna went away with chests and trunks, and with Isa. She was +overcome with pain at the parting from her child; at the last moment she +wanted to tear off hat and cloak again and stay here. However, she got +into the carriage. That she would not be here at Christmas did not +disturb her; it would be no festival this year, she thought, it would +only make her sadder. The doctor had really advised her going south. + +"And so we were alone in the solitary house--Anna Maria, the child, and +I. The child's cradle stood in her room; she would lie for hours before +it, and could not look her fill at the round, childish face. She could +still weep, weep bitterly, for Klaus; but her grief had grown gentler, +much gentler. + +"On a stormy evening, a few days after Susanna's departure, Stürmer came +to speak with Anna Maria. He had not been here for more than a week. + +"Brockelmann showed him at once to Anna Maria's room; we had not heard +him come, and she was right on her knees before the cradle, talking to +the child, so simply and affectionately, so sweetly and naturally, about +the Christ-child and the Christmas-man. All the great, overflowing love +of which the girl was capable, an infinite tenderness and gentleness, +sounded in the tone of her voice. But Anna Maria had no heart--how often +had the man said that, who was now standing still at the door and +looking at her as in a dream. + +"She sprang up in confusion as she caught sight of him; the old proud, +impenetrable expression returned to her face at once. + +"'It is so lonely over there,' he said apologetically, 'and then I had +to bring you the mortgage from the mill; the old crow has begged so +hard, Fräulein Anna Maria, I think we will leave it to him, or, if you +prefer, I will take it too.' + +"She shook her head. 'Oh, never,' she said calmly; 'the money must stay +at the mill; Klaus promised it to the man.' + +"He was still holding his hat in his hand. 'May I stay here half an +hour?' he asked. + +"'If our sad society is not too tiresome for you, Stürmer,' replied Anna +Maria. 'You give us a pleasure.' Then she suddenly turned and went out +of the room. + +"'Now tell me, for Heaven's sake, Aunt Rosamond,' asked Stürmer, 'what +is the matter now? Why do we sit here, and where is Frau von Hegewitz? +Have the two fallen out again, perhaps?' + +"'Susanna? Ah! you may not know yet, to be sure,' I replied. 'Susanna +went away to Nice three days ago; she had a cough, and feared the +winter.' + +"He sprang up impulsively, and began to walk up and down the room; then +he stood before the cradle, and looked at the slumbering child. 'And +this young Frau has gone _alone_?' he asked at length. + +"'No, Edwin, with Isa.' + +"'Of course,' he said. He began his walking to and fro again, till Anna +Maria came in, followed by the child's nurse, who carried the little +sleeper into the next room. Then we sat silent about the table. It was +almost as in the old days, with the old furniture from the sitting-room, +and ticking of the clock under the mirror. Anna Maria had brought out +her spinning-wheel, and Edwin Stürmer looked at the floor, and, lost in +thought, played with a tassel of the table-cloth. + +"Then all at once he started up; the clear sound of children's voices +came in from the hall: + + "'Martins, martins, pretty things, + With your little golden wings,' + +echoed the old Martinmas ditty. + +"'To-day is Martinmas,' said I. Edwin Stürmer looked at me. It was a +strange look; what did he mean? And all at once Anna Maria--the proud, +heartless Anna Maria--threw her hands over her face, and bitterly +weeping, went out. + +"'What is that, Edwin?' I asked; and, as he did not answer, I tapped him +on the shoulder with my wooden knitting-needle. And the strong man rose +too, stood at the window, and looked out without replying a word. + + "'Little summer, little summer, rose-leaf, + Village and city, + Give us something, O maiden fair!' + +died away the old song." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +"The winter passed quietly away, and with the spring, just as the trees +were blossoming, Susanna came back. Anna Maria had sent the best +carriage to meet the home-comer, and put a little white dress on the +child. The table was set in a festal manner in the dining-room, and at +Susanna's place was a bunch of splendid white roses. I went to the front +steps to meet the young wife. Stürmer, who happened to have come over, +remained with Anna Maria in the salon; she had the child in her arms. + +"Susanna jumped down from the carriage, fresh and rosy, and fell on my +neck. 'Here I am again, dearest aunt, here I am again!' she cried. 'How +have you been, and how is my dear little boy?' She flew up the steps +like a bird, so that all the lace and flounces of her elegant mourning +dress stood out and blew behind her. Like a child she ran through the +hall; I could scarcely keep up with her; then she stood in the salon. + +"The baby had grown; the baby sat there quite sensibly already, on the +arm of his fair aunt; his bright curly hair fell about his lovely baby +face, and he was just grasping after Uncle Stürmer's watch. The young +mother rushed to the child with a cry of delight, pulled it into her +arms, and covered it with kisses. But the young gentleman misunderstood +this; he did not know the strange lady at all who had come in so +suddenly, and with a pitiful cry he stretched out his arms toward Anna +Maria. + +"Susanna was confounded, and then began to weep, affectingly and +bitterly: 'She had lost her child's love!' It was a painful scene. +Stürmer went into the next room, and Anna Maria tried to console +Susanna. 'It is only because he is not accustomed to you; he has not +seen you for so long, Susanna. Just hear what he has learned,' she +begged. + +"And going up to the weeping woman, she said: 'Ma--ma!' + +"'Mamma!' stammered the little fellow, quite consoled. + +"Susanna laughed, and promised to change her dress quickly; then she +came to the table. The grief was already overcome; and she showed +herself, in course of time, none too eager to regain the child's love. +Anna Maria silently retained all the cares she had undertaken; but +sometimes the young wife would embrace her child in a sudden outbreak of +tenderness, and not let him out of her arms for hours. + +"The summer did not flit away so quietly as it had begun; there were +frequent visitors, and sometimes Susanna's laugh would echo, terribly +clear, through the rooms. Anna Maria was sad; she fled to her room +whenever a carriage full of guests arrived, or a pair of saddle-horses +were led slowly up and down before the house. But Stürmer was now a +daily guest; it really pained me when I saw him ride across the court. + +"'Baron Stürmer is with Frau von Hegewitz,' Brockelmann announced one +afternoon, as she came into Anna Maria's room, where I was sitting by +the window. 'The baron inquired for the baby, and the Frau was just +coming out of the salon; she took him in with her, laughing, and said I +was to get the child.' + +"Silently Anna Maria lifted him up from the carpet, where he had sat +playing, and with a kiss gave him to the old woman. 'There, now, go to +mamma and be good.' + +"She then bent over her housekeeping book. + +"'Will you not go down, Anna Maria?' I asked. + +"She raised her head. 'Oh, aunt, I have something important to do now, +and--he will not miss me. He will be here again often,' she added. And a +faint, traitorous blush tinged her face. 'I think they still love each +other.' + +"I shook my head. 'Ah, Anna Maria, she still wears her widow's cap!' + +"'It will come, nevertheless,' whispered the girl, and an expression +full of anguish lay about her mouth; 'and then she will go away with +him, and will take the child with her, and at last the cup of my +unhappiness will be full. Then I shall feel nothing any longer, no +longer call anything in the world _mine_, not even a miserable hope!' + +"I was silent and looked at her sadly. How many hundred times I had said +to myself that this would come. I shuddered at the thought of an empty, +icy-cold future--poor Anna Maria! + +"And it certainly was as Anna Maria had said. Stürmer came often, +Stürmer came every day. We sat together at coffee in the garden-parlor, +or on the terrace on warm summer evenings. Susanna had quite regained +her old happy disposition. Sometimes, too, a white rose shone out from +her dark curls, and her eyes laughed down over the garden, without a +thought of the grave there below. It seemed sometimes as if something +took hold of me, as if a dear, familiar voice said to me: 'So quickly am +I forgotten?' + +"And Anna Maria would sit for hours with the child on her lap, and say +the word 'father' to him countless times, and rejoice like a child over +his first awkward attempts. She guided his first steps; she did not let +him out of her arms, but carried him about everywhere, all over the +house and in the garden. 'Perhaps he will retain a recollection,' said +she, 'and this is all his; he will live here some time, in his home, and +then he will be tall and strong like his father, and dear and good to +his old Aunt Anna Maria.' + +"Was Stürmer really drawing nearer to Susanna? I could not bring myself +to perceive it, and then--it could not be announced yet, the year of +mourning had not expired. But perhaps she had her word already; he loved +her, had already loved her as a girl; no other hindrance except the +mourning lay any longer between them. + +"The day following the anniversary of Klaus's death some one gave a +quick, excited knock at my door. Stürmer entered; he wore a short coat +and high boots, as if he had come from hunting. + +"'Dear Aunt Rosamond,' said he, throwing himself into a chair, as if +exhausted, and drying his moist forehead with his handkerchief--'dear +Aunt Rosamond, we have always been good friends, have known each other +so long. I have a favor to ask of you, a very great favor.' + +"'Of me?' I asked, my heart beating hard from a painful fear. + +"He looked pale, and quickly threw his gloves on the table. 'Speak for +me!' he begged. 'I am a coward. I cannot tell you what would become of +me if a second time I--' He hesitated. + +"'Are you so little sure of your case, Edwin?' I asked, bright tears +running from my eyes. I thought of Klaus, I thought of Anna Maria, my +dear old Anna Maria! + +"'I am not at all sure of my case,' he replied, 'or should I be standing +here? Should I not long ago have explained an old, unhappy mistake?' + +"'You are in great haste, Edwin,' said I bitterly. 'Yesterday was the +first anniversary of Klaus's death!' + +"'It has been very hard for me to wait so long,' he answered, in the +calmest tone. 'Well, if you will not, I must devise some means by +myself,' he declared impetuously. 'Where is Anna Maria?' + +"'No, no,' I begged, 'for God's sake! It would grieve her to death. I +will go. I will speak for you, if it must be!' And again burning tears +came into my eyes. 'So tell me what message am I to deliver?' + +"He was silent. 'If--if--I beg you, aunt, I do not know,' he stammered +at length; 'it will be best for me to speak to her myself.' And before I +could say a word he had hurried out. + +"I do not know how it happened, but I was bitterly angry with him--he, +usually the man of tenderest feeling and greatest tact! 'To think that +love should sometimes drive the best people so mad!' I said angrily, +wiping the tears from my eyes. + +"And now there would be a love-affair and an engagement; yesterday deep +widow's weeds, to-morrow red roses! I clinched my fists, not for myself, +but for Anna Maria. I was pained to the depths of my heart. For Anna +Maria it was the death-blow. The love for Stürmer was deeply rooted in +her heart. She would get over this, too; she would rise up from this, +too; but the spirit of her youth was broken forever. She could no longer +call anything in the world hers, for Susanna would take the child away +with her. I did not want to hear or see any longer. I took my shawl and +went into the garden. + +"The first yellow leaf lay on the ground, a fine mist hung in the trees, +and the sun was going down crimson. I walked down the path to the little +fish-pond. I saw the decaying boat lying in the clear brown water, and +the reflection of the oaks. Then I suddenly stopped. I had recognized +Edwin Stürmer's voice. They must be standing close by me, behind the +thicket of barberry and snow-berry bushes. + +"'No, no, I shall not let you again!' he said, strangely moved. I turned +to go. It seemed to me I must cry out from pain and indignation. + +"I walked back quickly. I know not what impelled me to go first to the +child's bed, as if I must look in that little innocent face to still +believe in love and fidelity in the world. The little man was asleep, +the curtains were drawn, and the night-lamp already lighted. The door +leading to Susanna's room was just ajar. All at once I started up, for +the sound of Isa's voice came in to me and made my heart almost stop +beating. + +"'It won't do to put off any longer, my lamb; if you have said A, you +must say B too. This is the third letter already, and you can't remain a +widow forever. Oh, don't make faces now; over there--that is nothing. If +I am not very much mistaken, he has turned about now, and--' She +probably made a sign, and then she laughed. + +"Now I heard Susanna, too. 'My child!' she sobbed. + +"'But, darling, do be reasonable. One can't take little children about +everywhere. What would you do with the rascal? Let him grow up on his +inheritance; few children have so good a one. You can see him at any +time, too, darling,' she continued, as Susanna kept on sobbing. 'You +will only have to come here. Oh, don't be so fearfully unreasonable; +have I ever given you any bad advice? Do you mean to live on here, under +the sceptre of your sister-in-law? I should laugh!' said she, after a +while, playing her last trump. + +"Susanna's weeping suddenly ceased. 'I do not know yet,' she said +shortly. + +"Then I roused myself from my numbness, and hurried through the +garden-parlor to the terrace. There they stood--yes, in truth, there +they stood--under the linden, Anna Maria and Stürmer, and looked over +toward Dambitz. The last ray of the setting sun tinged the evening sky +with such a red glow that I closed my eyes, dazzled; or were they dimmed +by tears of joy? Now I heard a light rustle behind me, and, looking +around, I saw Susanna. She had laid aside her widow's dress, and had a +white rose in her hair. The tears of a few minutes ago were dried. + +"I took her by the hand and pointed mutely to the two under the linden. +She looked over in surprise. 'Anna Maria?' she asked softly. + +"'And Edwin Stürmer!' I added. She did not answer. But she had grown +pale, and looked at them fixedly. + +"'They have long loved each other, Susanna,' said I, gravely; 'even +before you ever came here. But Anna Maria once refused his +proposal'--Susanna's eyes were fixed on my lips--'_because she would not +forsake her only brother!_' + +"The young wife was silent; but, as Anna Maria and Stürmer now turned in +the direction of the house, she turned and went in. Now they came +walking up the middle path. And when they stood before me, I saw a +happy light in Anna Maria's eyes which I had never seen shine before. +She bent over to me and kissed my hand. + +"'She has made it very hard for me, has Anna Maria,' said Edwin Stürmer, +drawing the girl to him. 'She tried to put on her icy mask again; she +could not go away from Susanna and the child. But this time I was too +quickly at hand. Was I not, my Anna Maria?' + +"Very early the next morning I heard a carriage roll away from the +court. I rang for Brockelmann. 'The gracious Frau has gone away with +Isa; and has left a letter for Anna Maria down-stairs on the table.' + +"'Have you delivered it yet?' I asked. + +"The old woman nodded. 'There is some secret about it,' she said sadly; +'Isa was altogether too important.' + +"Anna Maria came, very much surprised, with the open letter. + +"'I don't understand it, aunt. Susanna has a rendezvous in Berlin with +an acquaintance from Nice?' + +"I shrugged my shoulders. + +"'She is angry with me,' she whispered, with pale lips. 'She did love +him, aunt; it is horrible!' + +"'No, no, my child,' I tried to calm her, 'no, do not believe that.' But +she made an averting gesture, and left me with tears in her eyes. +Already a shadow lay over her happiness. Reluctantly I followed her +down-stairs, and then went, almost aimlessly, into Susanna's room. Here +all was topsy-turvy, just as occasionally in former times. In the haste +of departure all sorts of things had been left lying about, on every +chair some article of clothing, fans, ribbons, strips of black crape, +and books, and in the fire-place was still a little heap of burned +paper. The fragments of a letter had fallen beside it, in the hurry +probably. I picked them up--a bold handwriting, English words. + +"'I beg for something positive at last,' I read. 'To Berlin--no +hindrance--my love--in a short time--mine forever--Robbin.' + +"I sat quite still for a while, with the bits of paper in my hand. Now +it gradually became clear to me--Susanna's restless, distraught manner, +Isa's mysterious conduct, her words of yesterday, and the sudden +departure. Susanna was gone, Susanna would never return; in a short time +she would be the wife of another, of a perfect stranger; she would never +belong to us any more! + +"And I took up the pieces of the letter and went to look for Anna Maria. +She was sitting at the window, looking over toward Dambitz. 'Here, Anna +Maria,' said I, 'your fear is groundless.' + +"She read, and a painful expression came over her face. 'I pity her, +aunt. She thinks her happiness is floating about without, but it is +slumbering here in this little cradle. She will find it out sooner or +later, and she will return, don't you think so?' she asked, anxiously +confident. + +"Then her face lighted up: Stürmer was coming across the garden; he was +leading his horse by the bridle, and sent up a greeting. + +"'Your lover, Anna Maria!' + +"She grew very red. 'Is it not like a dream?' she asked softly. + +"It was in November, the day before Anna Maria's marriage, that a letter +with a strange post-mark lay in the mail-bag for me, the address in a +man's handwriting. I gave a start; I recognized the bold hand, the +peculiar flourish at the last letter of a word. It was the same hand +that had written that letter whose remains I had found in Susanna's +room. + +"I broke open the envelope; it contained two letters. The one which +first fell into my hands was a formal announcement of the marriage of +Frau von Hegewitz, _née_ Mattoni, to Mr. Robbin Olliver, London. + +"I took up the other letter. 'Dearest aunt,' my astonished eyes read, +'the accomplished fact has just come to your knowledge; forgive me, +forgive me everything! I am not wicked, not light-minded; I have only +sought for myself the freedom which is as necessary to my life as air to +breathing. I shall gladly follow my husband, with whom I became +acquainted in Nice, to Brazil, out of the narrow circle of rusty old +customs, to a more stirring, varied life, in which to-day and to-morrow, +weeks and months, do not follow each other in dull repetition. + +"'With longing I think of my child. I have no right to take him with me +over the sea; he belongs to his ancestral home, and I know that Anna +Maria must love him more than I. Forgive me, I beg you once more from my +heart, and send me occasionally--it is the last request I shall make of +the family which chains me with inward bonds--a lock of my child's hair, +and teach him to think without ill-will of his mother.' + +"No signature, nothing more. I turned the sheet over--nothing! I gave a +sigh of pain, and yet it seemed as if the weight of a mountain had +rolled from my heart. + +"And now I must tell Anna Maria about it. But no, not to-day or +to-morrow. These days ought never to be troubled. I went down-stairs +toward evening. Anna Maria was by the graves in the garden. Brockelmann +informed me; and the old woman showed me with pride what she had +arranged in the hall for her Fräulein's wedding-day--all about, +evergreen, and countless candles in it. + +"'It is no great festival,' said she; 'only two or three people are +coming; Anna Maria will have it so, and he too. But just for that reason +it should be right beautiful.' + +"I went into the girl's sleeping-room and stepped up to the child's +little bed. He was slumbering sweetly, without a suspicion that his +mother had left him forever. But be quiet, you poor little fellow; you +still have a mother, a true, earnest one--Anna Maria. I stood in the +recess of the window and listened to the breathing of the boy. + +"After a while the door opened softly and Anna Maria entered. She did +not see me, but I saw that she had been weeping. She knelt down to the +child and kissed it, and then stood with folded hands before the bed a +long time. + +"Then footsteps sounded in the next room. 'Anna Maria!' called Stürmer. +She flew to the door. 'Edwin!' I heard her say jubilantly. They +whispered together a long time, and when I came in they were standing at +the window. + +"'Is that a nuptial eve?' I asked, in jest. 'In the dark thus, and +without any ringing of bells and music?' + +"They both laughed. But then the church-bell began its evening peal, and +from the next room came in the clear sound of a child's voice: 'Mamma, +mamma, Anna Maria!' Then she threw her arms about my neck and kissed me. +'And do you call that without ringing of bells and music?' she asked +happily. Then she brought in the child, and they sat together on the +sofa, with it between them, and spoke of Klaus, of past days, of the +future, and of their happiness. + +"It was Anna Maria who first mentioned Susanna's name. 'It is so long +since she has written,' she said. 'I have received no answer to two +letters. Can she be coming, Edwin? She knows that to-morrow is to be our +wedding-day.' + +"'Susanna?' I replied. 'No, Anna Maria, she is _not_ coming!' + +"'Have you news?' they asked, both together. + +"'She is married, Anna Maria, and is no longer in Europe.' + +"Neither of them answered. + +"'And she lays the child on your heart.' + +"Then she bent over and kissed the baby, who had gone to sleep on her +lap. 'Edwin,' she whispered, in a strangely faltering voice, 'this is +the wedding present from my only brother!'" + + * * * * * + +So ended the manuscript. It was the third evening of the reading. The +young man laid the sheets on the table and looked in the agitated face +of his wife. "My mother died in America," he said. "Mother Anna Maria +tied a strip of crape about my arm one day, and cried, and kissed me so +often; we were living right here in Bütze then; and then we went up to +Aunt Rosamond, and she cried too, and kissed me. They told me that my +mother was dead, but I did not understand them, because I saw Anna Maria +before me, and I did not know or care to know any mother but her." + +The young wife took his hand. She was about to speak, but did not, for +just then the door opened and a tall woman's figure crossed the +threshold. + +"Mother!" they cried, both springing up, "Mother Anna Maria!" And the +young man tenderly put his arm around her and kissed her hand. + +"Good evening, children," she said simply, and her eyes looked gently +over to them, under the white hair. + +"Oh, dearest mother, how charming of you!" cried the young wife, +exultingly. "How are father and the sisters?" + +"Edwin is well," she replied; "and the sisters are looking forward to +Sunday, when you are coming over." + +"And you, mother?" + +"Well, I had a longing to see my eldest daughter and my only son," she +said lovingly; "and besides, to-day is Martinmas." + +She let bonnet and cloak be taken off, and sat down on the sofa. "What +have you there?" she asked, turning over the papers. Then her eyes +rested upon them; she read, and a delicate blush gradually mounted to +her face. + +"Those were the sad years," she whispered; "now come the bright ones. +When I am dead then write underneath: + +"'She was the happiest of wives, the most beloved of mothers!'" + + + + +Lives of Famous Men + + +In this series of historical and biographical works the publishers have +included only such books as will interest and instruct the youth of both +sexes. A copy should be in every public, school and private library. + +LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. By George Washington Parke Custis, the +adopted son of our first president. + +LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Hon. Joseph H. Barrett, ex-member of +Congress. + +LIFE OF U. S. GRANT. By Hon. B. P. Poore and Rev. O. H. Tiffany, D. D. + +LIFE OF WILLIAM McKINLEY. By Murat Halstead, Chauncey M. Depew and John +Sherman. + +LIFE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT. By Thomas W. Handford. + +LIFE OF HENRY M. STANLEY. By Prof. A. M. Godbey, A. M. + +LIFE OF JOHN PAUL JONES. By Charles Walter Brown. + +LIFE OF ETHAN ALLEN. By Charles Walter Brown. + +LIFE OF W. T. SHERMAN. By Hon. W. Fletcher Johnson and Gen. O. O. +Howard. + +LIFE OF P. T. BARNUM. By Hon. Joel Benton. + +LIFE OF T. DEWITT TALMAGE. By Charles Francis Adams. + +LIFE OF D. L. MOODY. By Charles Francis Adams. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Sister's Love, by W. 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Heimburg + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Sister's Love + A Novel + +Author: W. Heimburg + +Translator: Margaret P. Waterman + +Release Date: September 30, 2010 [EBook #33958] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SISTER'S LOVE *** + + + + +Produced by Peter Vachuska, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + + + + +<h1>A SISTER'S LOVE</h1> + +<h3><i>A NOVEL</i></h3> + +<h2>BY W. HEIMBURG</h2> + + +<h3>TRANSLATED BY<br /> +MARGARET P. WATERMAN</h3> + +<h3>CHICAGO:<br /> +M. A. DONOHUE & CO.<br /> +407-429 DEARBORN ST.</h3> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. --> +<p> +<a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX.</a><br /> +<a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX.</a><br /><br /> +<a href="#Lives_of_Famous_Men">Lives of Famous Men</a><br /> +</p> +<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. --> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A SISTER'S LOVE.</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> + + +<p>A severe storm had been raging all day, and now, in the approaching +twilight, seemed as if it would overleap all bounds in its wild +confusion. Straight from the North Sea, over the broad Lüneburg heath, +it came rushing along, and beat against the gray walls of the +manor-house, shook the great elms in the garden, tossed about the +bushes, and blew from the bare branches the last yellow leaf yet spared +them by the November frost.</p> + +<p>The great castle-like building, inhabited for centuries by the Von +Hegewitz family, looked dismal and gloomy under the cloud-laden sky; in +almost spectral gloom it lay there, with its sharply pointed gables, its +round tower, and heavy buttresses supporting the walls.</p> + +<p>If did not always look thus, this old manor-house; in summer it was very +picturesque behind its green trees, the golden sunshine lying on its +slate roof, the pointed gables sharply outlined against the blue sky, +and the gray walls, framed by huge, old oaks, reflected in the brown +water of the pond. Beside it lay the farm-buildings and the houses of +the village, whose shingled roofs emerged in their turn from the foliage +of the fruit-trees. Far out into the Mark country extended the view, +over fields of waving corn, over green meadows and purple heath, bounded +on the horizon by the dark line of a pine forest. A narrow strip of pine +woods, besides, lay to the north, extending nearly to the garden, and on +hot summer afternoons an almost intoxicating fragrance was wafted from +it toward the quiet house.</p> + +<p>Within it was still a real, old-fashioned German house; for there were +dim corridors and deep niches, great vaulted rooms and large alcoves, +little staircases with steep steps worn by many feet, and curious low +vaulted doors. A flight of steps would lead quite unexpectedly from one +room into the next, and here and there a door, instead of leading out of +a room, opened, to one's surprise, into a huge closet. Then there were +cemented floors, and great beams dividing the ceilings, and the smallest +of window-panes. And yet where could more real comfort be found than in +such an old house, especially when a November storm is howling without, +and here indoors great fir logs are crackling in the gay-tiled stove?</p> + +<p>And just now, down the stairs from the upper story, came an old lady, +looking as if comfort itself came with the green silk knitting-bag on +her arm, her large lace cap, and the brown silk shawl over her +shoulders. She might have been in the fifties, this small, spare figure, +and she limped. Fräulein Rosamond von Hegewitz had limped all her life, +and yet a more contented nature than hers did not exist. She now turned +to the left and walked along the narrow corridor. This was her regular +evening walk, as she went to her nephew and niece in the sitting-room—a +dear old walk, which she had taken for years, since the time when the +children were little, and her brother and sister-in-law were still +alive; when twilight came she could no longer endure the solitude of +her spinster's room.</p> + +<p>Just as she was about to lay her hand on the bright brass door-handle, +she perceived by the dim light of the hall-lamp a girl who was sobbing +gently, her coarse linen apron thrown over her face.</p> + +<p>"What are you crying about, Marieken?" asked the old lady kindly, coming +back a step or two. The curly brown head was raised, and a young face, +bathed in tears and now red from embarrassment, looked up at Fräulein +Rosamond.</p> + +<p>"Ah, gracious Fräulein, I am to leave," she stammered, "and I——"</p> + +<p>"Why, what have you—?" The old lady got no further, for just then the +door was opened a little way and the clear, full tones of a youthful +feminine voice came out into the corridor.</p> + +<p>"That is my last word, Märtensen; I will not suffer such things in my +house. She may thank God that I have noticed her folly in good season. +Only think of Louisa Keller!"</p> + +<p>"God in heaven, Fräulein!" the person accosted replied in defence, +almost weeping. "The lass has done nothing bad, and he is certainly a +respectable man. O Fräulein, when one is young one knows too——"</p> + +<p>"For shame, Märtensen!" This came vehemently. "You know what I have +said. Take your Marieken and go. I will have no frivolous maids in my +house!"</p> + +<p>The door was now opened wide, and an old woman came out, her wrinkled +face red with excitement.</p> + +<p>"Come, lass," she called to the girl, who had just put her apron over +her eyes again; "troubles don't last forever! She'll feel it herself +some day yet! Driving away my girl as if she had been stealing!" And +without greeting the old lady, she seized her daughter by the arm and +drew her away with her.</p> + +<p>Rosamond von Hegewitz turned slowly to the door. A half-mocking, +half-earnest expression lay on the wise old face. "<i>Bon soir</i>, Anna +Maria!" said she, as she entered the brightly lighted sitting-room.</p> + +<p>A girl rose from the chair before the massive secretary, went toward the +new-comer, and received her with that formality which at the beginning +of our century had not yet disappeared from the circle of gentle +families, pressing to her lips the outstretched hand with an expression +of deepest respect.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, aunt; how are you feeling?"</p> + +<p>It was the same rich voice that had spoken before, and, like it, could +belong only to such a fresh young creature. Anna Maria von Hegewitz was +just turned eighteen, and the whole charm of these eighteen years was +woven about her slender figure and the rosy face under her braids of +fair hair. In contradiction to this girlishness, a pair of deep gray +eyes looked out from beneath the white forehead, seriously, and with +almost a look of experience, which, with a peculiar self-conscious +expression about the mouth, lent a certain austerity to the face.</p> + +<p>"Thank you, my dear, I am well," replied the old lady, seating herself +at the round table before the sofa, upon which were burning four candles +in shining brass candlesticks. "Don't let me interrupt you, <i>ma +mignonne</i>. I see I have broken in upon your writing; are you writing to +Klaus?"</p> + +<p>"I have only been looking over the grain accounts, aunt; I shall be done +in a moment. I shall not write again to Klaus, for he must return day +after to-morrow at the latest. If you will excuse me a moment——"</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly, child. I will occupy myself alone meanwhile." The old +lady drew her knitting-work from the silk bag and began to work, at the +same time glancing dreamily about the large, warm, comfortable room.</p> + +<p>She had known it thus long since; nothing in it had been altered since +her youth—the same deep arm-chairs around the table, the artistic +inlaid cupboards, even the dark, stamped leather wall-paper was still +the same, and the old rococo clock still ticked its low, swift +to-and-fro, as if it could not make the time pass quickly enough. And +there at the desk, where the young niece was sitting, her only brother +had worked and calculated, and at that sewing-table on the estrade at +the window had been the favorite seat of the sister-in-law who died so +young. But how little resemblance there was between mother and daughter!</p> + +<p>The old lady looked over toward her again. The girl's lips moved, and +the slender hand passed slowly with the pencil down the row of figures +on the paper. "Makes five hundred and seventy-five thaler, twenty-three +groschen," she said, half-aloud. "Correct!</p> + +<p>"Now, then, Aunt Rosamond, I am at your service." She extinguished the +candle, locked the writing-desk, and bringing a pretty spinning-wheel +from the corner, sat down near her aunt, and soon the little wheel was +gently humming, and the slender fingers drawing the finest of thread +from the shining flax. For a while the room was quiet, the silence +broken only by the howling of the storm and the crackling of the burning +log in the stove.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria," began the old lady at last, "you know I never interfere +with your arrangements, so pardon me if I ask why you send Marieken +away."</p> + +<p>"She has a love affair with Gottlieb," replied the niece, shortly.</p> + +<p>"I am sorry for that, Anna Maria; she was always a girl who respected +herself; ought you to act so severely?"</p> + +<p>"She gives him her supper secretly, and runs about the garden with him +on pitch-dark nights. I will not have such actions in my house, and know +that Klaus would not approve of it either." The words sounded strangely +from the young lips.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Anna Maria "—Rosamond von Hegewitz smiled "if you will judge +thus! These people have quite different sentiments from us, and—and you +cannot know, I suppose, if their views are honest?"</p> + +<p>"That is nothing to me!" replied Anna Maria. "They <i>cannot</i> marry, +because they are both as poor as church mice. What is to come of it? The +girl must leave; you surely see that, dear aunt?"</p> + +<p>The old lady now laughed aloud. "One can see, Anna Maria, that you know +nothing yet of a real attachment, or you would not proceed in so +dictatorial a manner."</p> + +<p>The slightest change came over the young face. "I <i>will</i> not know it, +either!" she declared firmly, almost turning away.</p> + +<p>"But, sweetheart," came from the old voice almost anxiously, "do you +think that it will always be so with you? You are eighteen years old—do +you think your heart will live on thus without ever feeling a passion? +And do you expect the same of your brother, Anna Maria? Klaus is still +so young——"</p> + +<p>The little foot stopped on the treadle of the wheel, and the gray eyes +looked in amazement at the speaker.</p> + +<p>"Don't you know then, aunt, that it is a long-established matter that +Klaus and I should always stay together? Klaus promised our mother on +her death-bed that he would never leave me. And I go away from Klaus? +Oh, sooner—sooner may the sky fall! Don't speak of such possibilities, +Aunt Rosamond. It is absurd even to think of."</p> + +<p>"Pardon me, Anna Maria"—the words sounded almost solemn—"I was present +when your dying mother took from Klaus his promise never to leave you, +always to protect you. But at the same time to forbid him to love +another woman, a woman whom his heart might choose, she surely did not +intend!"</p> + +<p>"Aunt Rosamond!" cried the girl, almost threateningly.</p> + +<p>"No, my child, I repeat it, your mother was much too wise, much too +just, to wish such a thing; she was too happy in her own marriage to +wish her children—But, <i>mon Dieu</i>, I am exciting myself quite +uselessly; you have such a totally false conception of this promise."</p> + +<p>"Klaus told me so himself, Aunt Rosamond," declared the girl, in a tone +which made contradiction impossible.</p> + +<p>Aunt Rosamond was silent; she knew well that all talking would be vain, +and that nothing in the world could convince Anna Maria that any object +worthy of love beside her beloved brother could exist. "<i>Nous verrons, +ma petite</i>," thought she, "you will not be spared the experience +either!"</p> + +<p>And now her thoughts wandered far back into the past, to the night when +Anna Maria was born. A terrible night! And as they passed on, there came +a day still more terrible; in the heavy wooden cradle, adorned with +crests, lay, indeed, the sweetly sleeping child, but the mother's eyes +had closed forever, not, however, without first looking, with a fervid, +anguished expression, at the little creature that must go through life +without a mother's love! And beside her bed had knelt a boy of fifteen, +who had to promise over and over again to love the little sister, and +protect and shield her.</p> + +<p>How often had Aunt Rosamond told this to the child as she grew up; how +often described to her how she had been baptized by her mother's coffin, +how her brother had held her in his arms and pressed her so closely to +him, and wept so bitterly. Indeed, indeed, there was not another brother +like Klaus von Hegewitz, that Aunt Rosamond knew best of all.</p> + +<p>She remembered how he had watched for nights at the child's bed when she +lay ill with measles; with what unwearied patience he had borne with her +whims, now even as then; how carefully he had marked out a course of +instruction and selected teachers for her, looked up lectures for her, +read and rode with her, and did everything that the most careful +parental love alone can do, and even more—much more! Indeed, Anna Maria +knew nothing of a parent's love; the father had always been a peculiar +person, especially so after the death of his wife: it almost seemed as +if he could not love the child whose life had cost a life. He was rarely +at home; half the year he lived in Berlin, coming back to the old +manor-house only at the hunting season. But never alone; he was always +accompanied by a young man, a Baron Stürmer, owner of the neighboring +estate of Dambitz, and two years older than Klaus.</p> + +<p>It was a singular friendship which had existed between these two men. +Hegewitz, well on in the sixties, gloomy and unsociable, and from his +youth distrustful of every one, and not even amiable toward his own +children, was affable only to his friend, so much younger. To this +moment Aunt Rosamond distinctly remembered the pale, nobly-formed face +with the fiery brown eyes and the dark hair. How gratefully she +remembered him! He had been the only one who understood how to mediate +between father and son, the only one who, with admirable firmness, had +again and again led the struggling little girl to her father; and he did +all this out of that incomprehensible friendship. The two used to play +chess together late into the night; they rode and hunted together; and +still one other passion united them—they collected antiquities.</p> + +<p>They searched the towns and villages for miles about for old carved +chests, clocks, porcelain, and pictures, and would dispute all night as +to whether a certain picture, bought at an auction, was by this or that +master, whether it was an original or a copy. They often remained away +for days on their excursions, and the treasures they won were then +artistically arranged in a tower-room—"a regular rag-shop," Aunt +Rosamond had once said in banter. "I only wonder they don't get me too +for this '<i>Collection Antique</i>.'" After the death of Hegewitz this +really valuable collection was found to be made over, by will, to Baron +Stürmer, "because Klaus did not understand such things." Stürmer +accepted the bequest, but he had it appraised by a person intelligent in +such matters, and paid the value to the heirs. Klaus von Hegewitz +refused to accept the sum, and so the two men agreed to found an +almshouse for the two villages of Bütze and Dambitz.</p> + +<p>That had happened ten years ago, and the collecting furor of the old +gentleman had borne good results.</p> + +<p>Soon after his death, Baron Stürmer went away on a journey; he had long +wished to travel, and had deferred his cherished plan only on his old +friend's account. His first goals had been Italy, Constantinople, and +Greece; he went to Egypt, he visited South America, Norway and Sweden, +and had travelled through Russia and the Caucasus. No one knew where he +was staying at present. He had written seldom of late years, at last not +at all; but his memory still lived in Bütze. Only Anna Maria no longer +spoke of him; indeed, she scarcely remembered him now: she was just +eight years old when he went away. Only this she still knew: that Uncle +Stürmer had often taken her by the hand and led her to her father, and +that at such times her heart had always beaten more quickly from fear. +Anna Maria had stood in real awe of her father, and when he died and was +buried, not a tear flowed from the child's eyes. Her entire affection +belonged to her brother, as she used to say, full of pride and love for +him.</p> + +<p>Aunt Rosamond had never been able to exert the slightest influence over +the girl's independent character.</p> + +<p>As soon as Anna Maria was confirmed, she hung the bunch of keys at her +belt, and took up the reins of housekeeping with an energy and +circumspection that aroused the admiration of all, and especially of the +old aunt, who was particularly struck by it, since she herself was a +tender, weak type of woman, to whom such energy in one of her own sex +could but seem incomprehensible.</p> + +<p>Anna Maria spun on quietly as all these thoughts succeeded each other +behind the wrinkled brow of her companion. She could sit and spin thus +whole evenings, without saying a word; she was quite different from +other girls! She did not allow a bird or a flower in her room, nor did +she ever wear a flower or a ribbon as an ornament. And yet one could +scarcely imagine a more high-bred appearance than hers. Whether she were +walking, in her house dress, through kitchen and cellar, or receiving +guests in the drawing-room, as happened two or three times a year, she +lost nothing in comparison with other ladies and girls; on the contrary, +she had a certain superiority to them, and Aunt Rosamond would sometimes +say to herself: "The others are like geese beside <i>her</i>!"—"Yes, what +may happen here yet?" she asked herself with a sigh.</p> + +<p>"A letter for the Fräulein!" A youth of perhaps twenty-five years, +dressed in simple dark livery, handed Anna Maria a letter.</p> + +<p>"From Klaus!" she cried joyfully, but held the letter in her hand +without opening it, and fixed her eyes upon the firm, resolute face of +the servant.</p> + +<p>"Well, Gottlieb, what is the matter with you?" she asked. "You look as +if your wheat had been utterly ruined."</p> + +<p>"Gracious Fräulein," the youth replied, with hesitation yet firmly, "the +master will have to look about for some one else—I am going away at New +Year."</p> + +<p>"Have you gone mad?" cried Anna Maria, frowning. "What is it here that +you object to?" She had risen and stepped up to the youth. "As for the +rest," she continued, "I can imagine why you have such folly in your +head. Because I have sent away Marieken Märtens, do you wish to go too? +Very well, I will not keep you; you may go; there are plenty of people +who would take your place. But if your father knew it he would turn in +his grave. Do you know how long your father served at Bütze?"</p> + +<p>"Fifty-eight years, Fräulein," replied the young fellow at once.</p> + +<p>"Fifty-eight years! And his son runs away from the service in which his +father grew old and gray, after a frivolous girl! Very well, you shall +have your way; but mind, any one who once goes away from here—never +returns. You may go."</p> + +<p>The servant's face grew deep red at the reproachful words of his young +mistress; he turned slowly to the door and left the room.</p> + +<p>Anna Maria had meanwhile broken the great crested seal, and was reading. +"Klaus is coming day after to-morrow!" After reading awhile, now as +happy as a child, she cried to the old lady: "Just hear, Aunt Rosamond, +what else he writes. I will read it aloud.</p> + +<p>"'I found my old Mattoni over his books as usual, but it seemed to me he +looked ill. I asked him about it, but he declared he was well. A +proposal to come and recuperate next summer in our beautiful country air +he dismissed with a shake of the head, "he had no time!" He is an +incorrigible bookworm.</p> + +<p>"'But now here is something particularly interesting! Do you know whom I +met yesterday "Unter den Linden," sunburned and scarcely recognizable? +Edwin Stürmer! He was standing by a picture-store, and I beside him for +some time, without a suspicion of each other; we were looking at some +pretty water-colors by Heuselt. All at once a hand was laid on my arm, +and a familiar voice cried: "Upon my word, Klaus, if you had not +developed that fine beard, I should have recognized you sooner!"</p> + +<p>"'I was exceedingly glad to see Edwin again, and rejoice still more at +the future prospect. The old vagabond is going to fold his wings at +last, and take care of his estate. He is coming shortly to Dambitz; +consequently we shall have a good friend again near us. As for the +rest, he wouldn't believe that you have become a young lady and no +longer wear long braids and short dresses.'"</p> + +<p>Anna Maria stopped, and looked into the distance, as if recalling +something. "I don't know exactly now how he looked," she said. "He wore +a full black beard, didn't he, aunt, and must be very old now?"</p> + +<p>"No indeed, <i>mon cœur</i>; he may be thirty-five at the most."</p> + +<p>"That is certainly old, Aunt Rosamond!"</p> + +<p>"That is the way young people judge," said the old lady, smiling.</p> + +<p>"It may be, aunt," said Anna Maria, and put the letter in her pocket. +She had begun to spin again, when an old woman in a dazzlingly white +apron entered the room.</p> + +<p>"Gracious Fräulein," she began respectfully, yet familiarly, "Marieken +is off, and has made a great commotion in the house, and the eldest of +the Weber girls has just applied for the place, but she asks for twelve +thaler for wages and a jacket at Christmas!"</p> + +<p>"Ten thaler, and Christmas according to the way she conducts herself," +Anna Maria replied, without looking up.</p> + +<p>The housekeeper disappeared, but returned after awhile.</p> + +<p>"Eleven thaler and a jacket, Fräulein; she will not come otherwise," she +reported. "You can surely give her that; she has no lover, and will +hardly get one, for she is already well on in years, and——"</p> + +<p>Anna Maria drew a purse from her pocket, and laid an eight-groschen +piece on the table. "The advance-money, Brockelmann; do you know that +Gottlieb wishes to leave?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, yes, Fräulein." The old woman was quite embarrassed. "I am +sorry; he doted upon the lass at one time, and at last—oh, heavens, +fräulein, one has been young too, and if two people love each +other—see, Fräulein, it is just as if one had drunk deadly hemlock. I +mean no offence, but you will know it yet some day, and, if God will, +may the handsomest and best man in the world come to Bütze and take you +home!"</p> + +<p>The old woman had spoken affectingly, and looked at her young mistress +with brightening eyes. Only she would have dared to touch on this point. +She had been Anna Maria's nurse, and a remnant of tenderness toward her +was still hidden somewhere in the girl's heart.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann, you cannot keep from talking," she cried, serenely. "You +know I shall <i>never</i> marry. What would the master do without me? Is +supper ready?"</p> + +<p>"The master!" said the good woman, without regarding the last question. +"He ought to marry too! As if it were not high time for him; he will be +thirty-three years old at Martinmas!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> + + +<p>A few days afterward Edwin Stürmer came to Bütze. Anna Maria was +standing just on the lower staircase landing, in the great stone-paved +entrance-hall, a basket of red-cheeked apples on her arm, and +Brockelmann stood near her with a candle in her hand. The unsteady light +of the flickering candle fell on the immediate surroundings, and, like +an old picture of Rembrandt's, the fair head of the girl stood out from +the darkness of the wide hall. Round about her there was a great hue and +cry; all the children of the village seemed to be collected there, and +sang with a sort of scream, to a monotonous air, the old Martinmas +ditty:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Martins, martins, pretty things,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With your little golden wings,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To the Rhine now fly away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To-morrow is St. Martin's Day.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Marieken, Marieken, open the door,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two poor rogues are standing before!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Little summer, little summer, rose's leaf,<br /></span> +<span class="i6">City fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give us something, O maiden fair!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>They were just beginning a new song when the heavy entrance-door opened, +and Baron Stürmer came in. Anna Maria did not see him at once, for, +according to an old custom of St. Martin's Eve, she was throwing a +handful of apples right among the little band, who pounced upon them +with cries and shouts. Only when a man's head rose up straight before +her, by the heavily carved banister, she glanced up, and looked into a +pale face framed by dark hair and beard, and into a pair of shining +brown eyes.</p> + +<p>For an instant Anna Maria was startled, and a blush of embarrassment +spread over her face; then she held out her hand to him and bade him +welcome. Far from youthful was her manner of speaking and acting.</p> + +<p>"Be still!" she called, in her ringing voice, to the noisy children; and +as silence immediately ensued, she added, turning to Stürmer: "They are +meeting me on important business, Herr von Stürmer, but I shall be ready +to leave at once; will you go up to Klaus for awhile?"</p> + +<p>He kept on looking at her, still holding her right hand; he had not +heard what she said at all. With quick impatience, at length she +withdrew her hand.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann, bring the candle here, and take the gentleman to my +brother," she ordered; but then, as if changing her mind, she threw the +whole basketful of apples at once among the children, who scrambled for +them, screaming wildly. The baron made his way with difficulty through +the groping throng to the stairs, where Anna Maria was now standing +motionless, and with earnest gaze regarding the man who in her childhood +had so often held her in his arms, and had so many a kind word for her.</p> + +<p>Yes, it was he again; the slender figure of medium height, the dark face +with the flashing eyes—and yet how different!</p> + +<p>Anna Maria had to admit to herself that it was a handsome man who was +coming up the steps just then; and old? She had to smile. "One sees +quite differently with a child's eyes!" she said to herself. Was it not +as if years were blotted out, and he was coming up as in the old times, +to hold her fast by her braids and say, "Don't run so, Anna Maria"?</p> + +<p>Silently up the stairs they went together, to the top, their steps +reëchoing from the walls.</p> + +<p>It really seemed now to Anna Maria as if her childhood had returned, the +sweet, remote childhood, with a thousand bright, innocent hours. +Involuntarily she held out to him her slender hand, and he seized it +quickly and forced the maiden to stand still. The sound of the +children's shouting came indistinctly to them up here; there was no one +beside them in the dim corridor.</p> + +<p>Words of pleasure at seeing the friend of her childhood again trembled +on Anna Maria's lips, but when she tried to speak the man's eyes met +hers, and her mouth remained closed. Slowly, and still looking at her, +he drew the slender hand to his lips; she allowed it as if in a dream, +then hastily caught her hand away.</p> + +<p>"What is that?" she asked, half in jest, half in anger; "I gave you my +hand because I was glad to greet the uncle of my childhood, and an +uncle——"</p> + +<p>"May not kiss one's hand," he supplied, a smile flitting over his face. +Anna Maria did not see it, having stepped forward into the sitting-room. +"A visitor, Klaus!" she called into the room, which was still dark.</p> + +<p>"Ah!" at once replied a man's voice. "Stürmer, is it you? Welcome, +welcome! You find us quite in the dark. We were just talking of you, and +of old times; were we not, Aunt Rosamond?"</p> + +<p>A merry greeting followed, an invitation to supper was given and +accepted, and Klaus von Hegewitz called for lights.</p> + +<p>"Oh, let us chat a little longer in the dark," said Aunt Rosamond. "Who +knows but we should seem stranger to each other if a candle were +lighted? Does it not seem, <i>cher baron</i>, as if it were yesterday that +you were sitting here with us, and yet——"</p> + +<p>"It is ten years ago, Stürmer," finished Klaus.</p> + +<p>"Truly!" assented Stürmer, "ten years!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, but how happy we have been here," the old lady ran on. "Do you +remember, Stürmer, how you carried me off once in the most festive +manner, in a sleigh, and on the way the mad idea came to you to drive on +past our godfather's, and then you landed us both so softly in the +deepest snow-drift—me in my best dress, the green brocade, you know, +that you always called my parrot's costume?"</p> + +<p>Klaus laughed heartily. "<i>À propos</i>, Stürmer," he asked, "have you seen +Anna Maria yet?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, I have already had the honor, on the landing down-stairs," +replied the baron.</p> + +<p>"The honor? Heavens, how ceremonious! Did you hear, dear?" asked the +brother. But no answer came. "Anna Maria!" he then called.</p> + +<p>"She is not here," said Aunt Rosamond, groping about to find the way out +of the room. "But it is really too dark here," she added.</p> + +<p>"Why haven't you married, Hegewitz?" Stürmer asked abruptly.</p> + +<p>"I might pass the question back to you," replied Klaus. "But let us +leave that alone, Stürmer, I will tell you something about it another +time." Klaus von Hegewitz had risen and stepped to the nearest window; +for a while silence reigned in the quiet room. Stürmer regretted having +touched upon a topic that evidently aroused painful emotions.</p> + +<p>"Every one has his experiences, Stürmer, so why should we be spared?" +Klaus turned around, beginning to speak again. "But it is overcome now. +I do not think about it any more," he added. "Will you have another +cigar?"</p> + +<p>"Not think about it any more?" cried the baron, not hearing the last +question. He laughed aloud. "At thirty-four? My dear Klaus, what will +become of you, then, when Aunt Rosamond dies and Anna Maria marries?"</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria? I haven't thought about that yet, Stürmer; she is still so +young, and—although—But one can see that it is possible to live so: +you give the best example!" Klaus was out of humor.</p> + +<p>The baron did not reply. He soon turned the conversation to agricultural +matters, and a discussion over esparcet and fodder was first interrupted +by the announcement that supper was served.</p> + +<p>Aunt Rosamond had, meanwhile, gone through the main hall and knocked at +a door at the end of the passage. Anna Maria's voice called, "Come in!" +She, too, was sitting in the dark, but she rose and lit a candle. The +light illuminated her whole face. "Anna Maria, are you ill?" her aunt +asked anxiously, and stepped nearer.</p> + +<p>"Not exactly ill, aunt, but I have a headache."</p> + +<p>"You have taken cold; why do you ride out in this sharp wind? You are +both inconsiderate, you and Klaus! Show me your pulse—of course, on the +gallop; go to bed, Anna Maria."</p> + +<p>"After supper, aunt; what would Klaus say if I were not there?"</p> + +<p>"But you are really looking badly, Anna Maria."</p> + +<p>The young girl laughed, took her bunch of keys in her hand and thus +compelled Aunt Rosamond to go with her. "Don't worry," she bade her, +"and above all, don't say anything to Klaus. He might think it worse +than it is."</p> + +<p>"Klaus, and always, only Klaus—<i>incroyable</i>!" murmured the old lady.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"If that wasn't a remarkable company at table this evening," said Klaus +von Hegewitz, as he reäntered the sitting-room, after escorting Baron +Stürmer down-stairs. "You, Anna Maria, did not say a word, and the +conversation dragged along till it nearly died out; if Aunt Rosamond had +not kept the thing up, why—really, it was peculiar. But how nice it is +when we are by ourselves, isn't it, little sister?"</p> + +<p>He had put his arm around Anna Maria, who stood at the table, looking +toward the window as if listening for something, and looked lovingly in +her face.</p> + +<p>The brother and sister resembled each other unmistakably in their +features, except that beside his earnestness a winning kindness spoke +from the brother's eyes, and the harsh lines about his mouth were hidden +by a handsome beard.</p> + +<p>"Yes," she replied quietly.</p> + +<p>"Now tell me, little sister, why you were so—so, what shall I call +it—icy toward Stürmer?"</p> + +<p>Anna Maria looked over at her brother and was silent.</p> + +<p>"Now out with it!" he said jokingly. "Didn't Stürmer treat you with +sufficient deference, or——"</p> + +<p>"Klaus!" She grew very red. "I will tell you," she then said; "the +recollections of old times came between us and spoke louder than words; +my childhood passed before my eyes, and—" She broke off, and looked up +at him; it was a sad look, yet full of unspeakable gratitude. Klaus drew +her to him, and pressed the fair head to his breast with his large white +hand.</p> + +<p>"My old lass, you're not going to cry?" he asked tenderly; but he, too, +was moved.</p> + +<p>She took his hand and pressed a kiss upon it. "Dear, dear Klaus," she +said softly, "I was only thinking how it would have been if you had not +loved me so very, very much?"</p> + +<p>Klaus von Hegewitz was silent, and looked thoughtfully down at her. +"Quite different, my little Anna Maria," said he at last; "it would have +been quite different—whether better? Who can fathom that; it must have +been so——"</p> + +<p>She looked up at him in astonishment, he had spoken so slowly and +earnestly. Then he stroked her forehead, pressed his sister to him +again, and then turned quietly to the corner-shelf and took down his +favorite pipe.</p> + +<p>"There, now we will make ourselves comfortable," said he. "Come, Anna +Maria, 'Tante Voss' is very interesting to-day."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Anna Maria stood long at her bedroom window and looked at the drifting +clouds of the night-sky. Now and then the moon peeped out, and tinged +the edges of the clouds with silver light; as they sped in strange forms +over her golden disk, there was a continual change in the fantastic +shapes, but Anna Maria saw it not. Confused thoughts chased each other +about in her brain, like the clouds above, and now and then, like the +brilliant constellation, a bright look from the long-known dark eyes +came before her mind. "It is the memory of childhood," she said to +herself, "yes, the memory!"</p> + +<p>Twelve o'clock struck from the church-tower near by, as, shivering with +cold, she stepped back from the window. She heard hasty steps coming +along the corridor; she knew it was Brockelmann going to bed. The next +moment she had opened the door; she hardly knew herself first what she +wanted, when the old woman was already crossing the threshold.</p> + +<p>"You are not sleeping yet, Fräulein? Ah, it is well that you are still +awake. I had a fine fright a little while ago. What do you think, +Marieken Märtens, the crazy thing, tried to drown herself; a man from +the village pulled her out of the pond."</p> + +<p>Anna Maria had grown white as a corpse; she had to sit down on the edge +of her bed, and her great eyes looked in sheer amazement at the old +woman. "What for?" she asked hastily, and almost sharply.</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Fräulein, for what else but because of the stupid affair with +Gottlieb? You know what his mother is. Marieken did not dare go home all +at once—there are mouths enough to feed: so her sweetheart took her +home to his mother, and she told him he should not come to her with a +girl whom the gracious Fräulein had dismissed, that he must not think of +marrying the girl as long as she lived; you know, Fräulein, the old +woman swears by the family here. And so the stupid thing took it into +her head to go into the water."</p> + +<p>Anna Maria looked silently before her, and her whole body shook as if +she had a chill.</p> + +<p>"Heavens, you are ill!" cried the old woman.</p> + +<p>"No, no," the girl denied, "I am not ill; go, only go; I am tired and +want to sleep."</p> + +<p>Brockelmann went to her room, shaking her head. "Well, well," she +murmured, "I did think she would be sorry for the poor girl, but no!" +She sighed, and closed the door behind her. But toward morning she was +suddenly startled from her slumber by the violent ringing of a bell in +her room.</p> + +<p>"Good heavens, Anna Maria!" she cried. "She is ill!" In her heart the +old woman still called her young mistress by her child's name. Hastily +throwing on one or two garments she hurried through the cold passage, +just lighted by the gray dawn. Anna Maria was sitting upright in her +bed, a candle was burning on the table by her side, and lit up a face +worn with weeping. The old woman saw plainly that the girl had been +weeping, though she extinguished the candle at once.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann!" she called to her, but not as usual in the old imperious +manner, and she now hesitated; "as soon as it is light, send for +Gottlieb's mother; I want to talk with her about the girl. And now go," +she added, as the old woman was about to say something, "I am so tired +to-day!"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> + + +<p>"The time passes away, one scarcely knows what has become of it; even in +my solitude, it does not seem long to me. Really, the starlings are here +already. Where has the winter gone? Strange!"</p> + +<p>Aunt Rosamond held this soliloquy at her chamber-window, as her gaze +followed the little messengers of spring, who vanished so briskly into +the wooden boxes, a large number of which had been placed for them on +the trees and buildings. It was no sunny spring day there without; the +clouds hung low and gray over the earth, and a warm, sultry wind tossed +about the budding branches unmercifully, as if to shake them into +complete awakening.</p> + +<p>The old lady did not like the overcast sky at all, it put her out of +humor. She could not wander about far out of doors, to be sure, but she +would fain have seen the little spot of earth that lay stretched out +before her window looking cheerful, and blue sky and sunshine lighting +up the fresh green of the meadows, and the oaks in foliage.</p> + +<p>"It ought to be always May or September here in the Mark," she used to +say; "then it would be the loveliest country in the world. In winter one +does best to draw the curtains, so as not to cast a single look out of +doors, it looks so melancholy outside, brown upon brown, with a shade of +dirty gray."</p> + +<p>And so she turned from the window and its dull outlook, and limped +quickly through the room, here and there arranging or straightening +something. That was such a habit of hers. Now the candelabra on the +spinet were moved a little, and now the delicate, withered hands picked +a yellow leaf from a plant on the flower-stand, or gave an improving +touch to the canopied bed which so pretentiously occupied an entire side +of the room. Aunt Rosamond called that her throne; one had to climb up a +pair of carpeted steps to reach it, and with its crimson silk hangings, +somewhat faded indeed, and gilded knobs, it really gave you the +impression of one. Then here and there she pushed back a coverlet or +straightened a picture which tipped a little to one side. The latter she +did most frequently, for the high walls were almost covered with +pictures, a collection of portraits, mostly in oil or pastel. Aunt +Rosamond knew a history about each one of the faces that looked so +quietly from the frames in her room; she had known them all, these men +and women there above, and strangely enough it sounded to hear her, as +she stood before some picture, tell its story in a few words.</p> + +<p>She had just limped to a card-table, over which was hung an oval pastel +portrait of a man with curled and powdered hair and a blue silk coat. +She gave the portrait a gentle push toward the right, but whether it was +the cord or the nail that had become loose, matters not, down fell the +picture, and lay face downward before Aunt Rosamond.</p> + +<p>"Let it lie, aunt, I beg you!" called Anna Maria's voice at this moment; +and before the old lady could collect herself, the girl had bent her +slender form, and handed her the picture.</p> + +<p>"<i>Merci, ma petite!</i>" she cried kindly, and looked into her niece's +face; and, indeed, if Aunt Rosamond missed the spring without, now it +had come, bodily, into her room.</p> + +<p>Anna Maria still had on a dark-blue riding-habit which closely fitted +her fine, strong figure, and the young face looked out from behind the +blue veil with such a spring-like freshness, that it quite warmed Aunt +Rosamond's heart.</p> + +<p>"Have you been riding, Anna Maria?" asked the old lady, as the girl +endeavored to find the fallen nail.</p> + +<p>"Yes, aunt, I rode with Klaus for an hour on the Dambitz cross-road; +afterward we met Stürmer by chance, and took a cup of coffee at Dambitz +Manor."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" Aunt Rosamond seemed quite indifferent to this, although she +looked searchingly at the reddening face of her niece, who, apparently, +was very attentively regarding the rescued nail in her hand.</p> + +<p>"Are the snow-drops in bloom already at Dambitz?" inquired the old lady. +"Well, the garden lies well protected. But what do you say, Anna Maria, +will you stay and rest with me? I think we will sit down a little +while—<i>n'est-ce pas, mon cœur</i>?"</p> + +<p>Anna Maria stood irresolute; she looked over at her aunt, who had +already seated herself on the straight-backed, gayly flowered sofa, and +pointed invitingly to an easy-chair. It was so comfortable in this cosey +old room; the rococo clock with the Cupid bending his bow told its low +tick-tack, and a sudden shower beat against the window panes; it was a +little hour just made for chatting of all sorts of possible things, of +the past and of the future.</p> + +<p>Anna Maria slowly seated herself in the chair; she neither leaned back +gracefully and comfortably nor rested her fair head on the cushions. +Always straight as a candle, she carried herself perfectly, and so she +remained now. But sudden blushes and deep pallor interchanged on her +face, which turned with an expression of perfect, modest maidenliness +toward the old lady's face. One could see that she wished to say +something, and that her severe, unsympathetic nature was struggling with +an overflowing heart.</p> + +<p>Her aunt did not seem to notice it at all; she had taken up a book whose +once green velvet binding was worn and faded with age. The delicate +fingers turned leaf after leaf; then she glanced over a page, and after +a pause said:</p> + +<p>"Actually, Anna Maria, Felix Leonhard has fallen from the wall on his +birthday; how singular! Now people call that chance, but how strange it +is! I have always remembered the day hitherto, until to-day, and have +been going about all the time with a feeling as if I had forgotten +something, I could not exactly think what And then he announced himself. +<i>Mon pauvre</i> Felix! You shall have your flowers to-day, as every year." +And she caressingly touched the picture before her on the table. Then +she looked over to Anna Maria almost shyly, for she knew that her niece +sometimes smiled scornfully at signs and forebodings.</p> + +<p>But to-day the deep line about Anna Maria's mouth was not to be seen; +she looked thoughtfully at the picture, and asked: "Who was Felix +Leonhard, aunt?"</p> + +<p>"An early friend of my brother's," replied the old lady.</p> + +<p>"Is he the one, aunt—I think you told me a strange story once about +some one shooting himself for the sake of a girl?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes, quite right, my child. This gay, handsome man once took a +pistol and shot himself for the sake of a girl; quite right, Anna +Maria. And he was no youth then, he was well on in the thirties, and yet +did this horrible deed, unworthy of a peaceable man. Oh, it was a misery +not to be described, Anna Maria!" She shook her head and passed her +hands over her eyes, as if to frighten away a horrible picture.</p> + +<p>"Why did he do it, aunt?" asked Anna Maria, in an unusually warm tone; +"was she faithless to him, or——"</p> + +<p>"She did not love him, <i>ma petite</i>; she had been persuaded by her +parents and brothers and sisters to become engaged to him. He was in +most excellent circumstances, and one of the best men I ever knew. He +became acquainted with her at a ball in Berlin, and fell violently in +love with her, although before that no one had ever considered his a +passionate nature. She was not young at the time, not even particularly +pretty, and with the exception of a pair of melancholy great eyes did +not possess a charm. <i>Eh bien</i>, after endless doubts and struggles, she +accepted his suit. The engagement lasted a whole year, and she was as +shy and discreet a <i>fiancée</i> as could be found; he, on the other hand, +was full of touching attentions to her; indeed, to use a worn-out +figure, he carried her about in his hands. The nearer the wedding-day +approached, the more dreadful grew the poor girl's state of mind. She +had repeatedly asked various people if they believed she could make her +lover happy, and she was always turned off with a jest, yet quite +seriously as well, on the part of her brothers and sisters. Then on the +wedding-day, half an hour before the ceremony was to take place, pale +and trembling, she announced that she must take back her word, she could +not speak perjury—she did not love him, and she did not wish his +unhappiness! Ah, I shall never forget that day—the anxious faces of the +guests as the report of this refusal began to spread, and the terrible +anger of her brother. What followed in her room was never made public; I +only know that she persisted in her refusal, and that same evening he +shot himself in the garden. <i>Voilà tout!</i>"</p> + +<p>Anna Maria was silent; she had turned pale. "And <i>she</i>, aunt?" asked the +girl after a pause.</p> + +<p>"She! Well, she lived on, and even married not very long afterward; she +did not love him at all, Anna Maria. Who knows his own heart?"</p> + +<p>For an instant it seemed as if Anna Maria was about to answer, but she +closed her lips again. The room was still. She was leaning back now; she +was almost trembling, and her eyes turned thoughtfully to the picture +before her. Without, the rain was beating with increased force against +the windows, and the wind drove great snowflakes about in a whirling +dance, between whiles; April weather, fighting and struggling, storming +and raging, so spring will come.</p> + +<p>The old lady on the sofa looked out on this raging of the elements, and +thought how such a powerful spring storm rages in every human heart, and +how scarcely a person in the world is spared such a fight and struggle; +she knew it from her own experience, though she was only a poor cripple, +and a hundred times had she seen the storm rage in the breast of +another. To many, indeed, out of the struggle and longing, out of snow +and sunshine, had arisen a spring as beautiful as a dream; but for many +was the stormy April weather followed by a frosty May, killing all +blossoms; as for herself, as for Kla—She left the thought unfinished, +and quickly turned her head toward her niece, as if fearing she might +have guessed her thoughts. And then—she was almost confounded—then +the young girl's rosy face bent down to her, and Aunt Rosamond saw a +shining drop in the eyes always so cold and clear. Anna Maria sat down +beside her on the figured sofa, and threw her soft arms about her neck.</p> + +<p>The heart of the old lady beat faster; it was the first time in her life +that Anna Maria had showed any tenderness toward her. She sat quite +still, as in a dream, as if the slightest movement might frighten the +girl away, like a timid bird. And "Aunt Rosamond!" came the half-sobbing +sound in her ear. "Oh, aunt, help me—advise me—for Klaus——"</p> + +<p>Just then the door was quickly thrown open. "The master sends word for +the Fräulein to come down-stairs at once," called Brockelmann, quite out +of breath. "He can't find Isaac Aron's receipts for the last delivery of +grain, and——"</p> + +<p>"I am coming! I am coming!" called the girl. She had sprung up, and +quickly thrown the skirt of her riding-habit over her arm. The spell was +broken; there stood Anna Maria von Hegewitz again, the mistress of +Bütze, as firm, as full of business as ever.</p> + +<p>She crossed the room with quick steps, but turning again at the door, +she said softly, and embarrassed, "I will come up again this evening, +aunt." Then she closed the door behind her.</p> + +<p>Aunt Rosamond remained as still as a mouse in her sofa-corner; she had +to reflect whether this blushing, caressing girl who had just been +sitting beside her were really Anna Maria von Hegewitz, her niece. She +passed her hand over her forehead, and confused thoughts passed through +her mind. "<i>Quelle métamorphose!</i>" she whispered to herself, and at +length said aloud, "Anna Maria is certainly in love; love only makes +one so gentle, so—<i>je ne sais quoi</i>! Anna Maria loves Stürmer! How +disagreeable that Brockelmann happened to come in with her grain bills! +<i>Mon Dieu!</i> the child, the child! I wonder if Klaus suspects it? What is +to become of you, my splendid old boy, if Anna Maria goes away? But what +if he should marry, too?"</p> + +<p>She rose from the sofa and stepped to the window again. It had stopped +raining, and a last lingering ray of sunshine broke from the clouds and +was spread, like a golden veil, over the wet, budding trees and shrubs. +"Spring is coming," she said half aloud. And now she began to walk up +and down the room, but this time the pictures were undisturbed. Her +hands were clasped, and now and then she shook her gray head gently, as +if incredulously.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> + + +<p>Meanwhile Anna Maria had gone quickly down-stairs and entered her +brother's room. He was sitting at his desk, rummaging about in the +drawers for the missing papers. Klaus von Hegewitz was exactly like +other men in this respect, that he never could find anything, and grew +so vexed in hunting, that from very irritation he found nothing. At the +door stood the farm inspector and a little old man who was well known at +Bütze, Isaac Aron the Jew. He made a deep reverence to Anna Maria, and +said contentedly: "Now matters will be brought into good shape; the +gracious Fräulein knows the place of everything in the whole house."</p> + +<p>Anna Maria paid no attention to this, but, going to the desk, +confidently put her hand into a drawer, and gave a little packet of +papers to her brother. "There, Klaus," said she, looking with a smile in +his flushed face, "why did you not call me at once?"</p> + +<p>The troubled face grew bright. "Upon my word, Anna Maria," he cried +gayly, "these are stupid things; I have had that package in my hands +twenty times at least. A thousand thanks! I say again and again, Anna +Maria, what would become of me without you?"</p> + +<p>The smile suddenly disappeared from her face, and she looked +thoughtfully at the stately figure of her brother, who had stepped up to +the men and was negotiating with them. The words fell on her ears as in +a dream, and quite mechanically she took up her train and walked out of +the room. As she was about to close the door, her brother called after +her: "Anna Maria, shall I meet you by and by in the sitting-room? The +gardener wants to talk with us about the new work in the wood."</p> + +<p>She had no idea, as she stood outside, whether or not she had answered +him; then she sat down in her room, and her eyes wandered about the +familiar spot and rested at length on her brother's portrait. But she +saw it not; in her mind was another picture, another man's head. The +red-tiled roof of Dambitz Manor rose before her eyes, and over him and +her the brown, budding branches of the linden-walk in the Dambitz garden +fluttered and beat in the damp spring air, and at their feet long rows +of snow-drops bloomed and shook their little white heads.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria," he had called her, "Anna Maria," as in her childhood. She +started up, as if awakening from a long, deep dream. Ah, no! it was +true; scarcely an hour ago he had spoken thus to her, and Anna Maria von +Hegewitz had stood before him as if under a spell.</p> + +<p>What else had he said? She knew no longer, only the words "Anna Maria" +sounded to her very soul; and as on that St. Martin's Eve she had put +her hands in his, and he had drawn her close to him—only one short +moment, she scarcely knew whether it were dream or reality. Then Klaus +had come down the steps—"Klaus! ah, Heaven, Klaus!"</p> + +<p>She leaned her head against the back of the sofa and closed her eyes. +She saw herself going away from the old house here. Could her foot cross +the threshold? And she saw Klaus looking in the door-way, looking after +her with his kind, true eyes, perhaps with tears in them. And there came +to her all the words which she had so often spoken to him, caressingly: +"<i>I will stay with you, Klaus, always, always!</i>" And now the strong +girl began to weep; she scarcely knew what tears were, but now they +gushed from her eyes with all the force of a shaken soul.</p> + +<p>And yet above all this pain there hovered a feeling of infinite +happiness, through the dark veil of sadness gleamed bright rays—the +premonitions of a wonderful future, the suspicion that the life which +she had led hitherto was hardly to be called living, because that one +thing had been wanting which first consecrates and gives value to a +happy life.</p> + +<p>She rose and went up to her brother's portrait. "Klaus, dear Klaus, I +cannot help it, indeed!" she whispered; and then she wandered about the +room, a tender smile on her lips, and a laugh in her eyes.</p> + +<p>The sound of the servants' supper-bell roused her from her dreams; she +changed her riding-habit for a house-dress, but laid the snow-drops in +the Bible on her writing-desk, and gave the little white blossoms a +caressing touch before she took up her basket of keys to leave the room. +She was met on the way to the sitting-room by a fresh, curly-haired +girl, carrying an armful of flashing brass candlesticks, her black eyes +almost as bright as the shining metal.</p> + +<p>"Well, Marieken," asked Anna Maria, "is the outfit ready?"</p> + +<p>The brisk girl laughed all over her face. "Oh, not quite, Fräulein; but +it is three weeks to Easter, and Gottlieb is painting the rooms now in +our house, and the cabinet-maker is going to bring our things next +week."</p> + +<p>Anna Maria nodded kindly, but did not reply. Her thoughts were already +again in Dambitz, wandering through the rooms of the castle. Most of +them were still empty, but a time was doubtless coming for her too when +the cabinet-maker would bring her things. And Anna Maria looked at the +girl and smiled; she knew not why herself; it was from overflowing +happiness. And Marieken laughed too—a perfect harmony of youth, hope, +and happiness. Then the girl ran on with her candlesticks, and Anna +Maria walked down the corridor, and in both hearts was the same +sunshine. She must hurry, for Klaus would surely be waiting for her, he +wanted to speak with her about the work in the garden.</p> + +<p>Next to Klaus's room was a small room, where Anna Maria remembered to +have put away in her portfolio of drawings the roughly sketched plan of +the alterations, and as Klaus was not yet in the sitting-room she +hurried back to get it.</p> + +<p>It was almost dark, and she could but indistinctly discern the objects +in the little room, which Klaus jokingly called his library because of a +bookcase which found its place there. So the more distinctly came to her +ears a hearty laugh from her brother, and, with the laugh, the sound of +her own name.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria, do you say? My own aunt, it is perfectly ridiculous!"</p> + +<p>"Laugh then, you unbeliever, you will soon be convinced of the truth of +my conjecture. We women, especially we old maids, Klauschen, look at +such things more sharply. Soon some one will come and carry away your +darling, and then we too may sit here and have the dumps, my beloved +boy! What will become of us?"</p> + +<p>"<i>Some one</i>, aunt? You speak in riddles."</p> + +<p>"Well, since you are so dreadfully smitten with blindness, <i>mon cher</i>, +it is a Christian duty on my part to open your eyes. Do you not see the +girl's entirely altered manner? Have you never—But to what purpose is +all this? In short, Anna Maria loves Stürmer!"</p> + +<p>Another hearty laugh interrupted the old lady. But Anna Maria, with +closed eyes, leaned against the door-post; the ground seemed to give way +beneath her feet.</p> + +<p>"Kurt Stürmer? Uncle Stürmer? But, my dear aunt," cried the young man, +"he might almost be her father!"</p> + +<p>"Is that a hindrance, Klaus?"</p> + +<p>"No! I don't believe it, however. Shall we bet?"</p> + +<p>Anna Maria straightened up. She was on the point of going in and saying, +"Why do you argue? I do love him—yes! a thousand times, yes!" But she +stood still; her brother's voice sounded so strangely altered.</p> + +<p>"Aunt Rosamond, I <i>cannot</i> believe it!"</p> + +<p>"Klaus! Have you not thought for a long time that it must happen some +day?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes! But—Ah! I have stood in fear of this hour, since the child +is the only one to whom my heart clings; you do not know how much, +perhaps, aunt!"</p> + +<p>"Klaus,"—the old lady's voice was melting with tenderness—"my dear old +lad, you are still young: why should there not be a happiness yet in +store for you? I have often told you you ought to marry."</p> + +<p>"Marry? You say that to me, aunt? and you know that I have been a +wretched being for years, because——"</p> + +<p>"But, Klaus, do you still think of that?" sounded the anxious voice of +the aunt.</p> + +<p>"Still?" he repeated ironically. "Am I not daily reminded of it? Do you +think, because I live so peacefully now and can join in a laugh, because +food and wine taste good to me—I see the tower of her family home +whenever I go to the window, I see Anna Maria, I cannot pass that fatal +spot in the garden without the words she then spoke reächoing in my +soul. I know them by heart, aunt, I have called and whispered them for +weeks in fever; and ever again her enchanting figure stands before my +eyes, and that sweet, beseeching tone rings in my ears, as seductive as +Satan himself: '<i>Put that obstinate, disagreeable child out of your +house; she interferes with our happiness!</i>'"</p> + +<p>He laughed scornfully. "And because I would not consent to that, and did +not break a promise given to my dying mother, then—she cast me off like +a garment that does not fit comfortably enough—then—then——"</p> + +<p>"Klaus! Klaus! for God's sake!" The anxious voice of the old lady +interrupted his speaking, which had risen to vehemence.</p> + +<p>But in the little room lay Anna Maria on her knees, her head almost +touching the floor. It had become still in the next room, except for the +sound of rapid steps as the young man paced the floor.</p> + +<p>"And now—yes, yes, it had to happen!" said he softly. "I am no egoist, +certainly not, but it will be unspeakably hard for me to give her up. +Oh, yes, I shall see her often. I can ride over any minute; she will +come to us too—certainly. But see, aunt—but I am a fool, really, a +fool! It is the way of the world, and I do not understand why I did not +see long ago that Stürmer is fond of Anna Maria; it is, indeed, so +natural. How good it is that I am prepared; not the slightest shadow +shall fall on Anna Maria's happiness. Your eyes ask that, Aunt Rose? No, +be quiet, be quiet!"</p> + +<p>Anna Maria remained motionless on the cold floor, leaning her head +against the door-post. She no longer understood what they were saying +in the next room; she kept hearing only that one dreadful speech: "Put +the child out of the house; she interferes with our happiness!" His +happiness! Klaus's happiness! She passed her cold hand over her +forehead, as if she must convince herself whether or not it was a dream. +No, no; she was awake, she could move her feet as well, she could walk +out of the little room, along the corridor, to her own room.</p> + +<p>Marieken was just coming along the passage. Anna Maria stopped, and bade +her say to Fräulein Rosamond that she was not coming to the table; she +had a headache, and wanted to be alone that evening.</p> + +<p>The girl looked in alarm at the pale face of her mistress. "Shall I call +Brockelmann?" she asked anxiously.</p> + +<p>Anna Maria made a negative gesture, and laid her hand on the door-knob, +and then turned her head. "Marieken!"</p> + +<p>The girl came back.</p> + +<p>"It is nothing—only go!" She then hastily turned away, and shut and +bolted her door at once.</p> + +<p>"She wishes to be alone with her thoughts," remarked Aunt Rosamond at +the supper table, where she and Klaus sat, right and left of the absent +one's place. Klaus did not reply at once, but looked at that place and +said at length: "So it will always be, soon!" And the old lady nodded +sadly; she knew not what to reply, and a secret anxiety about the future +stole over her, since she had seen that Klaus still bore the old wound +which he had received many years ago. She had supposed it healed long +since.</p> + +<p>The next morning Anna Maria went as usual, with her bunch of keys, +through kitchen and cellar. She was pale, and her orders sounded +shorter and less friendly than they had of late. Only to Klaus she gave +a friendly smile, but it was forced, and her eyes had no share in it. +She looked over accounts with him for two hours, and, though he was +distracted and restless, the results were perfectly correct. Aunt +Rosamond alone was alarmed at the girl's appearance, but she did not +venture to ask any questions. Anna Maria was as icily cold as often +heretofore.</p> + +<p>The next day, toward evening, Klaus came into Aunt Rosamond's room. The +old lady had just hung up Felix Leonhard's portrait again, after +carefully making fast the broken cord.</p> + +<p>"Well, who was right, Aunt Rose?" he asked. He was standing beside her, +and she saw that his face had grown very red, and that his whole being +was stirred.</p> + +<p>"Right? In what, Klaus?"</p> + +<p>"In your assertion about Anna Maria. She does not love him!"</p> + +<p>"Did she say so? Oh, well, it doesn't follow at all that a girl has +spoken the truth, if she says she does <i>not</i> love a certain person, does +not even like him. I have experienced the contrary a hundred times; +those who talk so hide a warm affection under cold words."</p> + +<p>"Not this time, Aunt Rose. Anna Maria has definitely refused him!"</p> + +<p>The old lady sank, quite overcome, into the nearest chair. "Klaus! +<i>Est-il possible?</i> Has he spoken already, then?"</p> + +<p>"Not to her, but to me, aunt. He came about five o'clock this afternoon; +Anna Maria was sitting at the window as he rode into the court, and she +got up at once and went to her room. Stürmer sent in word to me that he +wanted to speak to me alone; and then—truly, Aunt Rose, you do know how +to observe—then he said to me that he loved Anna Maria, that he thought +his affection was reciprocated, and other things that people usually say +on such occasions; he spoke of his age, and said that he would be not +only a husband but a father as well to Anna Maria. I assured him that I +had the deepest respect for him, which is quite true, and after about an +hour went to Anna Maria to get her answer. Her door was open; she was +sitting at her little sewing table by the window, looking out into the +garden; she held her New Testament in her hand, but laid it down as I +came near her. I thought she had been crying, and turned her face around +to me; but her eyes were dry and burning, and her forehead feverishly +hot. As I began to speak she turned her head to the window again and sat +motionless as a statue. I must have asked her certainly three times: +'Anna Maria, what shall I answer him? Will you do it yourself? Shall I +send him to you?' 'No, no!' she cried at length, 'don't send him! I +cannot see him; tell him that I—he must not be angry with me—I do not +love him! Klaus, I cannot go away from here! Let me stay with you!' And +then she sprang up, threw her arms about my neck, and stuck to me like a +bur; but her whole frame trembled, and I thought I could feel her hot +hands through my coat. After much persuasion, and promising that I would +never force her, I got her so far as to sit down quietly at last; but I +had to give the poor fellow his answer—and that was no trifling +matter!"</p> + +<p>"For God's sake, Klaus, what did Stürmer say?"</p> + +<p>"Not one word, aunt; I spared him all I could, but he grew as white as +the plaster on the wall. At last he asked: 'Can I speak to Anna Maria?' +I said, 'No,' in accordance with her wish; then he took up his hat and +whip, and bade me good-by as heartily as usual, to be sure, but the hand +he gave me trembled. Poor fellow! I do pity him!"</p> + +<p>"And Anna Maria?"</p> + +<p>"I cannot find her, aunt, either in the sitting-room or in her own +room."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>At the farther end of the Hegewitz garden stood an old, very old linden; +the spot was somewhat elevated, and a turfy slope stretched down to the +budding privet-hedge which bounded the garden. Under the linden was a +sandstone bench, also old and weather beaten, and from here one could +look away out on the Mark country, far, far out over cornfields and +green meadows, dark pine forests and sandy patches of heath.</p> + +<p>There stood Anna Maria, looking toward the meadow on the other side of +the road, with its countless fresh mole-hills, and the wet road which +ran along beside the quiet little river, on whose banks the willows were +already growing yellow. How often of late had she stood here, how often +waited till a brown horse's head emerged from among the willows, and +then turned quickly and hurried into the house, for he must not see that +she was watching for him with all the longing of a warm, first love. And +<i>to-day</i>? She did not know herself how she had come hither, and she +looked blankly away into the mist of the spring evening as if she +neither saw the golden rays of the setting sun nor heard the shouting of +the village children in the distance. The air was intoxicatingly soft +and played gently with the black lace veil which had fallen from Anna +Maria's fair hair. She noticed it not. Then she quickly turned her head; +the breathing and step of a horse sounded along by the hedge: "Kurt +Stürmer!" she whispered, and started to go. But she stopped and saw him +come near, saw him ride away in the rosy evening; his eyes were cast +downward. How could he know who was looking after him with eyes almost +transfixed with burning pain? She stood there motionless, and looked +after him; the horse's tread sounded ominously in her ears as he stepped +upon the little bridge which united the Dambitz and Hegewitz fields, and +she still remained motionless after the willows had hidden the solitary +horseman from sight.</p> + +<p>Meanwhile the sunset glow had become deep crimson, and faded again; the +wind blew harder, and rocked the budding linden-boughs, and bore along +with it the sound of a maiden's voice; an old song floated past Anna +Maria out into the country:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"I had better have died<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Than have gained a love.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, would I were not so sad!"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Then she turned and ran along the damp garden path as if pursued; she +stood still by the fish-pond, so close to it that the water touched her +foot, and looked into the dark mirror. In these Marieken had sought +oblivion when she might not have her Gottlieb! Was it really such +madness, if one—? And Anna Maria stretched out her arms and sprang into +the little decaying boat by the bank.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!" called a man's voice just then, through the +still garden.</p> + +<p>"Klaus!" she murmured, as if awakening; she tried to answer, but no +sound came from her lips. With a shudder, she climbed out of the +floating boat and turned her steps toward the house.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> + + +<p>Spring had come again. Two years had passed since that evening. In Bütze +Manor-house there was a vaulted, out-of-the-way room, which was entered +by a low, small door at the end of a dark passage; the windows looked +out upon the garden. Tall trees forbade entrance to the light, which had +to seek admission through an artistic old lattice-work as well. This had +been the lumber-room from time immemorial. All sorts of things lay, +hung, and stood there, in perfect confusion. Old presses and chests, old +spinning-wheels with yellowed ivory decorations, and dark oil portraits +on which one could hardly detect the trace of a face; a huge bedstead +with heavy gilt knobs—a French general had slept on it in the year +nine, and the late Herr von Hegewitz had banished the bed to the +lumber-room as a desecrated object after that, for it had originally +been made to shelter a prince of the royal family for a night. The wings +of the gilded eagle who sat so proudly at the top were broken off, and +his beak held now only a shred of the crimson curtain, as the last +remnant of former splendor. Fine cobwebs reached from one piece of +furniture to another, and yellowish dust lay on the floor, a sign that +the wood-worm was undisturbed here.</p> + +<p>Here Anna Maria stood and looked about her, as if in search of +something. She scarcely knew herself just why she had come in here; she +had happened to go by, and then it had flashed across her mind that it +might be well to give the old lumber-room a breath of fresh spring air, +and she had taken the bunch of keys from her belt and come in. The young +linden leaves outside let one or two inquisitive sunbeams through the +window, and myriads of grains of dust floated up and down in them. It +was so quiet in the room, among the antique furniture. Anna Maria was +just in the mood for it; she sat down in an arm-chair and leaned her +head against the moth-eaten cushion, her eyes half-closed, her hands +folded in her lap.</p> + +<p>She felt so peaceful; the old furniture seemed to preach to her of the +perishable nature of man. Where were all the hands that had made it? the +eyes that had delighted in it? She thought how some time her +spinning-wheel, too, would stand here, and how many days and hours must +pass before strange hands would bring it here, as superfluous rubbish. +Strange hands! She felt a sudden fear. Strange hands! For centuries +Bütze had descended in direct line from father to son—and now?</p> + +<p>Anna Maria rose quickly and went to the window, as if to frighten away +unpleasant thoughts; the soft, mild spring air blew toward her and +reminded her of the most unhappy hour of her life, and again she turned +and walked quickly through the room. Then her foot struck against +something, and she saw the cradle, lightly rocking in front of her—the +heavy, gayly painted old cradle in which the Hegewitzes had had their +first slumber for more than two hundred years—Klaus too, and she too. +And Anna Maria knelt down and threw her arms about the little rocking +cradle, and kissed the glaring painted roses and cherubs, and a few +bitter tears flowed from under her lashes, the first that she had shed +since that day.</p> + +<p>"Why did I, too, have to lie there in the cradle? It might have been so +different, so much better," she thought. "Poor thing, you must decay and +fall to dust here, and at last irreverent hands will take you and throw +you into the fire. Poor Klaus! For my sake!" And almost tenderly she +wiped the dust from the arabesques on the back, and shook up the little +yellow pillows.</p> + +<p>Just then came the sound of a quick, manly step in the passage, and +before Anna Maria had time to rise, Klaus stood in the open door.</p> + +<p>"Do I find you here?" he asked in astonishment, and at first laughing, +then more serious, he looked at Anna Maria, who rose and came toward +him.</p> + +<p>"I wanted to let some fresh air in here, and found our old cradle, +Klaus," she said quietly.</p> + +<p>"Yes, Anna Maria—but you have been crying," he rejoined.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I was only thinking that it was quite unnecessary that the poor +thing should have been hunted up again for me!" The bitterness of her +heart pressed unconsciously to her lips to-day.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria! What puts such thoughts into your head?" asked Klaus von +Hegewitz, in amazement. And drawing his sister to him, he stroked her +hair lovingly. "What should I do without you?"</p> + +<p>She made a slight convulsive movement, and freed herself from his arms.</p> + +<p>"But, listen, sister," he continued, "I know whence such feelings come. +You must become low-spirited in this old nest; you have no companions of +your own age, you withdraw more and more from every youthful pleasure, +and, although you think you can do without these things, you will have +to pay for it some day."</p> + +<p>Anna Maria shook her head.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes!" he continued, stepping in front of the window, and his tall +figure obstructed the sunlight so that the room grew dark all at once. +"I have seen more of life, I know it. What should you think, Anna Maria, +if you—" He paused and drew a letter from his pocket. "I had better +read the letter to you. I was just looking for you, to talk with you +about it. Professor Mattoni is dead!"</p> + +<p>Anna Maria looked over to him sympathetically. Klaus had turned around +and was looking out of the window; the paper in his hand shook slightly. +She knew how deeply the news of this death touched him. Professor +Mattoni had been his tutor, had lived in Bütze for years, and the +pleasantest memories of his boyhood were connected with this man. As a +youth he had had in him a truly fatherly friend and adviser, and had +since visited him every year, in Berlin, where he held a position as +professor in the E—— Institute.</p> + +<p>Anna Maria took her brother's hand and pressed it silently. "Yet one +true friend less," she then said; "we shall soon be quite alone, Klaus!"</p> + +<p>"He was more than a friend to me, Anna Maria," he replied gently, "he +was a father to me."</p> + +<p>She nodded; she knew it well. "And the letter?" she asked.</p> + +<p>"A last request, almost illegible; he wishes that I should take charge +of his little daughter, till she—so he writes—till she is independent +enough to take up the battle of life."</p> + +<p>"His little daughter?" asked Anna Maria. "Had he still so young a +child?"</p> + +<p>"I am sorry to say," said Klaus, "that I know nothing at all of his +family affairs. He married late in life, and probably had every reason +for not presenting his better half: some said he picked her up somewhere +in Hungary; others, that she had been a chorus singer in one of the +inferior theatres in Berlin. I never spoke to him about it, and when I +went to his house I saw in his study no indications that any female +being presided there. I have never noticed anything on my frequent +visits to show that such a person lived with Mattoni, and remember just +once that while we were having a pleasant hour's chat, a child's cry +came from the next room, whereupon he got up and knocked emphatically on +the door. The screaming child was probably carried to a back room, for +it grew still next door, and we talked on. Then I once heard that his +wife was dead; I have never seen any outward tokens of affliction on +him, but the child seems to be alive."</p> + +<p>"And now, Klaus?"</p> + +<p>The tall man had turned, and was looking absently at the little wooden +cradle.</p> + +<p>"And now, Anna Maria? I owe him so much"—he spoke almost +imploringly—"may I impose such a burden upon you?"</p> + +<p>"Klaus, what a question! Of course! Please take the necessary steps at +once, and have the child come."</p> + +<p>"The child, Anna Maria? Why, I think she must have reached the limits of +childhood now!"</p> + +<p>"That doesn't matter, Klaus. Then I will instruct her in housekeeping, +and all sorts of things which she may find useful in her life."</p> + +<p>"I thank you sincerely, Anna Maria," he replied; "I hope you will take +pleasure in the girl." He said this with a sigh of relief, which did not +escape Anna Maria's ear.</p> + +<p>"You act exactly as if you had been afraid of me, Klaus," she remarked, +with a passing smile; "as if I should not always wish anything that +seemed desirable to you."</p> + +<p>"Just because I know that, Anna Maria," he said, grasping her hands +affectionately, "I wish, too, that you might do it gladly, that it might +be no sacrifice to you——"</p> + +<p>"I am really and truly glad the child is coming," she said honestly. And +so they stood opposite each other in the forsaken lumber-room; it was +now flooded with sunshine, and the two strong figures stood out from a +golden background. The shadows of the young leaves about the window +played lightly over them, and the call of the thrush echoed from the +woods far away without.</p> + +<p>"A sacrifice!" he had said, and yet they had each already made the +greatest sacrifice of which a human heart is capable, and each thought +it unknown to the other. And at their feet rocked the heavy cradle, +moved by Anna Maria's dress, and it rocked on, long after the two had +left the room.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> + + +<p>Thirty years had passed away, and on a stormy autumn evening a young +couple sat before a crackling fire, in Bütze Manor-house—she, a +slender, girlish figure, fair, with pleasant blue eyes; he, tall, or +seeming so from a certain delicacy of form, and also fair; but a pair of +bright brown eyes contrasted strangely with his light hair.</p> + +<p>Without, the wind was raging about the old house, as it had done many +years before, and sang of past times; now and then it set up a howl of +furious rage, and then sounded again in low, long-drawn, plaintive +tones, as if singing a long-forgotten love-song.</p> + +<p>The young wife in the comfortable easy-chair had been listening to it a +long time; now she said in a clear voice:</p> + +<p>"Klaus, this would be just the evening to read aloud the journal."</p> + +<p>He started up out of a deep revery. "What journal, my child!"</p> + +<p>"That little packet of papers that we found the other day, in rummaging +about in Aunt Rosamond's writing-desk."</p> + +<p>He nodded. "Yes, we will do it," he said, "it will be a bit of family +history, perhaps about my parents. I was just thinking how little I know +of them, and it makes me sad. Mother Anna Maria makes her account so +short and scanty, as if she did not like to talk about it, and whenever +she mentions her only brother her eyes grow moist. Come, sit down on the +sofa with me; I will get the papers."</p> + +<p>He rose, went to an old-fashioned desk, and took a little packet of +papers from the middle drawer. The young wife had meanwhile taken up a +bit of dainty needlework, and now they sat, side by side, on the sofa, +before the lamp, and he unfolded the sheets.</p> + +<p>"What a pretty old handwriting," he said. "See, Marie!"</p> + +<p>She nodded. "One can make quite a picture of the writer from +that—small, delicate, and good, as loving as the first words sound."</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, "she was good and kind. I remember her so distinctly +yet. She used to give me sugarplums and colored pictures, and at +Christmas she used to come as Knecht Ruprecht, and I should certainly +have been frightened if I had not recognized Aunt Rosamond by her voice +and limp."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but please read, Klaus," begged the young wife impatiently; and he +began obediently:</p> + +<p>"My dear Anna Maria has driven away again with little Klaus——"</p> + +<p>"That is you!" interrupted the young wife, laughing.</p> + +<p>He nodded; his fine eyes gleamed softly. "But now be still," he said; +"for Aunt Rosamond surely never thought such a disturber of the peace +would ever put her nose in here."</p> + +<p>"You bad man! Give me a kiss for that!"</p> + +<p>"That, too?" he sighed comically. "There, but be quiet now!" And he +began again:</p> + +<p>"My dear Anna Maria has driven away again with little Klaus. It has +become very quiet at Bütze, not a sound in the great house; even +Brockelmann is no longer heard, for since last winter she has taken to +wearing felt slippers. All the rooms down-stairs are shut up, and it is +melancholy. Anna Maria consoles me, to be sure, by saying that there +will be life enough here again when the child has grown large; but, dear +me, by that time I shall have long been lying in the garden yonder! Oh, +I wish I might live to hear merry voices ringing again through the house +at Bütze, and see the rooms down-stairs occupied; but I do not believe +it possible. Well, I must not allow myself to be overpowered by the +loneliness and tediousness about me; I sit at my desk and will try to +narrate the late events here, in regular order. So much has happened +here; the stories rush to my mind all confused, but I should like to +recall the past in proper order.</p> + +<p>"If I only knew how to begin! I have already cut three goose-quills to +pieces! I look out of the window, the trees are clad in the first green, +the sky is blue, only a dark line of cloud rising over the barn yonder. +It is warm and sultry, as before an approaching thunder-storm, and now +another spring day rises before my eyes, and now I know.</p> + +<p>"It was a ninth of May, just as damp and sultry as to-day. Anna Maria +came in to me. My room was up-stairs here then, on the same story, the +same big flowered furniture stood here, and I was the same infirm, +limping old creature, only fresher and brighter; I laughed more than any +one in the house in those days. I can see Anna Maria before me so +distinctly, as she stood there by the spinet in her every-day gray +dress, with a black taffeta apron over it, and the bunch of keys at her +belt.</p> + +<p>"'Aunt Rosamond, will you look at the room which I have been getting +ready for the child?' she asked, and I rose, and limped along beside her +down the hall as far as the large, dark room. I never could bear the +room, and to-day, as I entered it, it oppressed me like a nightmare. To +be sure, dazzling white pillows stood up beneath the green curtains of +the canopy, and a spray of elder on the toilet-table sent its fragrance +through the room; but neither this nor the sultry air which came in at +the window could improve the damp, cold atmosphere, or convey any degree +of comfort to the room.</p> + +<p>"'You ought to have had it warmed, Anna Maria,' said I, with a little +shiver, 'and had that unpleasant picture taken away.' And I pointed to +the half-length portrait of a young woman looking boldly and saucily +forth into the world, with a pair of sparkling black eyes, who was +called in the family the 'Mischief-maker.' According to an old, +half-forgotten story, she had come by her nickname from her black eyes +having been the cause of a duel between two Hegewitz brothers, in which +one was killed by his brother's hand. A Hegewitz herself, and lingering +at Bütze on a visit, she had deliberately married another man. How, +when, and where, it happened, the story did not tell; but her portrait +had remained at Bütze, and hung from time immemorial in this room.</p> + +<p>"'Ah! let the picture stay: the child does not know whom it represents,' +replied Anna Maria. 'I think it is quite comfortable and pleasant here, +Aunt Rosamond, with the view into the garden.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had, literally, no idea of comfort, so her remark did not +surprise me. She lacked that charming feminine faculty of making all the +surroundings pleasing with a few flowers or a bit of graceful drapery. +'The poor thing,' thought I, 'coming from Berlin—to this dreary +solitude!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had suddenly turned around to me, and her face, usually so +austere, was glowing with tenderness. 'Aunt Rosamond,' she said, 'do you +know, I am really glad the little Susanna Mattoni is coming!'</p> + +<p>"'And I am glad for you, Anna Maria,' I replied, 'for you need a +friend.'</p> + +<p>"'I need no friend,' she replied bluntly, 'and how could that young +thing be a companion for me? She is a child, a poor orphaned child, in +need of love, and I will—' She broke off, and a hot blush spread over +her face.</p> + +<p>"'You are still young yourself, Anna Maria,' I interposed, 'and I think +she must be seventeen years old.'</p> + +<p>"'Years do not make the age, Aunt Rosamond, but the soul, the nature, +the experiences. If God will, she shall find in me rather a mother, for +as a companion I am worth nothing. I should have to conform her to +myself—oh, never!'</p> + +<p>"I knew that Anna Maria's whole heart, usually so coldly closed, had +opened to receive a fatherless and motherless creature, to love it, in +her way, with all her might—in her way, indeed, and that was not +understood by every one. How much time have I spent in trying to fathom +that nature, which apparently lay open to every eye, against whose sharp +corners and angles almost every one ran, who had anything to do with +her.</p> + +<p>"'Has Klaus gone to meet your guest?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'No, he rode out into the fields. Why should he?' she rejoined. 'Old +Maier drove away to S—— yesterday, and I think every second she must +come. I only hope it will be before the approaching thunder-storm +breaks!'</p> + +<p>"The unpleasant stillness before the threatening storm pervaded the +outside world. I went up to Anna Maria at the open window and looked at +the black clouds looming up in the horizon. My eyes roved beyond the +trees in the garden, out into the country; strangely near seemed the +dark forests and Dambitz with its clumsy tower.</p> + +<p>"'How near Dambitz looks,' I remarked, 'and it is really so far away.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria turned quickly. 'Very far,' she said listlessly.</p> + +<p>"'Stürmer still stays away,' I began, designedly. I felt compassion for +the man whom an incomprehensible whim of a girl had driven away into the +world, just when he had hoped to find a home and heart; I had once, for +the space of half an hour, imagined that she loved him.</p> + +<p>"I received no answer, but about the girl's lips there lay such an +expression of pride and defiant resolution that I resolved never to +mention that name again. She gazed fixedly at the dark clouds, and at +last said, in a wearily oppressed tone: 'Is not that the rumbling of a +carriage?'</p> + +<p>"'Perhaps the thunder,' I replied. But before we had closed the window +and I had looked around the room again, Brockelmann stood, with flushed +face, before Anna Maria. 'Gracious Fräulein, she is—they are here—God +in Heaven!'</p> + +<p>"'What is the matter?' asked Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"'There are two of them, Fräulein, and queer enough she looks—the old +woman, I mean. And a thunder-storm like this is just the time for them +to come to the house in!'</p> + +<p>"The storm had indeed broken loose, with thunder and lightning, and +torrents of rain. The old woman made haste to light the candles on the +great mantel, for it was almost dark in the room.</p> + +<p>"'They are coming up-stairs already!' she cried, and hurried out, +leaving the door open.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had not interrupted the old woman by a word; it was not her +way to apprehend quickly a new turn of affairs. So she snuffed the +candles quite composedly and remained standing by the mantel, so as to +keep the door in sight. Her face was as cold and still again as usual, +and did not show the slightest trace of expectation or curiosity, nor +did it alter when in the door-way. But how shall I describe the young +creature who, as suddenly as in a fairy-tale, stepped over the +threshold?</p> + +<p>"There never was but one Susanna Mattoni! I do not know whether she +could be called a beauty; perhaps her sparkling brown eyes were too +large for that, too widely opened for the narrow face, the nose too +short, the lips too full, and the complexion too pale; but this I know, +that only by an effort I suppressed an exclamation of surprise, as she +stood there, so small and slight, in her closely-fitting black dress, as +if she had been charmed thither. Her light mantle had slipped from her +shoulders, and a pair of very slender hands had impetuously thrown back +the crape veil from her hat. It was evident that the young girl was in a +state of great excitement; her searching, anxious eyes rested on Anna +Maria's imposing figure, and then dropped to the floor in embarrassment; +she apparently did not know what to do now, and breathed timidly and +faintly.</p> + +<p>"'God bless your coming, Susanna Mattoni!' said Anna Maria, in her deep +voice; and she put her arm for a moment around the slender figure. 'May +Bütze please you as a temporary home!' There was an unwonted sympathy in +these words, and as she bent down to the stranger I had to smile at my +former opinion. Anna Maria needed no friend; young as she was, she stood +by Susanna Mattoni with the maternal dignity of a woman of forty. It +was remarkable how she utterly belied her youth in everything she did.</p> + +<p>"But at this moment it first became clear what Brockelmann had meant +when she spoke of two—of the old woman. At the threshold of the room +appeared the figure of a small, elderly woman, in a worn black silk +gown, a shawl embroidered in red and yellow over her shoulders, and an +ill-shaped hood of black crape on her head, from which a yellowish, +wrinkled face looked forth; a pair of small dark eyes darted like +lightning about the room; then she ran to Anna Maria, who was regarding +her in amazement, and with a theatrical gesture raised her clasped hands +to her. 'Oh, Mademoiselle, pardon my intrusion, but the child—I could +not part from Susanna!'</p> + +<p>"'Stop that!' commanded Anna Maria, decidedly disturbed. 'Who are you?'</p> + +<p>"The woman dropped her eyes and was silent.</p> + +<p>"'Fräulein Mattoni, who is the woman?' said Anna Maria, turning to the +young girl, who, it seemed to me, looked timidly at her companion. +Susanna was silent too. There was no sound but that of the rain beating +against the windows, and swaying the branches of the trees. Anna Maria +waited quietly a few minutes.</p> + +<p>"'I have been in Professor Mattoni's household since Susanna's birth,' +the old woman now began, 'and——'</p> + +<p>"'The child's nurse, then?' Anna Maria said, cutting off her speech. +'Very well, you may stay here twenty-four hours, and see how your +demoiselle is provided for. Brockelmann,' she ordered the old woman, +who, with a chambermaid, had just brought up a trunk that seemed as +light as a feather, 'make up a bed in the gray room for the woman. And +you, Susanna Mattoni, need to be alone after so long a journey. Make +yourself comfortable till supper-time; punctually at seven, I shall +expect you in the dining-room.' She took her basket of keys from the +mantel, and noticing me, motioned to Susanna and introduced her to me as +our future household companion. The little thing shyly kissed my hand, +and as I raised her chin a little to look at her face again, I saw that +tears were shining in the brown eyes. 'Heavens!' I thought as I went +out, 'how will this little princess get on here in that gloomy room, in +Anna Maria's chilling atmosphere?' I quietly patted the pale little +cheek, and followed my niece. Outside in the corridor we met Klaus, +dripping wet, having just dismounted from his horse.</p> + +<p>"'And so she is really here, then, the new accession to the family?' he +asked, giving himself a shake in his wet clothes. 'Well, what does she +look like, the little Berliner?'</p> + +<p>"I opened the door of my room, and the brother and sister entered.</p> + +<p>"'You will see her, Klaus,' replied Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"'Right, little sister, that is true; I will change my clothes first of +all.'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, Klaus, but be quick: I would like to settle something with you +before you see the young lady at table.'</p> + +<p>"'Young lady? Whew!' rejoined the brother, and a disagreeable expression +lay for a moment on his kind, handsome face. 'Do you wish me to put on a +dress-coat, Anna Maria?' He laughed.</p> + +<p>"'Well, you will open your eyes, too, Klauschen,' thought I; and all at +once a thought came to me that fell like the weight of a mountain on my +soul, whether it would not be better if this Susanna Mattoni, together +with her black-eyed witch of a nurse, were a thousand miles away?</p> + +<p>"When Klaus and Anna Maria had gone, I stood still in the middle of the +room and said aloud, with a fierce conviction: 'The two children have +made an unpardonably stupid move; what will come of it?' And much came +of it! If the succession of sorrow, tears, and bitter hours that +followed Susanna Mattoni's little feet could have been foreseen on her +arrival, Anna Maria would have given not only the old woman, but Susanna +herself, no longer than twenty-four hours to stay in her house!</p> + +<p>"I was still standing on the same spot when the door flew open, and +Susanna's old companion entered. 'Gracious Fräulein,' she cried +anxiously, 'do come; the child—she is weeping, she is ill, she will +kill herself!'</p> + +<p>"The excited creature wrung her hands, and her whole frame trembled. I +limped across to the girl's room, again with the thought, 'What will +come of it?' Susanna was sitting, half undressed, at the toilet-table, +her dark hair falling loosely over a white dressing-sack; her face was +buried in her hands, and she was crying. The old woman rushed up to her: +'Darling, the kind lady is here; she will be good to us, she will let me +stay here, and will speak a good word to the Fräulein; please now, my +lamb, she surely will.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna Mattoni raised her head and dried the tears from her great +eyes; when she saw me she sprang up, and again I felt the magical charm +that surrounded the young creature. 'What is the matter, my child?' I +asked tenderly.</p> + +<p>"'You are very kind, Mademoiselle,' she answered; 'it is only the +strangeness and the long journey.' And she shivered with cold.</p> + +<p>"'Dress yourself quickly,' I advised her, 'there is a fire in the +dining-room, and the warm supper will do you good.'</p> + +<p>"The old woman seized a comb and drew it with evident pride through the +beautiful hair, and waited on the Professor's young daughter as if she +were really a princess. She talked meanwhile of her delicate +constitution and her nerves. I quite forgot going, and at that stood +still in amazement. Merciful Heaven! In old houses in the Mark 'nerves' +were not yet the fashion. What would Anna Maria say, what would——?</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had spoken of having Susanna acquire the art of +housekeeping, so that in the future she might help herself through life +with her own hands. And here! a maid, nerves, the beauty of a <i>grande +dame</i> with the little hands and feet of a child.</p> + +<p>"And now the old woman took from the trunk a little black dress, +evidently quite new, and trimmed with bows, flounces, and the Lord knows +what! Over the shining white neck she laid a black gauze fichu, which +she gracefully arranged on the bodice, and beneath the short skirts +peeped two shoes laced up with silk ribbons, such as scarcely ever +before glided over the old floors of Bütze Manor-house. Certainly the +old woman understood her business. Susanna Mattoni was, as she stood +there, the most charming girl I have ever seen, before or since, in my +long life.</p> + +<p>"'God help me, what will be the end of it?' I asked myself for the third +time, as the old woman broke off a white spray of elder, and placed it, +correctly and not without coquetry, in the fichu.</p> + +<p>"'But, my dear,' I said aloud, 'there is no company here this evening. +We eat to-day <i>en famille</i>, buckwheat groats with milk.'</p> + +<p>"But I got no answer; the busy lady's maid bent quickly to pull one or +two bows straight, and I glanced from Susanna—the color in whose cheeks +had mounted to a bright red—to the trunk, which looked suspiciously +empty after the taking out of the new dress. The old woman observed me, +and quickly shut the cover. 'The clock is striking seven,' she said; and +in fact, the weak, thin tone of the Bütze church-bell was heard just +seven times, and at once began the noisy sound of the servants' +supper-bell.</p> + +<p>"'Come,' said I to her, 'the servants' room is down-stairs.'</p> + +<p>"'Thank you,' she replied, with a look of refusal. 'I am not at all +hungry; but I would like to ask for some wood, for the child cannot +sleep in this damp atmosphere.'</p> + +<p>"I directed her to Brockelmann, and conducted Susanna Mattoni to the +dining-room.</p> + +<p>"Oh, I could paint the scene now! The four candles on the table vied +with the rosy twilight, and in the vaulted window-niche stood Klaus and +Anna Maria. He had put his arm around her, and had been saying some +kind, serious word—they never stood so near each other again! I seem to +see, at this moment, how they turned around toward me—how Klaus, full +of surprise, looked past me at the slender, girlish figure; how Anna +Maria was suddenly transfixed—and I could not blame either of them! I +have scarcely ever seen Susanna Mattoni more charming, more maidenly, +than at that moment, when she stood in embarrassment before the young +friend of her father. I wondered if she had imagined he was different.</p> + +<p>"A warm glow overspread her delicate face; Anna Maria blushed, too. I do +not know whether it was fear or anger that caused her to touch Klaus's +arm, as he stepped forward to say some words of welcome to Susanna.</p> + +<p>"'Please come to the table!' called Anna Maria. 'Here, Fräulein Mattoni, +beside Aunt Rosamond.' As we stood at our places she said, in a +strangely faltering voice, the old grace: 'The eyes of all wait upon +Thee, O Lord!' The 'Amen' almost stuck in her throat, and in the look +which she gave the young girl's dainty dress, and which fell with +especial sharpness on the white flowers, I saw what the clock had struck +for Anna Maria. It was almost amusing to me to compare the two girls, so +unlike, and to wonder whether the high-necked, gray woollen dress and +the dainty little silk gown would ever live side by side, without having +to make mutual concessions.</p> + +<p>"Klaus talked to Susanna, who sat opposite him. He touched upon the +subject of her deceased father, but gave it up at once when he saw the +great eyes fill with tears, which she bravely tried to swallow with the +strange buckwheat groats. A fresh egg, afterward, seemed to taste better +to her, but with a timorous smile she refused a glass of foaming brown +beer, and I am convinced that she rose unsatisfied from the table.</p> + +<p>"The candles were lighted in the sitting-room, and at the master's place +lay a plate of tobacco and a matchbox beside the newspaper. At Anna +Maria's place lay her knitting-work, and at mine spectacles and +Pompadour, just as Brockelmann arranged them every evening, except that +in winter Anna Maria had her spinning-wheel instead of her knitting. +To-night Klaus did not take his pipe from the shelf in the corner; +Susanna Mattoni's delicate form sank into his comfortable easy-chair, +and her small head nestled back in the cushions; but Klaus, like a true +cavalier, with a chivalry that became him admirably, sat on a stool +opposite her.</p> + +<p>"The conversation, in which Anna Maria joined but little, turned upon +Berlin. Susanna was well informed about her native city, and now +chattered charmingly and without embarrassment; her eyes shone, her +cheeks grew red, and a roguish dimple displayed itself every instant. +Now she was in the opera-house or theatre, in the Thiergarten or in +Charlottenburg; now she related anecdotes of the royal family. All this +came out in a confused jumble, and Klaus did not grow tired of asking +questions. The newspaper lay disregarded, and his pipe did not receive a +glance.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria sat silent, and knit. At nine o'clock she broke into the +conversation. 'I think you must be tired, Fräulein Mattoni,' she said; +and one could perceive what an effort she made to speak kindly. 'We +usually retire about ten, but you need an extra hour's sleep to-night.' +And as Brockelmann appeared, in answer to the bell, the little thing, +with a certain astonishment in her eyes, said 'Good-night,' like an +obedient child. She turned around at the door, and asked, with a sweet, +imploring expression on her little face: 'May Isa sleep in my room?'</p> + +<p>"'A bed has been made up in another room for your companion,' replied +Anna Maria; 'you are surely not afraid? Brockelmann's room is next +door.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna did not reply, but made another exceedingly graceful courtesy +and vanished.</p> + +<p>"'Do let the old woman sleep with her,' said Klaus; 'think how forlorn +her first night in a strange house must be!'</p> + +<p>"But Anna Maria did not reply; she got her brother's pipe from the +shelf, and, smiling, pushed him into his easy-chair, and took up her +knitting again.</p> + +<p>"'There, Klaus, I beg of you, don't be so nonsensical in the future as +to sit on a footstool. That was very uncomfortable.'</p> + +<p>"'Sooner dead than impolite!' he replied good-humoredly.</p> + +<p>"'Everything in its time!' she rejoined. 'Susanna Mattoni is to be a +member of our household, and there is nothing so tiresome as formal +politeness and constraint. Susanna can sit on that stool just as well as +you.'</p> + +<p>"'<i>Bon</i>, Anna Maria! But now, what do you really think of her?'</p> + +<p>"'Since you ask me plainly, Klaus, I will answer you plainly. I say that +I expected to receive something different into the house.'</p> + +<p>"'So did I,' he rejoined laconically, drawing the first whiffs from his +pipe.</p> + +<p>"'And that if anything is to be made of the girl, the old woman must go +away to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>"'She is right,' thought I to myself, 'if it is only not too late!'</p> + +<p>"Klaus took up the newspaper. 'Well, Anna Maria, there may be something +to say about that by and by; but let her stay a week or two, so that she +may see how Fräulein Mattoni gets on.'</p> + +<p>"'Am I to bring up the girl or not?' Anna Maria interrupted, with a +roughness such as she had never before shown toward her brother. 'How is +this spoiled lady of fashion to learn to take care of herself and to use +her hands, if that person remains at her side, to put on her shoes and +stockings for her whenever it is possible, and turn her head with +flowers and frivolities? Twenty-four hours I have said, and not a +minute longer; two such totally different methods as hers and mine +cannot agree.'</p> + +<p>"Klaus looked in surprise at the excited face. 'You are right, Anna +Maria,' he said appeasingly. 'I am only afraid that this being will +never develop according to your mind. She seems to me——'</p> + +<p>"'Made of different material!' finished Anna Maria ironically. 'I tell +you, that will be no hindrance to me, in educating a girl whose calling +it is to make herself useful in the world; affected dolls, painted +cheeks, and theatrical pomp, I will not endure in my house!'</p> + +<p>"She had risen, and all the indignation which the old woman's skill at +the toilet had called forth now glowed on her red cheeks and shone from +her sparkling eyes.</p> + +<p>"Klaus laid down the newspaper which he had just taken up. 'I beg you, +Anna Maria,' he said, almost indignantly, 'cannot that be settled +quietly? The girl has only this minute come into the house, and is she +to make discord between us already?'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria sat down again in silence, and took up her knitting. But +after a little while she rose hastily, tied a black lace scarf over her +fair hair, and went out.</p> + +<p>"Klaus followed her with his eyes. 'Aunt Rosamond, what is this?' he +asked, sighing.</p> + +<p>"'She expected something different, Klaus,' I said; 'it is a +disappointment.'</p> + +<p>"'The girl is charming, Aunt Rosamond. I can understand the Professor's +anxiety about her. But how will she get on with Anna Maria's energy? +There are not only hens and such useful creatures in the world, but the +good God has made birds of paradise as well!'</p> + +<p>"'Klauschen,' came from the depths of my heart, 'let the bird of +paradise fly away; it is not suited to your nest.'</p> + +<p>"'Never, Aunt Rosamond,' he replied quickly. 'I am bound by the last +wish of the man whom I loved best in the whole world!' He was red, and +his eyes shone moistly, and it struck me, at this moment, what a +handsome, stately man he was.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann's entrance put an end to our conversation. She was hunting +for Anna Maria, and looked irritated: 'It is too provoking, master; the +old woman isn't suited with her bed, and means to sit up all night in +her young lady's room. And there is a fire there hot enough to roast an +ox, and that in May! She is doing some cooking, too; the whole room +smells of green tea.' Muttering away, she disappeared.</p> + +<p>"Klaus laughed aloud. 'Open rebellion, Aunt Rosamond! Do me a favor, and +look after these two strangers. Perhaps you will be able to point out to +the old woman that—well, that she can't stay here.'</p> + +<p>"This really seemed to me the best thing to do, and I went up-stairs. +Through the hall window I caught sight of Anna Maria in the damp, +moonlit garden; she was standing motionless, like a dark shadow, and +looking out toward the dusky country. 'Strange girl,' thought I; 'if an +ugly little creature in a patched dress had come to the house to-day, +she would have taken it to her heart, and kissed it—and now?'</p> + +<p>"As I entered Susanna's room without knocking, the old woman hastily +motioned to me to come softly, for her charge was asleep. She was +sitting in a high-backed chair by the bed, and, as I came nearer, rose +and drew aside the curtains for me to look at the girl.</p> + +<p>"There lay the young thing in the deep sleep of fatigue, breathing +softly and quietly, a smile on the red lips; the drooping lashes rested +like dark shadows on the child's pale cheeks. Her little night-dress, +trimmed with imitation lace and adorned with a profusion of bows, did +not look badly in the dim light which came from two candles and the +dying embers in the fire-place. The slender hands were folded, and the +dark hair lay loosely over the white pillow. Yes, she was charming, this +maiden in her sweet slumber.</p> + +<p>"'Is she not beautiful? Is she not lovely?' said the old woman's proud +smile.</p> + +<p>"I nodded. 'Poor little bird of paradise!' I thought, 'how your gay, +shining feathers will be plucked. Well for you if you do not miss them!' +And, bethinking myself of my promise to Klaus, I turned and beckoned to +the old woman. By the fire-place I overturned a little silver kettle and +a cup that were standing on the floor. Aha, the tea-making apparatus! On +the sofa lay the clothes which Susanna had worn to-day, in picturesque +disorder; one little shoe was on the floor, the other I noticed on the +dressing-table, and beside it hats, ribbons, and all sorts of frippery, +in the wildest confusion.</p> + +<p>"'Will you not put the things away in the wardrobes intended for them,' +I asked softly, 'so that Susanna can find them without your help?'</p> + +<p>"'She will not need to,' the old woman replied confidently, and looked +at me with a friendly grin. 'They surely cannot be so cruel as to +separate us.'</p> + +<p>"'Certainly, my dear, you will leave the house to-morrow, and Susanna +Mattoni will remain under our protection, as her father was promised. +There was nothing said about you in this matter.'</p> + +<p>"'Then give me a rope at once,' whispered the old woman passionately, +'that I may hang myself on the nearest limb! What am I to do, then? +Where shall I go? I had a foreboding as we drove through the gate that +ill-luck awaited me!'</p> + +<p>"'My niece will surely allow you to visit your former charge from time +to time,' I said, to console her.</p> + +<p>"'And what is to become of her?' she asked, pointing to the sleeping +girl. 'She is not accustomed to be without me for a moment! No, no, I am +not going; I cannot go. If this young lady has no sympathy, surely the +kind gentleman will have, who used to come so often to the Professor. +Where is he? I will beg him on my knees, I will beg him to let me stay +here.'</p> + +<p>"'Listen, my friend,' I said earnestly, and took hold of the flowing +silk sleeves of her dress. 'It will be for your young lady's best good +if you are parted from her. This much I know, that Professor Mattoni has +left the girl quite without means, and it is now high time she learned +to put on her shoes and stockings alone. A poor demoiselle, of citizen's +rank, needs no lady's maid. She must learn to work and to make herself +useful.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, Heaven!' sobbed the little dried-up woman, 'I thought she was to +be a guest in this house, and you will make a servant of her.'</p> + +<p>"A harsh answer was at my tongue's end. Had her tenderness for the girl +made this woman perfectly crazy? At any rate, she was not to be reasoned +with. 'Go down-stairs,' said I, in vexation, 'and carry your complaint +to the master. He will know better, at least, how to make you comprehend +what sort of a position Susanna Mattoni is to occupy here.'</p> + +<p>"She dried her tears, seized a candle, and flew to the mirror, bustled +about with comb and brush, and spread over her yellow face something +from various little jars. I began to feel a real horror of the old +woman, with her artifices. Now she tied her cap-strings afresh, pulled +from the trunk a lace-edged handkerchief, and holding it theatrically in +her hand, said she was ready to pay her respects to the master.</p> + +<p>"'Were you formerly on the stage?' I asked, wondering at her red, full +cheeks.</p> + +<p>"'For ten years, Mademoiselle!' she replied; 'I played the gay, her +mother'—she pointed to Susanna—'the tragic lovers. Oh, it was +glorious, that acting together!'</p> + +<p>"What she further related I did not understand. 'Merciful Heaven!' I +faltered, as I opened the door softly and showed her out into the hall, +'what has Klaus brought upon us, in his kind-heartedness?'</p> + +<p>"I sat still by the girl's bed, and looked at the young face. God only +knew in what slough this fair flower had grown! It was clear that the +old woman must go away, if anything was ever to be made of the girl; +please God it might not be too late!</p> + +<p>"The light from the candles scarcely sufficed to light up the nearest +objects. Dense obscurity lay in the corners, but the oil-portrait of the +Mischief-maker was feebly illuminated, and her black eyes seemed to give +me a demoniacal look. A vague fear came over me; involuntarily I folded +my hands in prayer: 'O Lord, Thy ways are wonderful! Lead us gently, let +not the peace go out from us that has dwelt so long beneath this roof, +let no second Mischief-maker have crossed this threshold, preserve the +old, sacred bond between Klaus and Anna Maria. Amen!'</p> + +<p>"At this moment the door opened and the old actress came back. She did +not deign to look at me, but knelt down by the bed, laid her head on the +pillow, and began to weep bitterly.</p> + +<p>"'Isa! Isa!' murmured Susanna in her sleep. The old woman raised her +head and pressed the dark hair to her lips.</p> + +<p>"'I am going, Mademoiselle,' she whispered to me; 'no one has a heart +here in this house. But if a hair of her head is hurt, or a tear falls +from her eyes, I—I—' She gasped out a few words more, and threw +herself down again beside the bed.</p> + +<p>"'When shall you leave?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Early in the morning,' she replied, in a lifeless tone.</p> + +<p>"'Then lie down now, and go to sleep,' I said, pointing to the sofa, and +prepared to leave the room.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, Mademoiselle!' She sprang up and held me fast. 'Promise me you +will be kind to Susanna, you will speak a kind word to her if she +cries!'</p> + +<p>"'Certainly, as far as I can; but she will receive only kindness from +every one here.'</p> + +<p>"'Not from the blonde lady,' she said. 'She is a girl without a heart; +perhaps she never had one, perhaps it is dead. She does not know what +youth, beauty, and love are. She never laughs. I notice that people who +cannot laugh are envious of every being that can be happy, that pleases +others by its charm; she will never love Susanna!'</p> + +<p>"She spoke pathetically and theatrically, yet a tone of deep pain rang +through her words.</p> + +<p>"'Life is so serious,' I returned.</p> + +<p>"'But laughing, cheerfulness, beauty are the air she breathes,' began +the strange person again.</p> + +<p>"'I promise you to look after the child,' said I, about to go; but in +vain. She held me by the dress, and begged me to hear first, for God's +sake, that it was not tyranny or arbitrary choice that bound her to the +child, but a sacred promise. And whether I would or not, I had to +listen to a story which the old woman delivered as if she were on the +stage, and which, in spite of the whispered tone in which it was given, +was, by means of gestures and rolling of the eyes, a perfect specimen of +high mimic art. I could not now repeat the words as they came from the +lips of the old actress, but only know now that she contrived to +announce that she was just forty years old and had been very beautiful. +The old song came into my head, which a poet puts into the mouth of his +old harpist:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'I once was young and fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But my beauty's gone—ah, where?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On my cheeks were roses red,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And bright curls upon my head.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When I was young and fair!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">When I was young and fair!'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I did not dispute her pretended forty years, and she now unrolled +before my eyes a phase of life so varied and irregular, and yet again so +full of the poetry of a vagabond existence, that Father Goethe would +surely have been glad to have it to insert in 'Wilhelm Meister.' To make +a short story of it, Professor Mattoni had really loved <i>her</i>, when, in +consequence of a mood, to her inexplicable, he transferred his affection +to her fellow-actress. 'I was senseless from pain, Mademoiselle,' she +threw in, 'but I governed myself. I became the most indispensable friend +of Mattoni's young wife.'</p> + +<p>"She now described this person as a dreamy creature, beautiful as a +picture but quite uneducated; and the Professor, as an imperious man, +who, when he failed to find in his wife the companionship of his soul's +creation, treated her worse than a servant-maid. '<i>En vérité</i>, +Mademoiselle, she was stupid; the thickest wall would have—' And she +made a gesture, as if to test with <i>her</i> head whether the walls at +Bütze were a match for it. 'Oh, the men, even the wisest and best of +them are blinded when they love, Mademoiselle! He had received his +punishment for his breach of faith toward me.'</p> + +<p>"Then followed a description of the Mattoni household, in which Isabella +Pfannenschmidt, as my informant was called, heartily interested herself. +She became housekeeper for Frau Mattoni, who read novels all day long or +played with her cat. The women lived in a little back room, and the +Professor occupied two rooms as formerly. They received from him such +scanty means of support that often they knew not how to satisfy their +hunger. The troupe with which Isabella Pfannenschmidt had an engagement +went away from Berlin, but she could not go with them: 'for, +Mademoiselle, she and the child would have perished in dirt and misery; +she was a person who would go hungry if food were not put right under +her nose, rather than get up from her lazy position on the sofa, and the +Professor took all his meals at a restaurant. He did not want people to +find out that he had a wife and child, anyway. We dared not stir if any +one was with him. Susanna's first frock was made from a cast-off red +velvet dress, cut over, in which her mother once used to play queens. +The father never looked at the charming child till his wife had closed +her dreamy eyes forever. Then, as he went up to her bier, and his child +reached out her little hand after the few scanty flowers I had bought +with my last penny, he was first shaken out of the stupidity of the last +few years. He knelt down with the child and prayed God to forgive him +his wrong-doing! Well, good intentions are cheap, to be sure! He did +give somewhat more for our household expenses, and I was enabled to +dress Susanna so we could show ourselves publicly without attracting +attention; he even let her have lessons, and she learned bravely. He +never inquired for me, and yet I have remained true to him all these +long years; it was as if my care and work were a matter of course. He +had no longer a look for me, the past seemed to be wiped out from his +memory; and yet I have passed my youth in sorrow for his sake, I have +taken care of his wife and child, and now—now she is taken from me! +What have I done to deserve this?'</p> + +<p>"I was truly sorry for the little weeping woman, though the facts as to +her age and former beauty might be somewhat different, and though her +statement that he once had loved her might not be strictly true; at any +rate, she had loved him as truly as a poor, weak woman's heart can love. +For his sake she had loved his child, and without a murmur suffered want +and hunger for her sake. And now he repaid her by taking the child away +from her. Poor Isabella Pfannenschmidt, you have lived in vain! The +flame which burns in your heart shines forth triumphantly over all the +theatrical trumpery and baubles clinging to you, poor old Isabella! And +yet it would be a pity for this child to have to breathe in that dusty, +paint-scented atmosphere any longer. No, Isabella, you must go, though +the heart of the once gay actress break over it.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna will always be fond of you,' I comforted her, 'and never +forget what you have done for her.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, that she will—that she will! She has her father's nature,' sobbed +the old woman; 'she will forget me, and, what's more, she will be +ashamed of me.'</p> + +<p>"'You make a sad exposure of the child's heart, my dear,' said I +reprovingly.</p> + +<p>"She started up. 'Oh, no, no! she really is good.' she murmured, 'very +good. And,' she continued, 'I shall not go very far away either, only to +the nearest town. What should I do in Berlin? I should die of longing. I +will hire a room in S—— and sew for money; I can embroider well, with +colored wool and gold thread. And if the longing becomes too great, I +can run up the highway, and if need be up here, to look at the house +where she lives.'</p> + +<p>"And now she began, amid streaming tears, to pick out one after another +of the garments lying around, and to lay them in a white cloth, and in +so doing caught up the little shoe on the table, and pressed the narrow +sole to her cheek.</p> + +<p>"'Don't forget the little jar of paint,' I whispered, in spite of my +sympathy.</p> + +<p>"She shook her head. 'No, no, I shall pack up everything. I will do it +at once, for if she wakes I cannot say good-by. I shall go before +daybreak.'</p> + +<p>"I held out my hand to her, for I was sorry for her. 'Go away easy; the +child is well off here—and may the thought console you, that it is for +Susanna's best good.' I went out, and as I turned again, in closing the +door, I saw in the dim light the little gypsy-like creature sitting on +the floor, amid all her rubbish and trumpery, and weeping, her face +buried in her hands."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> + + +<p>"My first inquiry the next morning was for the old woman. She was gone, +I learned, and the Fräulein was already with the stranger in her room. +'Anna Maria's education is beginning,' I said with a sigh, and ate my +rye porridge less cheerfully than usual. Yesterday lay behind me like a +confused dream, and Susanna's presence in the house oppressed me with +the weight of a mountain. Soon I heard Anna Maria's metallic voice in +the corridor; she was speaking French, so speaking to Susanna at all +events. I caught only a few disconnected words, before she knocked at my +door, and came into the room with the young girl.</p> + +<p>"'We wish to say good-morning to you, aunt,' she began pleasantly. I +gave a searching glance at Susanna; a pair of great tears still hung on +her lashes, but the laugh—which was her element—lay hidden in the +dimples of her cheeks and shone from her beautiful eyes, as if only +waiting an opportunity to break forth.</p> + +<p>"She wore her black travelling-dress of yesterday, but Anna Maria had +tied a woollen wrap about her shoulders. In spite of that, the sight of +her was like a ray of sunshine.</p> + +<p>"'I would like to ask, Aunt Rosamond,' said Anna Maria, 'if you have +some little duty for Susanna, and beg you to let her profit, in the +future, by your skill in needlework. I have been examining her—she can +do nothing!'</p> + +<p>"'Certainly, Anna Maria!' I was glad to have, in a certain degree, a +slight claim on the girl. 'Do you like knitting, Susanna?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"She laughed and shook her head. 'Oh, no, no! I grow dizzy when I see +knitting always round and round.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria did not seem to hear this answer. 'Fräulein von Hegewitz +will teach you netting and plain knitting,' she said; 'with me you shall +learn to understand the mysteries of housekeeping. And now we will have +breakfast, and then begin at once. Klaus has been in the field for a +long time already,' she added; 'the first grass is to be cut to-day.'</p> + +<p>"And they went. Susanna tripped along, with hanging head, behind Anna +Maria. 'Is she pursuing the right method with this child?' I wondered. +'With her energy she will destroy all at once, all the results of former +education; but it surely is not possible. God help her to the right +way!'</p> + +<p>"Later, as I was taking my walk through the garden, I saw Susanna coming +along by the pond; she did not walk, she actually flew, with +outstretched arms, as if she would press to her heart the green tops of +the old trees, the golden sunshine, and all the birds singing so +jubilantly to-day, and all nature. Her short skirts were flying, the +woollen wrap had disappeared, and her white shoulders emerged like wax +from the deep black of her dress. Indescribably charming she looked, +thus rushing along; she must have escaped somehow from Anna Maria. Close +by my hiding-place she stood still, and looked up at the blue sky; then, +singing lightly, she stooped, picked a narcissus and fastened the white +flowers in her bosom, and then put her hand into her dress pocket, and +drew out something which she put quickly into her mouth, but which did +not interfere with her singing, for now as she went on she trilled the +words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Batti, batti, o bel Masetto<br /></span> +<span class="i2">la tua povera Zerlina.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I followed her slowly, and observed lying in the path a little object +wrapped in white paper, which she had evidently lost. 'A bonbon! Well, +that is the height of folly!' said I, taking it up in vexation. 'One +could not expect anything different from such bringing up.' And as I +unwrapped the thing, I found in it a French motto, a more sugary and +frivolous one than which could scarcely have been composed in the time +of Louis XIV., supposing that bonbon mottoes were known at that time. +'If Anna Maria knew of this, with her pure, maidenly mind!' I thought, +shaking my head. 'Oh, Klaus, for my part, I wish your bird of paradise +were in the moon, at any rate not here.' I overtook her at the next turn +of the path, where there was a red thorn in the splendor of full bloom; +it bent its branches almost humbly under this superabundance of rosy +adornment, at which Susanna was looking admiringly.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, how charming!' she cried, as she saw me. 'Oh, how wonderfully +beautiful!' And the purest joy shone from her eyes. How did that accord +with the bonbon motto?</p> + +<p>"In that moment I resolved not to lose confidence in the girl's +character, and at every opportunity to help lift the young spirit into +higher regions. I have honestly striven to fulfil this promise. I may +testify to it to myself—not so violently, not in so dictatorial and +severe a manner as Anna Maria did I proceed; not like Klaus either. Ah, +me—Klaus! Those first eight weeks in general! Ah, if I only knew how to +describe the time which now followed! There is so little to say, and yet +such an immense change was brought about in our house.</p> + +<p>"Whether Susanna Mattoni ever missed her old nurse, I did not know. When +she awoke on that first morning and found Anna Maria by her bed instead +of the little actress, to inform her that the latter had left the house, +great tears had streamed from her eyes. Anna Maria had said: 'Be +reasonable, Susanna, and do not make a request that I cannot grant.' And +Susanna had replied, with an inimitable mingling of childishness and +pride: 'Have no fear, Fräulein von Hegewitz, I never ask a second time!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria told me about it later, years afterward. Indeed, there was +no slight amount of pride in that little head.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria began the practical education with the thoroughness peculiar +to her in everything. With her iron constitution, her need of bodily +activity, she had no suspicion that there were people in the world for +whom such activity might be too much. Susanna had to go through kitchen +and cellar, Susanna was initiated into the mysteries of the great +washing, and Susanna drove with her, afternoons, in the burning heat +into the fields, in order to explore the agricultural botany. Anna +Maria's face showed a glimmer of happiness; she now had some one to whom +she was indispensable, so she thought.</p> + +<p>"And Klaus? Klaus had never in his life sat so constantly in his room as +now; he went into the garden-parlor seldom or never, and only at +mealtimes came to look into the sitting-room or out on the terrace. And +then his eyes would rest on Susanna with a strange expression, anxiously +and compassionately it seemed to me. He said not a word against Anna +Maria's management.</p> + +<p>"'Aunt Rosamond,' the latter said sadly to me one day, 'I fear Susanna's +being here is a burden to Klaus; he is quiet, depressed, and not at all +as he used to be.'</p> + +<p>"'Why <i>that</i> cause, Anna Maria?' said I. 'Klaus does seem out of humor, +that is true, but may it not be something else? Farmers have a new cause +for vexation every day, and are never at a loss for one.'</p> + +<p>"'Ah, no, Aunt Rosamond!' she replied. 'There has not been the prospect +of such a harvest for years; it is a pleasure to go through the fields.'</p> + +<p>"And Susanna, the breath of whose life was laughing? She wandered about +like a dreamer. How often, when she sat opposite me in the sewing-room, +her hands dropped in her lap, and she went to sleep, like an overweary +child. And I let her sleep, for on the pale little face the marks of the +unwonted manner of life were only too perceptible. Once Klaus came into +the room, as she sat there, fallen asleep, like little Princess +Domröschen, only, instead of the spindle, the netting-needle in her +hand. He came nearer on tip-toe, and looked at her, his arms at his +sides. Then he asked softly:</p> + +<p>"'Do you not think she looks wretchedly, aunt?'</p> + +<p>"'The altered mode of life, Klaus,' I answered, 'the strange food, +the——'</p> + +<p>"'Say the over-exertion, aunt,' he broke in; 'that would be nearer the +truth. Poor little one!'</p> + +<p>"'Why do you not say so to Anna Maria, Klaus? I, too, think that too +much is required in this early rising and continually being on the +feet.'</p> + +<p>"He grew very red, bit his lips, and shrugged his shoulders in place of +an answer, and left me before I had time to speak further.</p> + +<p>"Susanna, moreover, never uttered a word of complaint; but it would +happen that Anna Maria had to seek her, seek for hours without finding +her, and that Klaus very quietly remarked, 'She must have run away!' But +she would appear again suddenly, with bright eyes and red cheeks, to be +sure; she had gone astray in the wood, she said, or gone to sleep in the +garden. Sometimes she would shut herself into her dull room, and open +the door to no knocks. Once, as she pulled her handkerchief quickly out +of her pocket, a paper of bonbons fell to the floor. Anna Maria, who +despised all sweetmeats, confiscated it at once; I can still see the +look of punishment she gave the blushing girl. We were all sitting on +the terrace, just after supper; Klaus had been reading aloud from the +newspaper, and this was usually a moment when Susanna waked from her +dreaming; her shining eyes were fixed on Klaus, and a rosy gleam spread +over the pale face. Klaus held the good old 'Tante Voss,' and read aloud +every little story which alluded to Berlin; that habit was now quietly +introduced, whereas he had formerly read only certain political news, +that he might talk about it with Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"The falling bonbon package broke right into a report from the +opera-house, where Sontag had sung with wild applause. Klaus let the +paper drop, observed Anna Maria's look and the gesture with which she +laid the unlucky package beside her, and saw Susanna's confusion.</p> + +<p>"'Show me the package, Anna Maria,' he asked; and unwrapping one of the +bonbons in colored paper, he said, 'Ah! these are miserable things +indeed; they must taste splendidly!' He smiled as he said this, and the +smile put Susanna beside herself.</p> + +<p>"'I—I do not eat them at all!' she cried, 'I only have them for the +little children who come to the fence there below; they are pleased with +them, I know, for nothing was more beautiful to me when I was a child +than a bonbon!'</p> + +<p>"She said this so touchingly and childishly, in spite of her excitement, +that Klaus begged for her hand as if in atonement.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna, you might poison the village children with this bad stuff. I +will get some other bonbons for you that will taste good to you +yourself.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria rose, apparently indifferent, put the dish of fragrant +strawberries which she had been hulling for preserving on the great +stone table, and went slowly down the steps into the garden. When she +came up again, an hour had passed, and the moon appeared over the gabled +roof and shone brightly into her proud face.</p> + +<p>"'Where is Susanna?' she asked. The child had just gone down to the +garden, and Klaus was smoking a pipe in peace of mind. She seated +herself quietly in her place and looked out over the moonlit tree-tops +into the warm summer night. Then she said suddenly:</p> + +<p>"'May I say something to you, Klaus?'</p> + +<p>"'Certainly, Anna Maria,' he replied.</p> + +<p>"'Then do not give Susanna any bonbons; that is, do not contradict me so +directly when I have occasion to reprove her.'</p> + +<p>"Klaus sat bolt upright in his wooden chair. 'Anna Maria,' he began, 'I +don't think you can complain of my having found fault with or revoked +any regulation of yours with regard to Fräulein Mattoni; although'—he +stopped, and knocked the ashes from his pipe against the flagstones.</p> + +<p>"'Did I do anything with Susanna which displeased you?' she asked.</p> + +<p>"But she got no answer, for just then the subject of discussion flew up +the steps, and sat down again, modestly, in her place. Anna Maria rose, +took a shawl from her shoulders, and wrapped it about the girl who was +breathing very fast. 'You are heated, Susanna, you might take cold.' +Klaus now smoked the faster, and on saying good-night held out both +hands to Anna Maria; but she placed hers in them only lightly.</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes, the first omens, slight and scarcely noticeable! Perhaps they +would have escaped my eyes if I had not had, from the very first, a +foreboding of coming evil. I do not know if Susanna received the +promised bonbons. Probably not; and after that episode everything went +on in the usual course, until there came a day full of unforeseen +events, full of developments, which placed us all at once in the most +dreadful entanglements.</p> + +<p>"It was an oppressively hot day, just in the middle of the harvesting. +In the court-yard and in the house a veritable deathly stillness +reigned, and not even a leaf on the trees stirred under the scorching +midday sun. I sat in one of the deep window-niches of the great hall +which lies on the garden side of the house and opens out on the terrace. +Here it was endurable, for the heat could not easily penetrate the thick +walls, and the tall elms which shaded the terrace, and the wild-grape +which covered it with its luxurious festoons, made a cool, green, dim +light. Even now the garden-parlor is my favorite retreat during the warm +weather. At that time, however, there was no carved-oak furniture here, +nor was there a gay mosaic pavement on the terrace; the white varnished +chairs and the couches covered with red-flowered chintz answered the +same purpose, as did the worn old sandstone flags with which the terrace +was paved, in whose crevices grass and all sorts of weeds sprung up +picturesquely; and the heavy gray sandstone railing had quite as feudal +a look as the artistic wrought-iron balustrade there now, and, to tell +the truth, pleased me better. Some of us have such an affection to the +old things; but that is pardonable, I think.</p> + +<p>"So I was sitting in the garden-parlor, and growing a little dreamy, as +I still like to do, and listening abstractedly to Anna Maria's voice as +she went over her accounts, half aloud, in the sitting-room close by. +Klaus was in the fields again, for the first wheat was to be brought in +to-day, and I was waiting for Susanna to come for a sewing lesson, but +in vain. She must be asleep, I thought, half content to think so, for +the heat fairly paralyzed my will-power. And so a long time passed, till +a heavy step sounded on the stone flags outside, and immediately after +Klaus, dusty and red with heat, came in and threw himself wearily into +the nearest chair.</p> + +<p>"'Where is Susanna?' he asked, wiping his hot forehead with his +handkerchief.</p> + +<p>"'She is sleeping, probably,' I replied.</p> + +<p>"'Are you sure of that, Aunt Rosamond?'</p> + +<p>"'No, Klaus, but I think it may be assumed with tolerable certainty. I +know her.'</p> + +<p>"'It is strange,' he remarked; 'I could have sworn I saw her vanish in +the Darnbitz pines a little while ago.'</p> + +<p>"'For Heaven's sake!' I cried incredulously. 'Impossible! in this heat! +It is half an hour's walk from here!'</p> + +<p>"'So I said to myself; but the gait, all the motions, the small, +black-robed figure—indeed, I rode across the field at once, but of +course nothing was to be heard or seen then.'</p> + +<p>"'I will wager she is sleeping quietly up-stairs in her canopied bed, or +staring at the "Mischief-maker,"' said I jestingly.</p> + +<p>"'And now, aunt,' began Klaus again, 'I have a piece of news which will +please you as it has me; but I do not know if Anna Maria—But then, it +is nearly three years since that painful affair!'</p> + +<p>"As he spoke he took a letter from the pocket of his linen coat, and +looking at it said: 'Stürmer is back again, indeed has been for two +weeks; I do not understand——'</p> + +<p>"At that instant something fell clattering to the floor, and in the +door-way stood Anna Maria, white as a corpse. In questioning alarm her +eyes were fixed on Klaus's lips. I had never seen the strong-willed girl +thus. Klaus sprang up and went toward her; I heard her say only the one +word 'Stürmer.'</p> + +<p>"'He is here, Anna Maria,' replied her brother; 'does that startle you +so?'</p> + +<p>"She shook her head, but her looks belied her.</p> + +<p>"'I have just received this note,' continued Klaus, and he read as +follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"'<span class="smcap">My dear old Friend</span>:</p> + +<p>"'I landed here again two weeks ago, for the longing for home +finally overcame me; and when one has wandered about for three +years, it is time, for various reasons, to return to the +ancestral home. I come from—but I will tell you all that when +I see you. I have already been twice before your door, to say +good-day, but—I am meanwhile of the opinion that the past +should not interfere with our old friendly relations. I +certainly came off conqueror! It will not be hard for Anna +Maria to receive an old friend, which I have never ceased to +be, and which I shall always endeavor to remain. May I come, +then? To-morrow morning, after church, I had intended to make a +call, if you permit it. My compliments to the ladies.</p> + +<p>"'Ever yours,</p> + +<p>"'<span class="smcap">Edwin Stürmer.</span>'</p></blockquote> + +<p>"A deep pink flush had mounted to Anna Maria's cheeks as he read, and at +the words 'I certainly came off conqueror! It will not be hard for Anna +Maria to receive an old friend,' there was a quiver of pain on her +delicate lips. When Klaus finished, she had quite recovered her +self-possession. 'I shall be glad to see Edwin Stürmer again,' she said +clearly; 'ask him to eat a plate of soup with us.'</p> + +<p>"'That is lovely of you, Anna Maria!' cried Klaus, rejoiced. 'The poor +fellow has gotten over it, it is to be hoped; meeting again for the +first time is naturally somewhat painful, but you have done nothing so +bad. How could you help it that he loves you, and you not him? Splendid +old fellow, he——'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria's eyes wandered with a strange expression over the green +trees outside; she kept her lips tightly closed, as if making an effort +to repress a cry, and was still standing thus when Klaus sat down at the +writing table near by, to answer Stürmer's note.</p> + +<p>"'Where is Susanna?' she asked at last.</p> + +<p>"'She must be asleep,' I replied.</p> + +<p>"She turned and left the room.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus,' I said, going up to him, 'it seems to me a dangerous +experiment for Stürmer to return here.'</p> + +<p>"'Why, aunt?' he asked; 'Anna Maria certainly does not love him; and he? +Bah! If he were not sure of his heart, he would not come; he simply +declares himself cured!'</p> + +<p>"'Are you so sure that Anna Maria does not love him?'</p> + +<p>"He looked at me, as if to read in my face whether or no I had lost my +senses. 'I don't understand that, aunt,' he replied, shaking his head. +'If she loves him she would have married him; there was nothing in the +world to hinder. For Heaven's sake, aunt, don't see any ghosts. I am so +inexpressibly glad to have a man again in the neighborhood with whom one +can talk about something besides the harvest and the weather.'</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes! He was right, of course. I did not know myself at that moment +how the thought had really come to me.</p> + +<p>"And Klaus rode into the field again, and I sat waiting for Susanna; +round about, the deepest silence, only a couple of flies buzzing about +on the window-panes; an hour slipped away, and yet another. Why, why, +the hands of the clock were pointing all at once at half-past six; I had +had a nap, as ailing old maids have a right to do occasionally. The +sinking sun was now peeping, deep golden, through the trees; one such +impertinent ray had waked me. Had Susanna been here? I rose and went to +my room, and then across to Susanna's: it was impossible that she should +still be sleeping.</p> + +<p>"No, the room was empty. The sun flooded it for a moment with a crimson +light, and made it seem almost cosey; or was it the bunches of flowers +all about on the tables and stands? Even the 'Mischief-maker' had a +garland of corn-flowers hung over the frame, and a sunbeam falling +obliquely on her full lips lit them up with a crimson light. No trace of +Susanna; her black gauze fichu lay on the floor in the middle of the +room; on the sofa, half-hidden in the cushions, was a note. I drew it +out—old maids are allowed to be curious—and my eyes fell on a bold +handwriting which, to my surprise, read as follows:</p> + +<p>"'Three o'clock this afternoon, in the Dambitz pines!'</p> + +<p>"How every possibility whirled through my head then! Klaus had seen +aright! But who, for Heaven's sake, had written this? With whom had +Susanna a meeting there! I thought and thought, and all manner of +strange ideas arose in my mind, and Susanna did not come; she had never +stayed away so long before. The supper-bell rang, and we three sat alone +again at the table, for the first time in a long while, and worried +about the girl. All the servants were questioned, and two lads sent +along the Dambitz road.</p> + +<p>"I did not know if I ought to speak of the letter. I should have liked +to speak first to Susanna alone; so I decided to wait and not cause any +further disturbance. Anna Maria was noticeably indifferent, and thought +Susanna would certainly come soon, she had probably gone to sleep in the +wood. But she must have felt an inward anxiety, for her hands trembled +and her face was flushed with excitement.</p> + +<p>"Klaus rose without having tasted anything. After a little we heard +again the sound of horse's hoofs on the pavement of the court; he was +riding out then to search for the missing one. Anna Maria mechanically +gave her orders for next day, and I walked alone through the dusky paths +in the garden. It was an unusually warm August evening; the moon was +rising in the east, the steel-blue sky above was cloudless, and from the +wood there came a light, refreshing breath of air. From the court came +the sound of men and maids singing, as they made merry after the hot +day's work. Ah! how many, many such evenings had I known here, and this +one brought back to me a precious memory of my youth, with all its +pleasure and all its suffering. Every tree, every bush I had known from +my earliest youth. Everything which life had brought to me was +associated with this little spot of ground. That feeling is known only +to one who can say to himself, 'Here on this spot you were born, here +will you live, and here will you die,' and it is a sweet feeling! So I +sat down in perfect content on a bench at the end of the garden, and in +my dim retreat rejoiced in all the beauty about me, yet at the same time +worrying about Susanna. Then I suddenly heard some one talking not far +from me:</p> + +<p>"'And then don't look so sorrowful to-morrow, do you hear, Susy? And in +any case wear the white dress to church to-morrow; I have my reasons for +wishing it. And to-morrow afternoon I will come; it has been long +enough, I can certainly come to visit you for once. And don't let out +anything, darling. What will you answer if they ask you where you have +been so long?'</p> + +<p>"'Nothing at all!' answered Susanna's voice defiantly. 'I do not like to +tell a lie, I shall not do it; but I shall not come to Dambitz again, it +is too far away for me.'</p> + +<p>"'Very fine!' was the reply; and I now recognized the voice of the old +actress. 'I have walked about with you in my arms all night long many a +time, no step was too much for me; and you will not go an hour's +distance away for my sake? I think of nothing but you and your future; I +devise plans and take pains to make your lot happy; I take up my abode +in a wretched peasant's house with a shingle roof, and everlasting smell +of the stable only to be near you; I sew my eyes and fingers sore—and +you—?' And she broke out in violent sobbing, which, however, it seemed +to me, made no impression upon Susanna, for she remained still as a +mouse.</p> + +<p>"'Go, Susy, be good,' the old woman began again. 'I have just given you +the pretty little dress to-day; look at it by and by and see how +carefully it is embroidered.' And now her voice sank to a whisper, and +immediately after Susanna's little figure ran quickly from the thicket +and passed close by me; she carried a white parcel in her hand, and her +round hat on her arm. I could distinctly see her flashing eyes and red +cheeks. I rose quickly, I <i>must</i> speak before any one else saw her. +'Susanna!' I tried to call, but the name remained on my lips; for in the +path along which she flew stood, as if charmed thither, the tall figure +of a man, and Klaus's deep voice sounded in my ears:</p> + +<p>"'Susanna! Thank God!'</p> + +<p>"Had I heard aright? They were only three simple words, words which +perhaps every one would say to a person who had been missed and +anxiously sought. But here a perfect torrent of passion and anxiety +gushed forth, as hot and stifling as the summer night in which the words +were spoken.</p> + +<p>"I sat down again and leaned my swimming head on my hand. 'My God, +Klaus, Klaus!' I stammered. 'What is to come of this? This child! Their +circumstances compare so unfavorably, he cannot possibly want to marry +her; what, then, draws him to her? What conflicts must arise if he +really thinks of it! God preserve him from such a passion! It is surely +impossible; it cannot, must not be! Oh, Susanna, that you had never come +to this house!'</p> + +<p>"And round about me whispered the night-wind in the trees; the full moon +had risen golden, and bathed field and wood with a bluish light. And +Susanna is so young, and Susanna is so fair! Was it, then, strange if +Klaus loved her? What cared love and passion for all the considerations +which I had just brought up. And their—Oh, God! what would Anna Maria +say?</p> + +<p>"And I rose, quite depressed, to go to my room and collect my thoughts. +Klaus must have taken Susanna into the house long ago. Now Anna Maria +would ask where she had been. And she would not answer, as often before, +and Anna Maria would speak harsh words and Klaus walk restlessly about +the room! Nothing of all this. As I went slowly along the path I caught +sight of a dark figure on the stone bench under the linden. 'Anna +Maria?' I asked myself. 'Is she waiting here for Susanna?' She looked +fixedly out toward the dark country, and the moon made her face look +whiter than ever.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria!' I called, 'Susanna has come back!' She sprang up +suddenly, hastily drawing her lace veil over her forehead; but I saw, as +I came nearer, that tears were shining in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"'Have you been anxious?' I asked, and put my arm in hers, to support +myself, as we walked on.</p> + +<p>"'Anxious?' she repeated questioningly. 'Yes—no,' she replied absently. +'Ah, you said Susanna has come? I knew perfectly well that she would, +aunt, she is so fond of roving about; that comes from the vagabond blood +of her mother, no doubt.'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria!' I exclaimed, startled.</p> + +<p>"'Certainly, Aunt Rose,' she repeated, 'it is in her, it ferments in her +little head and shines from her eyes. So often I have noticed when she +is standing by me or sitting opposite me, busied with some work, how her +looks wander away, in eager impatience; how only the consciousness 'I +must obey' compels her to stay still by me. Then she naturally makes use +of every opportunity to rush out, to lie down under some tree and forget +time and the present. Happy being, thus constituted, through whose veins +runs no slow, pedantic, duty-bound blood!'</p> + +<p>"We were standing just at the bottom of the terrace, and I involuntarily +seized hold of the railing to steady myself. Was it Anna Maria who spoke +such words! Was not the whole world turned upside down then? And I saw +in the moonlight that her lips quivered and tears shone in her eyes. Had +Anna Maria something to regret in her life? And, like a flash of +lightning, Edwin Stürmer's handsome face came before my mind's eye.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' I whispered, 'what did you say? Who—?' But I got no +further, for the sound of a woman's voice fell on our ears; so full, so +sweet and ringing the tones floated out on the summer night, so +strangely were time and tune suited to the words, that we lingered there +breathless. Anna Maria looked up toward the open window in the upper +story. 'Susanna!' she said softly.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Home have I come, my heart burns with pain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, that I only could wander again!'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>sounded down below.</p> + +<p>"But what was the matter with Anna Maria? She fairly flew back into the +garden. I stood still and waited; the singing above had ceased. 'Anna +Maria!' I called. No answer. What an evening this was, to be sure! Anna +Maria, who took the most serious view of the world, who hated nothing +more than sentimentality and moonlight reveries, was running about in +the garden, moved to tears by a little song! They were all +incomprehensible to me to-day—Klaus, Susanna, and Anna Maria, but +especially the latter. How could I talk to her about Susanna to-day? I +had to keep my discovery to myself; the best thing I could do would be +to go up myself to Susanna and ask her, for we should hardly assemble +about the round table in the sitting-room this evening, and Anna Maria +would hardly be in the mood to read aloud the evening prayers as usual. +And Klaus? No, I would not see him at all; better to-morrow by daylight, +when he would be his old self again, when his voice would have lost its +sultry summer-night cadence, it was to be hoped. No more to-day, I had +had enough. I should not be able to sleep, as it was.</p> + +<p>"And so I went, like a ghost, up the moonlit steps, and stole along the +corridor to Susanna's door, and knocked softly. No answer. I lifted the +latch and went in. The room was lighted only by the moon, and the heavy +odor of flowers came toward me; a pale ray shone just over the white +pillows of the bed and fell on Susanna's face. She was fast asleep; her +neck and arms glistened like marble. Should I wake her? She would surely +stifle in this air. I stole past her, opened a window, and set the +bunches of flowers out on the balcony. The room looked topsy-turvy, but +on the sofa was spread out with evident care the toilet for +to-morrow—the white dress, little shoes and stockings, even hat and +hymn-book for church.</p> + +<p>"I closed the window again softly and stole out of the girl's room. Let +her sleep; in this enchanted moonlight it would be impossible to say +anything reasonable, I thought. Indeed, I reproached myself afterward +for not having waked her from her dreams, in order to have brought all +my old maid's prose to bear against all this flower-scented poetry. But +what would it have availed? For God Almighty holds in his hands the +threads of human destiny. It had to be thus."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> + + +<p>"The next morning broke as prosaic and calm as I could desire. The sun +shone with obtrusive clearness into the most remote corner, and +mercilessly set out everything in a dazzling light. From below, +out-of-doors, I heard the sound of Anna Maria's voice, and caught +something about 'string-beans for the servants' kitchen.' Klaus whistled +out of the window, and immediately after I heard a dialogue concerning +Waldemann (the <i>Teckel</i>), who was just limping across the court, having +jammed his foot in the stable-door, according to the coachman's account. +Klaus's voice, thank God, had not a suspicion of that weak intonation of +last evening. Relieved, and smiling at my fears of yesterday, I got +ready for church. If we can only get well over the first meeting with +Stürmer, it may be quite a pleasant Sunday, I reasoned; I was wishing +some visitor would come, that we might not be so much by ourselves.</p> + +<p>"When our church-bell began to ring we three of the family were standing +down-stairs in the sitting-room waiting for Susanna. Anna Maria looked +weary and unnerved, and an old sort of expression lay about her mouth; +she moved quickly and was plainly out of humor at Susanna's want of +punctuality. The festal earnestness that usually pervaded her whole +being in going to church was lacking to-day. 'Rieke!' she called to the +housemaid, 'go to Fräulein Mattoni and ask if she will be ready soon; +we are waiting for her.' The girl came back with the answer that the +young lady had not quite finished her toilet, and begged the others to +go on.</p> + +<p>"'I will wait for her,' said Klaus quickly, right out of his kind, +chivalrous heart, but it brought to my mind the voice of last evening.</p> + +<p>"'You will let your old aunt limp to church alone, for the first time?' +I asked jokingly.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, <i>pardon</i>!' he replied at once. 'Old my aunt certainly is not yet; +on that ground I might leave you; but I—may I beg the honor?' he asked, +offering me his arm.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria walked ahead; there was something majestic in her walk, and +as she stepped from the garden through the gate of the church-yard, and, +walking between the rows of graves, recognized the peasants with an +inclination of her fair head, kindly stroking the flaxen heads of the +children, and here and there saying a friendly word to an old man or +woman, all eyes followed her with reverence and admiration, while Klaus +received more trusting looks, and even cheers. When in our pew in the +church, she bent her head low and prayed long, and then cast a shy look +toward the opposite gallery, the place of the Dambitz gentry; Dambitz +had always been in the parish of Bütze, and many a happy time have the +Stürmers sat on that side and the Hegewitzes on this, and listened to +the simple discourse of the clergyman and bowed the head in devout +humility. Those were the good old times, when the nobility led the way +before the people, with the motto: 'Fear God and honor the king!'</p> + +<p>"All at once a thrill went through Anna Maria's body, but her face +looked coldly over to the Stürmer gallery; she bent her head slightly +and returned a greeting. There he was standing bodily, my old favorite, +and I almost nodded my head off at him and made secret signs with my +handkerchief. His dark eyes sent a happy greeting across to me—Edwin +Stürmer was really there.</p> + +<p>"The clear voice with which Anna Maria joined in the singing drew my +looks to her again. She sang quietly with the congregation, but a +crimson flush of deep agitation lay on her face; it was evidently +excessively painful to her to see him again.</p> + +<p>"What the sermon was about on that day I cannot tell, for before the +clergyman ascended the pulpit something occurred which nearly put an end +to the devotions of all the small congregation and obliged me to leave +the church.</p> + +<p>"I had fixed my eyes steadily on Stürmer, as if I could not look my fill +at the man's handsome curly head; and the good God surely forgave me, +for I was as fond of Edwin as if he were my own child. All at once, +during the singing, I saw him start and look intently across to me; and, +following the direction of his gaze, I observed—Susanna. She had on a +white muslin dress, her neck and arms lightly covered by the misty +material; she held her hat in her hand, her black hair clustered in rich +curls about her small head; a white rose was placed carelessly in her +hair, and a bunch of the same flowers rose and fell on her bosom, and as +white as they was her sweet face as she raised it again after a short +prayer.</p> + +<p>"Most beautiful was this young creature, but, may God forgive me! I was +bitterly angry with her for being so and for coming to church dressed up +as if for a ball. 'Incorrigible comedian blood,' I scolded to myself. I +thanked God that Klaus could not see her from his seat, and gave Stürmer +an unfriendly look because he kept looking over at our pew. All at once, +as the clergyman was singing the liturgy, Susanna put her hand to her +forehead, as if to grasp something there, and then sank back silently, +with closed eyes, into her seat.</p> + +<p>"I cannot tell now the exact order in which all this happened; I only +remember that a chair was overturned with a loud noise, that the +clergyman was silent for an instant, and that there was a movement among +the congregation; at the same time Klaus left our pew, carrying out the +white figure in his arms, like a feather. I rose at once to follow him. +Anna Maria's head was bent low over her hymn-book; was she going to take +no notice of the affair? But now she slowly rose, and went behind me +down the narrow, creaking flight of steps which led up outside the +church to our pew; it was provided with a wooden roof as a protection +against wind and storms, and the ivy which grew over the whole church +adorned it like a bridal arch with green festoons.</p> + +<p>"Klaus was just disappearing into one of the nearest cottages, whose +shining window-panes looked out like clear eyes beneath the gray +shingle-roof, not at all sad at the constant view of the little +church-yard. Marieken Märtens and her husband lived here; she had been +in Anna Maria's service, a quick, industrious girl, but once was sent +away in the utmost haste because she—but that has nothing to do with +the case. Anna Maria had her brought back again at that time, and she +was married from the manor-house, and since then Anna Maria and I had +each held a curly brown head over the font. When there was anything +going on at our house—that is, when there was extra work—Marieken came +and helped.</p> + +<p>"She was at the threshold coming to meet us already, wiping her hands on +her clean apron, and pushing back her eldest child. 'She is lying on the +sofa inside,' she whispered. 'Oh, the master looks pale as death from +fright!' Anna Maria stepped by me into the little room; she made a sign +for me to stay outside, so I sat down on the wooden stool that Marieken +placed in the entry for me, and listened intently for every sound from +within.</p> + +<p>"For a little while all was still. Marieken ran in with fresh water, and +then I heard Anna Maria say: 'How are you now, Susanna?'</p> + +<p>"'Go back to church quite easy,' came the reply; 'it was a momentary +weakness. I am very sorry to have given you such anxiety and trouble.' +And the next moment the girl was standing on the threshold, a crimson +blush overspreading her whole face, and without noticing me at all, she +flew to the outside door and across the church-yard; her fluttering +white dress appeared again for an instant in the frame of the gateway +leading to our garden; then she had vanished like an apparition.</p> + +<p>"Shaking my head, I rose to go into the little room and hear what was to +be done now. But I sat down again, almost stunned at the sound of +Klaus's voice, which came out to me so crushingly cold and clear:</p> + +<p>"'I should like to ask you, Anna Maria, to occupy the girl hereafter in +some way better suited to her; this swoon was the natural effect of +constant over-exertion.'</p> + +<p>"I could not picture Anna Maria to myself at this moment, for Klaus had +never used such a tone to her before. My old heart began to beat +violently from anxiety. 'It is here! It is here!' I said to myself. +'Yes, it had to come!'</p> + +<p>"'I think this swoon is rather a consequence of Susanna's running about +too much in the fearful heat yesterday,' she replied coldly. 'However, +as you wish; I will leave it entirely to you to decide what occupation +is most fitting for Susanna Mattoni.'</p> + +<p>"'Great heavens! Anna Maria, do you not understand?' Klaus rejoined, +almost imploringly. 'Look at the girl: she is delicate and accustomed to +the easy life of a large city, never to a regular life. I beg you not to +take it amiss, it is my opinion and——'</p> + +<p>"'I am sorry that I have made such a mistake,' Anna Maria interrupted, +icily. 'I have tried to do my best for this unfortunate child, who has +grown up in most wretched circumstances. I wanted to make a capable, +housewifely maiden of her, but I see myself that such miserable comedian +blood is not to be improved, and I ask you now only for one thing——'</p> + +<p>"She broke off. What would come now? I looked about me in horror to see +if any one were listening. But Marieken was clattering about with her +pots and pans in the kitchen, and the children were playing before the +outside door.</p> + +<p>"'That you will not require me to endure this frivolous creature, this +frippery and finery, this trifling, flighty being. I have an unspeakable +aversion to her,' she concluded.</p> + +<p>"'So that is your confession of faith, Anna Maria?' asked Klaus, and his +voice sounded angry. 'I tell you Susanna Mattoni remains here in the +family. I will have it, for a sacred promise binds me, and I hope that +you will never let her feel what you think of her. Her light-mindedness, +her unsteadiness, and all the faults which you have just cited, cannot +be laid to her charge, for from her youth up she has never learned to +recognize them as faults. Of frivolity, moreover, I have no evidences, +for a couple of bonbons do not seem to me sufficient proof.'</p> + +<p>"'I cannot act contrary to my convictions,' returned Anna Maria, 'and if +I am no longer to educate Susanna as I think well for her, you had +better find another place for her.'</p> + +<p>"I had sprung up and laid hold of the door-handle; for Heaven's sake! +there would be a quarrel. But the storm had already drawn near.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna is to remain, I tell you!' thundered Klaus. 'Do you quite +forget who is master of the house? It appears to me I have let you go on +for years in an immeasurable error, in letting you govern uncontrolled, +and assenting to all your arrangements. It is time for you to remember +whose place it is to decide matters at Bütze.'</p> + +<p>"Merciful Heaven! My knees trembled; how was this to end? And now there +was no sound there within; only the low singing of the young wife was +heard from the kitchen, where she was rocking her youngest child to +sleep; and I stole softly away from the door and sat down on the wooden +bench before the house. Over the quiet, green graves in the church-yard +lay a Sunday calm, only a light breath of wind rustled in the tall +trees. Over in the little church the sermon was just finished, the +sermon for the fifth Sunday after Trinity. The sound of the organ and +singing of the congregation floated across to me, and my lips repeated +the words:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Ah! stay with thy clearness.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Precious light, with us stay;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Let thy truth shine upon us,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">That we go not astray.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Ah, yes, clearness, clearness and truth and peace; help us in all time +of need! I knew Klaus, I knew Anna Maria. An almost exaggerated sense of +duty, an iron will when she thought she was doing the right thing, +inflexibility—that was the Hegewitz character; good, solid qualities +when they got on peaceably together, but thus? And there was Stürmer +coming out of the church door; he had not waited till the hymn was +finished, and was now hastening up to me.</p> + +<p>"'Fräulein Rosamond, you still here?' he asked. 'Who——'</p> + +<p>"But I did not give him time to finish. 'Come, Edwin, give me your arm, +I have been waiting for some one to escort me back.' And actually +dragging away the astonished man, I succeeded in getting him into the +park without betraying the presence of Klaus and Anna Maria in the +little room.</p> + +<p>"'And now, a thousand times welcome, dear Edwin,' said I, breathing +freely again, as we walked under the shady trees. 'How have you been? +How delightful it is to have you here again, and how well and strong you +are looking!'</p> + +<p>"He bent to kiss my hand. 'Yes, thank God that I am among old friends +again!' he replied heartily. 'How have things gone here? But why do I +ask? Well, of course; at least, I saw you all unaltered in church. But I +would like to ask, at the risk of appearing curious, who was the young +lady who—oh!' He stopped, and pointed toward the thick, dark shrubbery +at one side, holding my arm so firmly in his that I was obliged to stand +still.</p> + +<p>"There sat Susanna in the deepest shade of the thicket. She was leaning +her elbows on the table, and her oval face rested on her clasped hands; +motionless, like a lovely statue, she was looking down before her.</p> + +<p>"A golden sunbeam flitted back and forth over the white figure; an +expression full of pain and woe lay on the lovely face, which I had +never before seen so sad and tearful.</p> + +<p>"'The poor child!' I sighed involuntarily. And as Stürmer almost forced +me into a side-path, I briefly satisfied his curiosity. 'She is the +daughter of Professor Mattoni; you remember Klaus's old tutor?'</p> + +<p>"My head was in a whirl, for I knew not what more might happen to-day.</p> + +<p>"'And is she to live here always?' inquired Edwin Stürmer.</p> + +<p>"'Yes—no!' I returned hesitatingly; I did not know what to answer. I +sought to reach the terrace and garden-parlor as quickly as possible, +and to my inexpressible relief saw Klaus, as if transported there by +magic, coming to the door to meet his guest; an uninitiated person would +scarcely have seen the slight cloud on his brow.</p> + +<p>"I did not linger with them, but went to seek Anna Maria, and found her +in the sitting-room, pale but calm. I was glad to avoid the greeting +between her and Stürmer, and caught only his look as he bent low over +her hands.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria was a perfect enigma to me; I understood the outbreak of +passion of last evening as little as this decided opposition to-day. Yet +the latter was less inexplicable, for she too, must have seen the sparks +already glowing in Klaus's heart. But she had taken the wrong course. +Any man of chivalry, if told that he must turn a weak, helpless woman +out of the house where she has found a shelter, will refuse to do it; +particularly if she be as young, as strikingly beautiful as Susanna, +and—if he is already in love with her. To me it was an incontestable +fact: Klaus loved the girl! Perhaps he did not know yet himself how +much; but that he did love her I had seen and—feared.</p> + +<p>"I came to the table in a thoroughly unpleasant frame of mind. 'To-day +is the beginning of the end: what will the end be?' I said to myself, +sighing. That was a strange dinner; Susanna had excused herself, Klaus +was chary of words, and Anna Maria forced herself to be talkative and +affable in a way quite contrary to her nature; a little red spot burned +on her chin, the sign of violent agitation.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann announced that the old actress had suddenly arrived; to be +sure, I had quite forgotten about her. Anna Maria made no answer; Klaus +looked sharply at her, and then gave orders for the old woman to be +given some dinner. Stürmer talked a long time about his travels, and +Pastor Grüne came to coffee. The gentlemen were soon involved in a +scientific conversation about the excavations at Pompeii, at which +Stürmer had been present several times, and Anna Maria walked slowly up +and down on the terrace, now and then casting a look at the gentlemen, +through the open door of the garden-parlor.</p> + +<p>"I sat under the shady roof of the wild-grape, and knitted, and followed +her with my eyes. Anna Maria had on a light-blue linen dress, and a thin +white cape over her rosy shoulders; her heavy plaits shimmered like +gold, and her complexion was fresh as a flower. Anna Maria had made her +toilet with especial care to-day; she was the picture of a typical North +German woman, tall, fair, slender, and clear-sighted, serene, and calm.</p> + +<p>"All at once she stopped in front of me. 'Aunt Rosamond, do you think +that Susanna Mattoni has been overworked in any way? I mean, can her +temporary weakness be the result of that?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, Anna Maria,' I replied, 'I am convinced of it, for she had not +been accustomed to doing anything. She has hitherto sat in a cage like a +bird; when such a creature tries to fly all at once, it is soon made +lame by the motion.'</p> + +<p>"She made no reply, and continued her walking. The conversation grew +louder indoors; the gentlemen were now sitting over their Rhine wine. +The cool breeze of approaching evening began to blow, and the sun was +hidden behind a bank of clouds.</p> + +<p>"'Ah! Stürmer, do stay till evening,' I heard Klaus say. 'It will never +do not to finish the day together, after beginning it so; do not pervert +our good old custom.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria stood still and listened. But instead of an answer we heard +the chairs pushed back, and then Klaus's voice again:</p> + +<p>"'Ah! Susanna, have you quite recovered? Allow me to present Baron +Stürmer.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria turned and looked out toward the garden.</p> + +<p>"Pastor Grüne inquired after the health of the young girl, and soon they +all came out on the terrace. Susanna went up to Anna Maria at once, and +held out her hand, saying: 'Forgive me for having frightened you this +morning. I do not know how it happened; everything grew dark before my +eyes, and——'</p> + +<p>"'Oh! certainly,' interrupted Anna Maria, touching the girl's hand but +lightly; 'I was not at all frightened; a swoon is nothing so unusual.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna blushed up to her black curls, and sat down quietly by my side.</p> + +<p>"'Has Isa gone?' I asked her.</p> + +<p>"She nodded. 'She went half an hour ago.'</p> + +<p>"'Just where does she live?' I inquired.</p> + +<p>"'In Dambitz,' was the reply.</p> + +<p>"I let my work drop from astonishment. 'In Dambitz? How did she happen +to go to Dambitz?'</p> + +<p>"'S—— was too far away, Fräulein Rosamond,' stammered Susanna shyly, +'and so she has hired a little room there at the blacksmith's. But she +says she does not notice the noise of the forge at all; her windows look +out on the castle garden, and that is wonderful, she says. She may live +there, may she not?' she added, beseechingly; 'it is certainly far +enough from here.'</p> + +<p>"'Of course she can live where she pleases, Susanna,' said I; 'we have +no right to lay down commands about that.'</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile Brockelmann had set the table for supper on the terrace, and +we seated ourselves. Candles were now burning on the table, and their +unsteady, flickering light fell on Susanna's beautiful pale face. Her +white dress was made quite fresh again, and even the withered roses were +replaced by fresh ones; one could see that the old Isabella had been +helping the child.</p> + +<p>"Susanna was seated between Klaus and me, Stürmer and Anna Maria +opposite. There was a strawberry <i>bowle</i> on the table, and Susanna drank +eagerly; gradually color came into her cheeks, and her dark eyes began +to shine. And then all at once she was in her element—laughing, +jesting, and mirth. And how she could laugh! I have never heard such a +laugh as Susanna Mattoni's. It ran the whole compass of the scale, so +light and delicious that one was forced to join in it; and as she +laughed, her red mouth displayed the prettiest white teeth, and prattled +mere nonsense and follies, and as she held high her glass to touch with +Stürmer, I saw Klaus look at her with an expression that spoke even +more plainly than his trembling voice yesterday.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria sat silent opposite her, and not the faintest smile passed +over her lips; this graceful trifling was decidedly unpleasant to her. +But Susanna had the majority on her side, for even honest old Pastor +Grüne did not conceal the fact that he was fascinated by her.</p> + +<p>"I tried to think how I might silence the little red lips, but in vain. +At last a thought struck me. 'Susanna 'I cried in the midst of her sweet +laugh, 'Susanna, what do you say to a song? I heard you singing so +prettily last evening.'</p> + +<p>"'Ah! no, no, Mademoiselle,' she objected; 'I cannot sing before +people.'</p> + +<p>"But the gentlemen echoed my request with one voice, and Stürmer +proposed to extinguish the candles, saying that one could surely sing +better by moonlight.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, yes!' she said joyfully, 'then I will sing!' And soon the reddish +light had disappeared, and the pale moon's silvery rays fell on the +bright figure of the girl, who had sprung up and was now standing by the +railing.</p> + +<p>"'What shall I sing?' she asked, 'Italian or German?'</p> + +<p>"'German! German!' cried the gentlemen.</p> + +<p>"'Oh! please Susanna,' said I, 'the song you were singing last evening; +Anna Maria and I did not understand the words very well.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria suddenly rose, but as if thinking better of it, sat down +again. Stürmer had turned half around in his chair and was looking at +Susanna.</p> + +<p>"And now she began, leaning on the balustrade; and the same tones came +to us, soft and sweet, and the same words we had heard last evening:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Far through the world I have wandered away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And the old strife goes with me wherever I stray;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Home have I come, and my heart burns with pain,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, that I only could wander again!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">I am held not by walls, not by bolts, not by bars—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two great blue eyes hold me, that shine like the stars I<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And were but my fiery steed by my side,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Again on his willing back fain would I ride;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">He would bear me away, far away from my home—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But I've seen thee again, and can never more roam!'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"I looked at Anna Maria in alarm, but her face was turned away, and only +in her trembling white hands, which she had clasped, did I detect the +agitation wrought in her by this song. Who had thought of such a song? +And Stürmer? He had sprung up and stood close by Susanna.</p> + +<p>"'Another song, Fräulein,' he demanded, almost vehemently, 'a different +one. You are much too young for such melancholy!'</p> + +<p>"'A German knows no different songs, Herr Baron,' objected Pastor Grüne. +'Old national songs are sad, usually the lament for a faithless love, +for a dead treasure. Let our nation be as it is in this. I would rather +have one little German national song than a dozen French <i>chansons</i>.'</p> + +<p>"Stürmer did not answer, and there was a painful silence.</p> + +<p>"'Another song?' asked Susanna at last—'a lively one?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes!' cried Klaus, 'a lively one, a hunting-song, Susanna, or a +drinking-song! 'He had risen in embarrassment at the critical situation, +and filled his glass afresh.</p> + +<p>"And Susanna began, in a merry strain:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'In the early morn<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A-hunting I went,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Past my darling's house<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My steps I bent.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Up to the window<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A glance I threw.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah! if she would look down,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Good luck would ensue.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'In vain, she's still dreaming;<br /></span> +<span class="i2">But something stirred.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">By the apple-tree yonder<br /></span> +<span class="i2">A laugh was heard.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'And bright as the rosy<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Morning so fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">My dear little treasure<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I saw standing there.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Nodding and smiling,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She beckoned away,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But not one lucky shot<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Had I on that day.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Are they bewitched, then,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">My powder and lead?<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Each ball flies away,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Bringing down nothing dead.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"Susanna suddenly stopped, as if exhausted, and drew a long breath. The +laugh had vanished for a moment from her face.</p> + +<p>"'More, more!' cried the gentlemen. 'The charming song cannot possibly +be finished?' asked Stürmer.</p> + +<p>"'No, the conclusion is surely wanting,' added Pastor Grüne. And Susanna +drew a long breath and sang on:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'And again past the house<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I was going to-day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Little grandmother peeped at me<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Over the way.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'With a shake of the head.<br /></span> +<span class="i2">She calls with sweet grace,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">"God greet you, and are you<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Off to the chase?"<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'And with all my might<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I cursed the old dame;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But my arm remained steady,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I missed no aim.<br /></span> +</div><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'And when in surprise<br /></span> +<span class="i2">I told Liebchen the tale.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">She began to laugh<br /></span> +<span class="i2">In a perfect gale.'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"The last verse ended in a real laugh, so roguish and charming and so +irresistible that we were all drawn into it.</p> + +<p>"'Now that is enough!' she cried at last. 'Oh! I do so like to hear how +people have to laugh with me when I begin! Oh! I have done it so often +when Isa tried to scold me, but now'—she suddenly stopped—'I haven't +laughed for so long, I thought I should have forgotten how, but, thank +fortune, I can still do it! Oh, I do like to laugh so!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria rose and went into the garden-parlor, as if she had +something to attend to there, but she did not come back, nor did she +come when Stürmer and the clergyman wished to take their leave of her. +Klaus looked for her in the sitting-room, and even went up to her +bedroom, but he returned alone, and the gentlemen had to leave without +bidding her good-by.</p> + +<p>"'Pray excuse Anna Maria, dear Edwin,' I heard Klaus say; 'she probably +does not dream of your going so early; you are certainly in a great +hurry.'</p> + +<p>"It was true; Stürmer's departure was very abrupt; toward the last he +had scarcely spoken a word. I thought it was because he was reminded of +his first love; that melody and the words still kept ringing in my ears; +an unfortunate song!</p> + +<p>"Susanna had long been in bed when Klaus and I stood together in the +sitting-room again. I had firmly resolved to inform him of my +observations of the evening before, for I saw that Anna Maria was not to +be spoken to again about Susanna.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus!' I began. He was walking slowly up and down, his hands behind +him, and an anxious wrinkle on his brow. 'Klaus, do you know where the +old actress is living now?'</p> + +<p>"He stood still. 'No, aunt, but—do not take offence—it is quite a +matter of indifference to me. Forgive me, my head is so full.'</p> + +<p>"I was silent. 'Good!' thought I; 'he is indifferent at last, then.'</p> + +<p>"'Please tell me,' he now turned around to me, 'what you think about +Anna Maria? I do not understand her at all as she is now.'</p> + +<p>"'You do not either of you understand each other, as you are now,' I +replied, not without sharpness.</p> + +<p>"Klaus blushed. 'That may be,' he said, stroking his face.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus,' I continued, 'do not let it go further, do not let this +discord between you take root. You are the eldest, Klaus, a reasonable +man——'</p> + +<p>"'No, aunt, no; in this I am right!' he interrupted vehemently. 'You do +not know what passed between us this morning——'</p> + +<p>"He broke off abruptly and turned to his newspaper at at the table, for +Anna Maria had come in. The basket of keys hung at her side, and she had +tied a white apron over her dress. Brockelmann followed her with the +silver that had been in use to-day, and was now rubbed up, ready to be +put away. Anna Maria opened the carved corner-cupboard, and began to lay +away the shining silver, piece by piece, in its place.</p> + +<p>"Klaus had seated himself and was turning over the newspapers; the clock +already pointed to midnight. The windows were open, and from time to +time faint flashes of lightning lighted up the sky over the barns and +stables. I had become wide awake again all at once; I could not and +would not let these two be alone again to-night; they should not speak +together about Susanna.</p> + +<p>"But Anna Maria now closed the cupboard and went up to her brother. +'Klaus,' she said in a soft voice, 'let us not leave each other thus; +let us talk the matter over once more, quietly.'</p> + +<p>"He laid down the paper and looked at her in surprise. A faint flush lay +on her face, and her attitude was almost beseeching. 'Gladly, Anna +Maria,' he replied, rising; 'you mean concerning Susanna's future +employment? Have you any proposals to make?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' she said, firmly; and after a pause continued: 'I will yield to +your opinion that physical labor is not the right thing for Susanna. But +a life of dreamy idleness I consider far more injurious to her. Indeed, +Klaus, my personal feelings toward Susanna do not speak in this. I do +not hate her, but that her nature is uncongenial to me I must own. So, +then, without regard to that, Klaus, I must repeat what I said this +morning: let Susanna go away from here, take care of her somewhere else; +she is out of place here; do it for her own sake.'</p> + +<p>"She had spoken beseechingly, and stepping nearer him, laid her right +hand on his shoulder.</p> + +<p>"'Well, what more?' he asked, rapidly stroking his beard. 'Where would +you think best to banish this child?'</p> + +<p>"'Send her to a good boarding-school; let her be a teacher; she is poor, +and it is an honorable position, or——'</p> + +<p>"'You are probably thinking of Mademoiselle Lenon in this connection, +Anna Maria?' rejoined Klaus. 'I still have her "honorable position" +distinctly before my eyes, which she held in dealing with your +stubbornness. If there ever was a being totally unfit to take upon +herself the martyrdom of a governess, it is Susanna Mattoni!'</p> + +<p>"A slight shadow passed over Anna Maria's face as he spoke of her +stubbornness, but she was silent.</p> + +<p>"'Perhaps,' continued Klaus bitterly, 'you would also like to make an +actress of her because she happens to have a voice and recites +charmingly.' He pushed away the newspapers and sprang up. 'I am +unutterably exasperated, Anna Maria, that you should venture to repeat +this proposition. I was not prepared for it, I must confess! What makes +you appear so hostile toward Susanna? Do you know, you who live here in +happy security, what it means for a girl so young, so inexperienced, to +be thus thrust into the world? Surely not! You fulfil your duties here, +you care and labor as hundreds would not do in your place; but here you +act the mistress, inapproachable, untouched by all the common things of +life. You do not know, even by name, those humiliations which a woman +in a dependent position must endure. I know, indeed, that hundreds +<i>must</i> endure them, and hundreds, perhaps, do not feel what they are +deprived of; but this girl <i>would</i> feel it, and would be unhappy, most +unhappy!</p> + +<p>"He paused for a moment and looked at Anna Maria. She had clasped her +hands, and coldly and steadily returned his look; an almost mocking +smile lay on her lips, and put Klaus beside himself.</p> + +<p>"'You certainly have no comprehension of this!' he cried, his face +flushed with anger. 'You have everything, Anna Maria, but you have never +possessed a heart! You can do everything but that which glorifies and +ennobles a woman—love. Anna Maria, that you cannot do! I feel deep pity +for you, for you lack a woman's sweetest charm; love and pity go +hand-in-hand. I could not imagine you as a solicitous wife, or even as a +mother; how can I expect pity for a strange child?'</p> + +<p>"'Klaus! for God's sake, stop!' I entreated in mortal terror, for Anna +Maria had grown pale as death, and her eyes stared out into the dark +night with a vacant, terrified expression, but not a word of defence +passed her lips. Klaus shook off my hand, and continued with unchecked +vehemence:</p> + +<p>"'It is time for me to tell you, Anna Maria; it must be said some time. +I am your guardian, and it is my right and my duty. I must, alas! accuse +myself of having given you too much liberty, and you have abused it. You +have become cold and hard; I said before I could not imagine you as a +loving mother, as a wife—that you will never be, for you will not bend. +You would never do a rash, thoughtless act, but you are unable to make a +sacrifice from real affection from your innermost heart—because you do +not understand loving, Anna Maria. As I looked at Edwin to-day, my +heart and courage sank; if ever a man was created to win a maiden's +love, it is he! But you, Anna Maria, just as you let him go away, so you +will let Susanna; it is not hard for you, because you have no heart——'</p> + +<p>"'Stop, Klaus, stop!' Anna Maria's voice rang through the room, in +piercing woe; despairingly she stretched out her arms toward him. 'Say +nothing more, not one word; I cannot bear it!' One could see that she +wanted to say more; her trembling lips parted, but no sound passed them, +and in another moment she had turned and gone quickly out of the room.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, Klaus!' I cried, weeping, 'you were too hard; you had no occasion +to speak so!' But I stood alone in my tears, for Klaus also left the +room, for the first time failing to pay attention to his aunt, and +slammed the door behind him.</p> + +<p>"Yes, I stood alone and believed myself dreaming! Was this the +comfortable old room at Bütze, where formerly peace had dwelt bodily? +The candles flickered restlessly on the table, a chilling draught of air +came through the open window, and thunder faintly muttered in the +distance. No, peace had flown, and injustice, care, and animosity had +entered, had pressed their way between two human hearts which till now +had been united in true love; and there, up-stairs, lay and slept a fair +young fellow-creature, and the picture of the Mischief-maker smiled down +on her, as if glad of a successor. Yes, Klaus was right, and Anna Maria +was right; how was the difference to be made up? Ah! how quickly is a +bitter, crushing word said and heard, but a whole world of tears cannot +make it unsaid again."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> + + +<p>"I could not sleep that night; I rose from my bed again and sat down by +my window in the gray dawn, and my old heart was fearful for what must +come now. I loved both the children so much, and, God knows, I would +have given years of my useless life if I could have blotted out the last +few months. And I was groping about wholly in the dark, for Anna Maria +was reserved and uncommunicative, and Klaus—what would he do? He could +not come and say, 'Aunt Rosamond, I love Susanna Mattoni, and I wish to +marry her!' I should have had to throw up my hands and laugh! Klaus, the +last Hegewitz, and Susanna Mattoni, the child of an obscure actress! And +Klaus would have had to laugh with me.</p> + +<p>"It was a rainy day, just beginning; wonderfully cool air came through +the open windows and the leaves rustled in the wind, and the rain +pattered on the roofs; the maids were running across the court with +their milk-pails, the poultry was being fed, and Brockelmann talking to +the maids, and there went the bailiff in the pasture; everything was as +usual and yet so different.</p> + +<p>"Then a carriage came rolling into the court-yard. Heavens! that was our +own with the brown span. It stopped before the front steps, and Klaus +came out of the house and greeted the gentleman getting out. I had +leaned far out of the window, but now drew back in alarm—it was the +doctor, our old Reuter, and at this early hour! Anna Maria was my first +thought. I ran out; but no, there she was, just coming out of Susanna's +room. She still wore her blue dress of yesterday, but there were +blood-stains here and there on the large white apron.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna?' I faltered. She nodded, and gave me her hand. 'Go in, aunt; +I wish to speak with Reuter first,' she said softly; 'Susanna is ill.' +Almost stunned, I let myself be pushed through the open door. The +curtains were drawn, but on the chimney-piece a candle was burning, and +threw its dim, flickering light on the girl's face, so that I could see +the dark fever-roses which had bloomed upon it during the night. Her +eyes were wide open, but she did not know me; she thought I was Isa.</p> + +<p>"'Isa, I have sung, too; Isa, don't be angry; it was so beautiful in the +moonlight, and it did not hurt me at all.' And she began to sing:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Home have I come, my heart burns with pain—<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Oh! that I only could wander again!'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"And then she passed her small hands over her white night-dress. 'Take +away the red flowers, Isa!'</p> + +<p>"I laid a white cloth over it for her. Poor child! The swoon, the +laughing, the sweet singing, that was already fever.</p> + +<p>"Old Reuter came into the room and stepped up to the bed. Anna Maria +stood behind him, the torment of expectation on her pale face, and from +outside, through the unlatched door, came the sound of heavy breathing; +that must be Klaus. The old gentleman felt Susanna's pulse long and +cautiously; he was not a man of many words, and one could scarcely find +out from him what one's disease was; but he turned at last to Anna +Maria:</p> + +<p>"'A pitiful little lady, Fräulein; the good God made her expressly for +a knick-knack table; wrapped in cotton, sent to the South, and treated +like a princess, without making any sort of exertion herself, something +might yet be made of her. But first'—he drew his watch from his pocket +and took hold of her hand again—'first we have enough to do here. Who +will undertake the nursing?'</p> + +<p>"'Doctor, do you think that bodily exertion—I mean, very early rising +and domestic activity—could be the cause?' asked Anna Maria, with +faltering voice.</p> + +<p>"'Up at four, and from the kitchen into the cold milk-cellar, and then +again in the glowing sun, at the bleaching place, and so alternately, +was it not?' asked the old gentleman. 'By all means the surest way to +completely prostrate a person of such a constitution; moreover, you +might have perceived it before, Fräulein.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria grew a shade paler. 'But day before yesterday she walked for +an hour in the heat, and sang a great deal,' I interposed, for I felt +sorry for Anna Maria. "'Then one thing has led to another,' declared the +old gentleman. 'Singing is poison—no more of that! Will you undertake +the nursing, Fräulein Hegewitz?' he asked me.</p> + +<p>"'No, I,' replied Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"'Isa! Isa!' called Susanna.</p> + +<p>"'Where is she staying?' asked Anna Maria, while Dr. Reuter had gone out +to write a prescription.</p> + +<p>"'In Dambitz,' I returned, oppressed; but she did not look at all +surprised. She only begged me to stay with Susanna till she had changed +her dress, and sent a messenger to the old woman. Then she came back, so +as not to stay long away from Susanna's bed, for, strangely enough, +Mademoiselle Isa Pfannenschmidt did not appear.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had sent Brockelmann in a carriage to fetch the old woman. +Meanwhile Susanna pushed Anna Maria away with her weak hands, and called +'Isa!' incessantly in her delirium. With a white face Anna Maria pushed +her chair behind the curtains and listened to the low, eager whispering +of the sick girl. But once the surging blood shot from neck to brow, as +Susanna spoke of Klaus, and Anna Maria turned her eyes almost +reproachfully toward the door, behind which a light step had just +stopped.</p> + +<p>"That was surely Klaus again; certainly twenty times during the day he +came to the door to listen; yet who could have closed the little red +mouth which had just called his name again, quite aloud, and laughed, +and talked of bonbons, of moonlight, and of songs?</p> + +<p>"On the way to my room I met Brockelmann, who had just returned, and was +standing in the corridor by Klaus. Her face was very red; she pointed to +my room, and here began to describe, in a voice half-choked with +indignation, all that she had found in the dwelling of the old comedian, +excepting herself. The blacksmith's wife had told her she had lately +boiled some red pomade, and put it in a number of little porcelain jars, +and taken them away to sell. She would often go away so, and be gone a +fortnight. 'She is an old vagabond,' added Brockelmann, 'a beggar-woman +whom the constable ought to shut up in the nearest tower!' And with a +contemptuous air she drew forth one of the little boxes in question, +which was correctly tied up with gold paper, and bore a label which +explained at length the red pomade and its value: '<i>Rouge de Théâtre, +première qualité!</i>'</p> + +<p>"'Paint!' said I, smiling.</p> + +<p>"'And for these sinful wares she gets a pile of money,' continued the +old woman, 'and what does she do with it? She eats cakes and chocolate, +and the children at the forge run about with gay silk ribbons on their +rough pig-tails; and all around in the corners there were heaps of +knick-knacks, enough for ten fools to trim up their caps with. It is a +shame!'</p> + +<p>"'When is she coming back?' asked Klaus.</p> + +<p>"'The Lord only knows; she went away yesterday.' Brockelmann turned to +go, irritated by her vain mission, which had taken so much time. But she +stopped at the door, and a friendly expression lay on her face. 'I am +charged with best greetings from the Herr Baron,' she said; 'he was not +a little surprised to see me looking into his garden from the old +woman's window; I explained to him shortly what brought me there.'</p> + +<p>"'Is the house so near the castle garden?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann nodded. 'Yes, indeed, the old woman sees the whole +beautiful garden; and what a garden!' With that she went out.</p> + +<p>"'It is well, on the whole,' said Klaus, after a pause, 'that the old +woman is not there. But will Brockelmann be able to nurse her?'</p> + +<p>"'No,' I replied, 'Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria?' he asked, and his lip quivered.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus,' I begged, 'don't humbug your own self. You must be convinced +in your inmost heart that this girl could not have a better nurse than +Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"'I have been perplexed about her,' he answered gloomily.</p> + +<p>"'And she about you!' I replied.</p> + +<p>"He grew red. 'For what reason?' he asked. 'Because I took this girl +under the protection of my house? Because I interfered with an +over-taxation of her strength? Because——' he broke on.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria fears that—well, that <i>la petite</i> will be too much +spoiled,' I replied.</p> + +<p>"Klaus shrugged his shoulders. 'Well, and now?' he asked. 'Listen, aunt, +I thought nothing in the world could alter me; I thought I had become a +calm, quiet man; but every nerve has twitched since I have been +compelled to see how this girl is treated. Once, as a little boy, I +looked on, powerless with rage, to see two great boys tormenting a +may-bug; they had climbed a tree because I had scratched and bitten +them; my small limbs would not carry me up there, but the dumb fury, the +rising tumult in my childish heart, I have never forgotten to this day; +and I felt exactly the same way when I heard those little feet tripping +here and there about the house—on, on, now on the kitchen-stairs, now +in the corridor. Do you not suppose I could see how they kept growing +more and more weary, and what a mighty effort they made when Anna +Maria's merciless voice called, "Here, Susanna!" or "<i>Venez donc</i>, +Susanna!" "Quickly, we will go into the milk-cellar!" "Susanna, where is +the key of the linen-press?" I was a coward to endure it, not to have +interfered till it was too late. Great heavens! it shall be different,' +he cried, and his clenched fist fell threateningly on the table. The +great, strong man was beside himself with anxiety and rage.</p> + +<p>"I did not venture to answer, and after a few minutes he left the room. +I heard him lingering again at Susanna's door, and then go away softly. +The misfortune was here! Poor Anna Maria! Poor Klaus!</p> + +<p>"Toward noon Anna Maria came to me, even paler than before. 'She talks +incessantly of Klaus,' she said slowly. 'I knew that it must come, but +Klaus did not understand me. She loves him, aunt, believe me.'</p> + +<p>"My thoughts were so full of Klaus that I said, quite consistently: 'And +he loves her!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria did not understand me aright. 'What did you say, aunt?' she +asked, the weariness all gone from her eyes.</p> + +<p>"'I said Klaus is tenderly inclined toward Susanna Mattoni,' I repeated +boldly.</p> + +<p>"The girl broke into a smile—nay, she even laughed—and I saw her firm +white teeth shine for the first time for many a day; then she grew +grave. 'How can you joke now, aunt?'</p> + +<p>"'<i>Mais, mon ange</i>, I am not joking,' I replied warmly. Anna Maria +puzzled me; she must have noticed it for a long time; then why was she +so opposed to the child?</p> + +<p>"'You are not joking, aunt?' she asked icily. 'Then you little +understand how to judge Klaus. Klaus, with his cool reason, his calm +nature, he who might have had a wife any day if he had wished, should +care for this child—it is ridiculous, perfectly ridiculous!'</p> + +<p>"'But, Anna Maria, are you so blind?' I cried.</p> + +<p>"'I am not blind,' she replied, with one of her glances which showed +plainly her contempt of my opinion. 'Not till I see the two come, +united, out of the church will I believe that Klaus loves her, and that, +Aunt Rosamond, neither you nor I will live to see.'</p> + +<p>"'Stop, Anna Maria!' I begged. 'It is, of course, possible that I am +mistaken, but—God grant that you are right,' I added.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria was silent for a moment. 'No,' she said then, as if to +herself, lifting up her arms—'no, Klaus is not capable of such an +error. I believe in Klaus. His kind heart, his compassion for the +orphan, impel him to be hard toward me; our opinions as to Susanna's +welfare are so contrary. But I know, aunt, that Klaus loves me so much, +that I stand before any other in his heart, so I will gladly bear the +harshness; perhaps he has borne something harder for my sake. When +Susanna is gone we shall find the old good-will back again.'</p> + +<p>"'I do not believe that Susanna will go away, will be allowed to go +away,' I threw in, uncertainly, touched by her confidence.</p> + +<p>"Her eyes shone. 'Leave that to me, Aunt Rosa,' she replied; 'she +<i>shall</i> go, take my word for it.'</p> + +<p>"'And if you vex Klaus afresh by such a demand?'</p> + +<p>"'Klaus desires Susanna's best good, and he will find some other place +for her as soon as he learns that he is not an object of indifference to +her. Klaus is a man of honor, and a glance will suffice.'</p> + +<p>"'What, Anna Maria?' I groaned; 'you would inform him that—that——'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' she replied.</p> + +<p>"'I beg you, Anna Maria, do not do it; do not pour oil on the fire, my +child; be silent——'</p> + +<p>"'Never, aunt; I have been silent too long already!' she said decidedly. +'I saw it coming on, it had to come, and I had not the courage to warn +Klaus, and say: "Protect this child from the saddest thing that can come +to a maiden's heart; do not let it awaken into a first love, which must +then be renounced."'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria, for Heaven's sake,' I implored, 'how do you know so +certainly that Susanna no longer regards Klaus with indifference? You +cannot take her feverish talk for anything positive. She talks about +Stürmer as well as Klaus. I beg you, keep silent. It is only a +conjecture of yours; Susanna may be in a state of uncertainty still, +herself.'</p> + +<p>"'A precocious, passionate nature, like that girl's?' she asked, and +went to the door, about to leave; 'there is nothing uncertain there. I +owe it to her.'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria, let her get well first; it is over-hasty, and may make a +dreadful jumble!'</p> + +<p>"She did not answer, but gave me a nod that agreed with her earnest +look, and then left me alone with my thoughts.</p> + +<p>"How sorry I was for her, this young maiden with the heart of an old +woman! How this firm confidence in Klaus touched me! I had expected a +little jealousy from her, had supposed that Susanna's appearance seemed +dangerous enough to her to rob her of her brother's heart; but nothing +of all this—that she wished to preserve the girl's peace of mind. She +believed in Klaus with a firm, unshaken trust. 'I know that I stand +before all others in his heart, only our opinions about Susanna differ +widely.' Klaus was a man of honor, Klaus could not marry Susanna; it lay +beyond the reach of possibility! A love without this final end was not +conceivable to her pure mind; of a passion which could outreach all +bounds she seemed to have no foreboding. It did not occur to her to +consider her brother's altered manner, his hasty vehemence of the day +before, as anything but the expression of his lively anxiety about an +orphaned child, as excessive chivalry, as a justified irritation at her +energetic opposition; but if she had only first spoken——</p> + +<p>"Ah, me! My old head showed me no outlet. What should I do, with whom +speak? Neither of them could judge of the matter as it lay now; the only +remaining way was to appeal to Susanna's maidenly pride. But dared I? +Had I the right to contrive an intrigue behind Klaus's back? For, +although I meant well, still it was an intrigue. And suppose that I did +tread this by-way, what certainty was there that it would lead to the +goal? And how, after all, should I tread it?</p> + +<p>"Susanna's illness was violent but brief. The delirium had ceased by the +next day, but she lay very feeble for a week after, without speaking or +showing interest in anything. But her great eyes continually followed +Anna Maria, as she moved noiselessly about the sick-room. Anna Maria's +manner toward Susanna was altered; there was a certain gentleness and +tenderness about her that became her wonderfully well. Whether it was +sympathy with the invalid, or whether she wanted to show the girl whom +she had wished to send away from the shelter of her home that she +cherished no ill-will toward her, I do not know; at any rate, she took +care of her like a loving mother.</p> + +<p>"After about a week Susanna raised her head, begged to have the windows +opened, and showed an appetite; and when the doctor came he found her +sitting up in bed, eating with excellent appetite the prescribed +convalescent's dish, a broth of young pigeons.</p> + +<p>"'Bravo!' cried the gay little man, 'keep on so! A small glass of +Bordeaux, too, would do no harm.'</p> + +<p>"'And to-morrow I shall get up!' cried Susanna.</p> + +<p>"'Not to-morrow; and day after to-morrow I shall inspect you again +before you do it,' answered the doctor.</p> + +<p>"Susanna laughed, and then, with the pleasant feeling of returning +health, lay back on the pillows, took a hundred-leaved rose from the +bunch of flowers which Klaus sent daily through Anna Maria, to be placed +by the sick-bed, and asked—what! did I hear aright? Horrified, I turned +my head away and looked for Anna Maria; fortunately, she had gone out +with the doctor—and asked: 'Has Klaus—Herr von Hegewitz—ever inquired +for me?' And as she spoke her dark eyes flashed beneath the long lashes.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, yes, Susanna, but he is very much occupied with the harvesting +now,' I said deceitfully, 'and he knows you are having the best of +care.'</p> + +<p>"She nodded. 'And has not Herr von Stürmer been here? Did he not know +that I was ill?'</p> + +<p>"'Stürmer? Yes, I think he has been here frequently,' I replied.</p> + +<p>"'And hasn't he asked at all how I was?' she questioned me further.</p> + +<p>"'You are assuming, <i>ma mignonne</i>!' said I, irritated. 'He has inquired +for you, perhaps—yes, I remember—nothing more.'</p> + +<p>"'How ungallant!' whispered Susanna, sulkily. At that moment the door +opened and Brockelmann entered with a little basket of choice apricots, +with a fresh rosebud placed here and there among them.</p> + +<p>"'An expression of regard from Baron von Stürmer, who sent his wishes +for the Fräulein's improvement, hoping that she might like to eat the +fruit.' With these words the basket was set down rather roughly on the +table beside the bed. The old woman's glance met mine, and in her eyes +was plainly to be read: 'Well, let anybody who can understand such a +state of affairs; I can't!' But Susanna, with a cry of joy, had seized +the basket, and buried her nose in the flowers, inhaling their spicy +odor. Then she rested it on her knees, put her delicate arms around it, +leaned her head on the dainty handle, and with a happy smile closed her +eyes, and thus Anna Maria found her. She frowned at this ecstasy. 'It +is very kind of Stürmer,' she said, quietly; 'he always shows such +delicate attentions when he knows any one to be ill and suffering.' Then +she rang for a plate and silver fruit-knife. 'Give them to me, Susanna; +I will prepare some of the beautiful fruit for you.'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> + + +<p>"Late in the afternoon one dull rainy day we were sitting in the +garden-parlor, Anna Maria with her sewing, Klaus reading the newspaper +and smoking, when Stürmer came in to talk over some matters with Klaus. +Then conversation about horses ended in a political discussion, in which +Anna Maria took part with a certain degree of liveliness, and Klaus +joined warmly, drawing strong whiffs from his pipe. Stürmer, who had +never taken a pipe in his mouth, now and then drove back the clouds with +his silk handkerchief in sport, and I amused myself with listening to +the ready answers which came from Anna Maria's young lips.</p> + +<p>"The demeanor of brother and sister toward each other was singular. Anna +Maria waited upon her brother with almost humble tenderness, while he +seemed distrustful, and then again secretly touched by the +self-sacrificing spirit of the nurse who devoted herself to Susanna. He +especially avoided looking at her, or speaking to her directly.</p> + +<p>"'How is Fräulein Mattoni getting on?' broke in Stürmer in the midst of +a well-turned sentence of Klaus's about the recent attempts to make +beet-root sugar.</p> + +<p>"'Well!' replied Anna Maria; 'she is reading an old family history which +I hunted up the other day, and enjoying your delicious apricots. Thank +you for them, Stürmer; they give Susanna great pleasure.'</p> + +<p>"Then the conversation turned upon the lately deceased Duke of Weimar, +Charles Augustus, and from him to his celebrated friend, Goethe, of whom +Stürmer affirmed that he was intending to marry again after the death of +his wife. Anna Maria rejected the idea incredulously; she could not +believe that he, at his great age, would be so foolish. She was a sworn +enemy to Goethe. Her plain, straightforward mind had been disagreeably +affected by Werther; such an overflow of feeling could but seem strange +to her. Goethe's numerous love-affairs set him out in a light which +brought the ideal conception of him down to the atmosphere of common +mortals. That genius draws different boundaries, that a fiery spirit +like his was not to be measured by the common standard, did not occur to +her, and so she now indignantly shook her head.</p> + +<p>"'A fable!' I, too, cried, smiling.</p> + +<p>"'Not at all,' rejoined Stürmer; 'I have it from Von N——, who is +correctly informed, depend upon it!'</p> + +<p>"'My!' said Klaus, 'he must have become an old icicle by this time, +scarcely able to go among people any more.'</p> + +<p>"'A man who has created a Gretchen ossify?' threw in Stürmer. 'Never!'</p> + +<p>"'And a Werther?' said I, in joke.</p> + +<p>"'Werther is insupportable!' declared Anna Maria, 'bombastic, overdrawn! +A man who behaves like Werther is in my eyes no man at all, but a +weakling!'</p> + +<p>"Stürmer's dark eyes looked quietly over at her. 'Your opinion, Fräulein +von Hegewitz, is surely a rare one among women. A woman usually +discovers from her standpoint, and naturally, that with a lost love the +value of life is gone, and why should not this be the case with a man +as well? Of course, in a man's occupation, in the demands which his life +makes of him, there are a thousand aids offered to enable him more +quickly to recover from such a pain. But to regard it purely +objectively, that demands such a cool manner of contemplation that I am +fain to believe that those who thus judge do not know what loving really +means.'</p> + +<p>"At these last words Anna Maria had grown as white as the linen on which +she was sewing. She dropped her head, as if conscious of guilt, and her +trembling hand could scarcely guide the needle. A painful pause ensued; +Klaus cast a compassionate glance at Stürmer; it was the first time that +he had given expression to the pain of his bitter disappointment in her +hearing and ours.</p> + +<p>"'Heavens, what a storm!' I cried, as a perfect flood of water was +hurled against the windows; even the despised subject of water satisfied +me to break the awkward silence.</p> + +<p>"'Indeed,' said Stürmer, rising, 'it is bad; I must make haste to get +under shelter while it is yet daylight.' He took leave with a haste that +left me to imagine he wished to be alone with his bitter feelings.</p> + +<p>"'Adieu, dear Edwin,' said I, tenderly, pressing his hand. Neither +brother nor sister gave him the customary invitation to spend the +evening here. Anna Maria had risen and laid her hand on Klaus's +shoulder, who was now standing beside her. She was still very pale, and +said her 'Good-night, Stürmer!' with a wearily maintained steadiness.</p> + +<p>"As soon as the gentlemen had left the room, she went to the door and +opened it impetuously; breathing hard, she stood in the door-way, and +the storm blew back her skirts, and the rain-drops beat in her face and +lay like pearls on her fair locks. Once or twice it seemed to me as if +her bosom heaved with suppressed sobs, so that, in alarm, I turned my +head to look around the curtain, but to no purpose, for as Klaus +reëntered the room she turned back too, and an almost transfigured +expression lay on her face.</p> + +<p>"She went up to him and took his arm.</p> + +<p>"'Dear brother,' I heard her say, and again there was a quiver in her +voice; she leaned her head against his breast. 'Dear Klaus!' she +repeated.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria?' he asked, taking hold of her hand.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus, let what has lately passed between us be forgotten! Forgive me +for having so violently opposed you; it was very wrong of me——'</p> + +<p>"'No, no, my old lass; I was more violent than was necessary,' he +replied hastily, drawing her to him; 'we were both in fault.'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, Klaus; you see I was not honest; I ought to have spoken at once, +but I was not sure enough of it. I did not wish to make you uneasy.'</p> + +<p>"'By what?' said Klaus hastily.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria hesitated, but held her brother's arm more firmly. I cleared +my throat as a warning from my corner by the window, but Anna Maria paid +no attention to it; she acted from quick, firm resolution in all that +she did, and when occasion came she bravely met the difficulty, which +she thought easy enough to overcome.</p> + +<p>"'By telling you of a fact which makes Susanna's remaining in this house +questionable,' she said, quietly, but decidedly.</p> + +<p>"'The old song again, Anna Maria?' he said. 'Your vehemence did not +suffice; do you think to catch me this way?'</p> + +<p>"'No, Klaus, in Heaven's name, no!' she replied. 'Something different +drives me to you now; I did not mean to speak of Susanna to you again; I +wished in this hour only one word from you as of old, a single kind +word; that it happened thus was the course of the conversation. Forgive +me!'</p> + +<p>"'You have judged Susanna very severely, Anna Maria,' Klaus began, after +a pause, 'and now you have nursed her devotedly and made up for it a +hundred times; and yet the same sentiments?—now, when she is ill, and +may perhaps remain sickly?'</p> + +<p>"'I have expected too much of Susanna's constitution, Klaus, and day and +night I have prayed that God might restore her to health. I have desired +only her good, believe me. But my opinion of Susanna's character I +cannot alter.'</p> + +<p>"They were not standing close together now, but opposite one another. +'But beneath all the show and glitter which I despise there beats a +quick, warm human heart, Klaus. Susanna is no longer the child you think +to see in her. Susanna has—Susanna is—Susanna <i>loves</i> you, Klaus!'</p> + +<p>"The twilight had gradually deepened. I could no longer see Klaus's face +distinctly, but only heard a quick, violent breathing. He did not +answer, he stood motionless. 'Foolish child!' thought I, looking at Anna +Maria.</p> + +<p>"'You do not believe me, Klaus?' she asked, as he remained silent. 'But +it is so; I am not mistaken! Susanna talked of you incessantly in her +delirium; I know it from a hundred little indications. Such an affection +increases daily and hourly—is the girl to become unhappy? Perhaps she +does not know it yet herself, but the awakening must surely come.'</p> + +<p>"Again no answer. Klaus sat down in the nearest chair, and looked before +him, motionless. The servants' supper-bell was now ringing outside, a +fresh shower of rain came pelting against the sandstone pavement of the +terrace, and there was a spectral light in the great, dim room. I +imagined phantoms were rising out of every nook and corner, and the +great flowered portière moved slightly, as if some one were standing +behind it, listening.</p> + +<p>"'You are right,' said Klaus, at length, in a lifeless tone; 'what is to +become of her? The wife of a Hegewitz—that is impossible; so you think, +do you not, Anna Maria?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' she replied, simply.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' he repeated, springing up and pacing the room with long steps. +'And whither would you banish the girl?' he asked, stopping before his +sister.</p> + +<p>"'Not <i>banish</i>, Klaus; that sounds so different from what I intend,' she +said, frankly. 'Take her to a <i>pension</i> in a southern district, perhaps +in Switzerland, and so give her an opportunity to thoroughly heal her +sick heart.'</p> + +<p>"'That sounds reasonable and well-considered,' he returned, bitterly. +'Meanwhile, Susanna is not yet restored to health.' And after a pause he +added: 'I have put off for a long time a necessary journey; I shall go +to-morrow to O——, in Silesia; I shall be acting to your mind so, shall +I not?'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria started. 'To O——, do you say?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' he replied, very red; 'I have been a little negligent, and +affairs are in such a bad condition there a meeting of creditors is +unavoidable. Platen has repeatedly urged me to come myself, in order to +check the thing; you know my mortgage is the largest, but——'</p> + +<p>"'And you have not gone, Klaus?' said Anna Maria reproachfully. 'Why?'</p> + +<p>"'I shall start to-morrow morning,' he answered, shortly.</p> + +<p>"She evidently did not understand him aright, but she went up to him and +put her arms around his neck. 'Do not let a misunderstanding arise +between us again, Klaus. Shall I act contrary to my conviction?'</p> + +<p>"'No, no!' he replied in a hollow tone; 'I thank you.' But he did not +draw her to him, he freed himself from her arms and left the room. Anna +Maria stood motionless for a moment looking after him. Then she shook +her head energetically, as if to ward off intrusive thoughts, and taking +up her basket of keys went out too.</p> + +<p>"Half an hour later we were sitting at the supper-table. Anna Maria had +brought Klaus from his room; he looked disturbed and let his soup grow +cold, and crumbled his bread between his fingers in a distracted manner.</p> + +<p>"'Have you been to Susanna's room?' I asked Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"She nodded. 'I was in a hurry, but stopped at her door up-stairs, and +called to ask what I should send her for supper. But I got no answer; +she was probably asleep, so I closed the door softly and came away.'</p> + +<p>"'And what do you intend to tell her as a pretext for her removal?' I +asked further.</p> + +<p>"'Her health is a sufficiently cogent reason, aunt,' replied Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"I was silent and so were the others; we finished the meal in silence, +and then sat silent about the table in the sitting-room, without a +suspicion of what was happening meanwhile. Each was occupied with his +own thoughts, and without the monotonous rain still fell splashing on +the roof and poured from the animals' heads on the gutters upon the +pavement of the court. There was an incessant drizzle and splash, and +the storm, coming over the heath, swept together the rain-drops, and +drove them pelting against the well-protected windows.</p> + +<p>"All at once Brockelmann entered the room; frightened and startled her +eyes sped about. 'Is not Fräulein Mattoni here?' she asked excitedly.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna?' we all three cried with one voice, and Klaus sprang up.</p> + +<p>"'She is not in her room! Merciful Heaven, where can she be!' she +continued. 'Before supper she got up and dressed herself, laughing and +tittering; she meant to go down-stairs to surprise the family. I +scolded, but what good did it do? Oh, she must be hiding somewhere!' The +old woman's voice was choked with anxiety; Anna Maria had hurried out of +the room, and her flying steps reëchoed from the corridor, fear lending +her wings. Brockelmann took a candle from the table and began to search +the adjoining garden-parlor, and Klaus stood, pale as a corpse, as if +rooted to the spot.</p> + +<p>"'She must be here!' said I.</p> + +<p>"He did not hear. His whole attention was concentrated upon Anna Maria, +who was just crossing the threshold, and looked at her brother's serious +face with eyes that seemed twice their usual size.</p> + +<p>"'She is gone, Klaus,' she said, tremulously; 'I know not whither—why?'</p> + +<p>"He stepped past her without a word.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus!' Anna Maria called after him, 'take me with you!' But she +received no answer. 'She heard it, my God, she heard what I said to +him,' she whispered. 'Aunt, I beg you, go with him, do not let him go +alone!' She hastened away and came back with shawls and wraps. I could +hear from the court the hasty preparations for departure—indeed, how I +got to the carriage, where Klaus was already sitting on the box, I do +not know to this day.</p> + +<p>"It was a half-covered chaise in which we rolled out on the dark +highway; the rain beat against the leather hood, and the wind assaulted +us with undiminished strength; Klaus's coat-collar flapped in the light +of the carriage lamps, whose unsteady light was reflected in the water +of the one great puddle into which the whole road was transformed. Klaus +drove frantically; to this day I do not understand how we came, safe and +sound, in the pitch-dark night, before the Dambitz blacksmith's shop. +The little house lay there without a light. When Klaus pounded on the +door with his whip-handle the watch-dog gave the alarm, upon which a +man's voice soon asked what we wanted, and if anything had happened to +the carriage. It happened sometimes, doubtless, that the man was called +from his sleep because of an accident.</p> + +<p>"'Is your lodger at home?' asked Klaus, in place of an answer.</p> + +<p>"'Since this noon, your honor!' was the polite answer. The man knew the +master of the Hegewitz manor from his inquiry, for it was known all over +the village that the Bütze people had the foster-child of the old +actress with them.</p> + +<p>"'Is she alone?'</p> + +<p>"'Ah! has your honor come on account of the young mam'selle?' cried the +man. 'She came here an hour ago, wet as a rat, and is lying in bed +up-stairs there. I will open the door at once.'</p> + +<p>"Klaus helped me out of the carriage. 'Will you go up to her?' he +asked, and pressed my hand so hard that I nearly screamed.</p> + +<p>"'Certainly, certainly, my lad!' I made haste to say; 'we will soon have +the fugitive back at Bütze.' But sooner said than done. The blacksmith's +wife, who had also appeared on the scene, carefully lighted the way up +the creaking, dangerous flight of stairs, which I was scarcely able to +climb with my lame foot, and there, in the low, whitewashed back room of +the forge, stood Isabella Pfannenschmidt before me, like a roused +lioness. She stood with outstretched arms before the bed, which was in +an alcove-like recess, and was half covered with fantastic hangings of +yellow chintz. With theatrical pathos she called to me: 'What do you +want? You have no more right to this child!'</p> + +<p>"Without further ado I pushed her aside and looked at the bed; from a +chaos of blue and red feather-beds emerged Susanna's brown head.</p> + +<p>"She turned her face to the wall without looking at me, and remained +thus, motionless.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna, was that right?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"No answer.</p> + +<p>"'Why did you run away so suddenly, my child? Do you know that you may +have made yourself ill and miserable for life by this recklessness?'</p> + +<p>"Silence again, but the breathing grew heavy and loud.</p> + +<p>"'You are an obstinate, naughty child!' I continued. You frighten the +people who love you half to death, and sin against yourself in an +unheard-of manner!'</p> + +<p>"The old actress meanwhile stood with folded arms, and an indescribable +smile played about her mouth.</p> + +<p>"'Are you well enough to get up and drive home with me, Susanna?' I +asked.</p> + +<p>"'No!' cried the old woman. 'Why should she go to you again? Sooner or +later they will be sure to show her the door!'</p> + +<p>"'Susanna, Klaus is below; he has been anxious about you; and Anna Maria +is impatiently waiting at home. Be reasonable, be good; you owe us an +explanation.'</p> + +<p>"But in place of an answer a violent fit of coughing followed; she +suddenly began to toss about and clutch at the air, and her eyes looked +over at me, large and fixed, strangely unconscious. The old actress fell +on the bed with a piercing cry, and wound her arms about the girl. 'Oh, +Lord, she is dying!'</p> + +<p>"Had Klaus heard this cry? I know not; I only know that all at once he +was in the room, and pushed the old woman away from the bed, and that +that moment decided the fate of two human beings. All that had been +fermenting in him for weeks, the stream of his passion which had been +wearily held back by cold reason, was set free by the sight of the girl +lying thus unconscious. No more restraint was possible; he threw his +arms about her, he kissed the little weak hands, the dark hair; he +called her his bride, his wife, his beloved; never again, never, should +she go from his heart, who was dearer to him than all the world! In dumb +horror I heard these impetuous words rush on my ears. Thank God, +Isabella Pfannenschmidt had left the room; she had evidently rushed out +for a restorative, for tea or water.</p> + +<p>"I laid a heavy hand on the man's shoulder. 'Are you mad, Klaus? Do you +not see that she is sicker than ever?' Susanna now lay in his arms, +really swooning; her head had fallen on his shoulder, and the small +face, like that of a slumbering child, showed a slight smile on the +lips.</p> + +<p>"'Aunt,' said the tall, fair man, without getting up, tears shining in +his honest blue eyes, 'she shall not die; I should reproach myself with +it forever!' He pressed his lips to her forehead again and went out, +without looking about him; he sat on the stairs there a long time. +Susanna opened her eyes at last, under our efforts. She then let dry +clothes be put on her without resistance, but there was no sign, no +look, to betray to me whether she had heard Klaus's wild whisperings of +love. But she did not for a moment object to accompanying me to Bütze, +and energetically chid the old woman's lamentation. Warmly wrapped, I +led her over the threshold of the low room; she wavered for a moment, as +she saw Klaus on the stairs by the light of the oil-lamp. Then he raised +her in his arms, and in the smoking, unsteady light of the lamp, which +was being put out by the draught, I saw how he went down the steps with +her, how two slender arms were put around his neck, sure and fast. With +tottering knees I followed them, to take Susanna Mattoni to Bütze again.</p> + +<p>"And the way home! Never has a drive seemed so endless to me. I sat +silent beside the girl; I was angry with her, bitterly angry for being +loved by Klaus. The pride of a pure and ancient stock arose in my heart +in its full strength, and if ever I hated Susanna Mattoni it was on that +night, in the dark carriage. Then I felt her lightly touch my clothes, +slip to the floor beside me, and embrace my knees and lay her head on my +lap. 'I was going away, Fräulein Rosamond,' she whispered; 'why did you +come after me?'</p> + +<p>"They were only a few simple words, but such a persuasive truth lay in +them that my anger vanished almost instantly. A feeling of deep sympathy +pulled at my heart, and sent a flood of tears to my eyes.</p> + +<p>"What avail the arduously established limits of human law and order, +even though uprightly preserved for centuries long, against the storm of +a first passion? A single instant—the proud structure lies in ruins, +and the crimson banner of love waves victoriously over all +considerations, over all reflections.</p> + +<p>"I felt Susanna's hot lips on my hand; they burned me like glowing iron. +I did not draw away my hand, but left it to her, without pressure, +without a sign that I understood her. Before my eyes hovered the image +of Anna Maria. 'Oh, Anna Maria, I could not prevent its happening thus!'</p> + +<p>"And now the carriage rolled under our gateway, rattled over the paved +court, and stopped before the steps. I saw Klaus swing himself down from +the box, and saw Anna Maria, in the light of the lantern, standing in +the vaulted door-way. Klaus opened the carriage-door; Susanna first +raised herself up now, and he carried her like a child up the steps, +past Anna Maria, into the house. They had forgotten me; the lame old +aunt clambered out of the carriage with Brockelmann's help, and on +entering the sitting-room I found Anna Maria and Susanna alone—Susanna, +with a feverish glow on her cheeks, in Klaus's arm-chair, Anna Maria +standing before her with a cup of hot tea.</p> + +<p>"Not a question, not a reproach passed her lips; she silently offered +the warming drink, and Susanna silently refused it. 'You must go to bed, +Susanna,' she then said. The girl rose and took a step or two, but +tottered, and held on to her chair. 'Put your arms around my neck, +Susanna!' Anna Maria cried, and in a moment had raised her in her strong +arms, and went toward the door as if she were carrying a feather. +Brockelmann followed; I heard her muttering away to herself, 'That caps +the climax!'</p> + +<p>"Utterly exhausted, I sank into my chair. What was to be done now? God +grant that Klaus and Anna Maria might not see each other again this +evening, only this evening!</p> + +<p>"Half an hour had passed when I heard Anna Maria's step in the hall; the +door was wide open, and I could distinctly see her tall figure approach, +in the faint light of the hall-lamp. She stopped at Klaus's door and +knocked. I leaned forward to listen; all was still. 'Klaus!' I heard her +say. No answer. Again I thought I detected a suppressed sob in her +voice. 'Klaus!' she repeated once more, imploringly, pressing on the +latch. She waited a minute or two, then turned away and went up-stairs +again.</p> + +<p>"'He is angry with her,' I murmured, half aloud, 'and she wants to +conciliate him. My God, turn everything to good!' I put out the lights +in the sitting-room and went over to Klaus's door and listened. Regular +and heavy came the sound of his steps; he was there, then! 'Klaus!' I +called, with an energy which frightened myself. The steps came nearer at +once, the key was turned, and he opened the door directly.</p> + +<p>"'Come in, aunt,' he bade me. I looked at him in alarm, he looked so +pale, so exhausted. His hand seized mine. 'It is well that you are +looking after me, aunt; something has come over me, I know not how.'</p> + +<p>"'And now, Klaus?' I asked, letting him lead me to the sofa, which had +descended from my father and still stood on the same spot as of old, +under a collection of about fifty deers' antlers, all of which had been +taken on the Bütze hunting-grounds, and had decorated that wall as far +back as I could remember.</p> + +<p>"He had stopped in front of me. 'And now?' he repeated, passing his hand +over his forehead. 'It is a strange question, <i>au fond</i>, aunt—Susanna +will be my wife. I can give you no other answer.'</p> + +<p>"It was out! I had long known that it must come, and yet it fell on me +like a blow.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus,' I began. But he interrupted me impatiently and indignantly.</p> + +<p>"'I know all you would say, aunt; I have said it to myself a hundred +times! I know as well as you that Susanna belongs to the common class, +that her mother came from doubtful antecedents. I know that Susanna is a +trifling, spoiled child, who seems little suited to my seriousness. I +know that I am old in comparison to her; and I know, above all, that +Anna Maria will never regard her as a sister. Nevertheless, aunt, my +resolve stands firm, for I love Susanna Mattoni, love her with all her +childish faults, which are hardly to be called faults. I love her in her +charming, trifling maidenhood; it will make me happy to be able to +educate and guide her further, and the love that Anna Maria denies her I +will try to make up to her.'</p> + +<p>"I was silent, there was nothing more to be said.</p> + +<p>"'You do not look happy, aunt,' he said, bitterly. 'Listen: this +afternoon I was thinking of flight; but when Anna Maria said, "Susanna +loves you!" it almost crushed me. Amid all the happiness which this +revelation opened to me, yet much that has been sacred and not to be +trifled with forcibly appealed to me. But when I beheld Susanna, like a +dying person, in that poor room, all at once it was clear to me that +everything in the world is powerless against a true, deep passion, and +then——'</p> + +<p>"'And Anna Maria, Klaus?'</p> + +<p>"'I cannot talk with her any more this evening, aunt,' he replied; 'wait +till I am quieter; there is time enough. I grow violent if I think that +it was her words that drove Susanna out in the stormy night. God grant +that it may do her no harm!'</p> + +<p>"'Yet do not misunderstand the fact, Klaus, that Anna Maria wished +Susanna's best good,' I besought him, tears streaming from my eyes. +'Think how she loves you, how her very existence depends upon you. I +shall wish from my heart, Klaus, that what you have chosen may be the +right thing; but do not expect that Anna Maria will, without a struggle, +see you take a step which may perhaps bring you heavy burdens and little +happiness.'</p> + +<p>"Klaus did not answer. He stood before his writing-desk and looked at +Anna Maria's portrait, which she had given him at Christmas three years +before; it was painted at the time that she refused Stürmer. The clear +blue eyes looked over at Klaus from the proud, grave face, which had the +slightest expression of pain about the mouth, as if she were again +speaking the words she had said to him at that time: 'I will stay with +you, Klaus; I cannot go away from you!'</p> + +<p>"'I do not wish to proceed violently, aunt,' he began, after a long +pause; 'I am no young blusterer who would take a fortress by storm. +Susanna, too, requires rest; she ought not to be disturbed and excited +any more now. Believe me, I love Anna Maria very dearly, but I cannot +give up a happiness a second time for her sake; then she was a child, +and toward the child I had obligations; to-day she is a maiden, who +sooner or later will be a wife.'</p> + +<p>"'No, no, Klaus," I cried.</p> + +<p>"'Very well, not so, then. She is different from others I admit; at any +rate, hers is a nature that is sufficient to itself. She is, and +remains, in my heart and in my home, my only and beloved sister, who +will ever hold the first place, next to—Susanna. But with that she must +be satisfied, and in return I demand love, and above all, consideration +for her who will be my wife. But, as I said before, I cannot possibly +speak quietly with Anna Maria about it now. I will let it wait over, +with my absence, perhaps three weeks, perhaps longer, and we shall all +have time to become more calm—I, too, Aunt Rosamond. I thought of +writing to Anna Maria about this affair, calmly and lovingly, and almost +believe it is the best thing to do.'</p> + +<p>"'And when shall you start, Klaus?'</p> + +<p>"'Frederick is packing my trunk now; the bailiff is coming at four +o'clock for a necessary conference; at five the carriage will be at the +door.'</p> + +<p>"'And does Anna Maria know?'</p> + +<p>"'No—I would like—to go without saying good-by.'</p> + +<p>"'You will make her angry, Klaus; it is not right.' I sobbed.</p> + +<p>"'Let time pass, aunt, that the breach may not grow wider; you know her +and you know me. There have been discussions between us of late which +have left a thorn in my heart. I do not want to be violent toward her +again.'</p> + +<p>"'And Susanna?'</p> + +<p>"'Susanna knows enough,' he replied, simply; 'you will be so kind as to +explain to her that I had to go on a necessary journey, and hope next to +see her well and sound again.'</p> + +<p>"'Will she not interpret it falsely, after that vehement storm of love +to-night?'</p> + +<p>"He blushed to the roots of his curly hair.</p> + +<p>"'No, aunt,' he said, 'it would be untimely were I to make her any +assurances. Susanna knows now that I love her, and I think she returns +my love; of what use are further words?'</p> + +<p>"Honest old Klaus! I can still see you standing before me, in the +agitation which so well became you, and so truly brought out your fine, +brave character.</p> + +<p>"'Farewell, then, Klaus,' said I, placing my hand in his, and he drew it +to his lips and looked at my tearful eyes. 'Hold your dear hands over my +little Susanna,' he asked tenderly; 'I will thank you for every kind +word you say to her. And should she be in danger, should she grow worse +again, write me. I will leave a few lines for Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"'God be with you, Klaus; may all be well!'</p> + +<p>"He accompanied me through the dim hall as far as the stairs. A short +whirr from the old clock, and two hollow strokes were heard. Two o'clock +already! I waved my hand again, and went up-stairs, with how heavy a +heart God only knows!</p> + +<p>"I stopped at Susanna's door and softly lifted the latch. By the +uncertain light of the night-lamp I saw Anna Maria in the arm-chair +beside the bed; her head rested against the green cushion of the high +back, her hands were folded over her New Testament in her lap, and she +was sleeping quietly and soundly. I glided softly in and looked at +Susanna; she lay awake, her eyes wide open. As she caught sight of me +she dropped her long lashes, pretending deep sleep, but raised them +again, blinking, as I withdrew. Was it any wonder that she did not sleep +and that her cheeks glowed like crimson roses?</p> + +<p>"My sleep was restless that night, full of confused, troubled dreams. +Toward morning I woke with a start; I thought I heard the rumbling of a +coach. 'Klaus,' I cried, and a feeling of anxiety came over me. I rose +and glided to the window; a thick, white autumnal mist hung over the +trees and roofs of the barns; it was perfectly still all about, but the +door of the carriage-house stood open and a boy was slowly sauntering +into the stable; the gates were opened wide, showing a bit of the +lonely, poplar-shaded highway.</p> + +<p>"I stole away and sought my bed again; so far everything was certainly +quiet and orderly. I had been sleeping soundly again, when suddenly +opening my eyes, I perceived Brockelmann by my bed.</p> + +<p>"'Fräulein,' she said, unsteadily, 'the master has gone off early this +morning!'</p> + +<p>"'He will come back, Brockelmann,' I said, consolingly. 'Does Anna Maria +know yet?'</p> + +<p>"'To be sure!' replied the old woman; 'and she was not a little +frightened when Frederick brought her the letter which the master left +for her. But you know, Fräulein, she always judges according to the +saying, "What God does and what my brother does is well!"' With that the +old woman went.</p> + +<p>"I believe I sat at the window for two hours after that in <i>déshabillé</i>, +thinking over yesterday's experience; Klaus had gone, and when he +returned Susanna would be his wife—that was ever the sum of my +reflections.</p> + +<p>"When I came down-stairs I found Anna Maria engaged in business +transactions with the bailiff and forester. How clearly she made her +arrangements! The men had not a word to reply. Offers had been made for +the grain; the harvest was richer than ever before, and the price of +grain low. Anna Maria did not wish to close the bargain yet; in Eastern +Prussia the grain had turned out wretchedly. 'Let us wait for the +potato-crop,' I heard her say. 'If that turns out as badly as seems +probable now, we shall need more bread, for our people must not suffer +want.'</p> + +<p>"She proceeded with calmness and caution. Oh, yes. Klaus was right; his +house was in good care. As she followed me afterward into the +garden-parlor she pressed my hand.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus's departure seems like a flight,' she said; 'but it must be all +right.'</p> + +<p>"Not a word of yesterday's occurrences! Nor in the future either. +Susanna observed the same silence. When I went to her bed to inform her +that Klaus was gone on a journey, a bright flush of alarm tinged her +pale face for an instant, but she was silent.</p> + +<p>"For some time yet she had to keep her bed; then her childish step was +heard again about the house, her slender figure nestled again in the +deep easy-chair in the garden-parlor, and she went about the park as of +old, idling away the days, and gradually signs of returning health +appeared in her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"She evidently missed Klaus; it was most plainly to be seen in her +dress. She seemed astonishingly negligent; at a slight word of blame +from me, the question, 'For whom?' rose quickly to her lips, but she did +not speak it, and turned away her blushing face. Isabella Pfannenschmidt +came to the house a few days after Klaus's departure, while Susanna was +still in bed. I entered the room soon after her, and found the old woman +by the bed, a vexed expression on her face. My ear just caught the +words: 'Yes, now, there we have it: the egg will always be wiser than +the hen!'</p> + +<p>"She was embarrassed at my entrance, but remained fierce and surly. I +purposely did not leave them alone, and toward evening she took her +leave, with a thousand fond words to Susanna, and a cold courtesy to me. +'All will yet be well, my sweet little dear; only wait!' she whispered +before she went."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> + + +<p>"Life went on quietly in the house without a master. Anna Maria was busy +until late in the evening; she possessed an endless capacity for work. +'I can bear Klaus's absence easier so,' she said, when I urged her to +give herself some rest. 'I miss him infinitely, aunt!' Stürmer came +occasionally to inquire for the ladies. Once he arrived at the same time +with Anna Maria; she, like him, was on horseback; they had probably met +on the highway, for Anna Maria came from the fields, the bailiff behind +her. I was standing at the window with Susanna. 'What a splendid +couple!' said I, involuntarily, and indeed I thought I had scarcely ever +seen Anna Maria look so handsome.</p> + +<p>"Klaus wrote rarely; those times were not like the present, and one was +well satisfied to receive a letter once a fortnight. Anna Maria answered +promptly; her accounts must have been sufficiently detailed, for no +letter or inquiry in regard to our secret came to me. Anna Maria used to +read Klaus's letters, with the exception of the business portions, +aloud, after supper. There was a certain homesick sound in the words, +calmly and coolly as they were written. But her face beamed at every +word which he wrote from the enchanted Silesia in praise of the poor +home in the Mark; it stirred her whole heart. Next to her tender +affection for her brother, she clung with an idolizing love to her +home; no mountain lake could compare with the brown, oak-bound pond in +the garden, no high mountain-range with the charm of the heath, with the +pine-forests in the cradle of Prussia.</p> + +<p>"And the object which doubled all the longing, which made the old +manor-house at Bütze seem in the eyes of the distant owner like a fairy +castle, like a rendezvous of the elves—this object sat playing with her +kitten during the reading, and now and then I even had to tap her +shoulder as she yawned slightly.</p> + +<p>"'Is that only feigned indifference?' I asked myself. Then, again, a +sad, weary smile would play about her mouth if Klaus were the subject of +conversation. I thought at the time that she was fretting over the +long-delayed continuation of that hot declaration of love; that she, +with her ardent nature, was tormenting herself to death with doubts. And +I could not speak a consoling word to her; Klaus did not wish it. Why +should Susanna be spared a</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Hangen und Bangen<br /></span> +<span class="i0">In schwebender Pein'?<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"One morning a peasant lad came running into the yard, bringing a letter +for Susanna; the old mam'selle at the forge had sent him, he said. I met +him on the steps, just as I was coming in from the garden, and bade +Brockelmann go up to Susanna with the note, which was written on the +finest letter-paper. The boy trotted away, and I sat down with Anna +Maria in the sitting-room. In a few minutes Susanna's light step was +heard in the hall, and she entered the room in haste.</p> + +<p>"'I must beg you for a carriage, Fräulein Anna Maria!' she cried, out of +breath; 'my old Isa is ill: I must go to her.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria put down her pen, rather unwillingly, at this disturbance; +she had been making out accounts.</p> + +<p>"'But, Susanna, how often have I requested you not to walk so fast? You +are out of breath again.'</p> + +<p>"'Shall we not find out first what is the matter with Isa?' said I, for +all at once Klaus's words, 'Hold your hands over this girl!' fell +heavily on my soul. Klaus had asked it of me. Klaus was no child; he was +a calm, strong-willed man, and he was going to make her his wife, and I +knew he would accuse me, bitterly accuse me, if a hair of her head were +hurt.</p> + +<p>"'It might be a contagious disease, Susanna,' I continued, with all the +decision at my command, as her eyes sparkled at my opposition.</p> + +<p>"'And what if it were the plague?' she cried, and clinched her little +hands, and swung her foot impatiently under the folds of her dress.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria stood up. 'For shame, Susanna! I think you are quite right +to wish to take care of Isa; it would be unnatural if you did not have +this desire. But you have scarcely recovered, and a long stay in that +musty little sick-room would be poison to you; and besides, as Aunt +Rosamond says, the disease may be contagious; we must find out about it +first.'</p> + +<p>"'And meanwhile she may grow worse and die!' cried Susanna passionately. +'What if I do take the disease? I must go to her!' And bursting into +tears, she threw herself into a chair, and buried her head in the +cushions. Anna Maria went up to her and bent over her.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna,' she said, kindly, 'a sensible woman shall go at once to your +Isa. And now compose yourself; I have a quiet word to say to you when I +come back.'</p> + +<p>"'God knows what that may mean!' I thought, looking at the weeping girl. +'What does she mean to say quietly to her?' I stroked Susanna's hair +gently. 'Do not cry, <i>ma petite</i>,' I said, consolingly. 'Everything is +in God's hand. He guides and rules every human life according to his +will; trust him, he will bring it right!' I do not know if Susanna +understood me; a fresh burst of tears was the reply, and all +inconsolable sounded this bitter sobbing.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria came back and sat down opposite Susanna. 'Will you listen to +me rationally?' she said, somewhat severely.</p> + +<p>"Susanna started up and gave her a defiant look. 'I am listening,' she +said.</p> + +<p>"Just then I was called away; the pastor's sister, an early friend of +mine, had come to pay me a visit. I went, not without anxiously +regarding the two girls. What in the world could Anna Maria have in +view?</p> + +<p>"After two mortal hours Mademoiselle Grüne took her leave; she no doubt +found me more distraught than is usually permissible; even talking over +a wedding festivity which we had attended together in the remote period +of our youth, at which Minna Grüne came very near becoming engaged, and +which ended in a fire, failed to interest me as usual. When I came +down-stairs again I found Anna Maria over her housekeeping books; +Susanna was not to be seen.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' I asked, more hastily than is my wont, 'what have you +been talking about with Susanna?'</p> + +<p>"'I wanted to talk with her about her future,' she replied, 'but——'</p> + +<p>"'About her future?' I repeated, faintly.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, indeed, aunt, for things cannot go on in this way any longer. +Susanna suffers from a dreadful disease—she has <i>ennui</i>. In my opinion +this doing nothing is enough to make the most healthy people ill.'</p> + +<p>"'And what did she say, Anna Maria?'</p> + +<p>"'She? she ran away as soon as she heard the one word future! Susanna is +a naughty child, and it is high time for Klaus to come back and put her +in a pension; she is worse than ever since he went away.'</p> + +<p>"I had to smile, and yet tears came suddenly into my eyes, and yielding +to an involuntary impulse, I asked: 'Anna Maria, do you really believe +that Klaus will send Susanna away.'</p> + +<p>"She turned about and gave me a startled look. 'Can you doubt it? He has +no doubt gone away for that express purpose. Do you not suppose the +justice could have despatched that business?'</p> + +<p>"The next day Susanna, pale and low-spirited, drove to Dambitz, to take +care of her Isa. She had cried all night long, did not get up in the +morning, and kept on crying in her bed, till Anna Maria ordered a +carriage for her.</p> + +<p>"Isa was said to be suffering from a stitch in the back, quite free from +danger, so there was no contagion to be feared. Susanna packed up a host +of things, as if she were going to a watering-place. Without ado, Anna +Maria took flowers, ribbons, laces, and white dresses out of the trunk, +and put in half a dozen strong aprons. 'You will have more use for +these,' she explained, gently. I was entirely opposed to this journey; +in consideration of my private instructions, I could not approve of it, +yet it seemed right to Anna Maria. 'I cannot bear the old woman either,' +she said; 'but if she is ill and wants Susanna, she must go.'</p> + +<p>"'How could a man fall in love with this childish little creature?' I +thought, as she leaned back in the carriage with a happy smile of +satisfaction; the black crape veil floated about her small face, her +little feet were propped against the back seat, and she gracefully waved +her hand to me again. Oh! mademoiselle had the manners of a duchess, +mademoiselle will already act as Frau von Hegewitz. If Anna Maria +dreamed of that!</p> + +<p>"A letter from Klaus came that evening. My heart began to beat, as it +always did when one came, for each time I thought Klaus would write his +sister of his love. I watched Anna Maria closely as she read; she +frowned and shook her head.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus has had to take possession of the property, in order not to lose +everything,' she said. 'He writes that he had expected to be back in a +week, but now, alas! he is obliged to stay longer. "The harvest festival +should be kept just as if I were there,"' she read on. "You can say a +few words to the people in my place. As may easily be imagined, I have +my hands full, and there are not a few disagreeable things: in the midst +of the harvesting and nothing in order; the people a lazy, Polish +element; the bailiff a knave whom I sent off the first day! The +situation of the manor is wonderful, as well as the building itself and +the great, shady garden; however, I shall be glad when I am free from +the business at last. The high hills not far away depress me; they shut +out the view too much; how far do you suppose I can see from my window? +Just through the space between the two barns, over the wall of the +court-yard. As soon as I have things in some degree of order here I +shall have Beling (the bailiff) come and take the management in my +place. I hope you are all getting on well. Is not Aunt Rosamond going +to write me at all? Is Susanna well, perfectly well? You did not mention +her in your last letter."'</p> + +<p>"'Aha!' thought I, as Anna Maria, reflecting, let the letter drop, 'the +longing! Oh, you foolish Klaus! And if I were to write him now, "Susanna +is in Dambitz," what would he say?'</p> + +<p>"'I should like to drive over to-morrow to look after Susanna,' said I, +turning to Anna Maria, who was drawing in and out the colored wools on +the table-cover she was embroidering for Klaus.</p> + +<p>"'I will wager, aunt, she will be back again to-morrow; do you think she +will hold out long there in that mean room, with the uncomfortable bed +on that neck-breaking sofa? Just wait; she will be here again before we +know it.'</p> + +<p>"The next day Anna Maria was sitting with her table-cover beside my bed; +I had wrapped a rabbit-skin about my arms and shoulders, for the evil +rheumatism. Such an attack sometimes chained me to my bed for a week or +more, and this time I lay there feeling like a veritable culprit. I kept +thinking of Susanna, and this tormented me into a state of nervousness. +And there sat Anna Maria beside me, in her calm way taking one stitch +after another. I followed her large yet beautifully formed hand, and the +trefoil which grew under it; the lions supporting a shield were already +finished, and the last leaf would be done to-day. 'Fear thy God, kill +thine enemy, trust no friend,' was the strange motto of our family. It +doubtless originated in those times when races lived in perpetual feud +with one another, each ever ready for combat on the fortress of his +fathers.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria!' I began, at length.</p> + +<p>"She started up out of a deep revery. 'Shall I read the paper to you?' +she asked.</p> + +<p>"'No, thank you, <i>mon ange</i>; but tell me, do you know if Susanna—is +she——'</p> + +<p>"'She is still with her Isa, aunt,' replied Anna Maria. 'I packed up a +little basket of food for her this morning. Marieken carried it, +and——'</p> + +<p>"'Well, Anna Maria?'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, well, she sits by the old woman's bedside, Marieken tells me, and +round about her lie laces and ribbons and flowers; Susanna is making a +new hat or two for herself. Marieken says she had no eyes for my +appetizing basket; with cheeks as red as roses, she was all absorbed in +her finery.'</p> + +<p>"'Incorrigible!' I murmured; 'Anna Maria, why have you let her stay +away? Is the old woman really so ill?' I added, out of humor.</p> + +<p>"'Well, it did not seem to me so alarming from Marieken's account. If +you were not a patient yourself, aunt, I would have driven over.'</p> + +<p>"I lay back with a sigh. Of course, I had to be ill just now. Out of +doors a cold wind was blowing over the bare fields; we should have an +early autumn. My good times were over, and now were coming again the +days of stove-heat and confinement to the house, of rabbit-skins and +herb-bags.</p> + +<p>"'I shall invite no one to the harvest festival this year, aunt,' began +Anna Maria, after a pause. 'What would all the people do here without +Klaus? It will give me no pleasure without him; on the contrary, it is +painful to me.'</p> + +<p>"'But Klaus wishes——'</p> + +<p>"'Ah, aunt, but he will be content <i>au fond</i>. I know him!' said the +girl, with a smile.</p> + +<p>"Just then Brockelmann announced Baron Stürmer. Like a flash of fire a +sudden blush mounted to Anna Maria's face, the fingers which held the +needle trembled, and her voice was unsteady.</p> + +<p>"'Excuse me to the baron. I am prevented, unfortunately; aunt is ill.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had hitherto seen him only in the presence of others; she +feared being alone with him; was that indifference?</p> + +<p>"'Ask the baron to come up here,' said I with sudden resolution. 'I am +certainly old enough to receive him in bed,' I added to Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"'Come, <i>mon cher</i> Edwin, if you are not afraid to see a sick old woman +in bed,' I called to him, as he was now entering, and pointed to a chair +by the head of my bed, opposite Anna Maria. Edwin Stürmer was the most +versatile man I ever saw, and at once master of a situation. And so he +was soon sitting by me, chatting pleasantly. The twilight deepened, and +Anna Maria let her hands rest. She listened to us as we spoke of old +times; I saw how her eyes were fixed on his face, how now and then a +slight flush spread over it. She spoke little, and all at once rose and +left the room.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria is quiet, and looks badly,' I remarked; 'the work is too +much for her.'</p> + +<p>"He did not answer at once; then he said: 'She was always so still and +cold, Aunt Rosamond.'</p> + +<p>"'No, no, Stürmer, she is in trouble, she is worried about Klaus.'</p> + +<p>"'Of all things in the world, that is a needless anxiety,' he returned, +laughing. And evidently trying to get away from the subject, he asked: +'But where is Fräulein Mattoni?'</p> + +<p>"'Nearer to you than you think, Edwin.'</p> + +<p>"'With the old witch, her duenna?' he asked, with that indifference +which involuntarily suggests the opposite quality.</p> + +<p>"'Yes; the old woman is ill and Susanna is taking care of her. <i>Eh +bien</i>, you will come, of course, to our harvest festival? Anna Maria +intends to celebrate it very quietly, quite <i>entre nous</i>; but you must +come, Edwin.'</p> + +<p>"'What?' he asked, absently.</p> + +<p>"'For pity's sake, tell me where your thoughts are hiding?' I scolded, +irritably.</p> + +<p>"He laughed, and kissed my hand. 'Pardon, Fräulein Rosamond, I was still +thinking about Klaus.'</p> + +<p>"'And the result, Edwin?'</p> + +<p>"'Is that I have come to none; he is really incomprehensible to me.'</p> + +<p>"'Why?'</p> + +<p>"'Do allow me <i>not</i> to say it,' he replied; 'but I <i>envy</i> him.'</p> + +<p>"'May I not also know what?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' he said, rising, 'his cool temperament. How much needless +agitation, how many sleepless nights one to whom such calmness has been +given is spared!'</p> + +<p>"'But Klaus is not cold; I do not know what you mean,' said I, +reproachfully; 'as little cold as Anna Maria, and—as you.'</p> + +<p>"He sat down again, and without regarding my objection, continued: 'For +Heaven's sake, do tell me where they got this even temperament, this +indifference, this coolness. The father was an eccentric, energetic man, +warmly sensitive, even to passionateness—perhaps the mother was so?'</p> + +<p>"'I assure you, Edwin,' I repeated, almost hurt, 'you know them both +very little yet when you speak thus. They are neither indifferent nor +cold-hearted; but both have, alas! inherited too much of the father's +warm feelings and eccentricity. Believe me,' I added with a sigh. I was +thinking of the scene in the Dambitz forge.</p> + +<p>"Edwin Stürmer laughed. 'Well, well,' he said, 'I am far from +reproaching Klaus with it; it is only incomprehensible to me. I suppose +I seem odd to you?'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, Stürmer, such a hot-head as you Klaus has never been, certainly, +and I know that you owe to your vivacity my brother's love, which +preferred you before his own son. You may be convinced that just that +passionate, changeable nature of my brother has made the children so +earnest, so deliberate.'</p> + +<p>"'Klaus is the best, the noblest of men; he is my friend!' cried +Stürmer, with warmth. 'Do I say, then, that I reproach him? But he has +not learned to know life; he has never come from mere fidelity to duty +and deliberation, to call his a moment of inspiration which is able to +carry one quite out of himself; he has ever kept to the golden mean, +blameless; he has always done enough, but not too much. In short—in +short, such men are model men. But what life means, Aunt Rosamond, that +he does not know, and only <i>he</i> could trust himself——'</p> + +<p>"He broke off suddenly. 'I should like to know how I came to deliver +such a lecture to you,' he added, jokingly.</p> + +<p>"It was almost dark in the room now. I could scarcely distinguish +Stürmer's profile. He twisted his beard rapidly and nervously.</p> + +<p>"'You may say what you will, Stürmer, but cold my two children are not,' +I declared, and just at that moment Anna Maria entered.</p> + +<p>"'A light will be brought directly,' she said, cheerfully, stepping over +to her chair. 'Pardon me, baron, for staying away so long; I was kept by +domestic duties, which occupy me more closely than when Klaus is at +home.'</p> + +<p>"He made no reply; I only saw him bow. Anna Maria could have said +nothing more pedantic, I thought. Conversation would not flow, the light +did not come. Anna Maria was just on the point of ringing for it when +the bell in the church-tower began to ring in quick, broken strokes.</p> + +<p>"'Fire!' cried Anna Maria, in alarm, hurrying to the window. Already +there was a commotion in the court-yard; Stürmer had also thrown open a +window. 'Where is the fire?' he called down.</p> + +<p>"With beating heart I sat upright in bed. 'Where?' called Anna Maria, +'where is the fire, people?' Then the words were lost in the tumult.</p> + +<p>"'In Dambitz,' at last came up the reply, amid all the tramping of +horses and noise of the people. '<i>Sacre Dieu!</i>' murmured Stürmer, +overturning a chair in the darkness; 'Dambitz!'</p> + +<p>"'I will light a candle,' said Anna Maria, calmly; 'give me a moment and +I will go with you.' Below, the fire-engine was just rattling across the +court. The candles flared up under Anna Maria's hand.</p> + +<p>"'Send me a wrap, aunt, please; I wish to go over on Susanna's account; +do not worry. I am ready, if you will take me with you in your +carriage,' she added to Stürmer; and again a red glow spread over her +face.</p> + +<p>"'The carriage is ready, if you please, Fräulein.' He was already +hurrying out of the room.</p> + +<p>"'For God's sake, Anna Maria, bring back Susanna to me!' I cried. And +then I lay alone for hours. Brockelmann came up once: 'The whole sky is +red,' she informed me; 'it must be a big fire.' The little bell rang +unremittingly its monotonous alarm, and before my eyes stood the burning +houses, and I fancied Anna Maria beside Stürmer in the carriage, driving +rapidly along the lonely highway, and Susanna in danger. And my thoughts +flew to Klaus: 'Hold your hands over this girl. I will thank you for it +all my life!' 'My God, protect her!' I prayed in my anxiety.</p> + +<p>"And hour after hour passed, the bell became silent, after long pauses, +and Anna Maria did not come. Brockelmann said the fire-light had +disappeared. I heard the carriages and people returning home; then the +court was quiet. And then Brockelmann came in again: 'It broke out in +the second house from the forge, the lads say, and the forge is +half-burned, too.' Oh, Heaven, and Anna Maria does not come!</p> + +<p>"The old woman sat down by my bed. 'She does not think of herself,' she +complained; 'she will run into the burning house if it is possible. Ah, +if the master were only here!' Good Brockelmann, she knew better than +Stürmer how to judge Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"'Fräulein,' she whispered, already following another train of thought, +'do you know—but you must not take it amiss—the baron comes so often +now, and as I saw them both drive out of the yard to-day, then—I keep +thinking she will marry him yet.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, how can you talk such nonsense?" said I, chiding these words in +vexation.</p> + +<p>"'Yet, I say, the next thing will be a wedding in the house!' declared +the old woman. 'The great myrtle down-stairs is full of buds, and I also +found a bridal rose in the garden. And last New Year's eve I listened at +the door and heard the young master just saying: "Invite to the +wedding!" And that will all come true. And then—but you must not act as +if you knew it—I have had Anna Maria in my arms from the day she was +born, and know her as no one else does, and I know how she cried over +the note that the baron wrote her at the time when he went far away into +the world, and, Fräulein, she always has it with her! Oh, I see so much +that I am not intended to see; but she cannot dissemble, Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"Ah! what the old woman was saying was of no importance to me; only news +of Susanna; everything else later! 'My God, Susanna,' I murmured, 'if +anything has happened to her!' And unable to stay quietly in bed any +longer, I bade Brockelmann help me dress. At last a carriage rolled in +at the gate and stopped before the house. I sat up in bed, and kept my +eyes on the door. Susanna <i>must</i> come! Brockelmann had hurried +down-stairs; I heard Anna Maria's voice on the stairs, and her +footsteps, and then she came in.</p> + +<p>"'For God's sake, where is Susanna?' I cried to her.</p> + +<p>"'With her old nurse, who has been made really ill from fright,' she +said quietly, and sank exhausted into the chair by my bed.</p> + +<p>"'But, Anna Maria,' I wailed, 'the forge is burned down!'</p> + +<p>"'They are at the castle,' she replied, gently. 'Stürmer has given a +shelter to all who were burned out.'</p> + +<p>"'In the castle?' At the first moment the thought was quieting to me, +but then my heart grew heavy. 'Oh, but that is impossible! How could you +let Susanna accept the hospitality of an unmarried man? It is wrong of +you; you are usually so observant of forms. You <i>ought</i> to have brought +her with you, and the old woman too!' I had spoken impetuously, in my +anxiety. Anna Maria gave me a strange look.</p> + +<p>"'Isa is so ill she was in no condition to make the journey hither,' she +replied. 'But Susanna lies across her bed with torn hair and face bathed +with tears; she is nearer to her than all of us, and at such a moment, +aunt, one does not think of—etiquette.' I first noticed now how pale +and exhausted Anna Maria looked. Her fair hair had fallen down, and one +golden tress falling over the white forehead lay on her plain dark-green +dress; her eyes were cast down and her lips quivered slightly.</p> + +<p>"'Poor child!' I cried, seizing her hands. 'It has been too much, and +here am I reproving you!'</p> + +<p>"She let her hand remain in mine, but did not look up. 'I am quite +well,' she replied; 'but it is painful—to behold human misery and not +be able to help. It was fearful, aunt! And it has cost one human +life—nearly two.' Her voice was strangely lifeless as she said this. +'An old man,' she continued, 'in the act of saving his cow from the +burning stable, was buried beneath the falling building. Stürmer carried +out his grand-daughter, who was trying to help him, unhurt—but it was +at the very last moment—a falling beam injured his arm.'</p> + +<p>"She had spoken in snatches, as if it were hard for her to breathe. And +now the peculiar sobbing sound came from her breast; I knew that so +well, for even as a child she had thus suppressed a burst of tears. I +grasped her hands more firmly; she was feverishly hot, and her bosom +heaved violently.</p> + +<p>"'The splendid, warm-hearted man! Just the same to-day as he ever was!' +said I, gently. 'God be praised for having protected him!'</p> + +<p>"Then we sat silent for a long time. The candles in front of the mirror +had burned low, and flickering they struggled for existence; and the +clock on the console ticked restlessly. I longed to beg the girl beside +me: 'Anna Maria, confide in me; it is not yet too late! See, I know now +that you love Stürmer—since to-day I am sure of it. Anna Maria, it is +not yet too late!' But how could I do it? She had never given me the +slightest right, never allowed me to share in what moved her heart. Oh, +that she would come of her own accord, then, and speak, that she might +know how much easier it is for two to bear a burden.</p> + +<p>"I pressed her hand, beseechingly. 'Anna Maria, my dear child!' I +whispered. Then she roused herself as out of a confused dream, and +pushed the hair from her forehead.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna?' she asked; 'Susanna got off with a fright. I led her over to +the castle myself, and Stürmer's old servant carried Isa; they are safe. +As soon as the old woman can be moved I shall have her brought here, of +course; to-day it was impossible. The excitement might be bad for +Susanna, too, for such a passionate outburst of grief I never dreamed +of. She loves the old creature more than I ever mistrusted, and her cry: +"Isa, Isa, if you die I have no one else in the world!" was repeated +till she broke down from exhaustion.'</p> + +<p>"I listened as if stunned. 'Anna Maria,' I said, 'I must go over +to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>"She nodded. 'If it is possible—for I should be glad to avoid it."</p> + +<p>"'It must be possible, Anna Maria. Go and rest, we are both tired; sleep +well.'</p> + +<p>"Wall, there I lay, and no sleep came to my eyes. Klaus and Susanna, +Anna Maria and Stürmer, revolved in wildest confusion in my brain. I +started up out of my dozing, for I thought I heard Susanna's voice: +'Isa, Isa, if you die I have no one else in the world!' And I dreamed +that I cried in anger to her: 'Ungrateful one, have you not more than a +thousand others—have you not the heart of the best and truest of men?' +And I awoke again with a cry, for I had seen Stürmer hurry into the +burning house, and seen it fall on him; and Anna Maria stood by, pale +and calm, with disordered locks of fair hair over her white forehead; +her eyes looked fixedly and gloomily on that ruin, but she could neither +weep nor speak."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> + + +<p>"It was a fearful night! I was almost astonished to see the bright +sunshine streaming in my window, and the blue sky, the next morning. +Brockelmann helped me dress, for my shoulder was still painful.</p> + +<p>"Some trouble oppressed the old woman; it was always to be observed that +when anything weighed on her heart she used to smooth her hands over the +hem of her apron, and therewith take aim at the person on whom she had +designs. For a little while I watched it to-day, but when, after tying +my shoes, she remained sitting on the deal floor, stroking her +dazzlingly white apron, and seeking for a way to begin her speech, +evidently a difficulty to her, I said: 'Well, speak out, Brockelmann; +what is it?'</p> + +<p>"But instead of an answer she threw her apron over her face and began to +weep bitterly.</p> + +<p>"'Do write, gracious Fräulein, for the master to come back soon, or +things will not go right in my life-time with Anna Maria,' she sobbed. +'It eats into my heart like a worm that he went away without a good-by. +She says nothing, but, Fräulein, I have known her ever since she was +born; I know her as well as I do myself. She stays for hours in the +master's room, and when she comes out her eyes are red with weeping, and +then it is always: "Brockelmann, the master would certainly do this so, +and wish that so," and "When the master is here," or "When the master +comes," is the third word with her. When Christian brings the mail she +runs out into the court to meet him, and the first time the master wrote +I was just going through the room, as she read the letter. She did not +see me, but I saw how the letter trembled in her hands, and then she +said to herself: "He is different from what he used to be; it is past!" +And then she got up and went into the garden, and I looked after her and +watched her as I used to when she was yet a wild thing with long braids. +And then she walked up and down by the spot where her mother lies +buried, up and down, up and down, oh! certainly for an hour. It was +nothing to her that it rained, and that the wind blew her half to +pieces. At last I went out there and asked her something about the +housekeeping; I could not see it any longer. Then she came in with me. +But last night, when she came back from the fire, when I had brought her +a glass of mulled wine, she looked so wretched. When I knew she was in +her own room I took it to her—I did not wish to disturb her here. But +listen, Fräulein Rosamond, when I went in there Anna Maria had just been +crying, crying as if her heart would break. She did not see me; she had +laid her head on the table, and on Herr Klaus's picture, and her whole +body shook and trembled. Then I closed the door again softly, for, +believe me, it would have been dreadful to her to have had any one see +that she was crying. Indeed, she does not like it if anybody cries +aloud. But to-day I could not rest. Only write, Fräulein; when the +master is here all will be well again!'</p> + +<p>"'Ah, good old Brockelmann, if that would settle it! Yes, Klaus would +come, but it would never be again as it used to be, never again!'</p> + +<p>"The old woman took my silence for acquiescence. 'And, Fräulein,' she +continued, drying her eyes, 'I know perfectly well since when things +have been different. If I had had the power I would have said to +Christian at the time when the coach came driving into the yard with the +theatrical people: "Turn around, for Heaven's sake, Christian; these are +birds which are not suited to this nest!" But, good heavens, some of us +are silent, and see and hear! The master is so kind-hearted, Fräulein, +so kind-hearted; God grant that it may remain kind-heartedness! I could +have fretted myself to death when it was rumored in the servants' hall, +and in the village, that the Ma'm'selle who had snowed down was not +unpleasing to the master. In Rieke, it has gone to a blockhead; she was +not bad, but what is the use—the talk is once out—if Fräulein Anna +Maria only doesn't hear of it, although it is nothing but lies,' she +continued, after a short pause, and looked at me confidently, 'for the +master could have the fairest and best any day, and doesn't need to wait +upon such a vagabond thing, yet it would make the Fräulein ill if she +were to hear of it.'</p> + +<p>"'So the servants are already talking about it,' said I softly, when the +old woman had gone. 'And they are not far from the truth! Brockelmann, +too, only sings so loud because she has fears, and she wanted to know +what I thought of it. But Anna Maria will not believe, Anna Maria has +other troubles.'</p> + +<p>"As I went down to get into the carriage which was to carry me to +Dambitz, Anna Maria was just coming out of Klaus's room. She was quiet +and friendly as usual; there was no sign of yesterday's tumult. She +asked how I had slept, and said she had just come in from the fields. +'The harvest is a blessing of God this year,' she added; 'look at the +crops as you drive past the rye-fields. How pleased Klaus will be!' And +as I was sitting in the carriage, she put a little parcel into my hand: +'Give that to Stürmer for the burned-out people, will you, please? Klaus +will approve.' She was blushing crimson. 'It is out of the milk-fund; +you know that is my own!'</p> + +<p>"Touched, I nodded to her, and then the carriage rolled away with me, in +the misty autumn morning. What a refreshing odor came from the +pine-forests; a golden mist hung over the distant heath, and the sky +seemed higher and bluer than I had seen it for a long time. And yet it +seemed as if I were breathing the heavy air before a thunder-storm the +nearer I came to Dambitz and the shaded manor-house. We drove past the +burned houses; the charred beams and timbers were still smoking, and +thin columns of smoke circled up from the ruins; a loathsome odor lay +about the unfortunate spot, but human hands were already at work again. +The blacksmith's shop was half demolished, the gabled wall was warped by +the heat of the fire, and the blacksmith's young wife was bravely +rummaging among her household goods, which had been thrown, <i>nolens +volens</i>, into the street, a promiscuous heap of beds, clothing, and +furniture. A little woman was sitting on a chest, weeping bitterly; it +was her husband who had met with the fatal accident last night, the +coachman told me. A young girl of perhaps sixteen was hunting about the +half-burned and partially wet rubbish; her eyes were swollen with +weeping.</p> + +<p>"'You poor people,' thought I; 'no one can give you back what has been +taken from you, but we will help to replace the earthly property.' And I +looked at the small but heavy roll in my hand; it was a not +insignificant sum in gold. Well for him who can give, and gives gladly +and lovingly!</p> + +<p>"We now drove along by the park wall; the great gate of skilfully +wrought iron stood open; the luxuriant foliage of the beautiful park +here parted, and let the eye roam over velvety green lawns and broad +flower-beds to the white, castle-like buildings. Awnings protected the +terrace from the sun's rays, and a black and white flag waved gayly in +the morning wind. A delicious freshness lay over the garden; not a +yellow leaf was yet to be seen on the broad gravel-walk; everywhere most +painstaking neatness.</p> + +<p>"I called to the coachman to stop, and had myself lifted out of the +carriage, so as to walk through the park. I do not know myself how the +idea came into my head. How long it was since I had been here! I was +then still a girl; my sister-in-law was by my side, and Klaus and Edwin, +wild lads, rushing about us. I felt very strangely; there was still the +little bridge of tree-trunks, the ingeniously planned moat, which always +used to be dry; to-day water was splashing in it. The trees had grown +taller, the shrubbery more luxuriant, and a marble Diana stood out +against the green of the taxus-hedge. Stürmer's taste for the beautiful +struck me at every step. At home no one thought of marble statues and +English turf; at home the wish had never yet been spoken to see such +jets of crystal water as those shooting up before the group of fine old +elms; there was still the same old garden with its gnarled oaks, its +primitive arbors, its flower-sprinkled grass-plots; but it was pleasant +and home-like, as it is to-day.</p> + +<p>"I followed a shady path which I knew would bring me to the side of the +house, but all at once I stopped short. I could not be deceived; that +was Susanna's ringing laugh, floating like the note of a nightingale +through the shrubbery. Susanna in the garden and Susanna laughing? I +walked on and went up on a little knoll surrounded by old lindens; in +the middle was a Flora on a stone pedestal; monthly roses were blooming +in the flower-beds, mingling their fragrance with that of the +mignonette. At one side was a group of pretty garden furniture, and in +one of the seats was Susanna, leaning back and looking with a smile of +delight at the spray of roses which Stürmer had just offered her.</p> + +<p>"He stood in front of her, his arm still in a sling, and looked down at +her. She had evidently made her toilet with the greatest care; the time +at Isa's sick-bed had not passed unused, it seemed. She still wore a +black dress, but her white neck gleamed beneath a quantity of delicate +black lace, and filmy lace also fell over her arms; the fichu knotted +below her bosom was held together by a pale rose, and there was also a +rose in her hair; Susanna Mattoni looked charming in her half-Spanish +costume. And yet if, with disorderly hair and careless toilet, and, +instead of the lace, one of Anna Maria's aprons, I had found her at +Isa's bed, could I have detected in her face a single sign of the fearful +night before, I would have thrown my arms about the child and said: +'Come, Susanna, my little Susanna, your refuge is at Bütze.' But now? But +thus?</p> + +<p>"My heart seemed almost paralyzed. In another moment I was standing by +Susanna, and was able to say pleasantly that I had come to take her +home.</p> + +<p>"Stürmer drew my hand to his lips, much pleased, 'Ah! my dearest, best +Aunt Rosamond, again at Dambitz at last," he cried. Susanna stood as if +petrified by my unexpected appearance. 'Well, my child,' I said to her, +as Stürmer, after pushing up a chair for me, went into the castle; 'how +is your Isa? She is quite well again, is she?'</p> + +<p>"Susanna shook her head. 'No,' she replied, 'Isa is still very weak.'</p> + +<p>"'Who takes care of her then?' I asked, sharply.</p> + +<p>"'Herr von Stürmer has engaged a woman to nurse her,' she informed me, +'who probably understands it better than I.'</p> + +<p>"'And you were on the point of returning to Bütze, were you not?' I +asked, severely.</p> + +<p>"Susanna bent down her crimson face, and uttered a low 'Yes!' She had +understood me.</p> + +<p>"'<i>Allons donc</i>, my child, we will not delay.' I rose and went forward; +slowly she followed me, with a decided expression of ill-humor. At the +front steps of the castle we met Stürmer, a look of happy surprise still +on his face.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, dear Aunt Rosamond, you will breakfast with me!' he begged, giving +me his well arm to escort me up the steps. 'Such a rare occasion!' And +he gave me a look so winning, so truly delighted that it would have been +more than uncivil to refuse. And the personality of my old favorite +exercised such a charm over me that, smiling, I let myself be dragged +away.</p> + +<p>"Susanna flew past us up the steps; her lace-trimmed skirts stood out as +she ran, fluttering about her light feet; the rose fell out of her hair +and dropped in front of Stürmer. He picked it up, and held it absently +in his hand. Susanna disappeared behind the glass door of the vestibule; +Stürmer's eyes, which had followed her, now looked at me again, and our +eyes met and remained for a moment fixed on each other, as if each would +read the other's thoughts. Then he silently led me through the rooms of +his house.</p> + +<p>"How often had I been here before! I had always liked to think of the +comfortable great rooms, which, with their oak wainscoting and huge +tiled stoves projecting far out from the walls, presented such an +attractive appearance to the half-frozen guests who had come in sleighs +from Bütze. It had always been a dream of mine to see Anna Maria ruling +here some day, but the picture was erased from my mind when I entered +the first room.</p> + +<p>"Where were they, the comfortable rooms, the dark oak wainscoting, the +old tiled stoves? Gilding and colored mosaics shone, with a foreign air, +on the walls; odd draperies concealed doors and windows; low, dark-red +couches in place of the sofas; fragile little bronze tables, and vases; +everywhere mirrors reaching to the floor; groups of exotic flowers in +the corners; a Smyrna rug on the floor, in which the foot sank deep. +Astonished, I stood still on the threshold.</p> + +<p>"'<i>Mon Dieu</i>, Edwin, have you fallen among the Turks?'</p> + +<p>"'It is my furnishing from Stamboul, that I brought home with me,' he +replied, simply. 'But, alas! I could not charm hither the view. Imagine +that wall gone, Fräulein Rosamond, and in its place slender marble +pillars, forming a covered walk, and then imagine yourself looking out +between them on the blue sea; see the sweet pines, swaying in the fresh +sea-breeze; yonder a cypress-wood, and on the waving billows a hundred +white sails; and imagine a child of that South, slender as a gazelle, +leaning on the balustrade, a pair of sparkling dark eyes shining through +a white veil—then you have what I saw daily in those beautiful days.'</p> + +<p>"How did it happen? In the midst of this imaginary picture which he had +just drawn for me I saw Anna Maria standing, in her dark dress, her +basket of keys on her arm, and saw her great clear eyes wander in +astonishment over this splendor. I smiled involuntarily; I could never +imagine Anna Maria resting, in sweet indolence, on those cushions. I had +to laugh at this idea, but it was a bitter laugh, and pained me.</p> + +<p>"I followed him through several rooms; everywhere luxury, foreign +furnishings; but at least the chairs were sensible. Everywhere a perfume +of roses, costly rugs, a profusion of foreign draperies. In a +one-windowed room was a little table spread for three persons, shining +with glass and silver. Edwin escorted me to the seat of honor. 'Your +little protégée will appear directly,' he said gayly. And kissing my +hand, he assured me again how happy he was to have me here at last. 'I +really do not know why you have not visited my solitary abode long +before,' he said, jokingly.</p> + +<p>"'Why have you never told me, Edwin, that you have so many treasures +from the "Thousand and One Nights" here?' I returned.</p> + +<p>"'I do not like to seem boastful,' he said, offering me a mayonnaise, +which I declined, taking some cold fowl. 'My acquaintances have looked +at the things <i>en passant</i>, and Klaus has been here often. I really +supposed you were not interested in such things at Bütze.'</p> + +<p>"Indeed, Klaus had told us nothing about all this; at the most had +mentioned the costly furnishings and various rare articles from foreign +countries; he had himself no fancy for curiosities of that sort. Just +then Edwin Stürmer rose. I thought I saw a faint smile on his lips, +which vexed me, I know not why. But it vanished again at once, and gave +way to a different expression. He opened the door and let Susanna in; he +had probably heard her step. She sat down opposite him at the richly +appointed table; above her dark head waved the fan-shaped leaf of a +great palm, and white blossoms crowded against the back of her chair; +from a group of southern plants in another corner rose the Venus de Milo +in purest marble.</p> + +<p>"And yet this sumptuous little room seemed but to form the frame for +Susanna's own peculiar beauty. She looked sad; she ate nothing, and only +now and then lifted her slender cup to moisten her lips; she did not +speak, either, and when she raised her lashes tears shone in the dark +eyes. Stürmer was also quieter; he spoke of the fire at last, and told +me that work was to be begun on the new buildings to-morrow.</p> + +<p>"I delivered Anna Maria's little parcel to him; he grew red for a +moment, but did not thank me with the warmth I had expected.</p> + +<p>"'And now,' said I, rising, after the dessert, 'I will relieve you of a +burden; I will drive Isabella and Susanna home. In a bachelor's +establishment such patients must be more than a disturbance. Susanna, +have the kindness to conduct me to Isa.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna's eyes sought Stürmer, but he turned away. 'I fear the old +woman is not yet able to be moved,' he said, politely. 'Besides, she is +no burden to me. She cannot, to be sure, find such a nurse as at Bütze; +we have to depend upon hired persons.' He offered me his arm and led me +along the hall to a door which Susanna, running ahead, opened, and then +he withdrew.</p> + +<p>"Isabella lay in a beautiful large room, in a fine bed with white +hangings; evidently a guest chamber. It looked out on the garden, and +great linden-trees shaded the windows from the sun's rays. That +Isabella and Susanna both slept here was evident. There was a second +bed, still unmade, the pillows tumbled over each other; and Susanna's +whole stock of knick-knacks and trumpery lay, just as it had been +brought hither from the burning house, with the dress, cooking utensils, +and salve-boxes of the other, tumbled together on the floor. An old +woman in a neat dress and white cap stood among them, trying to restore +order. She was probably the nurse of whom Susanna had spoken.</p> + +<p>"I went straight up to Isa's bed. 'Mademoiselle Pfannenschmidt, are you +well enough to drive to Bütze with Susanna and me?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'No!' she replied, looking at me very angrily.</p> + +<p>"'Well, then, come after us as soon as you are well enough,' said I, +coldly; 'are you ready, Susanna?'</p> + +<p>"'Susanna stays with <i>me</i>!' she declared, her voice trembling with +anger.</p> + +<p>"'She is going with me,' I replied, quietly; 'spare yourself all further +pains. I shall not leave Susanna in the house of an unmarried man; +according to <i>our</i> views, it is improper.'</p> + +<p>"'Under my charge?' shrieked Isabella, sitting up in bed with a jerk; +'under my charge?'</p> + +<p>"I shrugged my shoulders in silence, and turned to Susanna; she stood +motionless, and looked at Isa.</p> + +<p>"'Will you take away the girl a second time?' cried Isa, wringing her +thin hands. 'You will not even let me have the child on my death-bed? +Susanna, my darling, stay with me!'</p> + +<p>"'You are far from dying, my dear,' said I, in a clear voice. 'Have the +kindness to submit quietly to my arrangements; they are for Susanna's +good.' She was silent, and looked on, as I put a shawl over Susanna's +shoulders, pulled out her straw hat from under a heap of clothing, and +put it on her head.</p> + +<p>"'I shall ask Baron Stürmer to have you driven to Bütze as soon as you +are at all well enough,' said I, turning to Isa again; 'till then I know +you will be well cared for. Farewell.' Without further ado, I pushed +Susanna toward the door, and heard once more the shrill cry: 'Susanna, +Susanna, stay here!'</p> + +<p>"She stopped, and looked at me as if she meant to defy me and run back.</p> + +<p>"'<i>En avant!</i> my child,' said I, energetically; 'you have been away from +Bütze too long already; I shall never forgive myself for having let you +go at all.' She was pale, and I saw her clench her little hands; but she +followed me.</p> + +<p>"Stürmer was waiting for us at the carriage, which was standing before +the front steps. He was holding the spray of roses which Susanna had +left lying in the garden in the morning, and handed it to her with a bow +which, in my opinion, was lower than was really necessary. I could not +see the look he gave her with it, for his back was turned to me, but I +saw a crimson glow mount to Susanna's cheeks and a bright look flash +over to him from under her long lashes, which alarmed me. I scarcely +heard Stürmer commission me with greetings for Anna Maria, adding that +he would bring his thanks himself for the money. I drew down my veil and +motioned to the coachman to start, and we rattled across the court and +out on the highway. Susanna's head was turned around, and her eyes sped +over the rows of windows of the stately house; two shining drops escaped +from them and fell on the roses.</p> + +<p>"How it came about I know not, but all at once I had seized her firmly +by the arm. 'There before you lies Bütze, Susanna Mattoni!' I cried, +sternly. She started, and gave a little cry; her face had grown pale, +but her eyes sparkled in rebellion.</p> + +<p>"'You punish me like a naughty child!' she cried, her lips quivering. +'What wrong have I done? I followed you without opposition.'</p> + +<p>"'Ask your own heart, Susanna,' I returned, gravely. She blushed, and +then began to cry bitterly, incessantly.</p> + +<p>"'Isa! Isa!' she sobbed.</p> + +<p>"'Are you really crying about Isa?' I asked, gently now, and took her +hand. 'I do not believe it, Susanna; you have some other grief. Only +place confidence in me. <i>Could</i> I not help you, if you were frank?'</p> + +<p>"She pushed away my hand. 'No, never, never!' she burst out, violently.</p> + +<p>"'But if I only knew what is the matter with you, Susanna, I might, with +a word——'</p> + +<p>"She stopped crying, and a defiant expression came over her face. 'I +really want no sympathy,' she said, with a gesture of inimitable pride. +'There is nothing the matter with me; am I not to be allowed to cry when +the person who watched over my childhood lies ill and alone in a strange +house?'</p> + +<p>"I was silent; I thought where I had found her to-day—not indeed at the +sick-bed! And she understood my silence better than my words, for she +dropped her eyes in embarrassment, and remained quiet during the whole +drive. Ah, and it was such a sunny day! I followed a lark with my eyes, +as it joyously and on trembling wings rose high in the blue sky, till it +looked like a mere dot. A herd of deer ran away over the stubble as we +drove quickly past; in the meadows over yonder the peasant's cows were +feeding; far in the distance earth and sky blended in a blue haze; and +now the roofs of Bütze emerged, peaceful and sunny, from the dark +foliage of the oaks and elms—the dear old father-house! To me it seemed +all at once as if I were coming home from a long journey from distant +lands.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria was standing in the door-way, with apron and bunch of keys, +as ever. She had a few beautiful white asters in her hand, and as +Susanna came up the steps she said, drawing the girl to her: 'Thank God, +Susanna, that you have returned unharmed; it was a bad night!' And she +shyly put the flowers in the girl's little hand, beside the bunch of +roses. One could see that she was really pleased. 'How is Isa doing?' +she asked, 'and how is Stürmer's arm?' She turned to me when she saw +that Susanna had been crying, and on my reply that the condition of both +was hopeful, she turned again to Susanna.</p> + +<p>"'Do not cry,' and a lovely expression beautified her serious young +face; 'as soon as Isa can drive she is coming, and you will nurse each +other quite well again.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria seemed transformed; there was a tenderness in her actions, +in her voice, which only the consciousness of a great happiness, an +endless gratitude for something undeserved, can give. This tone cut my +heart like a hundred knives.</p> + +<p>"Susanna begged to be excused from the dinner-table, on the plea of a +headache, and she did not come down to the garden-parlor during the +afternoon; she was sulky. Anna Maria had taken up her sewing, and sat +opposite me in the window-recess; it was quiet and cosey in the +comfortable room, so peaceful—and yet the threatening storm was +drawing near with great haste, to drive away our peace for a long time.</p> + +<p>"'I would like to know if Klaus would miss me if I—were suddenly no +longer here; if I should die, for instance, aunt?' asked Anna Maria all +at once, quite abruptly. Then she quickly laid her hand on my arm: 'No, +I beg you,' said she, preventing my answer; 'I know of course he would +miss me, miss me very much!'</p> + +<p>"After we had sat silent together for a little while the coachman +entered with the mail-bag, which he handed to Anna Maria. She felt in +her pocket for the key, opened the bag, and drew out letters and +newspapers.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, from Klaus!' she cried, in joyful surprise; 'and what a thick +letter, aunt; just look!' She held up a large envelope. How strange,' +she remarked then; 'it is for you, aunt.'</p> + +<p>"I started as if I had been apprehended of a crime. 'Give it to me!' I +begged, and broke the crested seal with trembling hand, for I suspected +what it was. An enclosure for Anna Maria fell out of the letter +addressed to me, and I stealthily threw my handkerchief over it—Anna +Maria had opened a business letter—and began to read:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"'<span class="smcap">Dearest Aunt</span>: When I went away a few weeks ago, I said to you +at the last moment I should write to Anna Maria to tell her +that I love Susanna Mattoni, that she is to be my wife. +Meanwhile, I had given up the idea, and thought I would speak +quietly with Anna Maria on my return. But now I am again of the +opinion that a written confession is best. When I ask you now +to give the enclosed letter to Anna Maria, it is chiefly for +this reason, that she may have a support in you. If I were to +write to her directly, she would keep the matter all to +herself, she is so reserved; but in this way she must speak, +and will be more easily reconciled to what cannot be altered. +That it will be hard for her I cannot conceal from myself, +after various scenes between us. But my decision stands +irrevocably firm. I love Susanna, and God will help us over the +near future, and not separate the hearts of brother and sister, +who have so long clung to one another in true love. I shall +come as soon as I have news; the longing takes hold of me more +than I can tell.'</p></blockquote> + +<p>"I let the sheet drop, the letters danced before my eyes. How should I +begin to make this news known to her?</p> + +<p>"As I rose hastily, the letter fell at Anna Maria's feet. She raised her +head and looked searchingly at me, and saw that I was making a great +effort to compose myself.</p> + +<p>"'Aunt Rosamond!' she cried, stooping and picking up the letter, 'what +is it? Bad news from Klaus? Please, speak!' She knelt by my chair, and +her anxious eyes tried to read my face.</p> + +<p>"'No, no, my child!' I caught hold of the letter which she held in her +hand.</p> + +<p>"'It is certainly to me!' she cried, quickly taking it back.</p> + +<p>"All at once I became master of my trembling nerves. 'It is to you, Anna +Maria,' I agreed, 'and contains——'</p> + +<p>"'I will see for myself, aunt,' she said, and there was a tone of +infinite anxiety in her voice. She rose and sat down in one of the deep +window-niches of the hall. I could not see her face from my seat; I +heard only the rattling of the paper in the stillness, and my heart +thumped as if it would burst. The anxious pause seemed to me an +eternity; then a cry of pain sounded through the room. I sprang toward +Anna Maria; her fair head lay on the window-seat, her face was buried in +her hands, and an almost unearthly groaning was wrung from her breast.</p> + +<p>"'For God's sake, Anna Maria!' I cried, embracing her. 'Compose +yourself, be calm; you do him injustice; he is not lying on his bier!' +But she did not stir; she groaned as if suffering from severe physical +pain.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria, my dear Anna Maria!' I cried, weeping.</p> + +<p>"'For that, ah, for that, all that I have suffered!' she cried out, and +raised her pale face, transfixed with pain. She stretched up her arms, +and wrung her clasped hands. 'My only brother!' she whispered, 'my only +brother!' Then, springing up impetuously, she ran out.</p> + +<p>"As if stunned, I remained behind; I had not expected this; for such an +expression of pain I was not prepared.</p> + +<p>"And the old house was still; my steps creaked on the cement floor of +the corridor before Anna Maria's room, and a long, long time I stood +there and listened for a sound, but it remained quiet behind the closed +door. The autumn evening drew on, night closed in, solemn and clear +shone the stars from the sky upon the earth beneath. 'What art thou, +child of man, with thy small trouble? Look up to us and fold thy hands,' +said they in their dumb language. And I clasped my hands. 'He who +created the stars to give us light by night will also lighten this +spot!' I whispered.</p> + +<p>"Eleven o'clock struck as I knocked at Susanna's door. She did not +answer. I went softly into the room; a candle on the mantel, just on the +point of going out, threw its unsteady light on the girl. She was lying +on one side, her face turned toward the room, a smile on the red lips; +beside the bed Stürmer's spray of roses, carefully placed in water.</p> + +<p>"It was a dismal morning that followed. Anna Maria remained in her room; +she did not answer our knocks, and there was no movement within. +Brockelmann's eyes were red with weeping; she shook her head, and went +about the house on tip-toe, as if there were a dead person in it. I was +in sheer despair, and limped from Anna Maria's door to my room, and back +again. The bailiffs came and inquired for her, and went away +astonished—she did not appear.</p> + +<p>"About eight o'clock I went softly to Susanna's room. She had just +risen, and was arranging her hair. The windows were opened wide; through +the branches of the trees golden sunbeams slipped into the room and +played over the young creature who, trifling and smiling and fresh as a +rose, stood, in her white dressing-sack, before the mirror. She did not +hear me enter, for she went on trilling a little song half aloud; clear +as a bell the tones floated out on the clear morning air. Isa's +death-bed was forgotten; ah! and something else, probably.</p> + +<p>"I closed the door again cautiously; I was never so anxious before in my +life.</p> + +<p>"'Is Fräulein Anna Maria ill?' asked Susanna, as she found only two +places set at dinner. She had come from the garden, and had a bunch of +white asters at her bosom, and her eyes shone with delight.</p> + +<p>"'I think so,' said I, softly, and folded my hands for the grace. +Susanna showed a pitying face for a moment, and then began to chatter; +she was in a most agreeable mood.</p> + +<p>"The day wore on. Anna Maria remained invisible. Brockelmann was quite +beside herself. 'She is crying, she is crying as if her heart would +break,' she said, coming into my room before going to bed.</p> + +<p>"'She is crying? That is good!' said I, relieved.</p> + +<p>"'She has never cried so much in all her life before, whispered the old +woman; 'something must have happened that cuts deep into her heart.'</p> + +<p>"'I cannot confide it to you, Brockelmann,' I replied, 'but you will +know it soon.' I was sorry for the old woman; she was trembling in every +limb.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, I can guess it already, Fräulein,' she said; 'it would surprise me +above all things if it did not come from that quarter!' She pointed in +the direction of Susanna's room. 'One woman's head can ruin a whole +country!'</p> + +<p>"The following day was a Sunday, and a Sunday stillness lay over the +house and court; even more than ordinarily, for the house down-stairs +was stiller than usual, as Anna Maria had not yet left her room.</p> + +<p>"Sadly I got ready for church, and then went to Susanna's door to call +for her. As I looked in I saw her still lying in bed, still sleeping, +her limbs stretched out, like a tired kitten. On the whole, I was glad; +I would rather go alone to-day, with my heavy heart.</p> + +<p>"The little church was unusually full on this Sunday, especially of +Dambitz people. A danger commonly encountered, a great misfortune, +brought them hither. They wanted, too, to hear what the clergyman had to +say about the calamity of the fire. So it happened that the little nave +was full to the last seat; only the seats of the gentry, above, were +empty.</p> + +<p>"'What God does is well!' sang the congregation. I folded my hands over +my book, and tears fell on them. I spoke no words, but more warmly I +surely never prayed, for Klaus, for Anna Maria. God knows all the sad +thoughts that came to me. I had already fought in vain against one of +them the night before: 'What if Anna Maria were not to yield; if she +were, perhaps, to go out from the ancestral home, in defiance, in order +to live no longer with Susanna? Oh! it was possible, with her +temperament, and then what would become of them both?'</p> + +<p>"Just then the door of the gallery moved, creaking slightly, and there, +on the threshold, stood—Anna Maria! Was it really she? Her face was +pale, with deep bluish shadows under the eyes; and beside her, even +paler, her great eyes directed toward me, as if seeking help, +stood—Susanna! Anna Maria held her hand and led her to the chair in +which the mistress of Bütze had always sat, and which, of late, had been +Anna Maria's seat.</p> + +<p>"The girl sank into it, a crimson glow now on her cheeks, and bent her +head. Anna Maria sat behind her, and folded her hands. It had been done, +then; she had yielded to her brother's will. What she had suffered in +that her face showed plainly.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria raised her head only once during the sermon, when Pastor +Grüne, in speaking of the Dambitz fire, mentioned the man who had +perished, and, in a few moving words, uttered a prayer of thanksgiving +that God had protected him who had risked his own life to save another, +almost lost. Then she cast a long look across at Stürmer's empty seat. +Susanna, too, raised her lashes, but dropped them at once, shyly, as if +she were doing something wrong.</p> + +<p>"On the way home Anna Maria walked beside me with her usual firm step, +Susanna's hand in hers. There was something solemn in her manner, and +when we stood in the garden-parlor, the tall, fair girl drew Susanna to +her.</p> + +<p>"'Make him happy,' she bade her softly; 'a nobler, a better man does not +exist. God has bestowed a very rich happiness upon you.' She kissed the +girl on the forehead, and went down into the garden. But Susanna +suddenly fell on my neck and broke out in convulsive sobs.</p> + +<p>"'Why, Susanna, are you not happy?' I asked. No answer; she only clung +more closely to me.</p> + +<p>"'Have you thought that you have now a home and the heart of a noble +man; that you are his bride-elect, loved beyond everything?'</p> + +<p>"She gave a shiver, and stopped crying.</p> + +<p>"'Come, Susanna,' I begged, kindly; 'you belong to us now; you have now +a family home and I am now your aunt,' I added, jokingly. 'Stop crying. +Come, let us go down to Anna Maria; you have not said a friendly word to +her yet.'</p> + +<p>"She threw her head back, and seemed to be deliberating for a moment; +then she ran out. I heard her swiftly retreating steps in the corridor. +'I will seek Anna Maria, at least to learn what has passed,' I murmured, +arid turned at once to the garden. So it had come about. Klaus was +betrothed; how often I had imagined it formerly. And to-day? A sort of +film came over my eyes, and the grayest of gray seemed the world round +about.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria was standing by the little pond, looking into the brown +water; she gave me her hand, quietly and kindly.</p> + +<p>"'My dear Anna Maria,' said I, 'God leads human hearts together.'</p> + +<p>"She nodded mutely.</p> + +<p>"'Shall you write Klaus?' I continued.</p> + +<p>"'It is already done. I wrote on that night,' she replied.</p> + +<p>"'It has not been easy for you, Anna Maria?'</p> + +<p>"She raised her hand, defensively. 'I love Klaus very much,' she said, +gently.</p> + +<p>"'When did you speak with Susanna, Anna Maria; may I know?'</p> + +<p>"'This morning,' she replied. 'I went to her, as Klaus wished. He wishes +the marriage to be very soon, and will return just a little while +before, so that Susanna may not need to seek another shelter beforehand. +So she will pass her time of being engaged without her lover. He does +not wish that the engagement should be made public, either; he does not +intend to give notice of his marriage until after the ceremony is over.'</p> + +<p>"She had spoken very fast, and was silent now, drawing long breaths.</p> + +<p>"'And did he write you everything, Anna Maria, in that letter, day +before yesterday?'</p> + +<p>"'Everything, aunt.'</p> + +<p>"'And Susanna?'</p> + +<p>"'I do not know,' she replied; 'I did not look at her, and she did not +speak. Perhaps happiness makes one dumb?' she added, questioningly. It +sounded as if she meant: 'I do not know—I am sure I do not know—what +happiness is.'</p> + +<p>"'Tell me just one thing, dear, good child,' I begged, seizing her +hands. 'Did the thought really never come to you that Klaus might have a +feeling of affection for this beautiful young creature?'</p> + +<p>"She was silent for awhile, and her breast heaved with suppressed sobs. +'No,' she said, 'I had never thought that he would stoop for a +poison-flower——'</p> + +<p>"An infinite bitterness, a deep woe, lay in these few words, and as if +she had said too much, she whispered: 'He is my only brother!' And then, +no longer able to control her emotion, she cried, throwing her hands +over her face: 'And I cannot hold him back, I cannot keep him from a +disappointment; I have no right to!' It sounded like a wild cry of pain. +And a hot stream of tears gushed forth between her fingers.</p> + +<p>"I stepped up to her to embrace her consolingly, but she hastily averted +it. 'Let me alone; I did not mean to cry, I thought I was stronger.' And +drawing out her handkerchief, she turned into the nearest shady path.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> + + +<p>"A few hours later a carriage drove into the court. I recognized +Stürmer's livery, and from my chamber window saw Brockelmann help out +the old actress, hardly with the haste of anticipation.</p> + +<p>"'There, we really ought to have just such a sort of mother-in-law in +the house!' I whispered, and smiled bitterly; but tear after tear fell +on my lilac cap-strings. Like misfortune itself, the old woman came up +the steps. Ah! Klaus, Klaus, whither have you gone astray?' Our whole +family seemed to me unspeakably fallen in this moment, and I could do +nothing in the unfortunate affair, but only try to raise Susanna to us, +to keep her away from everything which might remind her of the folly, of +the frivolity of the sphere from which she sprang; again and again to +point out to her what a rich, fair lot had fallen to her; to make her +comprehend that the wife of a Hegewitz must also be a pattern of dignity +and noble womanhood. I should have much preferred to bundle Isabella +Pfannenschmidt into the carriage again, to send her to some place miles +away, and against my will I was going out of my door, when I heard her +slow, shuffling step in the hall.</p> + +<p>"'Please, ma'm'selle, come into my room a minute before you go to +Susanna,' I said to her. Frankly confessed, I do not know myself why I +did it; but I felt instinctively that I must speak with her first, +before she learned the latest turn in Susanna's fate from her own lips.</p> + +<p>"The small person came slowly over the threshold, looking at me +distrustfully. She seemed to me infinitely wretched in her rumpled +bonnet and threadbare silk cloak, her face yellower than ever, and +sunken, and she was somewhat bent, as if still suffering pain. She sat +down in the nearest chair, and looked at me with her sharp, sullen eyes. +I stood before her and tried to speak, yet no word passed my lips. All +the craft, all the low sentiments which flashed out of those small eyes +toward me reminded me anew of the sort of atmosphere in which Susanna +had grown up. I had been walking up and down the room with these +thoughts; now I took a seat opposite the old woman, who had silently +followed me with her eyes. I wanted to tell her that a great, great +happiness had befallen Susanna, and found no words for it. It seemed as +if I were choked.</p> + +<p>"'I would like to inform you,' I began, hesitatingly, but I got no +farther, for Anna Maria came in. 'Dear aunt,' said she, 'I have to speak +with Isabella Pfannenschmidt a moment.' I drew a breath of relief, and +went into the adjoining room.</p> + +<p>"Then I heard Anna Maria's sonorous voice. She spoke of a great piece of +good fortune that had come to Susanna, and said that she hoped Susanna +would reward so much love, such infinite trust, with all her powers, in +order to make the man happy who offered her a name, a home, and a heart.</p> + +<p>"Tears came into my eyes again; there was something in Anna Maria's +voice that pained me infinitely. I pictured to myself the proud maiden +before the vagabond actress, to whom she was now speaking as to an +equal. That which I had considered impossible now happened, out of love +to her brother. Now I thought the old woman must break out in an ecstasy +of joy; I shuddered already at the thought of the theatrical +glorification in her darling's good fortune. Far from it; she spoke +quietly and coolly. I could not understand her, but it sounded like a +murmur of discontent.</p> + +<p>"'I do not comprehend you,' Anna Maria said, now icily; 'if I have +rightly understood my brother's letter, Susanna gave her assent on the +evening when she fled to you. What? Is she, meanwhile, to have changed +her mind?'</p> + +<p>"Again a murmur; then I heard disconnected words between the old woman's +sobs: 'Defence—true love—' and so forth. This homeless woman was as +pretentious as a ruling princess making arrangements to give her +daughter in marriage to a man of a lower class.</p> + +<p>"Then I heard her leave the room. When I reëntered Anna Maria was +standing at the window, her forehead pressed against the panes, her +clenched hand rested on the window-sill, and her lips were tightly +closed.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'this person must leave the house.'</p> + +<p>"'Klaus may decide that,' she replied, gently; 'I have no longer any +voice in this matter.'</p> + +<p>"'She is an arrogant thing!' I continued, in my wrath.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria turned. 'Ah, aunt,' said she, 'the old woman loves Susanna +like a mother, and such a relative naturally asks, in respect to the +most brilliant match: "Will it be for the child's happiness?" I ought +not to have taken it amiss; it was unjust in me.'</p> + +<p>"I pressed her hand softly. Anna Maria's noble sentiments sprang forth +in her pain, like flowers after rain. God grant that she was right in +her excuse!</p> + +<p>"Half an hour afterward, Isabella Pfannenschmidt came in with Susanna, +whose eyes were red with weeping, and hair dishevelled. Isabella led her +to Anna Maria, and Susanna made a motion as if to take her hand, but her +own fell to her side again, and so, for a moment, the two girls, so +unlike, stood opposite each other. Anna Maria had turned pale, to her +very lips; then she put her arm about Susanna's delicate shoulders, and +drew her to herself. But Susanna slid to the floor, and, sobbing, +embraced her knees; it seemed as if she wished to ask forgiveness for a +heavy offence, but not a word passed her lips. She only looked up at +Anna Maria, with an expression which I shall never forget my life long, +she seemed so true in those few moments. But before Anna Maria could +stoop to raise the girl, Isabella had already pulled her up with the +sharp, quick words: 'Susanna, be sensible!'</p> + +<p>"Did the old woman consider prostration before the sister of the future +husband too much devotion, or did she fear that thereby her darling was +subordinating herself, once for all, to the sister's strict <i>régime</i>? I +could not decide at the time; I did not know till later that this moment +was a fearful crisis in Susanna's heart.</p> + +<p>"The next three days passed quietly. Anna Maria had given Isabella a +little room next Susanna's, had told her Klaus's plans for his wedding; +and the old woman agreed to all the arrangements without a word of +opposition, but without showing any joy either. The sewing for the +trousseau was to be begun immediately after the harvest festival. +Isabella had arranged a cushion for lace-making, and under her thin, +skilful fingers grew filmy lace of the finest thread—'for the wedding +toilet!' she said softly to me.</p> + +<p>"Susanna's manner was quite altered; she unsociably avoided not only our +company, but Isa's as well. Meanwhile the old woman seemed little +concerned that her darling ran about half the day in the wood and +garden, looked pale, and ate little or nothing, and now and then started +up impetuously from her quiet, absorbed state, looking about with +terrified eyes. 'That is the way with people in love,' she would say in +excuse, with a peculiar smile, if I worried about Susanna's pale looks.</p> + +<p>"In a few days there came a letter from Klaus for Susanna. I went +up-stairs to give it to her. The first love-letter, a wonder in every +girl's life! With beating heart it is opened, read in the most secret +corner, kissed a thousand times, and kept forever. After long years +there still rises from such a yellow, crumpled paper a faint odor of +roses; a blush flits over the wrinkled cheeks, the dimmest eyes shine +once more in recollection of the hour when they first fell on those +lines. I was in quite a festive mood. What might not be enclosed in that +blue envelope? All the love, all the trust, all the true, noble +sentiment that could come only from such a heart as Klaus's! And all +this fell like a golden rain into the lap of the little vagabond girl.</p> + +<p>"I opened her door and looked in. Isabella sat, making lace, at the open +window. Susanna lay on the sofa, her head buried in the cushions, +apparently dreaming. The golden autumn sun streamed in through the +trees, which were already becoming less shady, and played upon the +inlaid floor, and Susanna's little kitten, with a blue ribbon around its +neck, was jumping nimbly about after the bright, moving flecks.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna, a letter from Klaus!' I cried, going to the sofa.</p> + +<p>"She started up, and stared at me with frightened eyes, but she did not +reach out for the letter in eager haste; her little hand made rather an +averting gesture. Isabella, on the other hand, was standing beside me in +an instant. 'A letter from the lover, Susanna!' she cried, cheerfully. +'Well, well, before I would be so affected! Quick, take and read it!' +The words had a certain harsh sound, and Susanna seized the letter, took +her straw hat from the nearest chair, and slipped out of the door; but +it was not the joyous haste of anticipation, it looked rather like a +speedy escape from Isa's sharp eyes.</p> + +<p>"'A strange child, Fräulein Rosamond,' said the old woman, smiling and +shaking her head. 'She is different from others, God bless her!' Then +she began to rummage in Susanna's bureau, and brought out a little +portfolio, from which she took a sheet of gilt-edged paper, with a +bird-of-paradise with outstretched wings, sitting on a rose, on the +upper left-hand corner, and arranged blotter, pen, and ink-stand. 'She +will want to write immediately, when she has read the letter,' she +explained, 'and a first love-letter like that is not easy, for one dips +in the pen a hundred times, and still what one would like to say does +not come.'</p> + +<p>"I went away with the thought that Susanna would know well enough what +to write. When the heart speaks, the pen is easily guided. Anna Maria +had a great deal to do on this day; the animals were to be killed for +the harvest festival. In the housekeeping rooms a restless activity +reigned. Marieken was required to help, as on all such occasions, and +Brockelmann had poured the flour to be used in cooking for the festival +into a great tray in the baking-room. Anna Maria was in the storeroom; +I found her sitting on a great sugar-firkin, with a slate in her hands; +at her feet lay the scales with different weights, and Brockelmann was +just bringing great bowls of raisins and sugar to be weighed for the +cakes. Anna Maria wore, as usual, her great white housekeeping apron +over her simple dress; her fair hair lay, smooth as a mirror, in +luxuriant plaits on her beautifully shaped head; her sleeves, being +pushed up a little, exposed her white arms; not a blemish on the whole +appearance, from the lace-trimmed mull kerchief about her shoulders to +the shapely foot in the little laced shoe. Would Susanna ever practise +household duties thus?</p> + +<p>"Never! That princess, that will-o'-the-wisp, with the curly hair and +little, childish hands! But would Anna Maria remain here forever? Lost +in thought, I stood for a moment at the door of the cool cellar. Anna +Maria drew a line below her figures, laid the slate aside, and took up a +letter. 'From Klaus,' she said, as she caught sight of me. 'I will read +it by and by in my room.' On the table lay another letter, significantly +smaller than the first, and already opened. Anna Maria noticed that my +eyes rested on it a moment, questioningly.</p> + +<p>"'Stürmer announces his coming to the harvest festival,' she explained, +bending forward quickly and putting something on the table. When she +raised her head again a slight flush still lay on her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"'You have accepted, Anna Maria?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' she said, quickly; 'I think it is only right to Klaus.'</p> + +<p>"'Klaus has written to Susanna too,' said I; 'did you know it?'</p> + +<p>"She quivered, noticeably. 'No,' she replied, 'but that must be.'</p> + +<p>"'She has run, the Lord knows where, with her treasure,' I continued, +smiling; 'she will probably answer it to-day, too.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria nodded. 'We will go up,' she said; 'I would like to read, +too.' We went through the busy kitchen and up the stairs. Anna Maria +went at once to her room, and I to the upper story, to seek my own room. +In the hall I stopped; the sound of Susanna's sobbing came to my ear, +and the indignant voice of the old woman:</p> + +<p>"'For shame, Susanna!'</p> + +<p>"'No, I cannot, I will not!' sobbed the girl.</p> + +<p>"They had forgotten to latch the door; I slipped nearer, but did not +understand Isabella's hissing whisper, nevertheless.</p> + +<p>"'No, no!' cried Susanna again, but with little resistance. Fresh +whispering, then a kiss. 'My little hare, my Susy, it may all be yet; +now the thing is, to put a good face on the bad game!' in genuine Berlin +speech. 'Now at it; you are brave!'</p> + +<p>"An icy chill crept over me, even to my heart; I could not account for +it to myself. But I was in no mood then to open the door, and went to my +room with the consciousness that something wrong, something mysterious, +was going on over there.</p> + +<p>"An hour later Isabella came to me with a letter. 'Here it is,' said she +proudly. 'Susanna is ready with her pen, she gets it from her father, +and all that she says in this is beautiful. It is a shame that you +haven't read it, Fräulein; how pleased Klaus will be.'</p> + +<p>"'Herr von Hegewitz!' I corrected, bluntly.</p> + +<p>"'Pardon!' returned Isabella, 'the name came so easily to my lips; I +have heard it so often from Susanna that——'</p> + +<p>"'Very well!' I interrupted. 'Now, to return to the letter; it almost +sounds as if you knew the contents. I hope Susanna does not conduct her +correspondence under your direction!'</p> + +<p>"Isabella Pfannenschmidt grew crimson. 'Heaven forbid!' she said, +casting an angry glance at me. 'Susanna only spoke in a general way of +what she was going to write, to tell him how grateful she is and how +honored and how she loves him.'</p> + +<p>"'I do not wish to know anything about it,' I replied, coldly. 'I only +expect of Susanna that she will not allow all that she has to say to-day +to her lover—something which, it seems to me, should be as sacred as a +prayer—to be desecrated by meddling eyes.'</p> + +<p>"Isabella smiled in embarrassment; she evidently did not understand me. +'To whom can I give this letter,' she asked, 'to send it to the +post-office?'</p> + +<p>"'Leave it here; I will see that it is put into the mail-bag,' I +replied. When I went down later, I found Susanna sitting motionless on a +bench in the garden. She seemed to be buried in a book; but her first +letter was already with a messenger, on the way to the city.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had grown calmer than I expected; it seemed as if some great +force had carried her half over her sorrow about Klaus. She brought me +his letter at supper time; it contained warm expressions of thanks, +infinite love for his sister, permeated with rapture at the possession +of Susanna. The world seemed to him more beautiful than ever; he +pictured to himself such a wonderful future, with Susanna, with Anna +Maria. Again and again came a fervent, 'But how shall I thank you, Anna +Maria, for this, that you will love my little bride as a sister? I have +always known that we think an infinite deal of each other, and it seems +to me as if my love for you had become even greater! Anna Maria, how I +wish for you such a happiness as mine!' He added that he should be as +pleased as a child at the first lines from Susanna, that he had an +endless longing to come home, but, unfortunately, business made it +impossible; the fatigues of the journey he would think nothing of.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria silently folded the letter which I returned to her, and put +it in her pocket, 'Have you seen Susanna since she received her letter?' +she asked.</p> + +<p>"'No, Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"'How happy she must be, aunt!'</p> + +<p>"'I find Susanna very quiet for an engaged girl,' I replied.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' she agreed. 'But I cannot describe to you how infinitely better +she pleases me; it is quieting to me that she does not take the matter +lightly.'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> + + +<p>"The harvest festival was celebrated more quietly than usual this year, +at least at the manor-house. Otherwise everything was as usual. Under +the four great oaks in the yard, near the garden wall, the dancing-floor +was laid; gay garlands, tied with bows of ribbon, hung on the old trees, +the whole court-yard seemed to be made as clean as a room, and +everywhere there was an odor of pine-boughs and fresh cake.</p> + +<p>"The weather was splendid on this October day, a little hoar-frost, to +be sure, on the roofs, but the sun soon melted that away. Early in the +day everything was under way; the village children, in new red flannel +dresses and dazzling white shirts, appeared first to receive their cakes +from Brockelmann. In the servants' kitchen three maids were cutting a +regular wash-kettle full of potato salad, and the odor of roast beef and +veal rose seductively to the noses of the farm people and day-laborers +just assembling in the court for the festal church-going.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria was standing in the hall waiting for me as I came +down-stairs. 'Are you bringing Susanna with you?' she asked. At the same +time steps were heard behind me; Isa came down, begging excuse for +Susanna, who felt fatigued, and could not make up her mind to go to +church.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria frowned. It was the custom in our family that not a single +member should be absent to-day. 'Is it absolutely impossible?' she +asked.</p> + +<p>"'Yes!' declared Isabella, and Anna Maria and I went alone. The bells +were ringing gayly, and the sun shone brightly in at the windows of the +little church, upon the garlands of corn with their red and blue +ribbons, on the altar, and upon the happy faces of the people. With +festal gladness was sung the 'Now thank we all our God.' It had, indeed, +been a blessed harvest year. And in earnest words the clergyman charged +the people with heartfelt gratitude to God, who gave this year of +blessing, gradually passing on to speak of the seed in the heart of man. +'Take care that there may be a blessed harvest here, too, when, by and +by, it will be autumn with you; think of the heavenly Harvest Home; well +for him who brings precious fruits, ripened in humility, planted in +love!' He then counselled the men to labor, the women to gentleness in +the home, and finally remembered in his prayer the absent master of the +manor. Anna Maria's head was bent low; I saw how she joined with her +whole heart in the prayer for her brother, how a great tear fell from +her eye upon the leaves of her hymn-book.</p> + +<p>"When the last verse had been sung we had to hurry home; for immediately +after service the people always brought the harvest wreath, and to-day +Anna Maria had to thank them in her brother's place. She cast a glance +across to Stürmer's seat; it was empty. Perhaps he was already waiting +at the manor. We walked through the greeting throng as rapidly as my +lame foot would allow, and Anna Maria quickly laid aside hat and shawl +in the garden-parlor, for we already heard the music in the village +street.</p> + +<p>"'I don't know about it, aunt,' she said. 'It is dreadful to me without +Klaus; if only Stürmer, at least, were here!'</p> + +<p>"'The baron has been in the garden for an hour,' remarked Marieken, who +had just run in, in dazzlingly clean attire, to inform us that the +people were coming.</p> + +<p>"'Then go and look for him, Marieken,' I bade. 'I will call Susanna and +Isa.'</p> + +<p>"'There comes the baron, now,' cried Marieken, with a glance at the +window, and opened the door leading to the terrace.</p> + +<p>"I could not believe my eyes; yes, there he was coming along the +garden-path, and beside him—Susanna. She did not walk, she floated, as +if carried along by the sound of the march, borne hither on the warm +autumn air. A pink dress fluttered and blew about her delicate figure, +and her lips and cheeks were tinged with the same color. With +outstretched arms she flew up the steps.</p> + +<p>"Oh, Anna Maria, oh, Fräulein Rosamond, listen, just listen!' she cried, +in ecstasy.</p> + +<p>"Stürmer followed her, smiling, and offered Anna Maria his arm. +Hesitatingly, with a long look at Susanna, she took it. The latter +looked after them in wonder, and walked silently beside me.</p> + +<p>"Before the house a crowd of people had assembled, in eager expectation; +then came the children, dancing and skipping, in at the gate; behind +them came the musicians, and over the long procession which followed +hovered the wreath of golden corn, adorned with colored ribbons, waving +gayly in the warm autumn wind.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria stood beside Stürmer, on the front steps, her hand still +resting lightly on his arm; she wore her blue dress and white lace +kerchief. A sad smile lay on her lips as the speaker, followed by two +girls bearing the wreath, now advanced to the steps, and, making a sign +for the music to stop, began the old speech:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'God be praised, who gives sun and rain;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God be praised, who gives his blessing again;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God be praised, who, in this year,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has blessed our fields so richly here.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May he give further fortune good,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To man and beast, to field and wood,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And may his gracious blessing fall<br /></span> +<span class="i0">On man and beast, on people all.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And on the house we hang to-day<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The wreath, that blessings here may stay.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A pious wife, and children fair,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">May they ere long be dwelling there!<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That is our wish upon this day;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">God will provide for come what may.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Take not this speech of ours amiss.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Full of good-will, indeed, it is!'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"A peal of music accompanied the three hearty cheers of the people; the +two pretty girls laid the wreath at Anna Maria's feet as she kindly +shook hands with the speaker. 'I thank you heartily, people,' she said +in her deep, mature voice. 'I thank you in the name of my brother far +away, who is much grieved not to be able to stand here to-day. I thank +you for the honest diligence and labor of this year, and wish that the +good old harmony may continue between gentry and people as has ever been +the manner at Bütze. And now, in my brother's name, enjoy the present +day, and be happy as befits this feast.'</p> + +<p>"'Long may she live, our gracious Fräulein!' cried the people; the lads +tossed their caps in the air, and with music the procession went into +the great barn, where long tables were set for the harvest banquet.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had dropped Stürmer's arm as she stepped forward to speak. +He appeared strangely moved, and a slight, indefinable smile lay on his +lips. I remembered his once saying that nothing was more dreadful to him +in a woman than to see her, even for a moment, assume the position of a +man, and in that light he evidently regarded the speech.</p> + +<p>"During the shouting I looked around for Susanna; she had disappeared. +There was not much time to reflect where she might be. Anna Maria now +made the round of the tables; she had to have her health drunk, and +drink in return. Stürmer accompanied her; it was a pretty sight to see +them walking together across the court.</p> + +<p>"On that day not the slightest thing escaped me, but now I cannot tell +exactly what this and that one did; it only came to me upon reflection, +much later; and then one thing after another came into my mind. At the +time I did not wonder at the rose-colored dress which Susanna wore, and +which was so charmingly suited to her transparent complexion; it did not +occur to me at all that she was still in mourning for her father, nor +did I think about her having been too indisposed to go to church in the +morning, and then, soon after, coming running from the garden, with rosy +cheeks. I thought nothing of it, that at the table—to-day there was a +long row of us, the clergyman and his sister, two bailiffs, three +farm-pupils, a forester, and Isabella (by way of exception)—she laughed +through the entire scale every minute, and carried on all manner of +nonsense.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria sat at the head, beside the clergyman, Susanna at her right, +and Stürmer next; I sat next to Pastor Grüne, and we formed the upper +end of the table. I could see that Anna Maria often looked gravely at +Susanna; yet a ray of pleasure broke from her eyes when they rested upon +this embodied rosebud, and saw how roguish were the dimples in her +cheeks, how her eyes shone, and her little teeth flashed behind the red +lips, and how she chattered all manner of pretty, foolish stuff. +Isabella's face shone with pride and she looked at the guests in turn; +almost every eye was fixed on the girl.</p> + +<p>"Then Stürmer rose, and proposed the health of the master of the +house—'his best friend,' as he said—and 'the house that was as dear to +him as a paternal home.'</p> + +<p>"And Anna Maria's face glowed as she raised her glass to touch with him. +But Susanna trembled, and put her glass down untouched; she grew pale +and quiet, and scarcely spoke again.</p> + +<p>"Pastor Grüne raised a full glass to the lady of the house; 'the +mistress of Bütze,' he called Anna Maria. The old man was much moved as +he made mention of her youth and how serious and careful she was; +nevertheless, a Martha, who was never weary in working and doing. Anna +Maria let the current of his remarks pass her by, and quietly thanked +him as she raised her glass. All crowded about her to touch her glass, +last of all, Stürmer; she did not look at him as their glasses touched. +But Susanna fixed her eyes on Anna Maria with an expression of +astonishment; she had probably never reflected that there was anything +great about such activity. I noticed, too, that she shivered suddenly, +as if under a disagreeable impression.</p> + +<p>"Then there came sounds of music through the wide-opened windows; the +dancing was beginning under the oaks, and the family must not be wanting +there. Anna Maria rose from the table, and beckoned to Susanna; we old +people sat still longer, and chatted of this and that. My old friend was +enjoying her afternoon coffee, which she declared she never could do +without, too much to leave; the pastor lighted a pipe, and leaned +comfortably back in his great arm-chair. Ah! how long we had known each +other, had borne together joy and sorrow. We had, indeed, no lack of +conversational matter.</p> + +<p>"But I did not stay here long, for there is nothing I like so much to +see as happy young people dancing. 'Oh, let us go under the oaks,' I +said; but Mademoiselle Grüne preferred to take a nap up-stairs in my +quiet room, assuring me that she would follow soon; so the pastor +escorted me down. When we arrived at the dancing ground, which was +surrounded by people, I saw Anna Maria with the head-servant, and +Stürmer with the upper housemaid, turning in the floating waltz, for +they had to dance with all in turn. But where was Susanna?</p> + +<p>"I went around the living wall of people. Under one of the oaks, chairs +and tables had been set apart for the family, and, the people had +respectfully kept away from this spot. Here stood Susanna, her arm +thrown around the rough trunk of the tree, her great eyes fixed on the +dancing couples; her delicate nostrils quivered, her breast heaved +violently, and tears sparkled in her eyes.</p> + +<p>"'I want to dance, too,' she burst forth, passionately; 'I want to +dance, too, just one single time!'</p> + +<p>"Already Stürmer was coming through the crowd and hurrying up to her. +There was no ceremonious request, for a dance, he forgot every formal +bow, she was even stretching out her arms toward him, longingly. I think +he carried her through the throng rather than that they walked; then he +put his arm around her. Was it my imagination, or did he really press +her so fast to him that they scarcely touched the ground? As in a dream, +I heard Pastor Grüne say something about a Titania. I only saw the +gracefully swaying figures, the fluttering pink dress, the bright rose +in the dark hair, whirling in the rapid dance, and heard the floating +melody of the waltz. And above them the old oaks swayed their branches, +letting sportive sunbeams through. So distinctly, ah! so distinctly, I +can see all this before me.</p> + +<p>"Then she stopped, out of breath, and leaned on his arm, a smile of +rapture on her glowing face. Was it all only my fancy? Anna Maria so +quiet yonder, scarcely breathing after the quick dance; it was surely my +imagination that made me think Susanna ought to have looked a little +less enchanted, that she ought not to have danced, being betrothed to +another. Yes, indeed, I was carrying it too far. And with whom was she +dancing then? With Stürmer, with Klaus's best friend. Could there be any +danger in that now, when everything was plain between them?</p> + +<p>"My thoughts went no farther, for just then the clear tone of a +post-horn rang out in the midst of the dance-music, a yellow coach +rattled into the court and stopped before the steps, and a man swung +himself out.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus!' I cried out, and at the first moment would have gone to meet +him; then I thought of Susanna—he came on her account, of course; they +could not meet here, in the face of all these witnesses. I turned +hastily to lead Susanna through the park to the house.</p> + +<p>"She was lying unconscious in Isa's arms. 'The dance, the fatal dance!' +lamented Isa; 'she cannot bear it!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria, pale with fear, bent over her. 'Alas! just at this moment! +Aunt,' she whispered, 'go to Klaus, or I—no, you, I beg you.'</p> + +<p>"I limped across the court as quickly as I could; he was already coming +toward me in the hall, his whole handsome face glowing with pleasure; +without further ado, he took me in his arms.</p> + +<p>"'They are under the oaks, are they not?' he asked. 'I wanted to be here +to dinner, but these post-horses are miserable nags; they went like +snails.' And he took my hand and pressed it to his lips. 'Is she +not—Susanna—she——'</p> + +<p>"'No, Klaus, they are no longer there. Wait a minute, come into your +room; Anna Maria will be here at once. The fact is, Susanna is not quite +well to-day; I would rather tell her first that you have come, so +unexpectedly.'</p> + +<p>"I pushed him back into the sitting-room; Stürmer was just coming in +through the garden-parlor. A frightened look came over Klaus's face, but +the question died on his lips as Stürmer cordially held out both hands +to him, and then, turning to me, said: 'What is the matter with Fräulein +Mattoni? Can it really be the effect of dancing? Only think, Klaus, a +moment ago she was rosy and happy, and just as you came rattling into +the yard, I saw her turn pale and totter, and before I knew what it +meant, her old duenna had caught her, and was lamenting, "That comes of +dancing!" Is that possible?'</p> + +<p>"'Of course!' I declared, quickly; 'Susanna is delicate, and the giddy +round dance—' I broke off, for Klaus looked so anxious I feared he +might betray himself on the spot.</p> + +<p>"'Dear Edwin,' I begged, 'will you take my place with the guests outside +for a moment longer? Pastor Grüne is sitting quite alone on the bench; +you know he is sensitive. Klaus, you will excuse me; I will see how +things are going up-stairs, and send Brockelmann to you with something +to eat.'</p> + +<p>"I do not know if Edwin Stürmer was enraptured at my request, but like +an ever-courteous man he went down at once.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria met me on the stairs.</p> + +<p>"'Where is he?' she asked hastily, without stopping.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna is not seriously ill!' she called back; 'she has opened her +eyes again already.' Her blue dress fluttered once more behind the brown +balustrade; then I heard the cry, 'Klaus, dear Klaus!' a sob, and the +door closed.</p> + +<p>"Susanna was lying on her bed; her dress had been taken off, and she was +lightly covered with a shawl; she held both hands pressed to her +temples. Isabella was perched before her, holding a flask of +strong-smelling ether. She tenderly stroked the girl's cheeks, and +whispered eagerly to her. When she saw me, she got up.</p> + +<p>"'How disagreeable, Fräulein! Just in this joyful hour the foolish child +has to faint; but so it goes, if young people will not listen,' she +began, in a remarkably talkative mood. 'Susanna, my heart, are you +better? I have said a hundred times you mustn't dance; it isn't even a +refined pleasure to whirl about among those common people. Heavens! what +a smell! But, obstinate as ever—wait, I shall tell your <i>fiancé</i> of it, +that he may keep a firm hand over you. Oh, yes, young people——'</p> + +<p>"Susanna gave her nurse a look which expressed everything possible +except love and respect.</p> + +<p>"'Come, come, be brisk, Susy,' she continued inexorably, 'or do you +think it is pleasant for Herr von Hegewitz to be waiting for you like +this?'</p> + +<p>"Susanna raised herself with a jerk. 'Do be still,' she said, folding +her hands, 'I am so dizzy, so ill!'</p> + +<p>"'Lie still, Susanna,' I said, to calm her. 'Perhaps you will be better +toward evening. Klaus must have patience. Shall I take any greetings to +him, meanwhile?'</p> + +<p>"She lay back on the pillow, her face turned away from me, and nodded +silently. 'Let her sleep,' said I to Isabella; 'she is really +exhausted.'</p> + +<p>"The old woman shrugged her shoulders. 'I cannot do anything to help +matters, either,' she whispered. 'It is unpleasant, but she will soon +recover. I know—the nerves, yes, the nerves!' And she sat down on the +girl's bed. She looked strangely grotesque and weird, in her enormous +black cap with bright orange-colored bows.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria and Klaus were just going down the front steps to the +dancing-ground, and he had his arm around her. When they saw me they +turned around. Klaus looked troubled, and in Anna Maria's eyes there +were traces of tears.</p> + +<p>"'You will see her to-day, yet,' I said to him, consolingly. He pressed +my hand, and sighed.</p> + +<p>"'He is only going to stay till to-morrow, aunt," Anna Maria informed +me; 'he only came on Susanna's account.' She spoke pleasantly, and +looked up at him with a smile.</p> + +<p>"'Alas, alas!' said Klaus, 'affairs are so involved there; but I just +wanted to see how such an engagement is good-for-nothing without having +once expressed one's self in words. Anything written sounds so cold, +doesn't it? It seemed so to me! And then I am glad that I have come, for +Susanna's health does not seem to be quite firm yet. I will speak with +the doctor, and after the wedding will go south with her.' A very +anxious expression lay on his countenance.</p> + +<p>"'Poor Klaus, such a reception!' bewailed Anna Maria. 'I do not +understand it, either; Susanna was so suddenly seized; she was just +seeming so bright again.'</p> + +<p>"'You must not let her dance,' said he in reproof.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, the kobold was between them before we could prevent it,' I joked.</p> + +<p>"'Stürmer dances so madly,' remarked Klaus.</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile we had arrived at the scene of festivities. The dancers were +still floating gayly about there; Stürmer was leaning, with folded arms, +against a tree, and was apparently out of humor. As soon as the people +discovered their master, he was received with a storm of greetings, for +they were all waiting to welcome him. Klaus spoke a few words to them, +and then would have withdrawn, but that was not permitted; he had to +dance with the upper housemaid. With a half-amiable, half-morose +expression, he took a few turns with the girl, who blushed red at the +joy and honor.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had seated herself in one of the chairs under the trees; +Edwin was standing before her, and a happy smile was on her lips. The +rays of the setting sun glimmered over her fair head and tinged her face +with a warm color.</p> + +<p>"She looked wonderfully pretty at this moment; Stürmer looked +meditatively down at her. I thought of everything possible as I looked +at the two. What will one not think under a blue sky, amid sunshine and +gay music?</p> + +<p>"It was deep twilight when Isabella came into my room to say that +Susanna was ready to see Klaus, and to ask if the meeting might be here. +I assented joyfully; the old woman went away, and a moment after a +slender white figure entered, and leaned, almost tottering, against the +great oaken wardrobe by the door. Isabella went away, saying she would +inform the master.</p> + +<p>"Slowly Susanna came as far as the middle of the room. I made haste to +light a candle, but she begged me not to do it; her voice sounded almost +breathless. When I heard Klaus's rapid step in the hall, I went into the +adjoining room, whereupon Susanna took a few hasty steps after me, as if +she would detain me; but I would not have spoiled this quarter of an +hour for Klaus by my presence for anything in the world. Why should a +third person hear what two people who are to belong to each other +forever have to say? And so I drew the door to, and only heard a voice, +full of emotion, cry: 'Susanna!'</p> + +<p>"I stood at the open window, and looked out on the moonlit court; in the +house all was still. Edwin Stürmer had driven away before supper, +rightly supposing that we should have a great deal to talk about during +Klaus's short stay; the guests from the parsonage, too, had gone home +early. Isabella had doubtless called Klaus from Anna Maria's side to +Susanna; the people were dancing on gayly under the oaks, by the light +of lanterns; the sound of music, and now and then of a bold shout, came +over to me, or the beginning of a song from a girl's fresh voice; and +the air was mild as on a spring evening.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria?—what is she doing now?' thought I. And the minutes ran +away and became quarter-hours; with a clank, the old clock struck seven. +I sprang up; no, the old aunt did not quite forget the requirements of +etiquette. I opened the door and went into my room. I saw the two +standing at the window; he had put his arm around her, and was bending +low over her.</p> + +<p>"'And now, say <i>one</i> word, Susanna; say that you love me as I love you!' +I heard him whisper, hotly and beseechingly.</p> + +<p>"The moonlight fell all about her bright, delicate figure, and I could +distinctly see her arm begin slowly to slip from his shoulder. The music +out of doors had just ceased; for an instant there was a breathless +silence, then the deep, sad tones of a young man's voice floated in at +the open window:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'I thought I held thee wondrous dear,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Ere I another found;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Farewell, I know it first to-day<br /></span> +<span class="i2">What 'tis to be love-bound,'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>came up the sound. Susanna's arm slipped quite down Once more I heard +him whisper, more softly than before. 'Yes!' said Susanna, quickly and +in a half-stifled tone, and I saw Klaus take her in his arms impetuously +and kiss her.</p> + +<p>"The following day fairly flew away, I can scarcely toll how, now. There +were so many things to be talked about, agreed upon, and arranged.</p> + +<p>"Klaus had talked with Isabella about the wedding, and they were agreed +that the 22d of November should be the festal day. Isabella came out of +his room with a new silk dress on her arm; she did not look wholly +enraptured, for he had told her that he was going to hire a comfortable +little dwelling in Berlin, and provide for her support; until the +wedding she might stay here. Anna Maria had prevailed upon him to do +this, and he himself did not consider the old woman exactly a desirable +appendix to his wife. She cast an enraged look at Anna Maria as she went +out; she knew to whom she owed this arrangement, so little to her mind.</p> + +<p>"On Susanna's hand sparkled a brilliant ring. Klaus was constantly at +her side. I saw them in the morning wandering up and down the +garden-paths, and once, too, heard her charming laugh, but it was +shortly broken off. She was quiet, but nevertheless let herself be +adored like a queen by her attentive lover.</p> + +<p>"How happy he looked, the dear old fellow, and how truly concerned he +was about the little maiden to whom he had given his heart! Like an +anxious mother, he bundled her up in shawls and rugs when she sat out on +the terrace in the warm midday sun. Every sentence which he uttered +began: 'Susanna, would you be pleased if it were thus?' and concluded: +'If you are content, of course, my darling!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had a great deal to do out of doors. Was it really the case? +Did it pain her to see the two thus? Had a feeling of real jealousy come +over her? She left the tiresome business of a <i>dame d'honneur</i> almost +entirely to me.</p> + +<p>"At evening Klaus had to go away again, and the hour drew quickly near; +he grew silent and tender the nearer the moment of separation came. +After supper we sat in the garden-parlor, about the lighted lamp. +Klaus's travelling cloak and rug lay on a chair; Susanna had gone to her +room for a moment, and Anna Maria to the kitchen to prepare a glass of +mulled wine for Klaus, for he had grown icy cold. Klaus held a knot of +ribbon in his hand, which he had taken from Susanna's hair.</p> + +<p>"'Aunt Rosamond,' said he, suddenly, looking over at me, 'Stürmer comes +here very often now, doesn't he?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, Klaus, very often.'</p> + +<p>"'Does he intend to ride a pair of horses to death to—to play whist +with you?' he asked, smiling.</p> + +<p>"'I don't know, Klaus,' I replied.</p> + +<p>"He came nearer to me. 'If it only might be, aunt,' he said gently; 'do +you think that this time Anna Maria would, again——'</p> + +<p>"'No, Klaus; if I understand Anna Maria aright, she still loves +Stürmer.'</p> + +<p>"'Still, aunt? <i>Now</i>, you mean to say?'</p> + +<p>"I knew not what answer to make.</p> + +<p>"'I should be so glad,' he began again, 'if Anna Maria and Edwin——'</p> + +<p>"He broke off, for Susanna had entered; she had such a light, floating +gait that we did not notice her till she was already standing in the +middle of the room. Slowly she came nearer; she was doubtless suffering +at the thought of separation, for she looked very pale and scarcely +spoke that evening. When Klaus folded her in his arms on his departure +she looked up into his true, agitated face, and for an instant, raising +herself on tip-toe, she put both arms around his neck, but for his +affectionate words she had no reply.</p> + +<p>"She remained standing beside me on the front steps, looking after him, +as, wrapped in his great cloak, he got into the carriage. Anna Maria +went down the steps with him, and put extra rugs and foot-sacks in with +her own hands. The brother and sister held out their hands to each +other, but Klaus's looks sped past Anna Maria up to the delicate figure +standing motionless in the flickering light of the lanterns. Brockelmann +looked, suddenly transfixed, at the girl, who only waved her hand +lightly. The carriage drove rattling away; once more he leaned his head +out; then the carriage rolled through the gateway, out into the night.</p> + +<p>"Susanna did not wait till Anna Maria had come up the steps; she ran +back into the house as if pursued, and I heard her light step going +up-stairs.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria and I went back to the garden-parlor. Neither of us spoke; I +laid my knitting-work and glasses in my work-basket, and Anna Maria +stood, reflecting, in the middle of the room. All at once I saw her take +a few steps forward and quickly stoop over; when she stood upright again +she had grown pale. Her hand held a small, shining object—Susanna's +engagement ring!</p> + +<p>"She said not a word, but put the ring on the table and sat down. She +waited for Susanna. She <i>must</i> miss the ring, and would hurry down +directly, anxiously hunting for it.</p> + +<p>"An hour passed. Anna Maria had taken up one of Scott's novels; she +turned the pages at long intervals. I had taken out my knitting again. +At last she laid aside the book.</p> + +<p>"'We will go to bed, Aunt Rosamond,' said she. 'Will you give the ring +to Susanna?'</p> + +<p>"I took the little pledge of love, wrought in heavy gold. 'It must be +too large for her,' said I, in excuse.</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' replied Anna Maria, harshly, 'it is not suited to her hand.' And +nodding gravely, she left the room before me.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> + + +<p>"It seemed as if the autumn had only delayed commencing its sway in +order not to interfere with the Bütze harvest festival. Now it broke in +all the more violently, with its gusts of rain, its storms, and its +hatred toward everything which reminded one of summer. Each little green +leaf was tinged with yellow or red, and the garden was gay as a paper of +patterns; the purplish-red festoons of the wild grape hung moistly down, +and in the morning a heavy white mist lay over the landscape. The +storks' nest on the barn roof was empty, whole flocks of wild geese flew +away screaming over the village, and inevitably came the thought of the +long, monotonous winter which Anna Maria and I were to pass alone.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria did not give herself up to idle reveries; she took hold of +work, even too much work, as the best defence against worry and against +a growing sadness. Only in the twilight she would sometimes stand idle, +and look away across the court-yard, and listen to the measured sound of +the threshing that came across from the barn. Then she would pass her +hand over her forehead, light a candle, and move up to the table with +her work—and work there was in abundance.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had taken Susanna's outfit in hand without delay. She led +the young girl to the huge linen-chests, and, with the pride of a +housewife, showed her the piles of snow-white linen, told her which +pieces she had spun herself, and spread before her eyes the choicest +sets of table linen. Susanna stood beside her, and cast a look rather of +astonishment than admiration at these splendors; she did not understand +what one could do with such a monstrous pile; it was more than one could +use in a hundred years, she thought. Isa, too, seemed to have no +appreciation of the important treasures. 'Too coarse, too coarse, +mademoiselle!' was all she said, letting the linen, which three +seamstresses were making up into Susanna's underclothing, slip through +her fingers. 'That will last forever, and will rub the child's tender +skin to pieces.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna grew somewhat more interested when dress-patterns arrived from +Berlin, by Klaus's order. The small hands turned over the gay little +pieces with real satisfaction; she ran from Anna Maria to Isa, and from +Isa to me, asking whether we preferred satin or moiré antique, brocade +or <i>gros de Tours</i>. And every evening, punctually at seven o'clock, came +Edwin Stürmer, through autumn darkness, rain, and wind.</p> + +<p>"I remember how one day he came into the room and inquired after the +health of the ladies; how, when he was preparing to leave, Anna Maria +said her friendly: 'Will you not stay with us, baron?' And how he then +laid aside hat and riding-whip again, ate supper with us, and then sat +down at the whist-table—all as usual, and yet so different.</p> + +<p>"Susanna was a careless and not a clever player; she threw her cards +down at random, never knew what had been played, and had no idea of the +real meaning of the game. Anna Maria took this, like every occupation of +life, seriously, and examined it thoroughly.</p> + +<p>"'But, Susanna, do pay attention; you are playing into your opponent's +hand!' she would say during the game; or, 'Please, Susanna, do not look +at Aunt Rosamond's cards; you must not do that!" It had a pedantic sound +when one looked at that smiling, rosy creature, who held the cards in +her little hands with such charming awkwardness, forgot every instant +what was the trump, laughed out from pure pleasure when she took a +trick, and would be so truly disheartened when she lost. 'Oh, <i>est il +possible</i>?' she would ask, shaking her head; 'not a trick?'</p> + +<p>"Stürmer played this whist with the patience of an angel; he picked up +Susanna's fallen cards unweariedly, smiled when she laughed, and when +Anna Maria scolded an almost imperceptible wrinkle came between his +brows. Occasionally, when he was Anna Maria's partner, she would appear +confused and embarrassed, and he distracted; and once or twice they lost +the rubber, just as they had done before. 'Unlucky at cards, lucky in +love!' said Pastor Grüne, who sat behind Anna Maria's chair on such +evenings. She blushed suddenly, and her hand, which still held the last +card, trembled. Edwin Stürmer, with fine tact, seemed not to hear the +allusion, and Susanna was silent and looked at Anna Maria with, all at +once, a strange sparkle in her eyes. Of her relation to Klaus no mention +had ever been made in the presence of a stranger, according to +agreement; she herself had the least thought of betraying herself by a +hasty utterance. Once I had asked if Stürmer might not be initiated. But +Anna Maria declared that Klaus would not wish it, so I kept still.</p> + +<p>"Susanna rarely spoke of her absent lover; but Isa put two letters +to him into the mail-bag, regularly, every week, in answer to +his frequent, longing epistles. In her room, meanwhile, all +manner of presents accumulated, which Klaus bought for her in +Breslau—knick-knacks, ornaments, fans, and such useless things, which I +could never think of in connection with Anna Maria. Klaus had never +cared for such things before, either, and therefore did not exactly +understand choosing them, and many an old, unsalable article may have +been put into his hand as the latest novelty for the sake of heavy +money. Susanna had a remarkably well-developed sense of beauty, and the +charming way of women, of wearing a thing out of devotion because a +beloved hand gave it, seemed totally unknown to her. But she exulted +aloud when she discovered a little old lace handkerchief which Anna +Maria had found, in rummaging in a long-unopened chest; and in the +evening, when Stürmer came, she wore it daintily knotted about her neck, +and in the delicate yellowish lace placed the last red asters from the +garden.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria was more serious and chary of words after every visit from +Stürmer; but an unmistakable expression of quiet, inward happiness lay +on her proud face. She reminded me daily, more and more, of that Anna +Maria who once, on a stormy spring day, came into my room, fell on my +neck, and almost—oh, if it had only happened!—confided to me the +secret in her young heart. Unspeakably pleasing she appeared, in her +quiet happiness, beside that young, childish bride-elect, who was never +still, who now laughed more wildly than a kobold, and the next minute +wept enough to move a stone to pity. Yes, Susanna Mattoni could laugh +and cry like scarce another human being.</p> + +<p>"Often I saw Anna Maria standing in the twilight under the old linden; +motionless, she looked over yonder, where, in the evening haze, the +dark, gabled roofs of Dambitz emerged from the trees of the park. She +had fallen into a dreamy state, out of which she would suddenly start, +when she was reminded of Klaus by some eccentricity of Susanna's. Then +she would look again in warm anxiety at the mercurial little creature, +and then run into her solitary room, and not appear again for several +hours.</p> + +<p>"One day, just three weeks before the appointed wedding-day, I was +returning, toward evening, from a visit to my old friend, Mademoiselle +Grüne, at the parsonage. It was windy and wet and cold, a regular autumn +evening, such as I do not like at all. I drew my veil over my face for +protection, wrapped my cloak more tightly about me, and took the +shortest way across the church-yard and through the garden. The +manor-house looked gloomy behind the tall trees; not a window was +lighted, but from the great chimney the smoke blew away over the roofs, +like long, dark, funeral banners, and wrestled with the wind which +dissipated it in all directions.</p> + +<p>"I began to think with pleasure of the comfortable sitting-room, of a +warm beer-soup, and the regular evening whist-table. Just as I was +passing a side-path, I saw a dark figure sitting under the linden. 'Anna +Maria!' I murmured, 'and in this storm!' For an instant I stood still, +with the intention of calling to her, for a fine, drizzling rain was now +falling, and I feared she would take cold on this dreary evening. But I +gave it up, because I thought, on reflection, she would not probably +want to be seen at all, or have an inquisitive look taken at a shyly +guarded secret, and I made haste to walk away down the path as quickly +as possible, to get away unobserved.</p> + +<p>"But my foot stopped again; a horseman was coming along by the hedge, +and, in spite of the gray twilight, I recognized Stürmer; he waved his +hat in greeting over toward the arbor, and there some one beckoned—I +very nearly had palpitation of the heart from joyful fear—with a white +cloth, and this little signal waved in the misty evening air till he +disappeared behind the trees on the other side of the bridge.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria! Is it possible?' said I, half-aloud, as I walked on—that +it sounded like a cry of exultation I could not help. Ah, all must be +well yet, and surely all would be well! I hurried up the steps to write +a few words to Klaus. 'Anna Maria and Edwin were nearer than he had +hoped'—how pleased he would be! But I did not accomplish that to-day. +Brockelmann came to meet me in the entrance-hall, and in spite of my +happy agitation, I had to listen to a long story, for which she even +urged me to come into her neat little room. A married niece of hers, +living in the village, had had a quarrel with her husband yesterday, in +the course of which he had emphatically tried to prove conclusively the +'I am to be your master!' with a heavy stick. The good Brockelmann was +beside herself at the 'wicked fellow,' and would not let me go till I +had solemnly promised to take the tyrant to task. 'Anna Maria +understands it even better, perhaps,' she added, 'but I don't know what +is the matter with her now. I think I might tell her a story ten times +over, and at the end she would look at me and ask: "What are you saying, +Brockelmann?" I wish I could just get at the bottom of it!'</p> + +<p>"'Well,' I said, smiling, 'I will see to it; send the rude old fellow up +to me to-morrow.' She followed me into the hall, and clattered +down-stairs in her slippers, scolding away, and in a very bad humor, +because Rieke had not yet lighted the hall-lamps.</p> + +<p>"In my room still glimmered the last ray of daylight, and in this +uncertain light I saw a figure rising from the arm-chair by the stove. +'Anna Maria, is it you?' I asked, recognizing her.</p> + +<p>"She came slowly over to me. 'Yes, aunt, I have something to deliver to +you. Stürmer has been here; he wanted to speak to you; about what, I +don't know.' She spoke hesitatingly and softly. 'Then he asked me to +hand you this note, which he wrote hastily.'</p> + +<p>"She pressed a note into my hand. 'Here, aunt, read.' I sat down in the +low chair by the stove, and held the sheet in the flickering light of +the flames, but the letters danced indistinctly before my eyes. 'We must +have a light,' said I; 'or read it aloud to me, Anna Maria, it takes so +long for Brockelmann to bring a lamp.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria knelt down beside me, and took the letter. 'Ought I to know, +too, what it contains?' she asked.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, of course I allow it, only read!' And Anna Maria began:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"'<span class="smcap">My dear, esteemed Aunt Rosamond</span>:—Unfortunately I did not +find you at home. Please expect me to-morrow afternoon at five +o'clock. I have something to discuss with you, and want your +advice in a matter upon the issue of which the peace and +happiness of my heart will depend. Say nothing yet to Anna +Maria!</p> + +<p>"'In haste and impatience,</p> + +<p>"'Your most devoted</p> + +<p>"'<span class="smcap">Edwin Stürmer.</span>'</p></blockquote> + +<p>"Anna Maria did not read it just as it stands here; it came out in +broken sentences; then the sheet fluttered to the floor, she buried her +fair head in my lap, and threw her arms impetuously about me. 'Aunt, +ah, aunt!' she groaned.</p> + +<p>"I took her head between my two hands, and kissed her forehead; tears +flowed from my eyes. 'Anna Maria! ah, at last, at last!' I sobbed; 'now +everything may yet be well.'</p> + +<p>"She did not answer; she rose and began to walk up and down the room, +her arms crossed below her breast, her head bent. I could not +distinguish her features in the deep twilight, but I knew that she was +deeply affected. 'Aunt,' she said at last, coming up to me, 'what answer +shall you make to Stürmer?'</p> + +<p>"'That I will receive him, Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"'No'—she hesitated—'I mean to-morrow, to his question—'she said, +slowly.</p> + +<p>"'What you will, Anna Maria. Shall I say yes?'</p> + +<p>"Slipping to the floor, she threw her arms around my neck. 'Yes!' she +said, softly, and burst into tears. The pain borne quietly for years +gushed with them from her soul; I stroked her smooth head caressingly, +and let her weep. How long we sat thus I know not. Then the girl rose +and kissed my hand. 'I will go down,' she whispered.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, Anna Maria,' I bade, 'you ought to rest a little or your head +will burn. Let Brockelmann make you a cup of tea; you have surely caught +cold in your head out in the wet garden.'</p> + +<p>"She had her hand already on the door-latch, and now turned about again. +'I have not been in the garden, aunt,' she said; 'I have been waiting +here up-stairs for you, certainly for half an hour, since he went away.' +She nodded to me once more, then she went out, and left me standing in +unutterable bewilderment.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria not in the garden? Who in the world could have stood there +and beckoned to him? An oppressive fear overwhelmed me, and almost +instinctively I went across to Susanna's room; my first look fell upon +her, sitting on the floor before the fire-place; the bright light +illuminated her face with a rosy glow, and made her eyes seem more +radiant than ever. Her hands were clasped about her knees, and she was +looking dreamily at the flickering flames. Isa was bustling about at the +back of the room; she came nearer as she caught sight of me.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna,' I asked, 'were you in the garden a little while ago?'</p> + +<p>"She started up and looked at me with frightened eyes. 'No!' answered +Isabella in her place. 'Susy has not left the room all the afternoon. +What should she be doing out of doors in this weather?'</p> + +<p>"'I do not know—but I surely thought I saw you, Susanna?'</p> + +<p>"She turned her head and looked in her lap. 'I was not down there,' she +said, hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"I went away; my old eyes were failing then. Close by the door my foot +caught in something soft. I stooped down; it was the lace veil that +Susanna used to wear over her head, heavy and wet with rain. Without a +word I laid it on the nearest chair. Why did Susanna tell a lie? Why was +she frightened?</p> + +<p>"And all at once an ugly, shocking thought darted like lightning through +my brain, that made me almost numb with fear. But no, surely it was not +possible, it was madness; how could one imagine such a thing? I scolded +myself. With trembling hand I lit a candle and went to my writing-desk; +to this day I cannot account for my answer to Stürmer being as it was, +and not different. I wrote under the influence of an inexplicable +anxiety. Strangely enough the letter sounded:</p> + +<blockquote> +<p>"'<span class="smcap">My dear Edwin</span>:—I shall be glad to see you here to-morrow +afternoon at five o'clock, and can also tell you an important +piece of news, which will please you. What do you say to this, +that Klaus, our old Klaus, is engaged; and that the bride-elect +is no other than Susanna Mattoni? Very likely you have guessed +it easily?</p> + +<p>"'They have been engaged for some time, but it has been kept a +secret for the mean time; but an old chatterbox like me may +surely make an exception in your case.</p> + +<p>"'Affectionate greetings from your old friend,</p> + +<p>"'<span class="smcap">Rosamond von Hegewitz.</span>'</p></blockquote> + +<p>"In the greatest haste I folded the note, rang, and gave it into the +immediate charge of the coachman. I was seized with a nervous trembling +as I heard him ride out of the yard. I sent down word to Anna Maria that +I should not come to supper; I was rather fatigued.</p> + +<p>"About eight o'clock I heard Susanna's light step in the hall; she was +coming from supper, and trilling a love-song. Then the door of her room +closed, and all was still.</p> + +<p>"It was long past midnight when I stole out to the hall window to see if +Anna Maria had gone to bed. She was still awake; in the candle-light +which fell from her windows over the flower-beds of the garden a shadow +was moving to and fro, incessantly, restlessly. In the anxiety of my +heart I folded my hands: 'Lord God, send her no storm in this new +spring-time,' I whispered; 'let her be happy, make me ashamed of my care +and anxiety. Let my fear be an error. Ah! give her the happiness she +deserves!'</p> + +<p>"The next day broke gray and dark, not at all like a day of good +fortune. Anna Maria stood at the open window in the sitting-room, +breathing in the warm air, which was unusually sultry for a November +day. She had a stunted white rose in her hand. 'See, aunt,' she said, +holding the flower up to me, 'I found it early this morning on the +rose-bush on mother's grave; how could it have bloomed now? We have had +such cold weather lately, it is almost a miracle, like a greeting for +the day.' And she took a glass and carefully put the awkward little rose +in fresh water, and carried it to her room.</p> + +<p>"In the mail-bag which came at noon there was, beside a letter for +Susanna from Klaus, also one for Anna Maria from him concerning +arrangements for the longer absence of the master of the house. 'Since I +do not know how long I shall be away with Susanna,' he wrote, 'and since +I probably shall not find time in the short stop at home to talk this +over quietly with you, I have written down for you about how I think +this and that will be best arranged.' Various arrangements of a domestic +nature now followed. 'If any alteration seems necessary to you,' he +continued, 'do as you please; I know it will be right. The furnishing of +Susanna's rooms can be attended to during our absence. I should be very +grateful to you if you would sometimes have an eye upon the work, that +the nest for my little wife may be as comfortable as possible. In her +last letter she told me a great deal about Stürmer's furnishings, and I +have taken care to get something similar, at least, for her, as far as +it in any degree agrees with my own sober taste; the terrace is to be +re-paved, too. Now for the chief matter, my dear Anna Maria: on the +right hand, in the secret drawer of my writing-desk, lie the papers +which are necessary for the banns. Take them out and carry them to +Pastor Grüne; Susanna's baptismal certificate and marriage license, +which I had sent on from Berlin, will already be in his hands, as I am +sending them off with this letter. Remember me to the old man, and say +to him that he must not let us fall too roughly from the pulpit next +Sunday.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had given me the letter, and gone with her key-basket into +her brother's room. 'How will it be,' I whispered, looking over the long +columns of these domestic arrangements, 'when he has <i>her</i> no longer? He +has been fearfully spoiled by her.' As I read about the banns, my old +aunt's head began to whirl like a mill-wheel with what had happened +yesterday—what was to come to-day. How would it result?</p> + +<p>"I limped over to Anna Maria; she was standing before her brother's open +desk, the papers in her hand. 'Aunt Rosamond,' said she, 'I wish this +day were over, for see, when I think of Klaus I almost lose my courage!' +And she laid the yellow papers on the flat shelf of the wardrobe-shaped +desk, and folded her hands over them. 'It will seem almost wrong to me +that I should think of my own happiness when he—is not going to be +happy. Aunt, ah, aunt!' she sobbed out, 'I cannot help it; I love him +none the less on that account, believe me! But I have not the strength +to thrust from me a second time something which—' She did not finish; +she colored deeply, took up the papers again with trembling hands, and +closed the desk. 'I don't know what I do to-day,' she whispered, 'and I +don't know what I say. I wish it were night, I am so anxious!'</p> + +<p>"'You need not speak out, Anna Maria,' said I, seizing her hands. 'I +have long known that you gave Stürmer up at that time only because you +would not forsake Klaus.'</p> + +<p>"She took a step back, and gave me a frightened look. 'No, no; it is +not so!' she cried, 'it was my duty; he had lost so much for my sake!'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria, I do not understand you,' I rejoined.</p> + +<p>"'His bride! I know it,' she nodded. 'Because I was in the way, she +forsook my poor, dear Klaus. How he must have suffered!'</p> + +<p>"'How you came to know of that affair, my child, is a riddle to me,' I +returned; 'but tell me, was that the reason that you—'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, hush, aunt!' she cried, 'I know nothing any longer, it all lies +behind me like a dark, oppressive dream. I could not tell you now what I +thought and felt at the time, for it is not clear even to me. Some time +I will tell you everything, but not now, not to-day. But you must +promise me one thing,' she continued, beseechingly, looking at me +through her tears; 'you must always keep an eye on Klaus; you must read +from his face if he is in trouble, if he is unhappy, and then you must +tell me. Ah! aunt, I cannot really believe that he will be happy with +her! Dear Aunt Rosa, why must it be <i>she</i>? Why not some one else who +would be more worthy of him?'</p> + +<p>"'Do not worry about it, Anna Maria,' I begged her; 'all is in God's +hands.'</p> + +<p>"'You are right, Aunt Rosa,' she replied, a crimson flush spreading over +her face. 'I will not let this trouble me to-day; I will rejoice, will +be happy. Ah! aunt, I do not know, indeed, what that really is; I am +such a stupid, dull being. Listen, last evening I could have opened my +arms and embraced the whole world from happiness. I could not sleep, I +walked about my room restlessly, and read his letter a hundred times; as +long as my eye rested upon it I was calm, and when I had folded it up +doubts came to me, such anxious, evil doubts, such as, "What if you +have made a mistake? What if he has something to say to Aunt Rosamond +which does not concern you at all?" And then it seemed to me as if I +were sinking into a deep, black abyss, and there was nothing that I +could hold on to, aunt. Oh! it was frightful, so empty, so cold, so +dead! Dear Aunt Rosamond, do laugh me out of these foolish thoughts, +scold me for a stupid girl; tell me how faint-hearted I am, that a doubt +of Edwin's love should come to me! He does love me, Aunt Rosamond, does +he not? One can never forget it when one has once loved a person with +his whole heart. I know it; yes, Aunt Rosamond, I am a foolish, childish +creature; do laugh me right out of it, please, please!'</p> + +<p>"She had drawn me to the sofa as she spoke, and hidden her face on my +shoulder. Amid laughing and crying the words came out, all +self-consciousness was gone, that unapproachable harshness of her nature +had disappeared, and she was now like any other girl expecting her +lover. She trembled and sobbed, and wound her arms tightly about my +neck—the proud, cold Anna Maria had become a happy child. What a +fulness of love and resignation now gushed from her heart, now that +happiness touched it! 'So do laugh me well out of it, aunt,' she said, +again.</p> + +<p>"I stroked her hair caressingly; how gladly would I have laughed her out +of it! But in my soul, too, there were doubts, inexplicable doubts; and +why? There was really no reasonable ground for them, no, no! Susanna +might have denied the walk in the garden because the evening air was +prohibited on account of her health; and just because she stood under +the linden and waved her handkerchief—was that any proof? And I thought +of my letter to Stürmer, and really had to laugh.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'I will laugh at you, but you must laugh back at +me. Only think, yesterday I sent an announcement of the engagement to +Stürmer; I could not keep it to myself any longer that Klaus is +engaged.'</p> + +<p>"She straightened up with a start.</p> + +<p>"'Heavens, the papers! I forget everything. The banns—I must see to +that first, aunt.'</p> + +<p>"To-day the hours seemed to pass much more slowly than usual. Toward +four o'clock I sat waiting at the window; my heartbeat as violently as +Anna Maria's, perhaps. She, I knew, was down-stairs in her room, +restless and anxious. Half-past four struck, five, and Stürmer was not +yet here. Instead, Susanna came into my room and sat down opposite me; +she had her kitten in her arms and began to play with it.</p> + +<p>"I should have liked to send her away, but no suitable excuse occurred +to me at that moment. It is fearful how slowly the minutes pass when one +is counting them in anxious expectation; heavy as lead, each second +seems to spin itself out to eternity, and one starts at every sound. No, +that was a farm-wagon, now a horseman; ah! it is only the bailiff.</p> + +<p>"Susanna felt my silence and restlessness painfully at any rate. 'Oh, it +is fearfully tiresome in the country in winter!' she sighed. 'What can +one do all day long?'</p> + +<p>"'Have you written to Klaus yet?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'O dear, no!' she replied, with a suppressed yawn. 'I don't know what +to write him; I have no experience, I hear and see nothing.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, an engaged girl is not usually at a loss for something to write +to the future husband,' I remarked.</p> + +<p>"'Indeed?' she asked, absently. 'Yes, it may be, but I—I find it so +stupid just to drag out variations of the theme, "I love you."'</p> + +<p>"'Klaus has written you, no doubt, Susanna, that you are to be published +from the pulpit on Sunday?'</p> + +<p>"She started, and stared at me with wide-open, awestruck eyes. 'I don't +know,' she stammered, 'I——'</p> + +<p>"'But you must know what is in his letter,' I said, impatiently.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, I—' She put her hand in her pocket and drew out a letter. 'I +haven't read it yet; I was going to this evening—but——'</p> + +<p>"'You have not opened the letter yet?' I cried, quite beside myself. +'Well, I must say, this case is unparalleled! You complain of <i>ennui</i>, +and yet carry quietly about in your pocket the most interesting thing +that can exist for you! The variations on the familiar theme do, indeed, +seem tiresome to you, Susanna!'</p> + +<p>"I had spoken bitterly and loud. Susanna remained silent, and the same +choking feeling of fear came over me as yesterday. I heard the girl sob +gently, and was sorry at once for my vehemence.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna,' said I, softly, 'you are standing before a very serious turn +in your life, and you trifle along like a child!'</p> + +<p>"She suddenly broke out in loud weeping. 'What can I do, then?' she +cried, wringing her hands. 'Have I not a will of my own? must I be +treated like a child?' And the passionate little creature flung herself +on the floor and embraced my knees. 'Have pity on me, dear, dear +Fräulein Rosamond. Do not let me be unhappy. I——'</p> + +<p>"She got no further; the door opened, and the sound of Anna Maria's +voice came in, so constrained, so forbidding, that my heart stopped +beating, and the girl sprang up hastily from the floor.</p> + +<p>"'Aunt Rosamond, Susanna—Baron Stürmer wishes to—say farewell to you.'</p> + +<p>"I can see them all so plainly as they were at that moment: Anna Maria, +pale to her lips, holding firmly on to the back of a chair for support; +Stürmer beside her, his eyes fixed on Susanna; behind them Brockelmann +with the lamp, and the trembling, sobbing girl, clinging to me, a +troubled expression on her tear-stained face, and her great eyes +unintelligently returning the man's look.</p> + +<p>"At the first moment all was not clear to me; I did not understand how +Stürmer had come to Anna Maria, but that a deep wound had been made in a +young human heart, that I saw, and an icy chill crept over me.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' I stammered, and sought to free myself from Susanna's +arms. Then Stürmer came up to me.</p> + +<p>"'I am going away to-morrow for a long time, Fräulein Rosamond,' said +he, in a firm, clear voice, 'and want to take my leave of you. It is a +hasty decision of mine, but you know that is my way. I thank you, too, +for the letter, Fräulein Rosamond.' He kissed my hand and turned to +Susanna. There was a tremble on his lips, as with a formal bow, he +expressed a brief congratulation on her engagement.</p> + +<p>"She looked fixedly at him, as if she did not understand him, her arms +slipped from my waist, and she made a movement toward him; but he had +already turned away. He bent again over Anna Maria's hand and left the +room. I can still hear the closing of the door and his reëchoing steps +in the hall, and can still see the vacant expression with which Anna +Maria looked after him. She was standing, drawn to her full height, her +proud head slightly bent, yet she seemed inwardly broken, and a ghastly +smile lay on her firmly closed lips.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria!' I cried, hastening over to her. She did not look at me, +but pointed to Susanna, who had slipped, fainting, to the floor.</p> + +<p>"'Her!' she said, lifelessly—' he loves <i>her</i>!—both love <i>her</i>! And +I?' She passed her hands over her forehead. 'Nothing more, aunt, nothing +more, in the great wide world; nothing more!'</p> + +<p>"She bent down to the unconscious girl and raised her in her arms, and +the beautiful head with the dark curls rested on her breast. Anna Maria +looked for an instant at the pale, childish face, and then carried her +over to her room and laid her on the bed.</p> + +<p>"'Take care of Susanna,' said she to Isabella, who stood before the bed, +wringing her hands. 'If it is necessary, send for the doctor.' She went +past me out of the room; I hurried after her; what did I care for +Susanna at this moment?</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' I begged, 'where are you going? Come into my room, speak +out, have your cry out; do not stay alone, my poor, dear child!'</p> + +<p>"She stood still. 'I do not know what I should have to speak about, +aunt—and cry? I cannot cry. Don't worry about me; nothing pains me, +nothing at all. I would like to be alone, I must think about myself. Do +let me.'</p> + +<p>"She went away with as firm a step as ever; she even turned down a +smoking lamp in passing, and the sound of her deep, pleasant voice came +up to me from the stairs as she spoke to Brockelmann; then I heard her +steps die away in the hall.</p> + +<p>"What sort of storm may have shaken her in her solitary room I know not. +When, late in the evening, I listened at her door there was no sound of +movement within; but that she watched through the saddest hours of her +life in that night, her pale face, her sunken eyes, and the expression +about the corners of her mouth told me the next day.</p> + +<p>"Ah, and over it all lay, like a veil, that old coldness, and her fair +head was poised just as obstinately as before, and her words had an +imperious sound. Anna Maria was not desperate, Anna Maria had no +passionate complaints to make. With her maidenly pride she had subdued +the sick heart; no one saw, now, that it was mortally wounded. The pain +within, the struggles, they were <i>her</i> affair. Who would dare even to +touch that closed, strongly guarded door?</p> + +<p>"And so the next morning she went up to the bed in Susanna's room, where +the sobbing girl lay. Susanna had begun to cry on regaining +consciousness the day before, and kept on crying, as if she would +dissolve in tears. Isabella sat by the bed, with a red face; she had +doubtless talked herself hoarse with consolatory arguments during the +night; now she was silent and feigned ignorance of all that had passed. +'I don't know, Fräulein Anna Maria,' she whispered, 'what is the matter +with Susanna—these unfortunate nerves; I don't understand it!' She +looked very much cast down, the little yellow woman.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna,' said Anna Maria, clearly and severely, 'stop crying, and +tell me the cause of your trouble; perhaps I can help you.'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, heavens! no, no!' screamed Isa, vehemently, pressing close up to +Anna Maria. 'She is so excited; don't listen to her words, she doesn't +know what she is saying!'</p> + +<p>"But Susanna made no answer; she stopped sobbing, turned her head away +from Anna Maria, and lay still as a mouse; but in the quick rising and +falling of her bosom one could see how excited she was.</p> + +<p>"'Be calm, Susanna,' repeated Anna Maria; 'and where you are, I have to +speak with you concerning the explanation of a great mistake.'</p> + +<p>"She turned quietly from the invalid, and observing the glasses beside +the bed, asked Isabella if Susanna liked lemonade, and went away. She +had given me only a hasty greeting; now she came back, and we stood +together in the hall, and I held her hand in mine.</p> + +<p>"That words of consolation were not to be thought of in dealing with a +nature like Anna Maria's, I knew well; yet I could not help tears coming +into my eyes as I looked at her. She looked at me for a moment, her face +quivered as with a passionate pain, and the sobbing sound came from her +breast. But she composed herself by an effort, and pointing to Susanna's +door, said: 'There is the worst thing—my poor Klaus!' She pressed my +hand, and then went about her household duties as usual. It is not every +one that would have done as she did!</p> + +<p>"When I entered Susanna's room again I found her sitting up in bed, +wringing her clasped hands. 'Nobody has asked <i>me</i> about it!' she +repeated, amid streaming tears; 'my wish is of no account; they have +pushed me away where they wanted me to go! And now, now—' She murmured +something to herself, which I did not understand, and stopped weeping, +only to begin anew with the passionate cry: 'No one loves me, no one!'</p> + +<p>"'Do not listen to her,' Isabella implored me; 'she really does not know +what she is doing; leave me alone with her! 'The little creature was in +a thousand terrors. She ran from the bed to the window, and then back +to the bed; she called the weeping girl all sorts of pet names, she +besought her by heaven and earth to be quiet—it was in vain. Susanna +wept herself into a state of agitation that made us fear the worst; she +struck at Isa, and then wrung her hands again, like a person in perfect +desperation. I stood by, helpless; as long as the girl was in this state +of excitement I could not step up to her, and say: 'Susanna, what have +you done? You have given your word to a man of honor, and you love +another! You have made mischief in the house which was so hospitably +opened to you; you have made three human hearts miserable! Is that your +gratitude for all this kindness?'</p> + +<p>"And then her cry, 'No one asked me; they pushed me away where they +wanted me to be, and I had not the power to defend myself!' sank deeply +into my heart, and my thoughts went back to that evening when she had +run away in the storm and rain, and how Klaus had brought her back, and +called her 'his!' Had he asked if she loved him? No; he had not even +thought of the possibility that such might not be the case; he had gone +away with firm confidence in her love. And then Anna Maria had pressed +her to her heart one day, and called her 'sister,' and Klaus had come, +and had put the engagement ring on her hand. She had not dared to send +him away, and had gone on, in her light manner, trifling with that +engagement ring, while becoming deeper and deeper involved in the +passion for another. Her lover was away, he did not hear her. Now +Stürmer was going into the wide world, a fresh thorn in her heart. +Susanna was shaken out of her dreams, and near despair. And Anna Maria, +and Klaus—what was to become of them?</p> + +<p>"Then Brockelmann brought me a letter from Stürmer. I went into my room +and read it; it was written from Dambitz, and ran as follows:</p> + +<blockquote><p>"'<span class="smcap">Honored Fräulein</span>:—I do not like to go away from you without +a word of explanation, or without thanking you for your letter, +which kept me from taking a step which would have been +painfully hard for me in more than one respect. You have, with +delicate tact indeed, rightly discerned that Susanna Mattoni is +not an object of indifference to me, and you wanted to save me +from a disappointment. My dear Fräulein Rosamond, why should I +deny it? I love Susanna very much, and I intended yesterday to +beg for your mediation in my suit. I <i>had</i> to suppose that she +returned my love.</p> + +<p>"'I have no luck in your house—a second time I have been +bitterly undeceived. Now I have come to consider myself one of +the most arrogant men the world contains. Anna Maria does not +love me. I required years to get over that first +disappointment; it was not easy, for I believed myself +perfectly sure of her reciprocal love. Well, I succeeded at +last; I will even assert that Anna Maria was right. We were +ill-suited to each other; perhaps she would have been unhappy +with a man of such entirely different inclinations. Then I see +Susanna and—love the betrothed of my best friend!</p> + +<p>"'What remains to me? Again I turn my back on my home and seek +to forget.</p> + +<p>"'In Bütze everything will remain as of old, and I—go. But I +do not like to leave you, who have suspected it, in darkness. +Pardon me if have caused you anxiety; I did so unconsciously. +Think of me kindly! When I come home again some day, Susanna +will be the wife of my friend, and I—a calm man, who will have +forgotten all the dreams of youth. I kiss your dear hands, and +beg you to let what I have said here remain our secret. Susanna +will be most likely of all to suspect why I went—she will +secretly mourn for me, but only soon to forget me in her young +happiness.</p> + +<p>"'Farewell, with most heartfelt respect,</p> + +<p>"'Your most devoted</p> + +<p>"<span class="smcap">'Edwin von Stürmer.</span>'</p></blockquote> + +<p>"The sheet trembled in my hands, and every instant tears hindered my +reading.</p> + +<p>"About half-past three in the afternoon Pastor Grüne came with his +sister to offer congratulations on the engagement. Ah, me! yes, +yesterday the appointment for publishing the banns was made. Anna Maria +and I sat in painful embarrassment, receiving the hearty congratulations +of the two old friends. They inquired for the young bride-elect, and the +pastor praised her beauty and her happy, child-like nature. When he saw +Anna Maria's pale face, he took her hand:</p> + +<p>"'My dear child,' said he, kindly and earnestly, 'marriages are made in +Heaven. God leads the hearts together, and when they have found each +other no human being may disturb them. So few marriages are made to-day +out of true, unselfish love that it ought to be a real joy for every one +who experiences it, to see a couple go before the altar who are +restrained by no earthly consideration from belonging to each other in +true love. God's blessing be upon Klaus von Hegewitz and his bride!' He +was much moved, the old man who had held Klaus and Anna Maria over the +font, but in surprise he let the girl's hand drop, with a look of +disapprobation at the cold, unsympathetic face. She did not answer a +syllable.</p> + +<p>"My old friend had, a little while before, drawn a sheet of paper from +her knitting-bag and put it in my hand. I first glanced at it now; it +was the printed notice of the engagement of Klaus and Susanna. 'We +received it this morning,' she nodded, 'but I saw it yesterday at Frau +von R——'s at Oesfeld; I was there to coffee. You ought to have been +there, Rosamond, to see how the ladies contended for that little sheet.'</p> + +<p>"I looked in alarm at Anna Maria, who blushed suddenly and then grew +pale again. Now the engagement was in everybody's mouth, and up-stairs +lay the bride-elect, wringing her hands and weeping for another! Of what +importance was Anna Maria's own sorrow in the face of that which +threatened Klaus? She seized the sheet, and after the first glance +pushed it from her in abhorrence. It was a most painful quarter of an +hour, and many, many such followed that day.</p> + +<p>"The news of Klaus's engagement had spread with lightning speed. Visitor +after visitor came; it seemed as if the whole neighborhood wished to +make our house a rendezvous. Carriage after carriage drove into the +court; people whom we had not seen for years came to offer +congratulations on the happy event. Anna Maria sat like a statue among +the questioning, chattering people, and with trembling hands and ashen +face Brockelmann offered refreshments. The faithful old soul felt with +us the pain that every question gave; only by an effort could she +suppress her tears, and as she passed me she said, in a hasty whisper: +'I truly believe the end of the world is coming!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria had, nevertheless, forced a smile. She said that she was +sorry not to be able to present Susanna, but the young girl had been +suddenly taken ill; it was to be hoped it was nothing serious.</p> + +<p>"'But now do tell us how it came about. When did he become acquainted +with her? From what sort of a family does she come?' asked the elder +ladies.</p> + +<p>"'Is she pretty, Fräulein Rosamond? Ah, do describe Klaus von Hegewitz's +<i>fiancée</i> to us; she must be something remarkable!' the young girls +teased me.</p> + +<p>"And beneath all these curious, interested questions there lurked +something which could not be defined and which seemed like a very slight +sort of surprise, and I heard Frau von B—— whisper to the wife of +Counsellor S——: 'The sister doesn't seem exactly enchanted?' and she +was answered: 'No, her rule is at an end now; until now she has just had +the good Klaus under her thumb.'</p> + +<p>"Poor Anna Maria! she answered all the questions so mechanically. She +told them that Susanna was very beautiful; she said that the girl's +father had been a most fatherly friend to her brother—but the way she +did it was strangely stiff and uncomfortable. They looked at her in +surprise and interchanged glances.</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile the brisk housemaid brought the lamps and lighted the candles +on the old chandelier of antlers, and the outside blinds were closed +with a creak. Some of the guests rose; the ladies looked about for their +fur cloaks, the gentlemen took up their hats. I thanked God, for Anna +Maria's appearance frightened me. Then something unexpected happened, +something which caused me to drop back into my chair, quite +disconcerted. Brockelmann had suddenly opened the door, and there stood +one whom I had certainly not expected to see at that moment—Susanna! +Isabella's small figure was seen for an instant in the background, then +the door closed again.</p> + +<p>"A pause ensued, all eyes being directed toward the young girl. She was +really embarrassed for a moment, and this gave her beauty an additional +bewitching charm. Like a shy, confused child she stood there, in the +little black lace-trimmed dress, which so peculiarly suited her, her +head somewhat bent, and the blush of embarrassment on her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"It was an infinitely painful moment, for Anna Maria did not take a step +toward her. I saw how Susanna's beseeching eyes turned away at her fixed +look, which seemed to ask: 'What right have you to be here?' and here +her lips were firmly closed. It was only one moment; the next I was +standing by Susanna and introducing her as Fräulein Mattoni, and +therewith the ice was broken. They crowded about her, shook hands with +her, and devoured her with admiring eyes. Her cheeks grew crimson, her +eyes shone, and not a trace of the morning's tears remained; the mouth +which had poured forth such fearful laments now smiled like a child's, +and Anna Maria stood alone yonder. God knows what pain she must have +felt!</p> + +<p>"The guests sat down for another minute, out of respect to Susanna, and +after the storm of customary formalities had subsided, they spoke of +country life, wondering if a city girl could accustom herself to it. +They asked Susanna how the Mark pleased her, and at last the old wife of +General S——, whose estate touched Dambitz on the south, remarked: +'Tell me, Fräulein von Hegewitz, is it true that Stürmer is going away +on a journey again?'</p> + +<p>"She had turned to Anna Maria, who was sitting bolt upright beside her, +and whose color now suddenly changed. 'He is on his way to Paris, your +excellency,' she replied.</p> + +<p>"'The butterfly!' joked the amiable old lady. 'I did hope that he would +settle down here with us, but he seems to prefer the unfettered life of +a bachelor. To Paris, then?'</p> + +<p>"'Well, Paris is not a bad place for a man of Stürmer's stamp,' said +Captain von T——, smiling, who was known as a pleasure-loving man. 'Any +one who can avoid it would be a fool to bury himself in this old +sand-box and the <i>ennui</i> of the Mark.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria looked into space again. Susanna's eyes sparkled at these +words; she seemed to be considering something, and then she laughed. Was +this the same Susanna whom I had seen afflicted to death this morning, +who was now sitting, in all the bliss of a happy bride, among these +people, and turning red with pleasure at each admiring look? Oh, never +in my life was there so long a half-hour as this!</p> + +<p>"And now, at last, the guests rose and took their departure. Susanna was +commissioned on all sides with greetings and congratulations for Klaus, +and she thanked them with her most charming smile and a beaming look +from her great eyes.</p> + +<p>"'By Heaven, Fräulein,' said the captain to me, twirling his mustache, +'your future niece is the prettiest girl I ever saw, a pearl in any +society. I hope the young ladies will not disdain our winter balls?' He +turned to Susanna with this request: 'The place is not very comfortable, +but the society—' He kissed the tips of his fingers, murmuring +something about the crown of all ladies, and Susanna laughed and +promised to come, 'because she was so fond of dancing.'</p> + +<p>"And by the time the last of the guests were in their carriage Susanna +had made at least a dozen promises which all had reference to a +pleasant, lively intercourse. We accompanied the guests to the steps; in +the confusion of parting words Susanna must have taken herself off, for +when the last carriage rolled away I was standing alone beside Anna +Maria in the dimly lighted hall.</p> + +<p>"'Come, my child,' said I, taking her cold hands and drawing her into +the room. And then she sat in Klaus's chair for perhaps a quarter of an +hour, without speaking a word, her hands folded on the table, her eyes +cast down. The clock ticked lightly, the wind rustled through the tall +trees out-of-doors, and now and then a candle sputtered; it began to +seem almost uncanny to me, sitting there opposite the silent girl.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria!' I cried at last.</p> + +<p>"She started up. 'Yes, come,' she said, 'We will ask her! Rather the +shrugs of those people than a misery here in the house. I would rather +see Klaus unhappy for a time than deceived all his life long. Come, +aunt.' And with firm step she went out of the room, along the corridor, +and up the stairs.</p> + +<p>"I followed her as quickly as I could; my heart beat fast with anxiety +and grief. 'Anna Maria,' I begged, 'not to-day, not now. Come into my +room, you are too excited.' But she walked on. Up-stairs, in front of +Susanna's door, I perceived by the light of the hall lamp a great flat +chest; white tissue-paper showed under the lid, which had not been +tightly closed.</p> + +<p>"'What is that?' Anna Maria asked Brockelmann, who was just coming out +of the room.</p> + +<p>"'The chest came from Berlin to-day,' the old woman replied; 'I suppose +from the master.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria nodded and opened the door quickly. A flood of light +streamed out toward us, and surrounded the slender white figure before +the large mirror; soft creamy satin fell in heavy folds about her, and +lay in a long train on the floor; a gauzy veil lay, like a mist, over +the nearest arm-chair, and a pair of small white shoes peeped out from +their wrapper on the table. She turned around at our entrance, and stood +there with a shamefaced smile—Susanna Mattoni was trying on her +wedding-dress.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria let go of the door-handle and stepped over the threshold, +looking fixedly at Susanna, her face crimson.</p> + +<p>"'Take off that dress!' she commanded, in a voice scarcely audible from +excitement.</p> + +<p>"Susanna drew back in alarm, and turning pale looked up at Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"'Take off that dress!' she repeated, in increasing agitation; 'you are +not worthy to wear it. So help me God, this wretched comedy shall come +to an end!'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' I begged, full of fear, catching hold of the folds of her +dress, 'keep calm! For God's sake, stop!' But she paid no attention to +me; the girl, usually so cool and collected, was beside herself with +pain and anger. Her <i>own</i> suffering she had borne in silence; but the +thought of Klaus, the conviction that he was deceived where he had +completely surrendered his kind, honest heart, robbed her of all +consideration and self-control.</p> + +<p>"Susanna stood speechless opposite her, an expression of penitence on +her childish face. She was incapable of a defence, of an apology. Then, +as ill-luck would have it, the old woman stepped between them, with a +theatrical gesture placing herself in front of Susanna.</p> + +<p>"'Do not forget that you are standing before your brother's betrothed,' +she said, with a tone and a gesture which would have been ludicrous at +any other time.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria contemptuously pushed the small figure aside like an +inanimate object, and laid her hand heavily on the girl's shoulder. +'Speak,' she said, with a wearily forced composure; 'do you not feel +what you are on the point of doing? Are you then still so young, still +so spoiled, that you have entirely lost the sense of honor and duty? Is +this wretched comedy your gratitude for all that this house has given +you?'</p> + +<p>"Susanna tried to shake off her hand.</p> + +<p>"'I do not know what you mean!' she cried, in anxious defiance; 'I have +done nothing wrong!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria stared at her as if she could not grasp the words. There was +a pause of breathless silence in the room; then the storm broke loose, +and the proud girl's wrath carried her away like a whirlwind.</p> + +<p>"'You have done nothing wrong?' she blazed forth. 'You have done nothing +wrong, and you are on the point of deceiving the best of men; you are +ready to perjure yourself? Your eyes have looked after another, and wept +for another. I tell you, so long as I have power to move my tongue, I +will not cease to accuse you before my brother! He shall not fall a +victim to you!' And she shook the girl violently for a moment; then, +recollecting herself, she pushed back the delicate form. The girl fell +staggering to the floor, and struck her head heavily against a carved +chair-back.</p> + +<p>"It was a fearful moment; Susanna had cried out in pain as she fell, and +Isa now held her in her arms and wailed. The girl's eyes were closed, +but a narrow red stream was trickling down from her temple, staining the +white lace of the bridal dress. A sort of numbness had come over us; +even Isa grew silent, and with trembling hands dried the blood on +Susanna's cheek.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria looked absently at the swooning girl; then suddenly, +recollecting herself, she threw her hands over her face, and hastily +turning around, left the room. I helped Isabella carry Susanna to the +bed, and take off the unfortunate dress. It is still hanging in the +wardrobe over there, just as we hung it up at that time, with the +blood-stains on the white lace frill. Isa did not speak; she did all in +a tearless rage. Now and then she kissed the girl's small hands, and +dried the tears that were trickling, slowly and quietly, from under the +dark lashes, over the young face.</p> + +<p>"I did not speak either; what would there have been to say? I went away +to look for Anna Maria as soon as I saw that Susanna was coming to +herself, and left it to Isa to put the compresses on the wounded temple.</p> + +<p>"I found Anna Maria in the sitting-room, in her chair, with her +spinning-wheel before her, as on every evening, but her hands lay +wearily in her lap, and her eyes were cast down. As I came nearer she +started up and began to spin; her foot rested heavily on the frail +treadle, her hands trembled nervously as they drew the threads, and her +face was fearfully white and her lips tightly closed, as if no friendly +word were ever to pass them again in the course of her life.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' said I, stopping in front of her, 'what now?'</p> + +<p>"She did not answer.</p> + +<p>"'You have let yourself be carried away,' I continued. 'How will it be +now between you and Klaus?'</p> + +<p>"Again she made no reply, but the treadle of the spinning-wheel broke in +two with a snap; she sprang up, and pushed back the stretchers. 'Leave +me, leave me,' she begged, putting her hand to her forehead.</p> + +<p>"'Write to Klaus; tell him he must come,' I advised. She sat down again, +and leaned her head on her hand. 'I will bring you paper and ink, Anna +Maria, or shall I write?'</p> + +<p>"She shook her head. 'Do not torment me,' she wailed; 'I no longer know +if I am in my senses; leave me alone!'</p> + +<p>"I still lingered; she looked fearfully. Her face was so pale and +distorted one could scarcely recognize the blooming, girlish +countenance. 'Go,' she begged; it is the only thing that you can do for +me.'</p> + +<p>"I went; no doubt she was right. In such an hour it is torment even to +breathe in the sight of others. But why did she not fly to her room? I +turned around once more at the stairs; I wanted to ask her to drink a +glass of lemonade, and go to bed. The sitting-room was dark, but through +the crack of the door which led to Klaus's room came a ray of +candle-light; she was in there.</p> + +<p>"Two days had passed since that evening, and Anna Maria continued to go +about without speaking. At dinner she had sat at the table, but had +eaten nothing, and she wandered about for hours through the garden, in +rain and storm. Brockelmann insisted upon it, with tears, that I ought +to send for the doctor, for her young lady was bent upon doing something +which, she thought, pointed to the beginning of a disease of the mind. +Anna Maria was no longer like herself. Did she rue her violence, or did +she fear seeing Klaus again? I knew not. She had not written to him. I +intended to do so in the beginning, but then gave it up; he <i>must</i> come, +and the more time that elapsed, the calmer our hearts would be.</p> + +<p>"Susanna sat by the window up-stairs, in her room, a white cloth bound +about her forehead, and her eyes, weary and red with weeping, looked out +upon the leafless garden. I had been to her room several times to speak +with her as forbearingly as possible. I wished to set before her her own +wrong, to tell her that a warm, almost idolatrous love for Klaus, and +the fear that he might not be happy, had driven Anna Maria to an +extreme. But here, too, I met with silent, obstinate resistance—that +is, I received no answer, only that Isabella said to me, with a sparkle +in her black eyes: 'She has been abused, and she has been pushed, my +poor child!' Whether or not Susanna had written to Klaus I did not +learn."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> + + +<p>"It was almost evening, on the 13th of November, as an extra post drove +quickly into the court. 'Another visit!' was my first thought, so many +people had been turned away in those days. 'You will fare no better,' +thought I; 'you will soon turn around and drive home.' But, no, the +carriage stopped, and a gentleman swung himself out. My heart stood +still from fear—Klaus! How came Klaus to-day?</p> + +<p>"Should I hurry out to meet him? Prevent him from meeting Anna Maria? +Prepare him, forbearingly? But how? Could I speak of the conflict +without mortally wounding him? It was too late already; I heard his step +on the stairs; he was going up to Susanna first of all; he had probably +been told that she was up-stairs. I stepped into the hall quite +unconsciously, and at the same time Susanna's door opened, her light +figure appeared on the threshold, then she flew toward the man who was +standing there with outstretched arms. 'Klaus, Klaus! my dear Klaus!' +sounded in my ear, tender and exultant with joy. Oh, Anna Maria, if you +were to speak to him with the tongue of an angel it would avail you +nothing; it is too late!</p> + +<p>"I saw Klaus press the slender figure to him, and saw her throw her arms +about his neck, and again and again put up her lips to be kissed; and I +heard her begin to sob, first gently, then more vehemently, and cry: +'Now all is well, all, now that you are here!' And she clung to him +like a hunted deer.</p> + +<p>"I stepped back softly; I still saw how Susanna drew him into her room, +caressing him, and heard his deep, passionate voice; then the door was +closed behind them. 'Caught!' said I, softly, 'caught, like Tannhäuser +of old in the Hörfelsberg!' And bitter tears ran from my old eyes as I +went down-stairs to go to Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann came toward me in consternation. 'The master is here,' she +called to me, 'but Anna Maria will not believe it.' I went into her room +without knocking; she was sitting on the little sofa, her New Testament +before her on the table. In the dying daylight her great blue eyes +looked forth almost weirdly from the face worn with grief.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus has come, my child,' I said, going up to her.</p> + +<p>"She looked at me incredulously.</p> + +<p>"'I have seen him, Anna Maria; it is true.'</p> + +<p>"'Where is he, then?' she asked. 'Why does he not come to me?'</p> + +<p>"'My dear child'—I took her hand—'Klaus is with Susanna.'</p> + +<p>"She let her head drop. 'But then he will come,' she said; 'he must +come, of course! He will want something to eat, and he will want to +scold me. I wish he would tell me how bad I am, how unjustly I have +acted, so that I might tell him everything, everything that lies so +heavily on my heart. Perhaps, perhaps my voice may penetrate him once +more, when he thinks of all that we have lived through in common, when +he thinks how I love him!'</p> + +<p>"I pressed her hand and sat down silently beside her; that sweet, clear +'Klaus, Klaus! my dear Klaus!' still rang in my ears, and then the +sobbing. And now, if he should hear from her own lips why she wept? If +he should lift the white cloth from her brow? The calmest man would +become a tiger, and he was not calm, any more than Anna Maria—God help +them! I trembled at the thought of those two standing face to face.</p> + +<p>"And the darkness fell and concealed the objects in the room; before the +windows the branches of the old elms swayed, ghost-like, in the wind, +ever bending toward us, as if beckoning with their lean arms. And Anna +Maria waited! At every sound in the house she started up—I thought I +heard her heart beat—and each time she was deceived.</p> + +<p>"At last, at last! That was his step on the stairs! She rose, all at +once, to her full, proud height. 'Klaus,' she said, 'my brother +Klaus!'—as if she must be encouraged in mentioning the entire, +intimate, sacred relation in which they stand to each other—'my only +brother!' In these few words lay the destiny of her whole life.</p> + +<p>"The sound of Klaus's voice came in to us; it sounded as if he were +giving various orders; now it came nearer in the hall, then the steps +retreated, and at last reëchoed the creaking of the front door.</p> + +<p>"'He is going!' shrieked Anna Maria, 'he is going, and I have not seen +him, and he has not asked for me!'</p> + +<p>"'No, no, my child,' I sought to calm her, 'he is not going away, he +cannot go; whither should he? Only be calm; he wants to speak to the +bailiff, or to see about his baggage. Let me go, I will find out; and +you—come, sit down quietly in your place. I will bring Klaus to you, I +promise you.'</p> + +<p>"It was an easy thing for me to lead her back from the door and push her +to the sofa; the tall, strong girl seemed stunned by anxiety and +weariness.</p> + +<p>"I kissed her forehead and hurried out; Brockelmann was in the hall, +coming toward me with rapid steps. She looked heated, and her white cap +was all awry on her gray hair. She carried a lighted candle in one hand, +and with the other quickly unfastened her great bunch of keys from her +belt. The housemaid followed her with a basket of fire-wood.</p> + +<p>"'Great heavens, gracious Fräulein,' said the old woman, when I asked, +in surprise, the meaning of her haste; 'if I knew myself! The hall is to +be heated and lighted; in an hour everything must be ready, and the +dust-covers haven't been taken off for a whole year in there. I think +the master has lost his head!' And with trembling hands she unlocked the +folding-doors which led to the two rooms which, under the names of the +'Hall' and the 'Red Room,' had been, from my earliest youth, opened only +on particularly important occasions. Here was formerly assembled, +several times a year, a very aristocratic company, who, after a fine, +stiff dinner-party, would close the evening with a dance; here had been +held, for generations, the christening and wedding feasts of the +Hegewitzes; here, too, had many a coffin stood, before it was carried +out to the vault in the garden below.</p> + +<p>"What did Klaus mean to do to-day? Involuntarily I followed Brockelmann +into the hall; the candle lighted the great room but faintly; its feeble +light made here and there a prismatic drop among the pendants of the +crystal chandelier sparkle, and the gray-covered pieces of furniture +stood about like ghosts. The old woman began to arrange things in the +greatest haste, and under the hands of the maid the first feeble flame +was soon flickering up in the fire-place. I beheld it as in a dream.</p> + +<p>"'What, for God's sake, does this mean?' I asked again, oppressed.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann did not reply at once; she wanted to spread out the rug in +front of the great sofa. 'Go, Sophie, the fire is burning now; +Christopher may come in a quarter of an hour to light the candles.—They +will surely last,' she added, with a glance at the half-burned candles +in the chandelier and sconces.</p> + +<p>"The girl went; the old woman stopped taking off the dust-covers. 'One +experiences a great deal when one is old and gray, and nowhere are there +stranger goings on than in this world!' said she, excitedly; 'but that +anything like this should happen! Do you know, Fräulein, where he has +gone, the master, without even having said "Good-day" to his sister? To +Pastor Grüne. And there up-stairs sits the old Isa, and has cut bare the +little myrtle-tree which you gave to the—the strange young lady, so +that it looks like a rod to beat naughty children with. And the young +thing lies on the sofa, playing with her cat, and laughs out of her red +eyes, and she laughs with all her white teeth, because things have gone +so far at last. Gracious Fräulein, they have wept and lamented. If the +master has lost his reason, I can understand it. Not an hour longer will +they stay here in the house, the little one cried, where they were +trodden under foot and scolded. And when the master sent for me he was +holding her in his arms, and looked as pale as the plaster on the walls. +I must put things in order here as well as possible, said he, but +quickly—in an hour, Fräulein; there will be no more disturbance to be +made about it. And though the king himself were to come, in an hour they +will be man and wife.'</p> + +<p>"'Is it possible?' I stammered. 'Anna Maria—' My head whirled about +like a mill-wheel. It was decided, then; Susanna was to be his wife!</p> + +<p>"Klaus had been stirred up to the utmost extent; that his hasty decision +proved. Of what use would it be if I were to go now to Anna Maria and +say: 'Compose yourself, it is not to be altered now!' In her present +state of mind she would throw herself at his feet and accuse Susanna, +though he were already standing with her before the priest. In his +passion for this girl he would believe nothing of all this; he would +require proofs. And proofs? Who would accuse her of infidelity? How +could <i>she</i> help it that Stürmer loved her? That she had wept and wrung +her hands, was that anything positive? That Stürmer fancied himself +loved by her, could that be made out a crime on her part? It would have +been madness to excite Klaus further, to say to him now: 'Leave her; she +will not make you happy.'</p> + +<p>"With fixed gaze I followed the old woman about, and in restless anxiety +saw her begin to light the candles beside the great mirror; their light +was reflected from the polished glass and fell sparkling on the gilt +frames of the family portraits; deep crimson color shone from the +curtains and furniture, and a warm breath now came from the fire through +the chilly air. Was it a reality?</p> + +<p>"Then I started up. Anna Maria was still sitting alone and waiting; my +place was with <i>her</i>. I found her in the dark, still in the same spot, +and sat down beside her.</p> + +<p>"'He has gone away,' she asked, 'has he not?'</p> + +<p>"'No,' said I, 'he is coming back directly.'</p> + +<p>"'To me?'</p> + +<p>"'I do not know, my child.'</p> + +<p>"'What is that loud slamming of doors?' she asked after a while. 'And +why do I sit here so cowardly, as if I had something to fear, when I +have done nothing wrong? I need not wait for him to come to me; I can go +to him first.'</p> + +<p>"And she stood up again. With firm step she went to the door, but before +she could put her hand on the latch the door opened, and Pastor Grüne, +in full official robes, crossed the threshold.</p> + +<p>"Involuntarily the girl drew back at this unexpected appearance. The old +man was plainly embarrassed. After a moment's hesitation, he went up to +Anna Maria and took her hands. 'I come, commissioned by your brother,' +he began. 'He wishes, through me, to put a request most fervently to +your heart. Herr von Hegewitz intends, for reasons which he has not +shared further with me, to consummate his marriage with Fräulein Mattoni +to-day.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria's pale face turned crimson. 'It is impossible!' she said, in +a lifeless tone; 'it is not true!'</p> + +<p>"'But, my dear child,' the old gentleman went on, laying his hands +kindly on the girl's shoulders, 'look at me. I stand all ready in +official robes to perform the solemn act. But first your brother would +have peace made with his sister; he would not take this step until she, +to whom he has been hitherto so closely bound in fraternal love, has +again extended her hand to him in reconciliation.'</p> + +<p>"'I am not angry with my brother,' came the denial.</p> + +<p>"'Not with him, perhaps, but with her who in a short time will be his +wife. His heart is heavily oppressed by this situation, and he begs you +earnestly to speak a single word to his bride.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria suddenly shook off his hand. 'I am to beg her pardon?' she +cried, raising herself to her full height, her eyes flaming—'I beg +Susanna Mattoni's pardon? Has Klaus gone mad, to think that I will +humble myself before that girl? Go, Herr Pastor, tell him he must come +himself to speak with me. I will fall at my brother's feet if I have +grieved him, but I will also tell him what drove me to push the girl +from me, and—go bring him before it is too late, or I——'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' the old man broke in, raising his voice, 'cease from this +defiance! Judge not, that ye be not judged, says the Scripture! You have +no right to press yourself between these two; you have been prejudiced +against your brother's bride from the first moment, you have judged her +childish faults too harshly. Do you think by complaint to tear a man's +love from his heart? Foolish child! then you do not know what love is, +which forgives everything, overlooks everything. Stop, control yourself! +Anna Maria, you have an uncommonly strong will, a courageous heart; do +not wholly imbitter the solemn hour for your only brother; it lacks +already the consecration of a festal feeling. Your brother tells me he +means to go away this evening with his young wife. Come, my child, +follow your old teacher and pastor once more; come!'</p> + +<p>"She drew back a few steps. 'Never!' said she, gently but firmly.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria, not so, not so; bitter regrets may follow,' he said, +appeasingly.</p> + +<p>"'Never!' she repeated. 'I cannot go against my conscience; I should be +ashamed to stand at the altar and listen to a lie! I had placed my +entire hope on speaking to Klaus, on begging him to leave her. He does +not wish to see me, or he would have come. I cannot do what he wishes; +believe me, I have my reasons. Farewell, Herr Pastor!'</p> + +<p>"She turned and went to the window, and pressing her head against the +panes, looked out on the sinking darkness of the November evening. She +was apparently calm, and yet her whole body shook.</p> + +<p>"Meanwhile a familiar step was heard outside, pacing up and down. I +stepped out. 'Klaus,' I begged, looking in his pale, excited face, 'why +this terrible haste?'</p> + +<p>"'How am I to do it, then?' he cried, impatiently. 'I cannot stay here, +I am still needed in Silesia, so I must take Susanna away; what else can +be done? Do you think I will expose her to this treatment any longer? By +Heaven, aunt, when the girl's desperate letter came, it was fortunate +that I could not come here on wings, that the vexations of the journey, +and in M—— the procuring of the marriage license, detained me, or I +should not have been able to control myself. Anna Maria is a stubborn +thing; she has no heart or feelings, or she would at least be ready now +to hold out her hand to Susanna and me.'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria loves you more than you think,' said I, grieved, 'and if +she was angry with your bride, she had sufficient cause.'</p> + +<p>"He stood still, white as chalk. 'Aunt,' he implored me, with a wearily +maintained composure, 'do not completely spoil this hour for me. Susanna +has told me everything, and Anna Maria, in her views of united prudery +and onesidedness, has regarded as a deadly sin what was an innocent, +perfectly innocent act on Susanna's part.'</p> + +<p>"At this moment Pastor Grüne came out of Anna Maria's room—alone. I +shall never forget the sad look with which Klaus met the eyes of the old +man.</p> + +<p>"So we three stood there; Klaus was just taking a step toward the door +when in the same instant Isa stood beside him, as if charmed hither. +She already had on her black silk dress, and her withered face shone +with joy and triumph.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna is waiting, sir,' she whispered.</p> + +<p>"'I am coming,' he replied, and turning around he said to me: 'It is +better for me not to see her. I know <i>her</i>, I know myself, and I wish to +remain calm.'</p> + +<p>"Indeed it was better! God knows what would have happened if they had +met. I promised to be present at the marriage ceremony, but first I went +again to Anna Maria. She was still standing at the window, and did not +turn on my entrance.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'I will come back soon; you shall not remain +alone long.'</p> + +<p>"Then she suddenly slipped to the floor, and buried her head in her +mother's old arm-chair. 'Alone!' she cried, 'alone, forever, forever!'</p> + +<p>"A few minutes later I was on my way to the hall. Several lamps had been +lighted in the corridor, and the servants, with curious, pleased faces, +were pressing before the open door. The report that the master was to be +married to-day had, with lightning speed, reached even to the village. +Right in front by the door stood Marieken, looking anxiously into the +lighted room, in which Brockelmann was still busy, helping the sacristan +arrange the improvised altar. She put another pair of cushions before +the table, covered with a white damask cloth into which the crest was +woven, and set the heavy silver candlesticks straight.</p> + +<p>"Pastor Grüne stood waiting at the back of the room. He came toward me +with an inquiring look.</p> + +<p>"I shook my head. 'She is not coming!'</p> + +<p>"'It is bad,' said he, 'when a good kernel is covered by such a prickly +shell. Anna Maria lacks humility and gentle love; she has no woman's +heart.'</p> + +<p>"'You are mistaken in the girl!' I cried, imbittered, with tears in my +eyes. 'She is better than all the rest of us put together!'</p> + +<p>"'And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,' said he, +impressively, 'and though I give my body to be burned, and have not +charity, it profiteth me nothing.'</p> + +<p>"My poor, proud, honest Anna Maria! If they only knew what I know, if +they could only see right into your heart! thought I, and bitterly my +eyes fell on the ravishing, lovely creature, now crossing the threshold +on Klaus's arm. She did not wear the unfortunate white dress; she was in +that little black lace-trimmed dress which she had worn the first time +Klaus saw her, nothing but the myrtle-wreath adorned with white flowers +in her hair to remind one of a bride. But if ever Susanna understood how +to make her external appearance effective, it was now, as she came, +without ornament or parade, to the altar. It was no wonder that Klaus +did not turn his eyes away from her, that he pressed the delicate arm so +closely to him, that he dismissed as groundless chattering what people +might say about this pure, childish brow.</p> + +<p>"And then the low whispering stopped; Pastor Grüne was beginning to +speak.</p> + +<p>"If I could only tell now how he opened his address! The words went in +at one ear and out at the other; I saw only Klaus, his handsome face, so +proud, so penetrated with kind, honest sentiment, with a glimmer of +tender emotion over it; and I thought of Anna Maria lying over there on +the floor, in pain and fear. Then I saw Klaus make a quick, convulsive +motion, and now every word went to my heart:</p> + +<p>"'It was on this spot that you once stood by the coffin of your dead +mother, holding in your arms a dear legacy, promising with hand and +heart to take care of the child and protect her in all the vicissitudes +of life. And the way you did this, it was a joy for God and man to see! +There is no more intimate bond than that which united the orphaned +brother and sister; and let not this bond be broken, let not the knot be +untied by the coming of a third person! The wife'—he turned to +Susanna—'must be a peacemaker; she must strive that unity may dwell +under her husband's roof; that she may be to him a blessing and not a +curse! A love between brother and sister is not less holy than between +married people. There are old, sacred claims which brother and sister +have upon one another, and therefore, young bride, let your first word +in your new life be a word of peace; take your husband's hand and join +it in reconciliation with that other which is not folded here in this +place with us to pray for you. Do not leave this house without a word of +peace, even if you think injustice has been done you in this hour which +gives you, the homeless orphan, a home and a protector. Be gentle and +ready for peace; ask yourself how great a share in the burden you bear.'</p> + +<p>"A few shining drops ran down the cheeks of the bridegroom, while +Susanna, like a child, listened with wide-open eyes to the clergyman's +words, evidently painfully affected by the seriousness which he imparted +to the situation.</p> + +<p>"Then the affair came quickly to an end; the rings were exchanged, the +solemn decisive 'Yes' died away—Susanna Mattoni was Klaus's wife. The +servants withdrew, the doors of the hall were closed, Pastor Grüne +spoke a few more affecting words to Susanna, and Klaus silently pressed +my hands.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann served a cold lunch and presented a glass of champagne; Isa +brought in furs and cloak; the young couple intended to start in half an +hour. Then the clergyman went away, Brockelmann and Isa had already left +the room, and I was alone with Klaus and Susanna. He had drawn the +smiling young wife to him. 'Susanna,' I heard him whisper, 'let us go to +her, tell her that you forgive her; let us part in peace from Anna +Maria, my sister.'</p> + +<p>"The smile vanished, she stood there defiantly looking down to the +floor, a deep blush on her face, and gradually her eyes filled with +shining tears.</p> + +<p>"'My first request, Susanna,' he repeated beseechingly. She remained +silent, but rising on tip-toe, flung her arms about his neck; with +infinite grace her head was slightly thrown back, and she looked up to +him with her sweet eyes moist with tears. Impetuously he drew her to him +and kissed the red lips and the little red scar on her forehead again +and again.</p> + +<p>"I stole softly out. The word of peace remained unspoken!</p> + +<p>"An hour later the candles in the hall were extinguished, the house lay +dark and silent."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> + + +<p>"Anna Maria did not become ill, as we expected; hers was too firm, too +strong a nature; but she had grown bitter and gloomy. She did not belong +to that class of people whom a great sorrow makes tender.</p> + +<p>"Joyless times followed that wedding—days and weeks, empty and cold. At +first I had besought her to write to Klaus, not to let the breach become +wider. She had answered me with a cold smile, and torn in two a letter +from her brother after the first glance. I saved the pieces and found an +effusion of honeymoon bliss, and nothing different could have been +expected. Anna Maria had probably not observed the short business +announcement that he had advantageously sold the estate in Silesia, and +now thought of going to Paris with Susanna.</p> + +<p>"Klaus wrote again, several times, to Anna Maria. She would carry a +letter from him about with her all day, unopened, then occasionally tear +it open, and begin to read, only to throw it into the fire before she +had half finished. Later these letters to Anna Maria were discontinued. +The old bailiff appeared now and then in the sitting-room, to tell her +that the master had written him, and wished this and that, thus and so. +Anna Maria would usually nod her head silently, and the man would +stand, embarrassed, at the door a little while, and then go quietly away +again.</p> + +<p>"'Things are not as they ought to be any longer,' he declared to me. +'Formerly the Fräulein used to concern herself about every trifle, so +that I often cursed her zeal; to-day anything may happen that will, it +is all the same to her; and even if all the barns and granaries should +burn down in the night, she would not stir.'</p> + +<p>"It was true, Anna Maria no longer asked about anything; she seemed to +have sunk into a regular apathy. It was a grief to see this young +creature, from whom everything on which her heart was fixed was taken, +and who now, without check or purpose, in the most tormenting pain of +soul, shut her eyes and ears in dark defiance.</p> + +<p>"'Diversion!' said the doctor.</p> + +<p>"I looked at him in astonishment. 'I beg you, you have known the girl +since her childhood, have you ever known a time when trifles and +nonsense could give her pleasure, or could divert her at all from a +sorrow?'</p> + +<p>"'Nonsense!' replied the old man, 'but she is only a woman. She ought to +marry, then everything would be different! It would be a pity if that +girl should become a dried-up old maid.'</p> + +<p>"I shook my head sadly.</p> + +<p>"'Why the devil is she so unreasonable, too, as to fret about her +brother's marriage?' he continued, undisturbed. No gray hair need be +made grow over that. Take the young lady, pack her trunk, and go to +Berlin for a few weeks. Go to the theatre every evening for my sake, and +see something classical; but take her away from here!'</p> + +<p>"'Ah, doctor, you do not know Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"I made an attempt, nevertheless. She let me have my say, and then +said: 'I do not understand the outside world at all. I miss nothing +here, I complain of nothing. Do not tease me any more!'</p> + +<p>"When the workmen appeared, one after another, to put in order the rooms +for the young couple, when the dear old articles of furniture were taken +out and the wall-papers torn off, she fled to her room. The writing-desk +at which her father had formerly sat and worked was to remain in its +place, at Klaus's express desire; but the old thing looked so +ridiculously awkward beside the <i>Boule</i> furniture that paper-hanger and +cabinet-maker refused to receive it, so Anna Maria had it taken into her +room. She now sat there all day at the window before her mother's +sewing-table, and looked blankly out on the wintry garden, every stroke +of the hammer from the workmen making her start. The bunch of keys no +longer hung at her belt; Brockelmann had taken charge of that.</p> + +<p>"No one came to see us in those desolate winter days, except the old +brother and sister from the parsonage, and even from them she fled. I +stood by her faithfully, and beheld the struggles of her proud heart.</p> + +<p>"At first Isa had lived on quietly up-stairs by herself, disregarded by +Anna Maria. Then one day toward Christmas she came into my room, beaming +with joy, and announced to me that the young Frau wanted her to come to +her; she was in need of her help at her toilet, and she was to have the +position of lady's maid with her. '<i>Je vais à Paris ce soir, à Paris</i>, +and from there to Nice. Oh, I speak French excellently!'</p> + +<p>"I wished her a prosperous journey, and commissioned her with messages. +Then I sat down and reflected. Klaus, quiet, easy-going Klaus, who +valued the comfort of his arm-chair in the evening beyond everything, +in Paris, the gay Paris, with a young wife who needed a maid to make +her toilet? I could not make that rhyme without a dissonance.</p> + +<p>"In the rooms down-stairs an exquisite elegance was being gradually +revealed, and I learned from the workmen that the pale blue silk +hangings of the boudoir (the little library next to Klaus's study was +converted into a boudoir), and the dainty rosewood furniture, Frau von +Hegewitz had chosen herself in Berlin; that the crimson silk drapery for +the salon cost ten <i>thaler</i> a yard, and that the Smyrna rug in there was +real. Tears came into my eyes. What had become of our dear old, +comfortable sitting-room? What had we ever known of salons and boudoirs +at Bütze?</p> + +<p>"As in passing through the garden-parlor one day Anna Maria's feet sank +in a Persian rug, and she perceived the low divans which ran along the +sides of the room, and the gold-embroidered cushions; and as she caught +sight of a gleaming, gay mosaic floor on the terrace instead of the +honest stone flags over which her childish feet had so often tripped, on +which she had stood so many a time beside Klaus; and saw, instead of the +gray stone balustrade, a gilded railing, a slight tremble came upon her +lips, and a few great tear-drops ran down her cheeks, and she slowly +turned her back to the room. She always went to the garden through the +lower entry afterward.</p> + +<p>"It was on a stormy evening in March that Anna Maria for the first time +broke her long, habitually sober silence. I had not seen her all day; +her door remained closed to my knocking. And yet I would have so gladly +said a few affectionate words to her—to-day was her birthday.</p> + +<p>"In vain had Brockelmann made the huge pound-cake wreathed with the +first snow-drops, and in vain placed a couple of blooming hyacinths on +the breakfast-table. The door of Anna Maria's room had not been opened. +A letter addressed to me had come from Klaus, requesting me to give to +his sister the enclosed open letter. It was affectionately written, +begging that she would soften her heart, and requesting a few lines from +her hand. 'What sort of a home-coming will it be for Susanna and me,' he +wrote, 'if the unhappy misunderstanding is not forgotten? We are ready +to consider all as not having happened, if you will come to meet us in +the old love. Be friendly to Susanna, too. I can honestly confess to you +that I long to be at home, in our dear old house, regularly employed. A +life like this here is nothing to me; I always hated idleness. Susanna's +health, so far as temporary demands are made upon it, is satisfactory; +but for her, too, I wish, especially now, the quiet of the less exciting +life at home. Let me once more add to the heartiest wishes for your +welfare the desire that we may soon meet again in the old fraternal +love.' A dainty visiting-card, 'Susanna, Baroness von Hegewitz,' with a +lightly scribbled wish for happiness, lay with the letter.</p> + +<p>"In his letter to me Klaus repeated that he was longing for home, that +he earnestly besought me to induce Anna Maria to be gentle, for he made +his home-coming especially dependent upon her state of mind, as he could +not possibly expose Susanna now to excitement and unfriendly treatment. +But he cherished a strong desire to return at the beginning of spring at +the latest, for this and other reasons.</p> + +<p>"The two letters lay before me on the table; how should I make their +contents known to Anna Maria? For she read no letters at all. And how +would she receive the news of his return? A change in her feelings was +not to be hoped for so soon, not even at the announcement of this glad +news.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann had come in and complained, with a shake of her head, that +Anna Maria had not eaten a mouthful to-day, and it was four o'clock +already. 'She is growing old before her time,' added the old woman; +'does she look now as if she were under thirty? Yesterday I brushed her +hair and found two long silvery threads in it. O Lord! and so young!'</p> + +<p>"In the depth of twilight Anna Maria came suddenly into the room. She +did not say 'Good evening' at all, but only, 'Please do not allude to my +birthday, aunt!' And after a pause she added: 'Things cannot remain as +they are here; Klaus will want to come home, and then there will be one +too many in Bütze. I have been considering lately how I should manage +not to be in his way, and have at last decided to go at once to the +convent in B——.'</p> + +<p>"'You would grieve Klaus to death, Anna Maria,' said I; 'it does not do +to carry a thing too far. You are both defiant, you are both stubborn, +but Klaus has been the first to extend his hand, and he still offers it. +Here, read his letter, read it just this once, and be of a different +mind.'</p> + +<p>"I lit a candle, and pressed the letter into her hand; and she really +read it. A slight blush rose to her pale face, then she nodded her head +seriously. 'Believe me,' she said, 'he will really be best pleased if he +does not find me here. Write him that, aunt. In this way no possible +conflict can ensue.'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria, you would—you could really go away from here?' cried I, +pained. 'How can it be possible? Truly I had expected more feeling, more +attachment in you. You can be heartless sometimes!'</p> + +<p>"She was silent. 'Stürmer is coming back next month,' she said at last, +in a strangely trembling voice, 'and I would like to be as far away as +possible.'</p> + +<p>"I sprang up, and threw my arms around her. 'My poor, dear child,' I +begged, weeping, 'forgive me!'</p> + +<p>"And she went, she really went away! On one of the first days of April, +early in the day, the carriage which was to take her away stopped before +the front steps.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria went down the steps with me, followed by Brockelmann. She +quickly got in, and drew her dark gauze veil over her face. 'Greet Klaus +heartily for me,' she whispered to me again; 'all the happiness in the +world to him and his wife!'</p> + +<p>"Then she was gone, and I went quietly up the steps. It seemed +unspeakably strange and lonely here to me all at once. I wandered +through the newly furnished rooms; they had all been heated and the +windows opened. Comfortable, elegant, very pleasant it looked all about +here, as if made expressly for Susanna's beauty; but they were no longer +the old Bütze rooms, with their ancestral comfort, their dear +associations. I stood now in Susanna's little boudoir; I noticed a fold +of the pale blue portière yonder hanging, out of order, over an +indistinguishable object—the upholsterer surely had not intended it so. +I went over and lifted up the heavy silk to lay it again in regular +folds on the carpet, when my eye fell upon a little old wooden cradle, +painted with a crest, and oddly curved, strangely contrasting, in its +rude form, with the elegant appointments of the room; and gently rocking +in it were shining white, fine, lace-trimmed pillows, daintily tied +with little blue bows; a basket pushed half under the couch of the young +wife concealed little clothes of the finest linen, most beautifully +sewed, hem-stitched, and trimmed with lace, made as only a skilled hand +knows how.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' I said, softly, looking with moist eyes upon the old +cradle in which she, in which Klaus had once lain, and which now stood +here, a greeting of reconciliation to the heart of the young wife who +had robbed her of her peace and happiness.</p> + +<p>"Two days later there was a lively stir at Bütze. Unfortunately, a bad +headache banished me to a sofa in my dark room, so that I could not +welcome the young couple on the threshold of their home. But I heard up +here the unusual moving about; the bell in the servants' room, which had +been formerly so seldom used, rang a regular alarm, and there was such a +slamming of doors and rushing and running about for the first few hours +that I had to draw the thickest pillow over my aching head in order to +have any quiet.</p> + +<p>"Klaus came up to me very soon; he sat down quietly by my bed and +pressed my hand.</p> + +<p>"'You are glad to be at home again?' I asked kindly. 'How is your little +wife?'</p> + +<p>"'Thank you,' he replied, 'she is asleep now. I do not know; I must +accustom myself to it first; it has been made so different, so strange, +with all these alterations. And then'—he was silent—'one misses Anna +Maria everywhere,' he added.</p> + +<p>"'You incorrigible people, you!' I scolded vexatiously, 'Bend or break, +but not yield, and then perish with longing for each other! A silly, +stupid set you are!'</p> + +<p>"He made no reply to that. 'After three months in the country,' said +he, 'I will go and get her. Now it is better that Susanna should remain +alone.'</p> + +<p>"'You have been living very happily there?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, Heaven, yes!' he replied. 'The gay life was new to Susanna, and +amused her delightfully. Thank God that we are here! How do you really +like the rooms down-stairs?'</p> + +<p>"'Well, they are very beautiful, Klaus, without doubt. But if I am to be +honest, it was more comfortable before.'</p> + +<p>"'Susanna is quite enchanted with them,' he continued. 'But I had a +melancholy feeling when I found the sitting-room without the old stove, +the great writing-desk, and Anna Maria's spinning-wheel. I really cannot +sit in these spider-legged easy-chairs without fear of breaking down.' +He laughed, but it had not a hearty sound.</p> + +<p>"'Shall you be able to eat supper with us?' he asked.</p> + +<p>"I promised to do so if I were well enough. If you will let me sleep a +little longer now, Klaus, I shall be able to come down.' And then he +went away.</p> + +<p>"Toward evening I was awakened from a light slumber by the ringing of +bells again; again I heard doors shutting, and footsteps of people +hurrying to and fro. At the first instant I thought of an accident, but +then recollected that it had been just so in the afternoon, and made my +toilet and went down.</p> + +<p>"The first person to step up to me was Mademoiselle Isa. She greeted me +very warmly, and with a certain pretentiousness. 'The gracious Frau had +drunk a cup of chocolate and was quite well,' she added, as she opened +the door of the former sitting-room, which was agreeably lighted by two +lamps, and pointed to the drawn-back portière: 'The gracious Frau is in +her boudoir.'</p> + +<p>"Indeed, I was curious to see Susanna again as 'gracious Frau,' and +limped quickly across to the little room. The soft carpet had deadened +the sound of my steps, and I entered the snug little room unperceived. +Susanna was resting on the divan; I saw her beautiful black curls +falling over the blue cushions, a tiny lace cap was half-hidden among +them. Her face was turned toward the fire, which, notwithstanding the +warm April evening, was burning brightly in the little fire-place.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna!' I called softly. She started up, and with a cry of joy fell +on my neck. 'Aunt Rosamond, dear aunt!' she cried, and kissed and patted +me with the pleasure of a happy child. 'My good Aunt Rosamond!' And she +seized my hands and drew me, without letting go, to the sofa. She +exercised the same old charm upon me; I had never been able to be angry +with her; her grace was irresistible, and took heart and mind prisoner.</p> + +<p>"I raised the round chin a little and looked at her. It was the old, +sweet, childish face, only still more attractive by reason of a slight +pallor and a strange, sad look about the mouth; the eyes had lost the +questioning look which sometimes gave them such a peculiar expression, +but I thought they had grown larger and more brilliant. She threw her +arms about my neck again, and kissed me and laughed, and then came a +tear or two, and then she laughed again.</p> + +<p>"She chattered about Nice, about Paris, and said she wanted to live here +quietly only a little while, and then fell on my neck again and +whispered a thanks.</p> + +<p>"'No, no!' said I, smiling, 'I am not guilty of that; your thanks belong +to Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"She grew silent and pale. Then she sprang up and drew me into the +salon. I had to gaze at a hundred things which she had brought with +her—worthless toys, knick-knacks, fans, and all manner of folly, of +whose existence I had never dreamed till now, and which struck me as +infinitely useless. 'Klaus has had to give me everything, everything,' +she cried, joyfully, 'except this. Aunt, do you see?' She pointed to a +charming shepherdess of Sevres porcelain. 'That is a present from +Stürmer.'</p> + +<p>"I stared at her. 'Have you met him on the way?' She did not return my +look, but her face glowed as rosy red as the ribbons on her white dress. +'Yes,' said she lightly, 'we were with him a day in Nice, but he went +away in haste, and this is a souvenir.' And then she told me about the +sea and the palm-trees, of gondola-sails by moonlight, till her cheeks +grew crimson at the recollection.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, life is so beautiful, so beautiful!' she cried, 'and—' She broke +off, for Klaus entered. He wore a short coat and high boots, and his +face was radiant with joy in the long-suspended activity.</p> + +<p>"'I have been clattering all over the fields,' said he gayly, 'and am +tired as a dog, little wife, and hungry and thirsty. Do you know what +would particularly please me?' He pushed the curls from her forehead and +kissed her. 'A slice of honest German ham and a good glass of beer! The +French sauces had a miserable after-taste to me, brrr—! Holla! ho!' he +called out at the door, 'will supper be ready soon?'</p> + +<p>"He did not seem to notice at all that Susanna made a wry face at his +declaring it was unnecessary for her to make a fresh toilet for supper, +and that she took his arm reluctantly. 'Ah, but we will live here in +comfort,' said he beseechingly, holding her two hands over the table, +'not as in a hotel. When we go to Nice again I promise you always to +appear in dress-coat. Here I should have no time at all for the +continual changing of dress; and as for you, you do not look more +charming in any state costume than in that white thing there.'</p> + +<p>"She shook her head, laughing, and showed him a little fist. 'Wait,' +said she, 'what did you promise me?'</p> + +<p>"'Well, then, in the future,' he persevered; 'but to-day, and to-morrow +too, let me enjoy the comfort I have so long done without—do.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna smiled; and he ate German ham and drank German beer to his +heart's content, while she took a roll spread with something or other, +with her tea, which Klaus prepared for her. I saw, in astonishment, how +carefully he made the tea, how he heeded her every glance; now +attentively passed her pepper and salt, and now cut a fresh sausage and +roll, or carefully removed bones and tail from a sardine, every instant +asking if it tasted good to her, if she were satisfied with her rooms, +if she liked the flowers in the salon. He treated her like a little +spoiled princess.</p> + +<p>"After supper I was going to withdraw; I thought they must be tired from +their journey. Susanna had lain down again on her couch; she kissed me +once more, and Klaus accompanied me as I went out. I saw that he held a +book in his hand. 'Good-night, aunt,' he said, 'I am going to read aloud +to Susanna.'</p> + +<p>"'For heaven's sake!' I cried, 'you are already yawning privately!'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, I am tired to-night,' he replied, 'but Susanna is so accustomed +to it; she does not go to sleep before one o'clock.'</p> + +<p>"'Klaus, Klaus!' I warned him, 'if she has accustomed herself to it, let +her become disused to it. Only think, when you want to rise early in the +morning!"</p> + +<p>"He heard me not. 'Aunt,' said he, holding me fast by the hand, his +eyes shining so happily, 'is she not a good, charming little wife?'</p> + +<p>"I smiled in his face. 'Very charming, Klaus!'</p> + +<p>"'And who prophesied to me that I should be unhappy all my life, eh?' he +asked.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, Klaus, not I, indeed!' I contradicted earnestly. 'If Anna Maria +had apprehensions, they were certainly not without foundation, and a +housewife Susanna will never be.'</p> + +<p>"'No, she is not yet a German housewife,' he broke in, in a somewhat +disheartened manner, 'but she can be, and will be yet.'</p> + +<p>"I nodded to him: 'Sleep well, Klaus!'</p> + +<p>"'Is it not so?' he asked, holding me back.' You will write to Anna +Maria that we are happy with one another; you will tell her how good and +charming she is?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, my boy, and now, good-night.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria's letters were brief and meagre; her handwriting very large +and angular, as it is to-day. She wrote me that she was very well there, +occupied a pair of pretty rooms, and was much with the abbess, who had +been a friend of her mother. 'But I miss activity,' she added; 'a life +on the sofa, in the company of stocking-knitting and books, is hateful +to me; that is not resting.' A greeting for Klaus and Susanna was added.</p> + +<p>"I answered her, writing that Klaus worshipped his wife and was happy.</p> + +<p>"'May God keep him thus!' she answered laconically. She was not to be +reached with that; she had no belief in a happiness with Susanna.</p> + +<p>"Stürmer, who, as Anna Maria thought, was to come in April, was not yet +here. He was a migratory bird, only without the regularity of one."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> + + +<p>"May came on in the country in all its glory; the trees blossomed and +the seeds sprouted, and Bütze lay as in a snowy sea. The sun laughed in +the sky, as Susanna walked through the trim garden-paths on Klaus's arm. +Now and then I saw her cross the court, with straw hat and parasol, in a +light summer dress, and go a little way into the fields to meet him. The +people stood still as she passed, the women and girls courtesied, the +men made as deep a bow to her as to the rest of us from the house, and +the children ran up to her in troops, and the sound of their 'Good-day, +gracious Frau,' and Susanna's clear, laughing voice came up to me; her +charms fairly bewitched everybody. Then she would return on her +husband's arm, a great bouquet of field flowers in her hands, he leading +his horse by the bridle and carrying her parasol and shawl; and her +chatter and his deep voice, calling her a thousand pet names, reëchoed +from the old walls when they had come into the house.</p> + +<p>"If Anna Maria could only have seen them thus, thought I, would she have +been reconciled? Poor, lonely Anna Maria!</p> + +<p>"Susanna never inquired for her; her stay here seemed to be entirely +taken up with all manner of little trifles. Occasionally there came a +perfect swarm of guests, and then the sound of laughing and chattering +was heard in the garden-parlor till far into the night, and +Brockelmann, with a very red face, bustled about at the sideboard.</p> + +<p>"'I don't feel my feet at all, any more,' the old woman would sometimes +complain; 'I really must have some one else to help me. In old times one +used to know it beforehand when there was to be a great supper; but if +any one came unexpectedly, he took just what there was in the house and +was satisfied. But how should I dare take thinly sliced ham and fresh +eggs and a herring salad to the Frau? I tried it once—how she turned up +her nose and begged her guests to excuse it! And then the master comes +and says: "Good Brockelmann, though it is a little bit late, do get us a +couple of warm dishes, and this and that, and a little fowl, for my wife +does not like a cold supper when there is company; you must have some +asparagus or green peas?" Heavens and earth! And then old Brockelmann is +so stupid, too, as to run her heels off and make the impossible +possible. Oh dear, oh dear, if Anna Maria knew how my storeroom looks, +and my account books!'</p> + +<p>"And she put her hands up under her cap and shook her head.</p> + +<p>"'You may believe it, Fräulein Rosamond,' she would sometimes add, 'the +Frau is well enough yet, at least she doesn't concern herself about me; +but the old woman—O Lord! She sticks her nose into everything, and more +than a hundred times she has brought her chocolate out to me again—it +wasn't hot enough, or was burned, or the Lord knows what! As if the old +creature understood anything about it, anyway! Oh, yes, and then, if my +patience is utterly exhausted, the master comes into the kitchen. "Good +Brockelmann," he says, in his friendly way, "do keep peace with Isa, +that my little wife may not be vexed." Well, then I keep still; but I +see how he takes to heart everything that concerns his wife. And then I +think how loud and angrily he has often spoken to Anna Maria in spite of +all his love, and here he even spreads out his hands for the little feet +to walk on!'</p> + +<p>"Indeed, she had not said too much. He did lay down his hands for the +little feet, and they walked on them without particularly noticing it. +Klaus had a boundless love for his wife, and she received this love as a +tribute due her. She had no conception of what she possessed in him.</p> + +<p>"I do not know if he felt this. Occasionally, when Susanna was asleep, +or making her toilet, or gone to a drive, and he had an hour to spare, +he would sit with me up in my room, and would look so weary and +oppressed. We spoke often, too, of Anna Maria; but when Susanna was +present he did not mention her name, for at that a shadow regularly +passed over her face, and her chattering lips grew silent.</p> + +<p>"'My old Anna Maria!' he would say; 'she is still angry with me, and yet +she is such a good, reasonable girl.' The last words were unconsciously +accented. 'How pleasant it would be if she and Susanna could live +together like sisters—the unfortunate stubbornness. Do you suppose, +aunt, she will come when the old cradle down-stairs—?' And his eyes +grew moist at this thought.</p> + +<p>"'I do not know, Klaus, but I think so,' said I, 'if Susanna can only +forget—'</p> + +<p>"'Ah, aunt, I place my entire hope on the cradle about her, too. Anna +Maria shall be godmother; I will not have it otherwise. Please God, it +may not be far off!'</p> + +<p>"And was it then so far off? On a dull, sultry August night, I was +still sitting in my easy-chair by the window, and could see distant +flashes of lightning over the barns; the air was uncomfortable and +stifling, or was it only the imagination of my old, restlessly beating +heart, and my thoughts, which were below with Susanna, anxious and +prayerful?</p> + +<p>"Ah, what does not pass through one's soul in such an hour—trembling +joy and happy fear, and each minute seems to stretch out endlessly. I +listened to the walking down-stairs, to the sound of the opening and +shutting of doors; would some one never come up with the glad news?</p> + +<p>"And my thoughts wandered back to the night when Anna Maria was born, +when I sat up here in the same fear and anxiety. Klaus had gone to sleep +in the arm-chair over there. I had not disturbed him, had let him sleep, +till his father came to call him to his mother's death-bed. The boy's +pale, frightened face stood before me so plainly this evening, as he +knelt before the cradle of his little sister.</p> + +<p>"Below, in the court-yard, it was still as death; only old Mandelt, the +watchman, was going slowly along, shaking his rattler; and above the +slumbering world glittered the brilliant stars of the August sky as +through a light mist.</p> + +<p>"Then I started up; heavy steps were approaching my door, and now +Brockelmann called into my room: 'A boy, Fräulein Rosamond! Come +down-stairs—such a dear, splendid boy!'</p> + +<p>"Never did I hurry down those stairs so quickly as on that night, nor +did Klaus ever take me in his arms so impetuously, so full of thankful +jubilation, as then, when he came toward me to lead me to the cradle of +his child. The strong man was quite overcome, and the first words that +he whispered to me were again: 'How Anna Maria will rejoice!'</p> + +<p>"If ever a child was welcomed with joy it was this one. His presence +worked like a deliverance upon us all; even Brockelmann and Isa spoke +pleasantly to each other to-day. Isa's anxiety about her darling had +reached the highest pitch, and she had left her place in the room of the +young mother to the quiet old woman; and Brockelmann—well, she would +not have been the honest old soul that she was not to rejoice with her +master over his son. Whatever grudge against Susanna may have still +lingered in her heart, this day wiped out; with a truly motherly +tenderness she presided at the sick-bed. And did it fare better with me? +I, too, old creature that I was, knelt down between the bed and the +cradle, and kissed the little pale face again and again; in this hour +everything with which she had once troubled us was forgotten.</p> + +<p>"And Klaus sat at his writing-desk and wrote to Anna Maria. 'Do you +think she will come?' he asked as he came in again. He had sent a +special messenger to E—— with the letter to his sister. 'Will she +come?'</p> + +<p>"'Surely, Klaus!' I replied.</p> + +<p>"The messenger was gone three days; then he returned with a letter from +Anna Maria. Heartfelt words it contained, here and there half blotted +out by tears. She would come soon, she wrote, come soon—in a week or +two, perhaps—but would it be right to Susanna?</p> + +<p>"I was sitting by the bed of the young wife as Klaus came into the room +with this letter. She was holding the small bundle of lace in her arms. +Isa had had to adorn the young gentleman's toilet to-day with blue +ribbons. Susanna played with him as if he were a doll, and wanted to +know what color would best suit the young prince. She was so merry and +pretty about it, and laughed so heartily when the little thing made a +queer, wry face.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, see, just see!' she called to her husband. 'Who does he look like +now? Only look!' Of course we stood in dutiful admiration and looked at +the little creature. But Brockelmann, who was just going through the +room, said: 'Ah, I have seen it from the first moment. He has a real +Hegewitz face; he looks most like his aunt, Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna started up as if the greatest injury had been done her. 'It is +not true!' she whispered, and kissed the child. But Klaus had heard it, +nevertheless; he had grown very red, and slowly put the folded letter in +his pocket, and an expression of disappointment passed over his face. He +sat down by Susanna and kissed her hand, but did not mention his +sister's name.</p> + +<p>"What Klaus wrote in reply to Anna Maria I never learned; but he said: +'Anna Maria is always right; it was well that she did not come +immediately, as I wished.'</p> + +<p>"And three weeks more passed. Susanna already walked up and down on the +gay mosaic pavement of the terrace occasionally, and Isa walked about in +the sunny garden with the blue-veiled child. Then one rainy evening, +about six o'clock, a slender woman's figure walked into my dim room.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria!' I cried joyfully; 'my dear old child, are you really here +again?'</p> + +<p>"She put her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder. 'Yes, +aunt,' she said softly, and I felt her heart beat violently. 'Yes—but +now take care that I may greet Klaus first alone; we have so much to +say to each other!'</p> + +<p>"He had entered, meanwhile, before I could answer. 'I saw you coming +through the garden, Anna Maria,' he cried joyfully, holding her two +hands; 'thank God that you are here again!'</p> + +<p>"The next instant she fell, weeping, on his neck. They had so much to +say to each other; I would not hear them beg forgiveness of each other, +and went softly out.</p> + +<p>"And Susanna? I asked myself. I found the young wife down-stairs in the +salon the sound of her merry laugh came toward me. There were one or two +ladies from the neighborhood there, and Isa had just brought in the +child. There was so much laughing, chattering, and congratulating that I +got no chance at first to inform Susanna that her sister-in-law had +arrived. At last the ladies took their leave, and we two were alone. +Susanna walked up and down the great room, playing with the child.</p> + +<p>"'So stupid,' she scolded, 'that I don't know a single cradle-song! But +I can't bear the silly things they sing here, about goslings and black +and white sheep. But it is all the same, he doesn't understand the +words.' And lightly she began the old refrain:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">'Home have I come, and my heart burns with pain.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Ah, that I only could wander again!'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>"'Susanna,' said I, quickly, 'Anna Maria has come back, a little while +ago.'</p> + +<p>"She stood still, as if rooted to the spot. I could no longer +distinguish her features in the deep twilight, and she spoke not a word. +'Susanna!' I cried, in a low, reproachful tone.</p> + +<p>"Just at that moment Brockelmann brought in a light. 'The master is +coming with Fräulein Anna Maria!' she cried joyfully. 'Oh, Fräulein, +Anna Maria—how pleased she will be with that little doll!'</p> + +<p>"Hand in hand Klaus and Anna Maria entered the room. She had been +weeping hot tears, but now a smile was on her lips, and she went up to +Susanna, who had dropped into the nearest chair.</p> + +<p>"'Let everything be forgotten, Susanna,' she begged. 'Let us be +sisters!' She knelt beside her and kissed the slumbering child. 'I shall +love him very much!' And now she raised her tear-stained face to Susanna +and offered her lips, but the young wife slowly turned her head to one +side.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria stood up instantly; a reproachful look met Klaus.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna!' said he, going up to his wife and taking the child from her +arms, 'give Anna Maria your hand and be at peace with her!'</p> + +<p>"Slowly she extended her right hand, coldly and briefly the two hands +touched, then the young wife went quickly out of the room, and directly +after Isa came to take away the child.</p> + +<p>"'Why have I come?' said Anna Maria, bitterly.</p> + +<p>"Klaus walked up and down with long strides. 'Forgive her, Anna Maria,' +he begged; 'she is still ill, still weak. I will speak quietly with +her.'</p> + +<p>"'No, Klaus,' replied the girl; 'wherefore? I will be no disturber of +the peace. She is your wife, you are happy, and I—I will go away +again.'</p> + +<p>"'But this is your father-house! This is <i>your</i> home as well as <i>mine</i>!' +he cried, irritated. 'By Heaven, I would never have believed that it was +so hard for two women's hearts to agree!'</p> + +<p>"Isa called him to Susanna. He went in; we heard him speak loud and +vehemently, and then heard Susanna crying.</p> + +<p>"'I shall go away again to-morrow, aunt,' said Anna Maria, and her pale +face with the red eyes had the old stubborn expression. 'I did not come +to make discord.' How I pitied the girl! I knew well how hard it had +been for her to take the first step toward Susanna, what a struggle it +had cost her proud heart, and yet she had done it for Klaus's sake, and +for——</p> + +<p>"Klaus returned, leading Susanna on his arm; he took her hand and placed +it in Anna Maria's.</p> + +<p>"'There now, be reconciled," he said, with a sigh. 'Give each other a +kiss; there must be no more allusions to old tales. I forbid it +herewith!'</p> + +<p>"They did kiss each other, but their lips touched only lightly. We then +sat down, and Klaus and I started a conversation with difficulty. Anna +Maria talked about her convent, but after had to stop; it seemed all the +time as if she were choking down the tears. Susanna spoke still less, +and only answered when Anna Maria asked about the child, and upon a +direct remark of Klaus. Brockelmann, who summoned us to the table, burst +out with the question whether Anna Maria were to assume the direction of +the housekeeping again.</p> + +<p>"'I am not going to remain here,' she replied, smiling sadly.</p> + +<p>"'We shall see about that,' said Klaus, quickly. 'First of all, the +child is to be baptized, and then I have so much to talk over with +you—everything has been lying over! No, you can't go away again so +quickly.'</p> + +<p>"'When is the christening to be, then?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, we have not talked about that at all yet, have we, Susanna?' said +he, turning to her.</p> + +<p>"'No, but it must be soon,' declared the young wife. 'Isa says it is not +proper to wait more than four weeks.'</p> + +<p>"'As you like,' he replied, heartily glad to have the way paved for some +sort of an understanding. He hoped, indeed, that these two would become +reconciled, and that Anna Maria would stay in the father-house.</p> + +<p>"Yes, she did stay, but it came about in a different way from what he +thought.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria came in search of me the next morning. To-day I first saw +how she had altered; her face had grown thin, and fine lines were drawn +about her mouth. She was sad and sat still by the window.</p> + +<p>"'Have you seen the baby to-day?' I asked cheerfully.</p> + +<p>"She shook her head. 'Klaus wanted to take me in with him, but Isa said +Susanna was at her toilet. I only heard him try his voice.'</p> + +<p>"'And have you talked with Klaus about the christening?'</p> + +<p>"She nodded. 'On Monday,' she replied, 'and in the day-time. Susanna +wishes a great festivity.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, Brockelmann will be in despair!' I cried; 'and Klaus will not be +exactly enchanted. But what is he to do?'</p> + +<p>"'What is he to do?' asked Anna Maria, in astonishment. 'He is to +exercise his authority as her husband, and say "No!" Great heavens! has +she entrapped you all together, that you still do what <i>she</i> wishes?' +She had sprung up. 'Everything, everything here dances as she pipes, +even Brockelmann. She has trained you all like poodles; you do +beautifully, if she only raises a finger!'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' I begged, 'do not be so angry right away; she is still +ill, and she——'</p> + +<p>"'No, no,' cried the girl, 'it is dreadful here! What has become of +Bütze, our dear old Bütze? Where now are order and regularity? +Everything goes topsy-turvy, and things run over each other in order +that the gracious Frau need not wait. Whether or not the master of the +house gets his dues, or the servants theirs, is of no consequence, if +only madame smiles and is friendly. I wish I had never come back!'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'are these your good resolutions?'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, have no fear,' she replied, her lips quivering. 'I have repented +bitterly enough letting myself be carried away <i>once</i>; I shall not do so +again. But in my father-house I shall not stay; the torment would be +greater than I should be able to bear.'</p> + +<p>"She went to the window and looked out. Klaus was just riding in at the +gate; he had probably been in the fields. His eyes sped to the +ground-floor, and he kissed his hand up there. 'Susanna is standing at +the window with the child,' thought I.</p> + +<p>"'Klaus looks fatigued,' remarked Anna Maria. 'Is he well all the time?'</p> + +<p>"'I think so,' I replied; 'at least, I do not remember his having +complained.'</p> + +<p>"'Complained!' she repeated. 'As if Klaus would ever complain!'</p> + +<p>"But he did complain; we met him at the breakfast-table down-stairs. +Anna Maria was right; he looked wretchedly. 'I have a fearful headache,' +he said, as she looked at him with a troubled face.</p> + +<p>"Susanna did not hear it. 'Klaus,' she begged, coaxingly, 'we will +illuminate the garden day after to-morrow, shall we not? Will you get me +some more colored paper lanterns?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes, Susy, willingly,' he replied; 'but I have no messenger. If you +had only spoken of it earlier; Frederick has already gone to the city +for Brockelmann, and I can spare no one from the harvesting, for I must +make use of the little good weather.'</p> + +<p>"'But you did know it, Klaus,' she pouted; 'I thought it would look so +charming when evening comes, with the whole garden hung with lanterns.'</p> + +<p>"He passed his hand over his aching head. 'Forgive me, my darling, I had +forgotten it; I had so much on my mind. You shall have the lanterns.'</p> + +<p>"'Have you written the invitations, Klaus?' the young wife continued.</p> + +<p>"'Yes, yes,' he replied, 'I did it all very early; they are already on +the way, and you shall have the lanterns to-morrow.'</p> + +<p>"'To-morrow?' she asked, disappointed.</p> + +<p>"'If my headache is better I can ride over this afternoon,' he said.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria sat by silently and looked at her plate. Then Isa brought in +the child; Susanna was still eating. 'Oh, do give it to me,' begged Anna +Maria, her eyes shining. She rose and went to the window, and +scrutinized the little face.</p> + +<p>"'He resembles our family, Klaus,' she said; 'he has your nose and your +kind eyes.' And she kissed him tenderly.</p> + +<p>"Isa had hurried out again. There was a great din in the usually quiet +house; beating and brushing everywhere, and everything seemed to be +turned upside-down. Klaus rose at length. 'Anna Maria,' he asked, going +up to her, 'would you help me to go over some things in my books which +it is necessary to attend to?'</p> + +<p>"She looked up joyfully. 'Gladly,' she said, 'but must it be done +to-day? You look so wretchedly.'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' he replied, 'I would like to put the matters in order; the +headache will surely go away.' I took the child from Anna Maria, and the +brother and sister went out.</p> + +<p>"Klaus did not come to dinner; he had gone to lie down. When he appeared +at coffee he looked red and heated. Anna Maria looked at him in concern. +'Only don't be ill, Klaus,' she said anxiously.</p> + +<p>"He smiled. 'Perhaps the ride to the city will do me good.'</p> + +<p>"'For Heaven's sake!' cried Anna Maria and I in one breath. 'You surely +are not going to take that long ride?'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, it will do no harm!' And he looked tenderly at Susanna, who lay on +one of the low divans, playing with the bows of her dress. She made no +reply; she did not say: 'If you have a headache, why stay; it is only a +childish wish of mine.' She did not ask: 'Is it really so bad?' She was +simply silent, and Klaus went to order his horse.</p> + +<p>"'Susanna,' begged Anna Maria, very red, 'I think he really has a +violent headache; do not let him go.' She spoke in real anxiety. Susanna +stared at her coolly. 'He is his own master,' she replied, 'he can do as +he pleases.'</p> + +<p>"'Yes; but you know that only your wish—if he should be ill you would +reproach yourself.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna laughed. 'Klaus ill? How funny! Because he has a little +headache?' And she went humming into the next room. Then we heard her +call out of the window: 'Good-by, Klaus, good-by!'</p> + +<p>"'She means no harm,' I said, taking Anna Maria's trembling hands.</p> + +<p>"'It is heartless!' she said, and went down into the garden.</p> + +<p>"Klaus did not return until nearly dark.</p> + +<p>"'Your package will come soon,' he said to Susanna. 'Stürmer has it in +the carriage; I met him in the city; he had just arrived with the +Lüneburg post.'</p> + +<p>"'Stürmer?' she asked, in an animated tone. 'Did you invite him to the +christening, Klaus?'</p> + +<p>"'No; indeed, I forgot it,' he replied.</p> + +<p>"She flung her arms about his neck. 'Oh, do write to him yet,' she +coaxed. 'Yes, please, please! Mercy,' she cried then, 'you are quite +wet!'</p> + +<p>"'Well, it has been raining hard for two hours,' he replied. 'But don't +be offended if I do not write to-night, for I feel miserably; to-morrow +will do? I would like to lie down.' He kissed her forehead and went into +his sleeping-room. I saw how he shivered, as if he had a chill. 'Thank +God that Anna Maria did not hear,' I thought; but I went to tell her +that Klaus was not feeling well, while Susanna sprang up to hasten to +her writing-desk, and with a happy smile took up a pen.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria was in her room. I told her that Klaus was lying down on his +bed. She sat quite still. 'Poor Klaus,' she whispered.</p> + +<p>"'Stürmer is back again, too, my child,' I added. She made no answer to +that. We sat silent together in the dark room.</p> + +<p>"After a while Brockelmann's voice was heard at the door. 'Fräulein, +perhaps it would be better if you were just to look after the master. +The gracious Frau'—she spoke lower—'probably knows no better; she sits +there chattering to him, and he doesn't seem at all well to me.'</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria had sprung up impetuously. Then she slowly sat down again. +'Dear aunt, go,' she begged.</p> + +<p>"'Willingly,' I replied; 'I only thought you should be the one to go to +him.'</p> + +<p>"'I?' she asked, in a tone that cut me to the heart. 'I? No; it is +better that I should not go; I could not keep calm.'</p> + +<p>"I found Klaus's sleeping-room brightly lighted, Susanna sitting by the +bed, her tongue going like a mill-clapper. Over the nearest chair hung a +pale blue silk gown, richly adorned with lace; the candelabra were +burning on the toilet table, and the lamp stood on the little table +beside the bed, throwing its dazzling light right into Klaus's red eyes. +He held a cloth pressed to his fore head and was groaning softly.</p> + +<p>"From out-of-doors came the sound of beating carpets and furniture, and +in the hall opposite they were at work with wax and brushes, none too +quietly.</p> + +<p>"'Then I may send off the note, Klaus?' Susanna was saying. 'Can +Frederick ride over now, or shall the coachman take it? Do you think +Stürmer is at home by this time? Klaus, do answer, dear Klaus!'</p> + +<p>"He made a motion of assent with his hand, and turned his head away.</p> + +<p>"'If you are so tiresome, I sha'n't try on the dress again,' she pouted.</p> + +<p>"'But, dear child,' I whispered, 'do you not see that your husband is +ill?' I took away the lamp, and laid my hand on his white forehead.</p> + +<p>"'Ah, only a little quiet,' he moaned.</p> + +<p>"'Come Susanna.' I begged the young wife, gently; 'go over to your +room; I think Klaus is in a high fever, and he must have quiet."</p> + +<p>"Susanna looked at me incredulously. 'But it will be better to-morrow?' +she asked quickly. 'You will be well again to-morrow, won't you, Klaus?'</p> + +<p>"He nodded. 'Yes, yes, my darling; don't worry.'</p> + +<p>"'Well, then, I will go away quickly, so that you can sleep. Good-night, +Klaus!' she said, taking the silk dress on her arm. And she hastily bent +over him and kissed his forehead. Then she disappeared, but her silvery +voice floated over here once again: 'Isa, Isa, here; Christian is to go +to Dambitz directly, to Herr von Stürmer; he must wait for an answer.'</p> + +<p>"Suddenly Klaus gave a deep groan. 'My poor boy.' I lamented over him; +'are you feeling very badly?'</p> + +<p>"'I think I am going to be very ill,' he whispered. 'I can't control my +thoughts, everything turns round and round. Anna Maria, bring me Anna +Maria.'</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann was just outside in the hall. 'Call the Fräulein,' I bade +her, 'and make them be quiet outside.' Anna Maria came, and went up to +the bed. He seized her hand.</p> + +<p>"'My old lass,' he said feebly, 'I fear I shall give you a great deal to +do.'</p> + +<p>"'Do you feel so ill?' she asked anxiously, and bent down to him. He +groaned and pointed to his head. 'Don't worry Susanna,' he begged.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria did not answer, but she had grown very pale. Then she set +about procuring him some relief. Cold compresses were soon lying on his +forehead, a cool lemonade stood on the table by the bed, and outside the +tired horses were once more taken from the stable, to go for the doctor. +It had become quiet in the house, quiet in the next room also. Susanna +lay in her boudoir, reading; she did not know that the doctor had been +sent for, she did not hear how her husband's talking gradually passed +into delirious ravings, or know how his sister sat by the bed, her fair +head pressed against the back, and her eyes fixed on him in unspeakable +anxiety.</p> + +<p>"When the doctor came, Susanna was sleeping sweetly and soundly; and +with noiseless steps Isa carried about the awakened child, that it might +not disturb the mother.</p> + +<p>"Klaus was ill, very ill. The dreadful fever had attacked him so +quickly, so insidiously, and had prostrated him with such force, that a +paralyzing fear came over the spirits of us all.</p> + +<p>"The servants went about the house whispering, no door was heard to +shut, and the bailiff had straw laid down in the court, so that no sound +might penetrate the curtained sick-room.</p> + +<p>"Susanna would not believe at all that Klaus was seriously ill. She had +come merrily into the room, the child in her arms, and had found the +doctor at the bedside, and looked in Anna Maria's red eyes. She resisted +the truth with all her might. 'But he must not be ill,' she cried, 'just +now. Oh, doctor, it is too bad!' But when the confirmation in the +wandering looks of the invalid was not to be rejected, she flew to her +sofa and wept pitifully. It was not possible to reach her with a word of +consolation; she sobbed as I had seen her do but once, and Isa knew not +which she ought to quiet first, the screaming child or the weeping +mother. But Susanna did not for a moment attempt to make her hands +useful at the sick-bed.</p> + +<p>"The doctor came again toward evening. The fever was raging with +increased power; Klaus talked about his child, called for Susanna, and +even in his delirium everything centred in his wife. Sometimes he seized +Anna Maria's hand and pressed it to his lips, with a half-intelligible +pet name for Susanna; he called her his darling, his wife. And Anna +Maria stroked his forehead, and tear after tear rolled down her cheeks.</p> + +<p>"'Shall I have her called?' I asked the doctor. The old man shrugged his +shoulders. 'Well, since she has not come of her own accord, she spares +me a great deal of trouble,' said he; 'I should have had to carry her +out. She is still weak, and——'</p> + +<p>"I went away to look up Susanna. Isa informed me that she was in the +salon.</p> + +<p>"'Is she still crying?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"The old woman shook her head. 'Baron Stürmer is in there.' I heard +Susanna's voice through the portières. I heard her even laugh. My first +impulse was to hurry in, but it suddenly became impossible to me. I only +looked at the child, and went away, weary and weakened from watching and +anxiety, up to my room.</p> + +<p>"A basket of garlands was standing in the corridor, and beside it the +package of the unfortunate lanterns. The baptism was to have been +to-morrow, but the coachman was already on his way to inform the +numerous guests that it was given up, as the master was ill. My God in +heaven, let not the worst come, be pitiful! What would become of +Susanna, of his child—ah! and of Anna Maria?</p> + +<p>"Then I sat down in my arm-chair and listened to the pattering of the +rain, and the wind blowing against the windows; after a little while +there came a knock at my door, and Edwin Stürmer entered. He was quite +changed from what he used to be; indeed, the news of Klaus's illness +might well make him so. Conversation would not flow. I could not help +thinking of how I had last seen him, when he took leave of Susanna and +me; how she had wept, and how he had written to me afterward. 'There +have been great changes here!' said I, in a low tone.</p> + +<p>"He did not answer immediately. 'How does Anna Maria get on with—with +her sister-in-law?' he asked.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria?' I was embarrassed. Should I tell him that those two had +not learned to understand each other yet?</p> + +<p>"'She is here very little,' I said at last; 'she has been living in the +convent since Klaus's marriage.'</p> + +<p>"He started. 'Still the old quarrel?' he murmured. 'Anna Maria never +liked her; I noticed it from the beginning. She is a strange character. +There are moments when one might believe she has a heart; but it is ever +deception, ever delusion!'</p> + +<p>"'Edwin,' I cried bitterly, 'you think you have a right to affirm that; +you are mistaken! Perhaps she has more heart than all of us.'</p> + +<p>"'It may be,' he remarked coldly, 'but she never shows it.'</p> + +<p>"He too, he too! My poor Anna Maria! If I could have taken him down to +the sick-room, if I could have shown him how she knelt beside her +brother's bed and buried her weeping face in the pillows, if I could say +to him: 'See, that is the secret of all her actions; she has too much +heart, too much generosity. She has done everything for the sake of her +only brother, who once lost a happiness on her account.' If I only might +show him this——</p> + +<p>"Slowly the tears ran from my eyes.</p> + +<p>"'I did not mean to grieve you, Aunt Rosamond,' said he, tenderly. 'I +am in a hateful mood, and ought not to have come over. The empty house +has put me out of humor; an old bachelor ought to have no house at +all—everywhere great empty rooms, everywhere solitude. One wants to +talk to one's self to keep from being afraid. I knew it well, and for +that reason put off my return from day to day.' He gave a shrug. 'I +shall go away again; that will be the best thing.'</p> + +<p>"I now first looked at him attentively. He had altered, he had grown +years older. I did not know how to answer, he had spoken so strangely. +After a while he rose. 'I wish for improvement with all my heart. Do not +worry; God cannot wish that he should go now, right from the most +complete happiness.'</p> + +<p>"God cannot wish it! So we mortals say when we think it impossible that +some one should leave us on whose life a piece of our own life depends. +God does not wish it—and already the shadow of death is falling deeper +and deeper over the beloved face. Such times lie in the past like heavy, +black, obscure shadows; that they were fearful we still know, but <i>how</i> +we felt we are not able to feel again in its full terror.</p> + +<p>"Days had passed. Anna Maria had long ceased to weep; she had no tears, +for breathless fear. Without a word she performed her sad duties, and +listened benumbed to the wandering talk of the invalid—Susanna and the +child, and ever again Susanna.</p> + +<p>"Then came a day on which the physicians said, 'No hope.' In the morning +Klaus had recovered his senses, and Anna Maria came out of the sick-room +with such a happy, hopeful look that my heart really rose. She beckoned +to me, and I took her place at the sick-bed for a moment.</p> + +<p>"He reached out for my hand. 'How is Susanna?' he said softly.</p> + +<p>"'Well, dear Klaus; do you wish to see her? Shall she come in?'</p> + +<p>"'No, no!' he whispered, 'not come; it may be contagious—but Anna +Maria?'</p> + +<p>"'She will be here again directly, Klaus,' said I. And, as if she had +been called, she came in at the door, and, kneeling by his bed, laid her +cheek caressingly on his hand.</p> + +<p>"'Anna Maria,' he complained, 'my thoughts are already beginning +again—my child, my poor little child——'</p> + +<p>"She started up. 'Klaus, do not speak so, dear Klaus!'</p> + +<p>"'It is so strange,' he whispered on; 'I don't see Susanna distinctly +any longer, but I hear her laughing, always laughing. I shut my ears, +and yet I hear her laugh.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria gave me a sad look. 'I will stay with your child, Klaus,' +said she. He pressed her hand. His eyes were already glowing feverishly, +and all at once he started up, the sound of a silvery laugh came in. +Susanna was actually laughing, perhaps with her child—I know not. The +next moment the door opened a little way. 'How is Klaus to-day?' she +asked.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria did not answer; her eyes were looking at Klaus; he had +already fallen back, and his fingers began to play, unnaturally, over +the silk quilt.</p> + +<p>"I hastened to Susanna. 'He is not very well, my child,' I whispered to +her; 'the fever is returning.' Her face grew grave, and she quietly +closed the door. 'Always the same thing!' I heard her say, disappointed.</p> + +<p>"Stürmer came toward evening, almost at the same time with the two +physicians. Susanna was sitting in her blue boudoir, reading. With a +sigh of relief she laid her book on the table when Stürmer was +announced. He entered quickly. 'Well,' said he, sympathetically, and +breathing fast, 'I hear he is not so well again to-day?'</p> + +<p>"Susanna gave him her hand. 'So-so, baron,' she replied; 'they are not +very wise about the case. The physicians themselves do not know what +they ought to say, and Anna Maria is so fearfully anxious, and Aunt +Rosamond no less so. They think he is going to die right away. People do +not die so easily, do they?' she asked confidently. 'I know from myself; +I have been delirious, I——'</p> + +<p>"She got no further, for our old family physician suddenly came into the +room. I knew what he meant as soon as I looked at him—Klaus was worse.</p> + +<p>"Susanna gave him her hand, and went to the bell to order wine, she +said. Isa came with the child and presented it to the old gentleman. +'How is my husband?' asked Susanna. 'He is better, is he not, than Aunt +Rosa's and Anna Maria's funeral faces predict?'</p> + +<p>"He did not answer, but looked at her, almost benumbed. At last he said +slowly: 'All is in God's hands. He can still help when we mortals see no +longer any way before us.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna sprang up out of the chair in which she had just taken her +seat, the color all gone from her face. Her horrified eyes were fixed on +the old man's face as if they would decipher if those words were truth. +And when she saw his unaltered, sad expression, she began to totter, and +would have fallen to the floor if Edwin Stürmer had not caught her.</p> + +<p>"'Is it really so bad?' he asked the doctor, reluctantly, as he carried +the young wife to the couch.</p> + +<p>"'The end has come,' he replied, looking after Susanna.</p> + +<p>"She had lost consciousness only for a moment. She awoke with a loud +cry, and now all the passion that dwelt in the delicate woman broke +forth in its full force. She screamed, she fell at the doctor's feet; he +should not let Klaus die, she could not live without him! She wrung her +hands and began to sob, but not a tear flowed from her great eyes. She +sprang up and threw herself upon the cradle of the child, whose +frightened crying mingled with a terrible sound with her sorrowful +laments: 'I will not live if Klaus dies, I will not!'</p> + +<p>"'Calm yourself, gracious Frau,' bade the doctor, much shaken; 'think of +the child, take care of yourself.'</p> + +<p>"'I made him ill,' screamed the young wife. 'I sent him to the city in +the rain, in spite of his feeling poorly then; I am guilty of my +husband's death!' The lace on her morning dress tore under her +convulsively trembling hands; she ran up and down the room, accusing +God and demanding death. Silently Isa took the cradle with the child and +carried it into another room. Meanwhile Dr. Reuter had poured a few +drops of a sedative into a spoon and begged the young wife to take it.</p> + +<p>"She pushed the medicine out of his hand. 'I will not!' she cried, +sobbing. 'If you knew anything you would have saved Klaus! Oh, if I had +only taken care of him! But you did not let me go to his bed once, and +now he is dying!'</p> + +<p>"'Susanna, control yourself,' said I, severely, as the doctor shrugged +his shoulders. 'Is this proper behavior in the hour in which a human +life is making its last hard struggle? Surely there should be peace,' I +added, weeping.</p> + +<p>"She grew silent, not at my words, but at the entrance of Anna Maria.</p> + +<p>"'Come, Susanna,' said she, in a lifeless tone, 'let us go to Klaus. +Before the last parting, the doctor has told me, there sometimes returns +a clear moment. His last look will seek you, Susanna, he has loved you +so much.'</p> + +<p>"The young wife let herself be led away without resistance, but her face +had grown deathly pale. When they reached the door, she tore her hands +impetuously away from Anna Maria's. 'I cannot!' she cried, shuddering, +and turning her terrified eyes toward us; 'I cannot see him die, I +cannot!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria looked sadly at the young creature, who was now on her knees +before her, beginning afresh her despairing lamentations. Then she +silently turned away and went back to Klaus. We carried the young wife +to the sofa, and Dr. Reuter busied himself with Isa about her.</p> + +<p>"I started to go into the death-chamber, and Edwin Stürmer followed me. +In going out he cast a peculiar look at Susanna. In the next room, +through which we had to pass, stood the cradle; alone and unwatched +slumbered the poor little fellow in it, without a suspicion that the +black wings of death were hovering so near to his young existence. 'No +hope!' They are fearful words.</p> + +<p>"Stürmer came with me into the chamber of death. I did not wonder at it; +it seemed to me as if it must be so, as if he, the best and oldest +friend of the family, had a right to come to the dying bed of our Klaus. +Anna Maria was on her knees beside the bed, her hands folded; she was +waiting for that last look.</p> + +<p>"Then the house grew still, the servants stole about on tip-toe, and +outside, before the front door, stood the day-laborers and the men, with +their wives, looking timidly and with red eyes up to the windows. Edwin +Stürmer sat opposite me, deep in shadow, behind the curtains of the bed; +he leaned his head on his hand, and looked at Anna Maria and at the pale +face there on the pillow. I could not distinguish his features, but I +heard his deep and heavy breathing. I do not know if Klaus looked at +Anna Maria again, I could not see the two from my place. But I heard him +whisper once more: 'My child—Susanna' and 'Anna Maria, my old lass!' +with an expression of warm tenderness.</p> + +<p>"It was deathly still in the room; no sound but the swift, low ticking +of the clock. I started up all at once at this stillness. When I came up +to the bed Anna Maria was still on her knees and holding her brother's +hand, her fair head buried in the pillow.</p> + +<p>"Seized by a terrible foreboding, I went up to her. She started up. 'My +only brother!' she sobbed out. To my heart penetrated this shrill, +broken cry: 'My only brother!'</p> + +<p>"Then I heard the door open softly, and saw Stürmer go out; he held his +hand over his eyes, though it was so dark round about us, so fearfully +dark."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> + + +<p>"As formerly Anna Maria had been baptized beside the dead body of her +mother, so now was the little boy at his father's coffin. On the same +spot where, scarcely a year before, the clergyman had married the young +couple stood the black, silver-mounted coffin, almost covered over with +wreaths and flowers. The folding-doors of the hall were opened wide; the +last crimson ray of the setting sun fell through the windows and made +the light of the numerous candles appear feeble and yellow, and touched +Anna Maria's face with a rosy shimmer, as she bent over the child in her +arms.</p> + +<p>"The long white christening-robe of the child contrasted strangely with +the deep black of the mourning dress which enveloped the tall figure of +the girl. I stood beside her, my hands resting on the child; by my side +was Isa in a profusion of black crape. A throng of mourners filled the +hall, gentlemen and ladies. I do not remember who they all were, but I +can still see Stürmer's pale face.</p> + +<p>"A chair had been placed aright for Susanna, and she sat in it as if +petrified in pain and sorrow—a strange sight, this child in widow's +garb. The raging pain had abated, she had wept and sobbed herself weary; +now only great tears rolled down her marble cheeks. Bluish rings lay +about her eyes, and made them shine more ardently than ever. She kept +her slender hands folded and listened to the words of the clergyman, a +picture of the most hopeless and comfortless pain.</p> + +<p>"How many eyes then grew moist; how the servants wept outside the door! +The clergyman spoke affectingly; once before he had thus baptized a +child in this house. A quiver went through Anna Maria's tall figure, but +she pressed her lips firmly together. She did not weep, she only pressed +the child closer to her; then she took it to the young mother. I can +still see how Susanna sat there, with the little boy on her lap, as the +clergyman blessed them. She bent her head so that the black veil almost +covered her and the child.</p> + +<p>"But now the clergyman passed on to the funeral address, and when he +mentioned the full name of the dead man I saw Isa spring up quickly—the +young wife had fainted. She was carried to her room. A murmur of +sympathy went through the assembly. 'A bruise for her whole life,' I +heard whispered behind me. 'Poor young wife—still half a child! She +will never recover from it!'</p> + +<p>"Of Anna Maria, who stood there, no one thought. No one had said a +sympathetic word to her. All the pity belonged to the young widow, still +so young, so charming, and already so unhappy! They knew she was not on +good terms with her sister-in-law. They knew Anna Maria only as proud +and cold.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria, if they could have seen you late that evening, in the dark +garden, at the fresh grave; if they had found you, as I found you, so +undone with grief and pain, kneeling on the damp earth, unwilling to +leave the flower-strewn mound under which your only brother lay—would +they not have granted you, too, a word of sympathy?</p> + +<p>"Those were sad, dreadful weeks which now followed, weeks in which we, +first regaining our senses, began to miss him who had left us forever. +Everywhere his kind, fresh nature, his ever-mild disposition, were +wanting. It seemed every moment as if he must open the door and ask in +his soft voice: 'How are you, aunt? Where is Anna Maria?'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria! The whole weight of the extensive household management +rested on her shoulders, the whole wilderness of the inevitable domestic +business which her brother's death had caused. She found no time to +indulge in her grief. She had to drive into the city at fixed times, she +had to look through Klaus's books, letters, and papers, with her +trembling heart. And if then, in her swelling pain, she but threw her +hands over her face, she always regained the mastery over herself, and +could work on.</p> + +<p>"Susanna mourned in a different way. She fled to her little boudoir, and +always had some one about her. She was afraid in bright daylight, and in +twilight her heart would palpitate, and she was short of breath, and Isa +had to read aloud to her constantly. The little boy, who had been named +'Klaus' for his father, was not allowed to be called so; she called him +her little Jacky, her treasure, the only thing she had left in the +world, and yet sometimes would start back from the cradle with a cry, he +had looked at her so terribly like Klaus!</p> + +<p>"Then came the mourning visits from far and near, and Susanna received +them in the salon. She sat there, so broken down, her charming face +surrounded by the black crape veil, the point of her little widow's cap +on her white forehead, and her black-bordered handkerchief always wet +with bitter tears.</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria was never present during such calls. She fled to the garden +and did not return till the last carriage had rolled away from the +court. She was gentle and tender toward Susanna—'he loved her so much!' +she said softly.</p> + +<p>"It was November. In Susanna's little boudoir the lamp was lighted, and +the young wife lay, in her deep black woollen dress, on the blue +cushions; she held a book in her hand, and now and then cast a glance at +it. Occasionally she coughed a little, and each time quickly held her +handkerchief to her lips. I had come down, as I did every evening, to +look after her and the child. The little fellow was already +asleep—'thank God,' as Susanna added. The nurse was probably asleep +with him in the next room, it was very still in there. Isa was bustling +busily about the stove, for it was bitterly cold out-of-doors; on the +table beside Susanna lay a quantity of colored wools, as well as a piece +of embroidery begun, and extremely pleasant and comfortable was this +little room. Who in the world could have desired a more comfortable spot +on a snowy, stormy evening?</p> + +<p>"'Where is Anna Maria?' I asked pleasantly, after the first greeting.</p> + +<p>"Susanna shook her head. 'I don't know,' she said feebly, and let her +book drop.</p> + +<p>"'Fräulein Anna Maria is in the master's cabinet,' Isa answered. 'Herr +von Stürmer has just ridden away.'</p> + +<p>"Susanna's eyes flamed up for a moment. 'Why did he not come in here?' +she asked. She raised herself a little. 'Ah! aunt,' she whispered, 'I +think I am going to be ill. I have a constant irritation in my throat, +and I feel so wretchedly. Dr. Reuter said last week I ought not to spend +the severe winter here. Ah! and yet I cannot bring myself to decide to +go away.'</p> + +<p>"'I can feel with you, my dear child,' I returned. 'I would not go +either, in your place.'</p> + +<p>"Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. 'Yes, it is all the same if I die +<i>here</i>!' she replied.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, don't believe any such thing, Susy,' I said jestingly. 'You must +live for your child; you are exhausted by all this dreadful affair; the +winter will soon be over.'</p> + +<p>"At this juncture Anna Maria entered. 'How are you feeling, Susanna?' +she asked kindly.</p> + +<p>"'I am ill,' sobbed the young wife; 'very ill! I shall stifle yet in +these overheated rooms; I have not your sound lungs.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria looked down at her in astonishment. 'I am very sorry for +that,' she said sympathetically.</p> + +<p>"Oh, if Klaus were only alive, he would have gone south with me long +ago!' cried Susanna; and Isa shook her head doubtfully.</p> + +<p>"That was Anna Maria's weak spot. 'Dear Susanna,' she said tenderly, 'if +it is necessary, then go. I know that you are delicate, that you have a +cough; let us consult with the doctor to-morrow, and decide where. And +then we will pack you both up and——'</p> + +<p>"'Both?' asked Susanna. 'That is just it; I cannot take the baby with +me!'</p> + +<p>"'And you cannot make up your mind to part from him?' Anna Maria asked +hesitatingly.</p> + +<p>"'No, no!' sobbed Susanna.</p> + +<p>"'I suppose,' said the maiden softly, the bright blood mounting to her +cheeks, 'you will not intrust him to me'—she hesitated—'even if I +promise to watch over him day and night?'</p> + +<p>"Susanna stopped sobbing. 'But why not, then?' she cried. 'He is Klaus's +child, and you are so fond of him!'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria turned and went out of the room, and Susanna sprang up and +followed her. After a while they came back, and for the first time there +was a smile on the lips of each. Susanna would fly away out of the +desolate, snowed-in house of mourning, and Anna Maria had one more care. +She might fondle and care for the child of her only brother to her +heart's content; the child to whom she had only ventured timidly, in +order not to excite Susanna's jealousy, should now belong to her alone +for a long time.</p> + +<p>"And Susanna went away with chests and trunks, and with Isa. She was +overcome with pain at the parting from her child; at the last moment she +wanted to tear off hat and cloak again and stay here. However, she got +into the carriage. That she would not be here at Christmas did not +disturb her; it would be no festival this year, she thought, it would +only make her sadder. The doctor had really advised her going south.</p> + +<p>"And so we were alone in the solitary house—Anna Maria, the child, and +I. The child's cradle stood in her room; she would lie for hours before +it, and could not look her fill at the round, childish face. She could +still weep, weep bitterly, for Klaus; but her grief had grown gentler, +much gentler.</p> + +<p>"On a stormy evening, a few days after Susanna's departure, Stürmer came +to speak with Anna Maria. He had not been here for more than a week.</p> + +<p>"Brockelmann showed him at once to Anna Maria's room; we had not heard +him come, and she was right on her knees before the cradle, talking to +the child, so simply and affectionately, so sweetly and naturally, about +the Christ-child and the Christmas-man. All the great, overflowing love +of which the girl was capable, an infinite tenderness and gentleness, +sounded in the tone of her voice. But Anna Maria had no heart—how often +had the man said that, who was now standing still at the door and +looking at her as in a dream.</p> + +<p>"She sprang up in confusion as she caught sight of him; the old proud, +impenetrable expression returned to her face at once.</p> + +<p>"'It is so lonely over there,' he said apologetically, 'and then I had +to bring you the mortgage from the mill; the old crow has begged so +hard, Fräulein Anna Maria, I think we will leave it to him, or, if you +prefer, I will take it too.'</p> + +<p>"She shook her head. 'Oh, never,' she said calmly; 'the money must stay +at the mill; Klaus promised it to the man.'</p> + +<p>"He was still holding his hat in his hand. 'May I stay here half an +hour?' he asked.</p> + +<p>"'If our sad society is not too tiresome for you, Stürmer,' replied Anna +Maria. 'You give us a pleasure.' Then she suddenly turned and went out +of the room.</p> + +<p>"'Now tell me, for Heaven's sake, Aunt Rosamond,' asked Stürmer, 'what +is the matter now? Why do we sit here, and where is Frau von Hegewitz? +Have the two fallen out again, perhaps?'</p> + +<p>"'Susanna? Ah! you may not know yet, to be sure,' I replied. 'Susanna +went away to Nice three days ago; she had a cough, and feared the +winter.'</p> + +<p>"He sprang up impulsively, and began to walk up and down the room; then +he stood before the cradle, and looked at the slumbering child. 'And +this young Frau has gone <i>alone</i>?' he asked at length.</p> + +<p>"'No, Edwin, with Isa.'</p> + +<p>"'Of course,' he said. He began his walking to and fro again, till Anna +Maria came in, followed by the child's nurse, who carried the little +sleeper into the next room. Then we sat silent about the table. It was +almost as in the old days, with the old furniture from the sitting-room, +and ticking of the clock under the mirror. Anna Maria had brought out +her spinning-wheel, and Edwin Stürmer looked at the floor, and, lost in +thought, played with a tassel of the table-cloth.</p> + +<p>"Then all at once he started up; the clear sound of children's voices +came in from the hall:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Martins, martins, pretty things,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">With your little golden wings,'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>echoed the old Martinmas ditty.</p> + +<p>"'To-day is Martinmas,' said I. Edwin Stürmer looked at me. It was a +strange look; what did he mean? And all at once Anna Maria—the proud, +heartless Anna Maria—threw her hands over her face, and bitterly +weeping, went out.</p> + +<p>"'What is that, Edwin?' I asked; and, as he did not answer, I tapped him +on the shoulder with my wooden knitting-needle. And the strong man rose +too, stood at the window, and looked out without replying a word.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"'Little summer, little summer, rose-leaf,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Village and city,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Give us something, O maiden fair!'<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>died away the old song."</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> + + +<p>"The winter passed quietly away, and with the spring, just as the trees +were blossoming, Susanna came back. Anna Maria had sent the best +carriage to meet the home-comer, and put a little white dress on the +child. The table was set in a festal manner in the dining-room, and at +Susanna's place was a bunch of splendid white roses. I went to the front +steps to meet the young wife. Stürmer, who happened to have come over, +remained with Anna Maria in the salon; she had the child in her arms.</p> + +<p>"Susanna jumped down from the carriage, fresh and rosy, and fell on my +neck. 'Here I am again, dearest aunt, here I am again!' she cried. 'How +have you been, and how is my dear little boy?' She flew up the steps +like a bird, so that all the lace and flounces of her elegant mourning +dress stood out and blew behind her. Like a child she ran through the +hall; I could scarcely keep up with her; then she stood in the salon.</p> + +<p>"The baby had grown; the baby sat there quite sensibly already, on the +arm of his fair aunt; his bright curly hair fell about his lovely baby +face, and he was just grasping after Uncle Stürmer's watch. The young +mother rushed to the child with a cry of delight, pulled it into her +arms, and covered it with kisses. But the young gentleman misunderstood +this; he did not know the strange lady at all who had come in so +suddenly, and with a pitiful cry he stretched out his arms toward Anna +Maria.</p> + +<p>"Susanna was confounded, and then began to weep, affectingly and +bitterly: 'She had lost her child's love!' It was a painful scene. +Stürmer went into the next room, and Anna Maria tried to console +Susanna. 'It is only because he is not accustomed to you; he has not +seen you for so long, Susanna. Just hear what he has learned,' she +begged.</p> + +<p>"And going up to the weeping woman, she said: 'Ma—ma!'</p> + +<p>"'Mamma!' stammered the little fellow, quite consoled.</p> + +<p>"Susanna laughed, and promised to change her dress quickly; then she +came to the table. The grief was already overcome; and she showed +herself, in course of time, none too eager to regain the child's love. +Anna Maria silently retained all the cares she had undertaken; but +sometimes the young wife would embrace her child in a sudden outbreak of +tenderness, and not let him out of her arms for hours.</p> + +<p>"The summer did not flit away so quietly as it had begun; there were +frequent visitors, and sometimes Susanna's laugh would echo, terribly +clear, through the rooms. Anna Maria was sad; she fled to her room +whenever a carriage full of guests arrived, or a pair of saddle-horses +were led slowly up and down before the house. But Stürmer was now a +daily guest; it really pained me when I saw him ride across the court.</p> + +<p>"'Baron Stürmer is with Frau von Hegewitz,' Brockelmann announced one +afternoon, as she came into Anna Maria's room, where I was sitting by +the window. 'The baron inquired for the baby, and the Frau was just +coming out of the salon; she took him in with her, laughing, and said I +was to get the child.'</p> + +<p>"Silently Anna Maria lifted him up from the carpet, where he had sat +playing, and with a kiss gave him to the old woman. 'There, now, go to +mamma and be good.'</p> + +<p>"She then bent over her housekeeping book.</p> + +<p>"'Will you not go down, Anna Maria?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"She raised her head. 'Oh, aunt, I have something important to do now, +and—he will not miss me. He will be here again often,' she added. And a +faint, traitorous blush tinged her face. 'I think they still love each +other.'</p> + +<p>"I shook my head. 'Ah, Anna Maria, she still wears her widow's cap!'</p> + +<p>"'It will come, nevertheless,' whispered the girl, and an expression +full of anguish lay about her mouth; 'and then she will go away with +him, and will take the child with her, and at last the cup of my +unhappiness will be full. Then I shall feel nothing any longer, no +longer call anything in the world <i>mine</i>, not even a miserable hope!'</p> + +<p>"I was silent and looked at her sadly. How many hundred times I had said +to myself that this would come. I shuddered at the thought of an empty, +icy-cold future—poor Anna Maria!</p> + +<p>"And it certainly was as Anna Maria had said. Stürmer came often, +Stürmer came every day. We sat together at coffee in the garden-parlor, +or on the terrace on warm summer evenings. Susanna had quite regained +her old happy disposition. Sometimes, too, a white rose shone out from +her dark curls, and her eyes laughed down over the garden, without a +thought of the grave there below. It seemed sometimes as if something +took hold of me, as if a dear, familiar voice said to me: 'So quickly am +I forgotten?'</p> + +<p>"And Anna Maria would sit for hours with the child on her lap, and say +the word 'father' to him countless times, and rejoice like a child over +his first awkward attempts. She guided his first steps; she did not let +him out of her arms, but carried him about everywhere, all over the +house and in the garden. 'Perhaps he will retain a recollection,' said +she, 'and this is all his; he will live here some time, in his home, and +then he will be tall and strong like his father, and dear and good to +his old Aunt Anna Maria.'</p> + +<p>"Was Stürmer really drawing nearer to Susanna? I could not bring myself +to perceive it, and then—it could not be announced yet, the year of +mourning had not expired. But perhaps she had her word already; he loved +her, had already loved her as a girl; no other hindrance except the +mourning lay any longer between them.</p> + +<p>"The day following the anniversary of Klaus's death some one gave a +quick, excited knock at my door. Stürmer entered; he wore a short coat +and high boots, as if he had come from hunting.</p> + +<p>"'Dear Aunt Rosamond,' said he, throwing himself into a chair, as if +exhausted, and drying his moist forehead with his handkerchief—'dear +Aunt Rosamond, we have always been good friends, have known each other +so long. I have a favor to ask of you, a very great favor.'</p> + +<p>"'Of me?' I asked, my heart beating hard from a painful fear.</p> + +<p>"He looked pale, and quickly threw his gloves on the table. 'Speak for +me!' he begged. 'I am a coward. I cannot tell you what would become of +me if a second time I—' He hesitated.</p> + +<p>"'Are you so little sure of your case, Edwin?' I asked, bright tears +running from my eyes. I thought of Klaus, I thought of Anna Maria, my +dear old Anna Maria!</p> + +<p>"'I am not at all sure of my case,' he replied, 'or should I be standing +here? Should I not long ago have explained an old, unhappy mistake?'</p> + +<p>"'You are in great haste, Edwin,' said I bitterly. 'Yesterday was the +first anniversary of Klaus's death!'</p> + +<p>"'It has been very hard for me to wait so long,' he answered, in the +calmest tone. 'Well, if you will not, I must devise some means by +myself,' he declared impetuously. 'Where is Anna Maria?'</p> + +<p>"'No, no,' I begged, 'for God's sake! It would grieve her to death. I +will go. I will speak for you, if it must be!' And again burning tears +came into my eyes. 'So tell me what message am I to deliver?'</p> + +<p>"He was silent. 'If—if—I beg you, aunt, I do not know,' he stammered +at length; 'it will be best for me to speak to her myself.' And before I +could say a word he had hurried out.</p> + +<p>"I do not know how it happened, but I was bitterly angry with him—he, +usually the man of tenderest feeling and greatest tact! 'To think that +love should sometimes drive the best people so mad!' I said angrily, +wiping the tears from my eyes.</p> + +<p>"And now there would be a love-affair and an engagement; yesterday deep +widow's weeds, to-morrow red roses! I clinched my fists, not for myself, +but for Anna Maria. I was pained to the depths of my heart. For Anna +Maria it was the death-blow. The love for Stürmer was deeply rooted in +her heart. She would get over this, too; she would rise up from this, +too; but the spirit of her youth was broken forever. She could no longer +call anything in the world hers, for Susanna would take the child away +with her. I did not want to hear or see any longer. I took my shawl and +went into the garden.</p> + +<p>"The first yellow leaf lay on the ground, a fine mist hung in the trees, +and the sun was going down crimson. I walked down the path to the little +fish-pond. I saw the decaying boat lying in the clear brown water, and +the reflection of the oaks. Then I suddenly stopped. I had recognized +Edwin Stürmer's voice. They must be standing close by me, behind the +thicket of barberry and snow-berry bushes.</p> + +<p>"'No, no, I shall not let you again!' he said, strangely moved. I turned +to go. It seemed to me I must cry out from pain and indignation.</p> + +<p>"I walked back quickly. I know not what impelled me to go first to the +child's bed, as if I must look in that little innocent face to still +believe in love and fidelity in the world. The little man was asleep, +the curtains were drawn, and the night-lamp already lighted. The door +leading to Susanna's room was just ajar. All at once I started up, for +the sound of Isa's voice came in to me and made my heart almost stop +beating.</p> + +<p>"'It won't do to put off any longer, my lamb; if you have said A, you +must say B too. This is the third letter already, and you can't remain a +widow forever. Oh, don't make faces now; over there—that is nothing. If +I am not very much mistaken, he has turned about now, and—' She +probably made a sign, and then she laughed.</p> + +<p>"Now I heard Susanna, too. 'My child!' she sobbed.</p> + +<p>"'But, darling, do be reasonable. One can't take little children about +everywhere. What would you do with the rascal? Let him grow up on his +inheritance; few children have so good a one. You can see him at any +time, too, darling,' she continued, as Susanna kept on sobbing. 'You +will only have to come here. Oh, don't be so fearfully unreasonable; +have I ever given you any bad advice? Do you mean to live on here, under +the sceptre of your sister-in-law? I should laugh!' said she, after a +while, playing her last trump.</p> + +<p>"Susanna's weeping suddenly ceased. 'I do not know yet,' she said +shortly.</p> + +<p>"Then I roused myself from my numbness, and hurried through the +garden-parlor to the terrace. There they stood—yes, in truth, there +they stood—under the linden, Anna Maria and Stürmer, and looked over +toward Dambitz. The last ray of the setting sun tinged the evening sky +with such a red glow that I closed my eyes, dazzled; or were they dimmed +by tears of joy? Now I heard a light rustle behind me, and, looking +around, I saw Susanna. She had laid aside her widow's dress, and had a +white rose in her hair. The tears of a few minutes ago were dried.</p> + +<p>"I took her by the hand and pointed mutely to the two under the linden. +She looked over in surprise. 'Anna Maria?' she asked softly.</p> + +<p>"'And Edwin Stürmer!' I added. She did not answer. But she had grown +pale, and looked at them fixedly.</p> + +<p>"'They have long loved each other, Susanna,' said I, gravely; 'even +before you ever came here. But Anna Maria once refused his +proposal'—Susanna's eyes were fixed on my lips—'<i>because she would not +forsake her only brother!</i>'</p> + +<p>"The young wife was silent; but, as Anna Maria and Stürmer now turned in +the direction of the house, she turned and went in. Now they came +walking up the middle path. And when they stood before me, I saw a +happy light in Anna Maria's eyes which I had never seen shine before. +She bent over to me and kissed my hand.</p> + +<p>"'She has made it very hard for me, has Anna Maria,' said Edwin Stürmer, +drawing the girl to him. 'She tried to put on her icy mask again; she +could not go away from Susanna and the child. But this time I was too +quickly at hand. Was I not, my Anna Maria?'</p> + +<p>"Very early the next morning I heard a carriage roll away from the +court. I rang for Brockelmann. 'The gracious Frau has gone away with +Isa; and has left a letter for Anna Maria down-stairs on the table.'</p> + +<p>"'Have you delivered it yet?' I asked.</p> + +<p>"The old woman nodded. 'There is some secret about it,' she said sadly; +'Isa was altogether too important.'</p> + +<p>"Anna Maria came, very much surprised, with the open letter.</p> + +<p>"'I don't understand it, aunt. Susanna has a rendezvous in Berlin with +an acquaintance from Nice?'</p> + +<p>"I shrugged my shoulders.</p> + +<p>"'She is angry with me,' she whispered, with pale lips. 'She did love +him, aunt; it is horrible!'</p> + +<p>"'No, no, my child,' I tried to calm her, 'no, do not believe that.' But +she made an averting gesture, and left me with tears in her eyes. +Already a shadow lay over her happiness. Reluctantly I followed her +down-stairs, and then went, almost aimlessly, into Susanna's room. Here +all was topsy-turvy, just as occasionally in former times. In the haste +of departure all sorts of things had been left lying about, on every +chair some article of clothing, fans, ribbons, strips of black crape, +and books, and in the fire-place was still a little heap of burned +paper. The fragments of a letter had fallen beside it, in the hurry +probably. I picked them up—a bold handwriting, English words.</p> + +<p>"'I beg for something positive at last,' I read. 'To Berlin—no +hindrance—my love—in a short time—mine forever—Robbin.'</p> + +<p>"I sat quite still for a while, with the bits of paper in my hand. Now +it gradually became clear to me—Susanna's restless, distraught manner, +Isa's mysterious conduct, her words of yesterday, and the sudden +departure. Susanna was gone, Susanna would never return; in a short time +she would be the wife of another, of a perfect stranger; she would never +belong to us any more!</p> + +<p>"And I took up the pieces of the letter and went to look for Anna Maria. +She was sitting at the window, looking over toward Dambitz. 'Here, Anna +Maria,' said I, 'your fear is groundless.'</p> + +<p>"She read, and a painful expression came over her face. 'I pity her, +aunt. She thinks her happiness is floating about without, but it is +slumbering here in this little cradle. She will find it out sooner or +later, and she will return, don't you think so?' she asked, anxiously +confident.</p> + +<p>"Then her face lighted up: Stürmer was coming across the garden; he was +leading his horse by the bridle, and sent up a greeting.</p> + +<p>"'Your lover, Anna Maria!'</p> + +<p>"She grew very red. 'Is it not like a dream?' she asked softly.</p> + +<p>"It was in November, the day before Anna Maria's marriage, that a letter +with a strange post-mark lay in the mail-bag for me, the address in a +man's handwriting. I gave a start; I recognized the bold hand, the +peculiar flourish at the last letter of a word. It was the same hand +that had written that letter whose remains I had found in Susanna's +room.</p> + +<p>"I broke open the envelope; it contained two letters. The one which +first fell into my hands was a formal announcement of the marriage of +Frau von Hegewitz, <i>née</i> Mattoni, to Mr. Robbin Olliver, London.</p> + +<p>"I took up the other letter. 'Dearest aunt,' my astonished eyes read, +'the accomplished fact has just come to your knowledge; forgive me, +forgive me everything! I am not wicked, not light-minded; I have only +sought for myself the freedom which is as necessary to my life as air to +breathing. I shall gladly follow my husband, with whom I became +acquainted in Nice, to Brazil, out of the narrow circle of rusty old +customs, to a more stirring, varied life, in which to-day and to-morrow, +weeks and months, do not follow each other in dull repetition.</p> + +<p>"'With longing I think of my child. I have no right to take him with me +over the sea; he belongs to his ancestral home, and I know that Anna +Maria must love him more than I. Forgive me, I beg you once more from my +heart, and send me occasionally—it is the last request I shall make of +the family which chains me with inward bonds—a lock of my child's hair, +and teach him to think without ill-will of his mother.'</p> + +<p>"No signature, nothing more. I turned the sheet over—nothing! I gave a +sigh of pain, and yet it seemed as if the weight of a mountain had +rolled from my heart.</p> + +<p>"And now I must tell Anna Maria about it. But no, not to-day or +to-morrow. These days ought never to be troubled. I went down-stairs +toward evening. Anna Maria was by the graves in the garden. Brockelmann +informed me; and the old woman showed me with pride what she had +arranged in the hall for her Fräulein's wedding-day—all about, +evergreen, and countless candles in it.</p> + +<p>"'It is no great festival,' said she; 'only two or three people are +coming; Anna Maria will have it so, and he too. But just for that reason +it should be right beautiful.'</p> + +<p>"I went into the girl's sleeping-room and stepped up to the child's +little bed. He was slumbering sweetly, without a suspicion that his +mother had left him forever. But be quiet, you poor little fellow; you +still have a mother, a true, earnest one—Anna Maria. I stood in the +recess of the window and listened to the breathing of the boy.</p> + +<p>"After a while the door opened softly and Anna Maria entered. She did +not see me, but I saw that she had been weeping. She knelt down to the +child and kissed it, and then stood with folded hands before the bed a +long time.</p> + +<p>"Then footsteps sounded in the next room. 'Anna Maria!' called Stürmer. +She flew to the door. 'Edwin!' I heard her say jubilantly. They +whispered together a long time, and when I came in they were standing at +the window.</p> + +<p>"'Is that a nuptial eve?' I asked, in jest. 'In the dark thus, and +without any ringing of bells and music?'</p> + +<p>"They both laughed. But then the church-bell began its evening peal, and +from the next room came in the clear sound of a child's voice: 'Mamma, +mamma, Anna Maria!' Then she threw her arms about my neck and kissed me. +'And do you call that without ringing of bells and music?' she asked +happily. Then she brought in the child, and they sat together on the +sofa, with it between them, and spoke of Klaus, of past days, of the +future, and of their happiness.</p> + +<p>"It was Anna Maria who first mentioned Susanna's name. 'It is so long +since she has written,' she said. 'I have received no answer to two +letters. Can she be coming, Edwin? She knows that to-morrow is to be our +wedding-day.'</p> + +<p>"'Susanna?' I replied. 'No, Anna Maria, she is <i>not</i> coming!'</p> + +<p>"'Have you news?' they asked, both together.</p> + +<p>"'She is married, Anna Maria, and is no longer in Europe.'</p> + +<p>"Neither of them answered.</p> + +<p>"'And she lays the child on your heart.'</p> + +<p>"Then she bent over and kissed the baby, who had gone to sleep on her +lap. 'Edwin,' she whispered, in a strangely faltering voice, 'this is +the wedding present from my only brother!'"</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>So ended the manuscript. It was the third evening of the reading. The +young man laid the sheets on the table and looked in the agitated face +of his wife. "My mother died in America," he said. "Mother Anna Maria +tied a strip of crape about my arm one day, and cried, and kissed me so +often; we were living right here in Bütze then; and then we went up to +Aunt Rosamond, and she cried too, and kissed me. They told me that my +mother was dead, but I did not understand them, because I saw Anna Maria +before me, and I did not know or care to know any mother but her."</p> + +<p>The young wife took his hand. She was about to speak, but did not, for +just then the door opened and a tall woman's figure crossed the +threshold.</p> + +<p>"Mother!" they cried, both springing up, "Mother Anna Maria!" And the +young man tenderly put his arm around her and kissed her hand.</p> + +<p>"Good evening, children," she said simply, and her eyes looked gently +over to them, under the white hair.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dearest mother, how charming of you!" cried the young wife, +exultingly. "How are father and the sisters?"</p> + +<p>"Edwin is well," she replied; "and the sisters are looking forward to +Sunday, when you are coming over."</p> + +<p>"And you, mother?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I had a longing to see my eldest daughter and my only son," she +said lovingly; "and besides, to-day is Martinmas."</p> + +<p>She let bonnet and cloak be taken off, and sat down on the sofa. "What +have you there?" she asked, turning over the papers. Then her eyes +rested upon them; she read, and a delicate blush gradually mounted to +her face.</p> + +<p>"Those were the sad years," she whispered; "now come the bright ones. +When I am dead then write underneath:</p> + +<p>"'She was the happiest of wives, the most beloved of mothers!'"</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2><a name="Lives_of_Famous_Men" id="Lives_of_Famous_Men"></a>Lives of Famous Men</h2> + + +<p>In this series of historical and biographical works the publishers have +included only such books as will interest and instruct the youth of both +sexes. A copy should be in every public, school and private library.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. By George Washington Parke Custis, the +adopted son of our first president.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Hon. Joseph H. Barrett, ex-member of +Congress.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF U. S. GRANT. By Hon. B. P. Poore and Rev. O. H. Tiffany, D. D.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF WILLIAM McKINLEY. By Murat Halstead, Chauncey M. Depew and John +Sherman.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT. By Thomas W. Handford.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF HENRY M. STANLEY. By Prof. A. M. Godbey, A. M.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF JOHN PAUL JONES. By Charles Walter Brown.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF ETHAN ALLEN. By Charles Walter Brown.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF W. T. SHERMAN. By Hon. W. Fletcher Johnson and Gen. O. O. +Howard.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF P. T. BARNUM. By Hon. Joel Benton.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF T. DEWITT TALMAGE. By Charles Francis Adams.</p> + +<p>LIFE OF D. L. MOODY. By Charles Francis Adams.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Sister's Love, by W. Heimburg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SISTER'S LOVE *** + +***** This file should be named 33958-h.htm or 33958-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/9/5/33958/ + +Produced by Peter Vachuska, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Sister's Love + A Novel + +Author: W. Heimburg + +Translator: Margaret P. Waterman + +Release Date: September 30, 2010 [EBook #33958] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SISTER'S LOVE *** + + + + +Produced by Peter Vachuska, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + A SISTER'S LOVE + + _A NOVEL_ + + BY W. HEIMBURG + + + TRANSLATED BY + MARGARET P. WATERMAN + + CHICAGO: + M. A. DONOHUE & CO. + 407-429 DEARBORN ST. + + + + +A SISTER'S LOVE. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + +A severe storm had been raging all day, and now, in the approaching +twilight, seemed as if it would overleap all bounds in its wild +confusion. Straight from the North Sea, over the broad Lueneburg heath, +it came rushing along, and beat against the gray walls of the +manor-house, shook the great elms in the garden, tossed about the +bushes, and blew from the bare branches the last yellow leaf yet spared +them by the November frost. + +The great castle-like building, inhabited for centuries by the Von +Hegewitz family, looked dismal and gloomy under the cloud-laden sky; in +almost spectral gloom it lay there, with its sharply pointed gables, its +round tower, and heavy buttresses supporting the walls. + +If did not always look thus, this old manor-house; in summer it was very +picturesque behind its green trees, the golden sunshine lying on its +slate roof, the pointed gables sharply outlined against the blue sky, +and the gray walls, framed by huge, old oaks, reflected in the brown +water of the pond. Beside it lay the farm-buildings and the houses of +the village, whose shingled roofs emerged in their turn from the foliage +of the fruit-trees. Far out into the Mark country extended the view, +over fields of waving corn, over green meadows and purple heath, bounded +on the horizon by the dark line of a pine forest. A narrow strip of pine +woods, besides, lay to the north, extending nearly to the garden, and on +hot summer afternoons an almost intoxicating fragrance was wafted from +it toward the quiet house. + +Within it was still a real, old-fashioned German house; for there were +dim corridors and deep niches, great vaulted rooms and large alcoves, +little staircases with steep steps worn by many feet, and curious low +vaulted doors. A flight of steps would lead quite unexpectedly from one +room into the next, and here and there a door, instead of leading out of +a room, opened, to one's surprise, into a huge closet. Then there were +cemented floors, and great beams dividing the ceilings, and the smallest +of window-panes. And yet where could more real comfort be found than in +such an old house, especially when a November storm is howling without, +and here indoors great fir logs are crackling in the gay-tiled stove? + +And just now, down the stairs from the upper story, came an old lady, +looking as if comfort itself came with the green silk knitting-bag on +her arm, her large lace cap, and the brown silk shawl over her +shoulders. She might have been in the fifties, this small, spare figure, +and she limped. Fraeulein Rosamond von Hegewitz had limped all her life, +and yet a more contented nature than hers did not exist. She now turned +to the left and walked along the narrow corridor. This was her regular +evening walk, as she went to her nephew and niece in the sitting-room--a +dear old walk, which she had taken for years, since the time when the +children were little, and her brother and sister-in-law were still +alive; when twilight came she could no longer endure the solitude of +her spinster's room. + +Just as she was about to lay her hand on the bright brass door-handle, +she perceived by the dim light of the hall-lamp a girl who was sobbing +gently, her coarse linen apron thrown over her face. + +"What are you crying about, Marieken?" asked the old lady kindly, coming +back a step or two. The curly brown head was raised, and a young face, +bathed in tears and now red from embarrassment, looked up at Fraeulein +Rosamond. + +"Ah, gracious Fraeulein, I am to leave," she stammered, "and I----" + +"Why, what have you--?" The old lady got no further, for just then the +door was opened a little way and the clear, full tones of a youthful +feminine voice came out into the corridor. + +"That is my last word, Maertensen; I will not suffer such things in my +house. She may thank God that I have noticed her folly in good season. +Only think of Louisa Keller!" + +"God in heaven, Fraeulein!" the person accosted replied in defence, +almost weeping. "The lass has done nothing bad, and he is certainly a +respectable man. O Fraeulein, when one is young one knows too----" + +"For shame, Maertensen!" This came vehemently. "You know what I have +said. Take your Marieken and go. I will have no frivolous maids in my +house!" + +The door was now opened wide, and an old woman came out, her wrinkled +face red with excitement. + +"Come, lass," she called to the girl, who had just put her apron over +her eyes again; "troubles don't last forever! She'll feel it herself +some day yet! Driving away my girl as if she had been stealing!" And +without greeting the old lady, she seized her daughter by the arm and +drew her away with her. + +Rosamond von Hegewitz turned slowly to the door. A half-mocking, +half-earnest expression lay on the wise old face. "_Bon soir_, Anna +Maria!" said she, as she entered the brightly lighted sitting-room. + +A girl rose from the chair before the massive secretary, went toward the +new-comer, and received her with that formality which at the beginning +of our century had not yet disappeared from the circle of gentle +families, pressing to her lips the outstretched hand with an expression +of deepest respect. + +"Good evening, aunt; how are you feeling?" + +It was the same rich voice that had spoken before, and, like it, could +belong only to such a fresh young creature. Anna Maria von Hegewitz was +just turned eighteen, and the whole charm of these eighteen years was +woven about her slender figure and the rosy face under her braids of +fair hair. In contradiction to this girlishness, a pair of deep gray +eyes looked out from beneath the white forehead, seriously, and with +almost a look of experience, which, with a peculiar self-conscious +expression about the mouth, lent a certain austerity to the face. + +"Thank you, my dear, I am well," replied the old lady, seating herself +at the round table before the sofa, upon which were burning four candles +in shining brass candlesticks. "Don't let me interrupt you, _ma +mignonne_. I see I have broken in upon your writing; are you writing to +Klaus?" + +"I have only been looking over the grain accounts, aunt; I shall be done +in a moment. I shall not write again to Klaus, for he must return day +after to-morrow at the latest. If you will excuse me a moment----" + +"Oh, certainly, child. I will occupy myself alone meanwhile." The old +lady drew her knitting-work from the silk bag and began to work, at the +same time glancing dreamily about the large, warm, comfortable room. + +She had known it thus long since; nothing in it had been altered since +her youth--the same deep arm-chairs around the table, the artistic +inlaid cupboards, even the dark, stamped leather wall-paper was still +the same, and the old rococo clock still ticked its low, swift +to-and-fro, as if it could not make the time pass quickly enough. And +there at the desk, where the young niece was sitting, her only brother +had worked and calculated, and at that sewing-table on the estrade at +the window had been the favorite seat of the sister-in-law who died so +young. But how little resemblance there was between mother and daughter! + +The old lady looked over toward her again. The girl's lips moved, and +the slender hand passed slowly with the pencil down the row of figures +on the paper. "Makes five hundred and seventy-five thaler, twenty-three +groschen," she said, half-aloud. "Correct! + +"Now, then, Aunt Rosamond, I am at your service." She extinguished the +candle, locked the writing-desk, and bringing a pretty spinning-wheel +from the corner, sat down near her aunt, and soon the little wheel was +gently humming, and the slender fingers drawing the finest of thread +from the shining flax. For a while the room was quiet, the silence +broken only by the howling of the storm and the crackling of the burning +log in the stove. + +"Anna Maria," began the old lady at last, "you know I never interfere +with your arrangements, so pardon me if I ask why you send Marieken +away." + +"She has a love affair with Gottlieb," replied the niece, shortly. + +"I am sorry for that, Anna Maria; she was always a girl who respected +herself; ought you to act so severely?" + +"She gives him her supper secretly, and runs about the garden with him +on pitch-dark nights. I will not have such actions in my house, and know +that Klaus would not approve of it either." The words sounded strangely +from the young lips. + +"Yes, Anna Maria "--Rosamond von Hegewitz smiled "if you will judge +thus! These people have quite different sentiments from us, and--and you +cannot know, I suppose, if their views are honest?" + +"That is nothing to me!" replied Anna Maria. "They _cannot_ marry, +because they are both as poor as church mice. What is to come of it? The +girl must leave; you surely see that, dear aunt?" + +The old lady now laughed aloud. "One can see, Anna Maria, that you know +nothing yet of a real attachment, or you would not proceed in so +dictatorial a manner." + +The slightest change came over the young face. "I _will_ not know it, +either!" she declared firmly, almost turning away. + +"But, sweetheart," came from the old voice almost anxiously, "do you +think that it will always be so with you? You are eighteen years old--do +you think your heart will live on thus without ever feeling a passion? +And do you expect the same of your brother, Anna Maria? Klaus is still +so young----" + +The little foot stopped on the treadle of the wheel, and the gray eyes +looked in amazement at the speaker. + +"Don't you know then, aunt, that it is a long-established matter that +Klaus and I should always stay together? Klaus promised our mother on +her death-bed that he would never leave me. And I go away from Klaus? +Oh, sooner--sooner may the sky fall! Don't speak of such possibilities, +Aunt Rosamond. It is absurd even to think of." + +"Pardon me, Anna Maria"--the words sounded almost solemn--"I was present +when your dying mother took from Klaus his promise never to leave you, +always to protect you. But at the same time to forbid him to love +another woman, a woman whom his heart might choose, she surely did not +intend!" + +"Aunt Rosamond!" cried the girl, almost threateningly. + +"No, my child, I repeat it, your mother was much too wise, much too +just, to wish such a thing; she was too happy in her own marriage to +wish her children--But, _mon Dieu_, I am exciting myself quite +uselessly; you have such a totally false conception of this promise." + +"Klaus told me so himself, Aunt Rosamond," declared the girl, in a tone +which made contradiction impossible. + +Aunt Rosamond was silent; she knew well that all talking would be vain, +and that nothing in the world could convince Anna Maria that any object +worthy of love beside her beloved brother could exist. "_Nous verrons, +ma petite_," thought she, "you will not be spared the experience +either!" + +And now her thoughts wandered far back into the past, to the night when +Anna Maria was born. A terrible night! And as they passed on, there came +a day still more terrible; in the heavy wooden cradle, adorned with +crests, lay, indeed, the sweetly sleeping child, but the mother's eyes +had closed forever, not, however, without first looking, with a fervid, +anguished expression, at the little creature that must go through life +without a mother's love! And beside her bed had knelt a boy of fifteen, +who had to promise over and over again to love the little sister, and +protect and shield her. + +How often had Aunt Rosamond told this to the child as she grew up; how +often described to her how she had been baptized by her mother's coffin, +how her brother had held her in his arms and pressed her so closely to +him, and wept so bitterly. Indeed, indeed, there was not another brother +like Klaus von Hegewitz, that Aunt Rosamond knew best of all. + +She remembered how he had watched for nights at the child's bed when she +lay ill with measles; with what unwearied patience he had borne with her +whims, now even as then; how carefully he had marked out a course of +instruction and selected teachers for her, looked up lectures for her, +read and rode with her, and did everything that the most careful +parental love alone can do, and even more--much more! Indeed, Anna Maria +knew nothing of a parent's love; the father had always been a peculiar +person, especially so after the death of his wife: it almost seemed as +if he could not love the child whose life had cost a life. He was rarely +at home; half the year he lived in Berlin, coming back to the old +manor-house only at the hunting season. But never alone; he was always +accompanied by a young man, a Baron Stuermer, owner of the neighboring +estate of Dambitz, and two years older than Klaus. + +It was a singular friendship which had existed between these two men. +Hegewitz, well on in the sixties, gloomy and unsociable, and from his +youth distrustful of every one, and not even amiable toward his own +children, was affable only to his friend, so much younger. To this +moment Aunt Rosamond distinctly remembered the pale, nobly-formed face +with the fiery brown eyes and the dark hair. How gratefully she +remembered him! He had been the only one who understood how to mediate +between father and son, the only one who, with admirable firmness, had +again and again led the struggling little girl to her father; and he did +all this out of that incomprehensible friendship. The two used to play +chess together late into the night; they rode and hunted together; and +still one other passion united them--they collected antiquities. + +They searched the towns and villages for miles about for old carved +chests, clocks, porcelain, and pictures, and would dispute all night as +to whether a certain picture, bought at an auction, was by this or that +master, whether it was an original or a copy. They often remained away +for days on their excursions, and the treasures they won were then +artistically arranged in a tower-room--"a regular rag-shop," Aunt +Rosamond had once said in banter. "I only wonder they don't get me too +for this '_Collection Antique_.'" After the death of Hegewitz this +really valuable collection was found to be made over, by will, to Baron +Stuermer, "because Klaus did not understand such things." Stuermer +accepted the bequest, but he had it appraised by a person intelligent in +such matters, and paid the value to the heirs. Klaus von Hegewitz +refused to accept the sum, and so the two men agreed to found an +almshouse for the two villages of Buetze and Dambitz. + +That had happened ten years ago, and the collecting furor of the old +gentleman had borne good results. + +Soon after his death, Baron Stuermer went away on a journey; he had long +wished to travel, and had deferred his cherished plan only on his old +friend's account. His first goals had been Italy, Constantinople, and +Greece; he went to Egypt, he visited South America, Norway and Sweden, +and had travelled through Russia and the Caucasus. No one knew where he +was staying at present. He had written seldom of late years, at last not +at all; but his memory still lived in Buetze. Only Anna Maria no longer +spoke of him; indeed, she scarcely remembered him now: she was just +eight years old when he went away. Only this she still knew: that Uncle +Stuermer had often taken her by the hand and led her to her father, and +that at such times her heart had always beaten more quickly from fear. +Anna Maria had stood in real awe of her father, and when he died and was +buried, not a tear flowed from the child's eyes. Her entire affection +belonged to her brother, as she used to say, full of pride and love for +him. + +Aunt Rosamond had never been able to exert the slightest influence over +the girl's independent character. + +As soon as Anna Maria was confirmed, she hung the bunch of keys at her +belt, and took up the reins of housekeeping with an energy and +circumspection that aroused the admiration of all, and especially of the +old aunt, who was particularly struck by it, since she herself was a +tender, weak type of woman, to whom such energy in one of her own sex +could but seem incomprehensible. + +Anna Maria spun on quietly as all these thoughts succeeded each other +behind the wrinkled brow of her companion. She could sit and spin thus +whole evenings, without saying a word; she was quite different from +other girls! She did not allow a bird or a flower in her room, nor did +she ever wear a flower or a ribbon as an ornament. And yet one could +scarcely imagine a more high-bred appearance than hers. Whether she were +walking, in her house dress, through kitchen and cellar, or receiving +guests in the drawing-room, as happened two or three times a year, she +lost nothing in comparison with other ladies and girls; on the contrary, +she had a certain superiority to them, and Aunt Rosamond would sometimes +say to herself: "The others are like geese beside _her_!"--"Yes, what +may happen here yet?" she asked herself with a sigh. + +"A letter for the Fraeulein!" A youth of perhaps twenty-five years, +dressed in simple dark livery, handed Anna Maria a letter. + +"From Klaus!" she cried joyfully, but held the letter in her hand +without opening it, and fixed her eyes upon the firm, resolute face of +the servant. + +"Well, Gottlieb, what is the matter with you?" she asked. "You look as +if your wheat had been utterly ruined." + +"Gracious Fraeulein," the youth replied, with hesitation yet firmly, "the +master will have to look about for some one else--I am going away at New +Year." + +"Have you gone mad?" cried Anna Maria, frowning. "What is it here that +you object to?" She had risen and stepped up to the youth. "As for the +rest," she continued, "I can imagine why you have such folly in your +head. Because I have sent away Marieken Maertens, do you wish to go too? +Very well, I will not keep you; you may go; there are plenty of people +who would take your place. But if your father knew it he would turn in +his grave. Do you know how long your father served at Buetze?" + +"Fifty-eight years, Fraeulein," replied the young fellow at once. + +"Fifty-eight years! And his son runs away from the service in which his +father grew old and gray, after a frivolous girl! Very well, you shall +have your way; but mind, any one who once goes away from here--never +returns. You may go." + +The servant's face grew deep red at the reproachful words of his young +mistress; he turned slowly to the door and left the room. + +Anna Maria had meanwhile broken the great crested seal, and was reading. +"Klaus is coming day after to-morrow!" After reading awhile, now as +happy as a child, she cried to the old lady: "Just hear, Aunt Rosamond, +what else he writes. I will read it aloud. + +"'I found my old Mattoni over his books as usual, but it seemed to me he +looked ill. I asked him about it, but he declared he was well. A +proposal to come and recuperate next summer in our beautiful country air +he dismissed with a shake of the head, "he had no time!" He is an +incorrigible bookworm. + +"'But now here is something particularly interesting! Do you know whom I +met yesterday "Unter den Linden," sunburned and scarcely recognizable? +Edwin Stuermer! He was standing by a picture-store, and I beside him for +some time, without a suspicion of each other; we were looking at some +pretty water-colors by Heuselt. All at once a hand was laid on my arm, +and a familiar voice cried: "Upon my word, Klaus, if you had not +developed that fine beard, I should have recognized you sooner!" + +"'I was exceedingly glad to see Edwin again, and rejoice still more at +the future prospect. The old vagabond is going to fold his wings at +last, and take care of his estate. He is coming shortly to Dambitz; +consequently we shall have a good friend again near us. As for the +rest, he wouldn't believe that you have become a young lady and no +longer wear long braids and short dresses.'" + +Anna Maria stopped, and looked into the distance, as if recalling +something. "I don't know exactly now how he looked," she said. "He wore +a full black beard, didn't he, aunt, and must be very old now?" + +"No indeed, _mon coeur_; he may be thirty-five at the most." + +"That is certainly old, Aunt Rosamond!" + +"That is the way young people judge," said the old lady, smiling. + +"It may be, aunt," said Anna Maria, and put the letter in her pocket. +She had begun to spin again, when an old woman in a dazzlingly white +apron entered the room. + +"Gracious Fraeulein," she began respectfully, yet familiarly, "Marieken +is off, and has made a great commotion in the house, and the eldest of +the Weber girls has just applied for the place, but she asks for twelve +thaler for wages and a jacket at Christmas!" + +"Ten thaler, and Christmas according to the way she conducts herself," +Anna Maria replied, without looking up. + +The housekeeper disappeared, but returned after awhile. + +"Eleven thaler and a jacket, Fraeulein; she will not come otherwise," she +reported. "You can surely give her that; she has no lover, and will +hardly get one, for she is already well on in years, and----" + +Anna Maria drew a purse from her pocket, and laid an eight-groschen +piece on the table. "The advance-money, Brockelmann; do you know that +Gottlieb wishes to leave?" + +"Oh, dear, yes, Fraeulein." The old woman was quite embarrassed. "I am +sorry; he doted upon the lass at one time, and at last--oh, heavens, +fraeulein, one has been young too, and if two people love each +other--see, Fraeulein, it is just as if one had drunk deadly hemlock. I +mean no offence, but you will know it yet some day, and, if God will, +may the handsomest and best man in the world come to Buetze and take you +home!" + +The old woman had spoken affectingly, and looked at her young mistress +with brightening eyes. Only she would have dared to touch on this point. +She had been Anna Maria's nurse, and a remnant of tenderness toward her +was still hidden somewhere in the girl's heart. + +"Brockelmann, you cannot keep from talking," she cried, serenely. "You +know I shall _never_ marry. What would the master do without me? Is +supper ready?" + +"The master!" said the good woman, without regarding the last question. +"He ought to marry too! As if it were not high time for him; he will be +thirty-three years old at Martinmas!" + + + + +CHAPTER II. + + +A few days afterward Edwin Stuermer came to Buetze. Anna Maria was +standing just on the lower staircase landing, in the great stone-paved +entrance-hall, a basket of red-cheeked apples on her arm, and +Brockelmann stood near her with a candle in her hand. The unsteady light +of the flickering candle fell on the immediate surroundings, and, like +an old picture of Rembrandt's, the fair head of the girl stood out from +the darkness of the wide hall. Round about her there was a great hue and +cry; all the children of the village seemed to be collected there, and +sang with a sort of scream, to a monotonous air, the old Martinmas +ditty: + + "Martins, martins, pretty things, + With your little golden wings, + To the Rhine now fly away, + To-morrow is St. Martin's Day. + Marieken, Marieken, open the door, + Two poor rogues are standing before! + Little summer, little summer, rose's leaf, + City fair, + Give us something, O maiden fair!" + +They were just beginning a new song when the heavy entrance-door opened, +and Baron Stuermer came in. Anna Maria did not see him at once, for, +according to an old custom of St. Martin's Eve, she was throwing a +handful of apples right among the little band, who pounced upon them +with cries and shouts. Only when a man's head rose up straight before +her, by the heavily carved banister, she glanced up, and looked into a +pale face framed by dark hair and beard, and into a pair of shining +brown eyes. + +For an instant Anna Maria was startled, and a blush of embarrassment +spread over her face; then she held out her hand to him and bade him +welcome. Far from youthful was her manner of speaking and acting. + +"Be still!" she called, in her ringing voice, to the noisy children; and +as silence immediately ensued, she added, turning to Stuermer: "They are +meeting me on important business, Herr von Stuermer, but I shall be ready +to leave at once; will you go up to Klaus for awhile?" + +He kept on looking at her, still holding her right hand; he had not +heard what she said at all. With quick impatience, at length she +withdrew her hand. + +"Brockelmann, bring the candle here, and take the gentleman to my +brother," she ordered; but then, as if changing her mind, she threw the +whole basketful of apples at once among the children, who scrambled for +them, screaming wildly. The baron made his way with difficulty through +the groping throng to the stairs, where Anna Maria was now standing +motionless, and with earnest gaze regarding the man who in her childhood +had so often held her in his arms, and had so many a kind word for her. + +Yes, it was he again; the slender figure of medium height, the dark face +with the flashing eyes--and yet how different! + +Anna Maria had to admit to herself that it was a handsome man who was +coming up the steps just then; and old? She had to smile. "One sees +quite differently with a child's eyes!" she said to herself. Was it not +as if years were blotted out, and he was coming up as in the old times, +to hold her fast by her braids and say, "Don't run so, Anna Maria"? + +Silently up the stairs they went together, to the top, their steps +reechoing from the walls. + +It really seemed now to Anna Maria as if her childhood had returned, the +sweet, remote childhood, with a thousand bright, innocent hours. +Involuntarily she held out to him her slender hand, and he seized it +quickly and forced the maiden to stand still. The sound of the +children's shouting came indistinctly to them up here; there was no one +beside them in the dim corridor. + +Words of pleasure at seeing the friend of her childhood again trembled +on Anna Maria's lips, but when she tried to speak the man's eyes met +hers, and her mouth remained closed. Slowly, and still looking at her, +he drew the slender hand to his lips; she allowed it as if in a dream, +then hastily caught her hand away. + +"What is that?" she asked, half in jest, half in anger; "I gave you my +hand because I was glad to greet the uncle of my childhood, and an +uncle----" + +"May not kiss one's hand," he supplied, a smile flitting over his face. +Anna Maria did not see it, having stepped forward into the sitting-room. +"A visitor, Klaus!" she called into the room, which was still dark. + +"Ah!" at once replied a man's voice. "Stuermer, is it you? Welcome, +welcome! You find us quite in the dark. We were just talking of you, and +of old times; were we not, Aunt Rosamond?" + +A merry greeting followed, an invitation to supper was given and +accepted, and Klaus von Hegewitz called for lights. + +"Oh, let us chat a little longer in the dark," said Aunt Rosamond. "Who +knows but we should seem stranger to each other if a candle were +lighted? Does it not seem, _cher baron_, as if it were yesterday that +you were sitting here with us, and yet----" + +"It is ten years ago, Stuermer," finished Klaus. + +"Truly!" assented Stuermer, "ten years!" + +"Oh, but how happy we have been here," the old lady ran on. "Do you +remember, Stuermer, how you carried me off once in the most festive +manner, in a sleigh, and on the way the mad idea came to you to drive on +past our godfather's, and then you landed us both so softly in the +deepest snow-drift--me in my best dress, the green brocade, you know, +that you always called my parrot's costume?" + +Klaus laughed heartily. "_A propos_, Stuermer," he asked, "have you seen +Anna Maria yet?" + +"Yes, indeed, I have already had the honor, on the landing down-stairs," +replied the baron. + +"The honor? Heavens, how ceremonious! Did you hear, dear?" asked the +brother. But no answer came. "Anna Maria!" he then called. + +"She is not here," said Aunt Rosamond, groping about to find the way out +of the room. "But it is really too dark here," she added. + +"Why haven't you married, Hegewitz?" Stuermer asked abruptly. + +"I might pass the question back to you," replied Klaus. "But let us +leave that alone, Stuermer, I will tell you something about it another +time." Klaus von Hegewitz had risen and stepped to the nearest window; +for a while silence reigned in the quiet room. Stuermer regretted having +touched upon a topic that evidently aroused painful emotions. + +"Every one has his experiences, Stuermer, so why should we be spared?" +Klaus turned around, beginning to speak again. "But it is overcome now. +I do not think about it any more," he added. "Will you have another +cigar?" + +"Not think about it any more?" cried the baron, not hearing the last +question. He laughed aloud. "At thirty-four? My dear Klaus, what will +become of you, then, when Aunt Rosamond dies and Anna Maria marries?" + +"Anna Maria? I haven't thought about that yet, Stuermer; she is still so +young, and--although--But one can see that it is possible to live so: +you give the best example!" Klaus was out of humor. + +The baron did not reply. He soon turned the conversation to agricultural +matters, and a discussion over esparcet and fodder was first interrupted +by the announcement that supper was served. + +Aunt Rosamond had, meanwhile, gone through the main hall and knocked at +a door at the end of the passage. Anna Maria's voice called, "Come in!" +She, too, was sitting in the dark, but she rose and lit a candle. The +light illuminated her whole face. "Anna Maria, are you ill?" her aunt +asked anxiously, and stepped nearer. + +"Not exactly ill, aunt, but I have a headache." + +"You have taken cold; why do you ride out in this sharp wind? You are +both inconsiderate, you and Klaus! Show me your pulse--of course, on the +gallop; go to bed, Anna Maria." + +"After supper, aunt; what would Klaus say if I were not there?" + +"But you are really looking badly, Anna Maria." + +The young girl laughed, took her bunch of keys in her hand and thus +compelled Aunt Rosamond to go with her. "Don't worry," she bade her, +"and above all, don't say anything to Klaus. He might think it worse +than it is." + +"Klaus, and always, only Klaus--_incroyable_!" murmured the old lady. + + * * * * * + +"If that wasn't a remarkable company at table this evening," said Klaus +von Hegewitz, as he reaentered the sitting-room, after escorting Baron +Stuermer down-stairs. "You, Anna Maria, did not say a word, and the +conversation dragged along till it nearly died out; if Aunt Rosamond had +not kept the thing up, why--really, it was peculiar. But how nice it is +when we are by ourselves, isn't it, little sister?" + +He had put his arm around Anna Maria, who stood at the table, looking +toward the window as if listening for something, and looked lovingly in +her face. + +The brother and sister resembled each other unmistakably in their +features, except that beside his earnestness a winning kindness spoke +from the brother's eyes, and the harsh lines about his mouth were hidden +by a handsome beard. + +"Yes," she replied quietly. + +"Now tell me, little sister, why you were so--so, what shall I call +it--icy toward Stuermer?" + +Anna Maria looked over at her brother and was silent. + +"Now out with it!" he said jokingly. "Didn't Stuermer treat you with +sufficient deference, or----" + +"Klaus!" She grew very red. "I will tell you," she then said; "the +recollections of old times came between us and spoke louder than words; +my childhood passed before my eyes, and--" She broke off, and looked up +at him; it was a sad look, yet full of unspeakable gratitude. Klaus drew +her to him, and pressed the fair head to his breast with his large white +hand. + +"My old lass, you're not going to cry?" he asked tenderly; but he, too, +was moved. + +She took his hand and pressed a kiss upon it. "Dear, dear Klaus," she +said softly, "I was only thinking how it would have been if you had not +loved me so very, very much?" + +Klaus von Hegewitz was silent, and looked thoughtfully down at her. +"Quite different, my little Anna Maria," said he at last; "it would have +been quite different--whether better? Who can fathom that; it must have +been so----" + +She looked up at him in astonishment, he had spoken so slowly and +earnestly. Then he stroked her forehead, pressed his sister to him +again, and then turned quietly to the corner-shelf and took down his +favorite pipe. + +"There, now we will make ourselves comfortable," said he. "Come, Anna +Maria, 'Tante Voss' is very interesting to-day." + + * * * * * + +Anna Maria stood long at her bedroom window and looked at the drifting +clouds of the night-sky. Now and then the moon peeped out, and tinged +the edges of the clouds with silver light; as they sped in strange forms +over her golden disk, there was a continual change in the fantastic +shapes, but Anna Maria saw it not. Confused thoughts chased each other +about in her brain, like the clouds above, and now and then, like the +brilliant constellation, a bright look from the long-known dark eyes +came before her mind. "It is the memory of childhood," she said to +herself, "yes, the memory!" + +Twelve o'clock struck from the church-tower near by, as, shivering with +cold, she stepped back from the window. She heard hasty steps coming +along the corridor; she knew it was Brockelmann going to bed. The next +moment she had opened the door; she hardly knew herself first what she +wanted, when the old woman was already crossing the threshold. + +"You are not sleeping yet, Fraeulein? Ah, it is well that you are still +awake. I had a fine fright a little while ago. What do you think, +Marieken Maertens, the crazy thing, tried to drown herself; a man from +the village pulled her out of the pond." + +Anna Maria had grown white as a corpse; she had to sit down on the edge +of her bed, and her great eyes looked in sheer amazement at the old +woman. "What for?" she asked hastily, and almost sharply. + +"Indeed, Fraeulein, for what else but because of the stupid affair with +Gottlieb? You know what his mother is. Marieken did not dare go home all +at once--there are mouths enough to feed: so her sweetheart took her +home to his mother, and she told him he should not come to her with a +girl whom the gracious Fraeulein had dismissed, that he must not think of +marrying the girl as long as she lived; you know, Fraeulein, the old +woman swears by the family here. And so the stupid thing took it into +her head to go into the water." + +Anna Maria looked silently before her, and her whole body shook as if +she had a chill. + +"Heavens, you are ill!" cried the old woman. + +"No, no," the girl denied, "I am not ill; go, only go; I am tired and +want to sleep." + +Brockelmann went to her room, shaking her head. "Well, well," she +murmured, "I did think she would be sorry for the poor girl, but no!" +She sighed, and closed the door behind her. But toward morning she was +suddenly startled from her slumber by the violent ringing of a bell in +her room. + +"Good heavens, Anna Maria!" she cried. "She is ill!" In her heart the +old woman still called her young mistress by her child's name. Hastily +throwing on one or two garments she hurried through the cold passage, +just lighted by the gray dawn. Anna Maria was sitting upright in her +bed, a candle was burning on the table by her side, and lit up a face +worn with weeping. The old woman saw plainly that the girl had been +weeping, though she extinguished the candle at once. + +"Brockelmann!" she called to her, but not as usual in the old imperious +manner, and she now hesitated; "as soon as it is light, send for +Gottlieb's mother; I want to talk with her about the girl. And now go," +she added, as the old woman was about to say something, "I am so tired +to-day!" + + + + +CHAPTER III. + + +"The time passes away, one scarcely knows what has become of it; even in +my solitude, it does not seem long to me. Really, the starlings are here +already. Where has the winter gone? Strange!" + +Aunt Rosamond held this soliloquy at her chamber-window, as her gaze +followed the little messengers of spring, who vanished so briskly into +the wooden boxes, a large number of which had been placed for them on +the trees and buildings. It was no sunny spring day there without; the +clouds hung low and gray over the earth, and a warm, sultry wind tossed +about the budding branches unmercifully, as if to shake them into +complete awakening. + +The old lady did not like the overcast sky at all, it put her out of +humor. She could not wander about far out of doors, to be sure, but she +would fain have seen the little spot of earth that lay stretched out +before her window looking cheerful, and blue sky and sunshine lighting +up the fresh green of the meadows, and the oaks in foliage. + +"It ought to be always May or September here in the Mark," she used to +say; "then it would be the loveliest country in the world. In winter one +does best to draw the curtains, so as not to cast a single look out of +doors, it looks so melancholy outside, brown upon brown, with a shade of +dirty gray." + +And so she turned from the window and its dull outlook, and limped +quickly through the room, here and there arranging or straightening +something. That was such a habit of hers. Now the candelabra on the +spinet were moved a little, and now the delicate, withered hands picked +a yellow leaf from a plant on the flower-stand, or gave an improving +touch to the canopied bed which so pretentiously occupied an entire side +of the room. Aunt Rosamond called that her throne; one had to climb up a +pair of carpeted steps to reach it, and with its crimson silk hangings, +somewhat faded indeed, and gilded knobs, it really gave you the +impression of one. Then here and there she pushed back a coverlet or +straightened a picture which tipped a little to one side. The latter she +did most frequently, for the high walls were almost covered with +pictures, a collection of portraits, mostly in oil or pastel. Aunt +Rosamond knew a history about each one of the faces that looked so +quietly from the frames in her room; she had known them all, these men +and women there above, and strangely enough it sounded to hear her, as +she stood before some picture, tell its story in a few words. + +She had just limped to a card-table, over which was hung an oval pastel +portrait of a man with curled and powdered hair and a blue silk coat. +She gave the portrait a gentle push toward the right, but whether it was +the cord or the nail that had become loose, matters not, down fell the +picture, and lay face downward before Aunt Rosamond. + +"Let it lie, aunt, I beg you!" called Anna Maria's voice at this moment; +and before the old lady could collect herself, the girl had bent her +slender form, and handed her the picture. + +"_Merci, ma petite!_" she cried kindly, and looked into her niece's +face; and, indeed, if Aunt Rosamond missed the spring without, now it +had come, bodily, into her room. + +Anna Maria still had on a dark-blue riding-habit which closely fitted +her fine, strong figure, and the young face looked out from behind the +blue veil with such a spring-like freshness, that it quite warmed Aunt +Rosamond's heart. + +"Have you been riding, Anna Maria?" asked the old lady, as the girl +endeavored to find the fallen nail. + +"Yes, aunt, I rode with Klaus for an hour on the Dambitz cross-road; +afterward we met Stuermer by chance, and took a cup of coffee at Dambitz +Manor." + +"Indeed!" Aunt Rosamond seemed quite indifferent to this, although she +looked searchingly at the reddening face of her niece, who, apparently, +was very attentively regarding the rescued nail in her hand. + +"Are the snow-drops in bloom already at Dambitz?" inquired the old lady. +"Well, the garden lies well protected. But what do you say, Anna Maria, +will you stay and rest with me? I think we will sit down a little +while--_n'est-ce pas, mon coeur_?" + +Anna Maria stood irresolute; she looked over at her aunt, who had +already seated herself on the straight-backed, gayly flowered sofa, and +pointed invitingly to an easy-chair. It was so comfortable in this cosey +old room; the rococo clock with the Cupid bending his bow told its low +tick-tack, and a sudden shower beat against the window panes; it was a +little hour just made for chatting of all sorts of possible things, of +the past and of the future. + +Anna Maria slowly seated herself in the chair; she neither leaned back +gracefully and comfortably nor rested her fair head on the cushions. +Always straight as a candle, she carried herself perfectly, and so she +remained now. But sudden blushes and deep pallor interchanged on her +face, which turned with an expression of perfect, modest maidenliness +toward the old lady's face. One could see that she wished to say +something, and that her severe, unsympathetic nature was struggling with +an overflowing heart. + +Her aunt did not seem to notice it at all; she had taken up a book whose +once green velvet binding was worn and faded with age. The delicate +fingers turned leaf after leaf; then she glanced over a page, and after +a pause said: + +"Actually, Anna Maria, Felix Leonhard has fallen from the wall on his +birthday; how singular! Now people call that chance, but how strange it +is! I have always remembered the day hitherto, until to-day, and have +been going about all the time with a feeling as if I had forgotten +something, I could not exactly think what And then he announced himself. +_Mon pauvre_ Felix! You shall have your flowers to-day, as every year." +And she caressingly touched the picture before her on the table. Then +she looked over to Anna Maria almost shyly, for she knew that her niece +sometimes smiled scornfully at signs and forebodings. + +But to-day the deep line about Anna Maria's mouth was not to be seen; +she looked thoughtfully at the picture, and asked: "Who was Felix +Leonhard, aunt?" + +"An early friend of my brother's," replied the old lady. + +"Is he the one, aunt--I think you told me a strange story once about +some one shooting himself for the sake of a girl?" + +"Yes, yes, quite right, my child. This gay, handsome man once took a +pistol and shot himself for the sake of a girl; quite right, Anna +Maria. And he was no youth then, he was well on in the thirties, and yet +did this horrible deed, unworthy of a peaceable man. Oh, it was a misery +not to be described, Anna Maria!" She shook her head and passed her +hands over her eyes, as if to frighten away a horrible picture. + +"Why did he do it, aunt?" asked Anna Maria, in an unusually warm tone; +"was she faithless to him, or----" + +"She did not love him, _ma petite_; she had been persuaded by her +parents and brothers and sisters to become engaged to him. He was in +most excellent circumstances, and one of the best men I ever knew. He +became acquainted with her at a ball in Berlin, and fell violently in +love with her, although before that no one had ever considered his a +passionate nature. She was not young at the time, not even particularly +pretty, and with the exception of a pair of melancholy great eyes did +not possess a charm. _Eh bien_, after endless doubts and struggles, she +accepted his suit. The engagement lasted a whole year, and she was as +shy and discreet a _fiancee_ as could be found; he, on the other hand, +was full of touching attentions to her; indeed, to use a worn-out +figure, he carried her about in his hands. The nearer the wedding-day +approached, the more dreadful grew the poor girl's state of mind. She +had repeatedly asked various people if they believed she could make her +lover happy, and she was always turned off with a jest, yet quite +seriously as well, on the part of her brothers and sisters. Then on the +wedding-day, half an hour before the ceremony was to take place, pale +and trembling, she announced that she must take back her word, she could +not speak perjury--she did not love him, and she did not wish his +unhappiness! Ah, I shall never forget that day--the anxious faces of the +guests as the report of this refusal began to spread, and the terrible +anger of her brother. What followed in her room was never made public; I +only know that she persisted in her refusal, and that same evening he +shot himself in the garden. _Voila tout!_" + +Anna Maria was silent; she had turned pale. "And _she_, aunt?" asked the +girl after a pause. + +"She! Well, she lived on, and even married not very long afterward; she +did not love him at all, Anna Maria. Who knows his own heart?" + +For an instant it seemed as if Anna Maria was about to answer, but she +closed her lips again. The room was still. She was leaning back now; she +was almost trembling, and her eyes turned thoughtfully to the picture +before her. Without, the rain was beating with increased force against +the windows, and the wind drove great snowflakes about in a whirling +dance, between whiles; April weather, fighting and struggling, storming +and raging, so spring will come. + +The old lady on the sofa looked out on this raging of the elements, and +thought how such a powerful spring storm rages in every human heart, and +how scarcely a person in the world is spared such a fight and struggle; +she knew it from her own experience, though she was only a poor cripple, +and a hundred times had she seen the storm rage in the breast of +another. To many, indeed, out of the struggle and longing, out of snow +and sunshine, had arisen a spring as beautiful as a dream; but for many +was the stormy April weather followed by a frosty May, killing all +blossoms; as for herself, as for Kla--She left the thought unfinished, +and quickly turned her head toward her niece, as if fearing she might +have guessed her thoughts. And then--she was almost confounded--then +the young girl's rosy face bent down to her, and Aunt Rosamond saw a +shining drop in the eyes always so cold and clear. Anna Maria sat down +beside her on the figured sofa, and threw her soft arms about her neck. + +The heart of the old lady beat faster; it was the first time in her life +that Anna Maria had showed any tenderness toward her. She sat quite +still, as in a dream, as if the slightest movement might frighten the +girl away, like a timid bird. And "Aunt Rosamond!" came the half-sobbing +sound in her ear. "Oh, aunt, help me--advise me--for Klaus----" + +Just then the door was quickly thrown open. "The master sends word for +the Fraeulein to come down-stairs at once," called Brockelmann, quite out +of breath. "He can't find Isaac Aron's receipts for the last delivery of +grain, and----" + +"I am coming! I am coming!" called the girl. She had sprung up, and +quickly thrown the skirt of her riding-habit over her arm. The spell was +broken; there stood Anna Maria von Hegewitz again, the mistress of +Buetze, as firm, as full of business as ever. + +She crossed the room with quick steps, but turning again at the door, +she said softly, and embarrassed, "I will come up again this evening, +aunt." Then she closed the door behind her. + +Aunt Rosamond remained as still as a mouse in her sofa-corner; she had +to reflect whether this blushing, caressing girl who had just been +sitting beside her were really Anna Maria von Hegewitz, her niece. She +passed her hand over her forehead, and confused thoughts passed through +her mind. "_Quelle metamorphose!_" she whispered to herself, and at +length said aloud, "Anna Maria is certainly in love; love only makes +one so gentle, so--_je ne sais quoi_! Anna Maria loves Stuermer! How +disagreeable that Brockelmann happened to come in with her grain bills! +_Mon Dieu!_ the child, the child! I wonder if Klaus suspects it? What is +to become of you, my splendid old boy, if Anna Maria goes away? But what +if he should marry, too?" + +She rose from the sofa and stepped to the window again. It had stopped +raining, and a last lingering ray of sunshine broke from the clouds and +was spread, like a golden veil, over the wet, budding trees and shrubs. +"Spring is coming," she said half aloud. And now she began to walk up +and down the room, but this time the pictures were undisturbed. Her +hands were clasped, and now and then she shook her gray head gently, as +if incredulously. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + + +Meanwhile Anna Maria had gone quickly down-stairs and entered her +brother's room. He was sitting at his desk, rummaging about in the +drawers for the missing papers. Klaus von Hegewitz was exactly like +other men in this respect, that he never could find anything, and grew +so vexed in hunting, that from very irritation he found nothing. At the +door stood the farm inspector and a little old man who was well known at +Buetze, Isaac Aron the Jew. He made a deep reverence to Anna Maria, and +said contentedly: "Now matters will be brought into good shape; the +gracious Fraeulein knows the place of everything in the whole house." + +Anna Maria paid no attention to this, but, going to the desk, +confidently put her hand into a drawer, and gave a little packet of +papers to her brother. "There, Klaus," said she, looking with a smile in +his flushed face, "why did you not call me at once?" + +The troubled face grew bright. "Upon my word, Anna Maria," he cried +gayly, "these are stupid things; I have had that package in my hands +twenty times at least. A thousand thanks! I say again and again, Anna +Maria, what would become of me without you?" + +The smile suddenly disappeared from her face, and she looked +thoughtfully at the stately figure of her brother, who had stepped up to +the men and was negotiating with them. The words fell on her ears as in +a dream, and quite mechanically she took up her train and walked out of +the room. As she was about to close the door, her brother called after +her: "Anna Maria, shall I meet you by and by in the sitting-room? The +gardener wants to talk with us about the new work in the wood." + +She had no idea, as she stood outside, whether or not she had answered +him; then she sat down in her room, and her eyes wandered about the +familiar spot and rested at length on her brother's portrait. But she +saw it not; in her mind was another picture, another man's head. The +red-tiled roof of Dambitz Manor rose before her eyes, and over him and +her the brown, budding branches of the linden-walk in the Dambitz garden +fluttered and beat in the damp spring air, and at their feet long rows +of snow-drops bloomed and shook their little white heads. + +"Anna Maria," he had called her, "Anna Maria," as in her childhood. She +started up, as if awakening from a long, deep dream. Ah, no! it was +true; scarcely an hour ago he had spoken thus to her, and Anna Maria von +Hegewitz had stood before him as if under a spell. + +What else had he said? She knew no longer, only the words "Anna Maria" +sounded to her very soul; and as on that St. Martin's Eve she had put +her hands in his, and he had drawn her close to him--only one short +moment, she scarcely knew whether it were dream or reality. Then Klaus +had come down the steps--"Klaus! ah, Heaven, Klaus!" + +She leaned her head against the back of the sofa and closed her eyes. +She saw herself going away from the old house here. Could her foot cross +the threshold? And she saw Klaus looking in the door-way, looking after +her with his kind, true eyes, perhaps with tears in them. And there came +to her all the words which she had so often spoken to him, caressingly: +"_I will stay with you, Klaus, always, always!_" And now the strong +girl began to weep; she scarcely knew what tears were, but now they +gushed from her eyes with all the force of a shaken soul. + +And yet above all this pain there hovered a feeling of infinite +happiness, through the dark veil of sadness gleamed bright rays--the +premonitions of a wonderful future, the suspicion that the life which +she had led hitherto was hardly to be called living, because that one +thing had been wanting which first consecrates and gives value to a +happy life. + +She rose and went up to her brother's portrait. "Klaus, dear Klaus, I +cannot help it, indeed!" she whispered; and then she wandered about the +room, a tender smile on her lips, and a laugh in her eyes. + +The sound of the servants' supper-bell roused her from her dreams; she +changed her riding-habit for a house-dress, but laid the snow-drops in +the Bible on her writing-desk, and gave the little white blossoms a +caressing touch before she took up her basket of keys to leave the room. +She was met on the way to the sitting-room by a fresh, curly-haired +girl, carrying an armful of flashing brass candlesticks, her black eyes +almost as bright as the shining metal. + +"Well, Marieken," asked Anna Maria, "is the outfit ready?" + +The brisk girl laughed all over her face. "Oh, not quite, Fraeulein; but +it is three weeks to Easter, and Gottlieb is painting the rooms now in +our house, and the cabinet-maker is going to bring our things next +week." + +Anna Maria nodded kindly, but did not reply. Her thoughts were already +again in Dambitz, wandering through the rooms of the castle. Most of +them were still empty, but a time was doubtless coming for her too when +the cabinet-maker would bring her things. And Anna Maria looked at the +girl and smiled; she knew not why herself; it was from overflowing +happiness. And Marieken laughed too--a perfect harmony of youth, hope, +and happiness. Then the girl ran on with her candlesticks, and Anna +Maria walked down the corridor, and in both hearts was the same +sunshine. She must hurry, for Klaus would surely be waiting for her, he +wanted to speak with her about the work in the garden. + +Next to Klaus's room was a small room, where Anna Maria remembered to +have put away in her portfolio of drawings the roughly sketched plan of +the alterations, and as Klaus was not yet in the sitting-room she +hurried back to get it. + +It was almost dark, and she could but indistinctly discern the objects +in the little room, which Klaus jokingly called his library because of a +bookcase which found its place there. So the more distinctly came to her +ears a hearty laugh from her brother, and, with the laugh, the sound of +her own name. + +"Anna Maria, do you say? My own aunt, it is perfectly ridiculous!" + +"Laugh then, you unbeliever, you will soon be convinced of the truth of +my conjecture. We women, especially we old maids, Klauschen, look at +such things more sharply. Soon some one will come and carry away your +darling, and then we too may sit here and have the dumps, my beloved +boy! What will become of us?" + +"_Some one_, aunt? You speak in riddles." + +"Well, since you are so dreadfully smitten with blindness, _mon cher_, +it is a Christian duty on my part to open your eyes. Do you not see the +girl's entirely altered manner? Have you never--But to what purpose is +all this? In short, Anna Maria loves Stuermer!" + +Another hearty laugh interrupted the old lady. But Anna Maria, with +closed eyes, leaned against the door-post; the ground seemed to give way +beneath her feet. + +"Kurt Stuermer? Uncle Stuermer? But, my dear aunt," cried the young man, +"he might almost be her father!" + +"Is that a hindrance, Klaus?" + +"No! I don't believe it, however. Shall we bet?" + +Anna Maria straightened up. She was on the point of going in and saying, +"Why do you argue? I do love him--yes! a thousand times, yes!" But she +stood still; her brother's voice sounded so strangely altered. + +"Aunt Rosamond, I _cannot_ believe it!" + +"Klaus! Have you not thought for a long time that it must happen some +day?" + +"Yes, yes! But--Ah! I have stood in fear of this hour, since the child +is the only one to whom my heart clings; you do not know how much, +perhaps, aunt!" + +"Klaus,"--the old lady's voice was melting with tenderness--"my dear old +lad, you are still young: why should there not be a happiness yet in +store for you? I have often told you you ought to marry." + +"Marry? You say that to me, aunt? and you know that I have been a +wretched being for years, because----" + +"But, Klaus, do you still think of that?" sounded the anxious voice of +the aunt. + +"Still?" he repeated ironically. "Am I not daily reminded of it? Do you +think, because I live so peacefully now and can join in a laugh, because +food and wine taste good to me--I see the tower of her family home +whenever I go to the window, I see Anna Maria, I cannot pass that fatal +spot in the garden without the words she then spoke reaechoing in my +soul. I know them by heart, aunt, I have called and whispered them for +weeks in fever; and ever again her enchanting figure stands before my +eyes, and that sweet, beseeching tone rings in my ears, as seductive as +Satan himself: '_Put that obstinate, disagreeable child out of your +house; she interferes with our happiness!_'" + +He laughed scornfully. "And because I would not consent to that, and did +not break a promise given to my dying mother, then--she cast me off like +a garment that does not fit comfortably enough--then--then----" + +"Klaus! Klaus! for God's sake!" The anxious voice of the old lady +interrupted his speaking, which had risen to vehemence. + +But in the little room lay Anna Maria on her knees, her head almost +touching the floor. It had become still in the next room, except for the +sound of rapid steps as the young man paced the floor. + +"And now--yes, yes, it had to happen!" said he softly. "I am no egoist, +certainly not, but it will be unspeakably hard for me to give her up. +Oh, yes, I shall see her often. I can ride over any minute; she will +come to us too--certainly. But see, aunt--but I am a fool, really, a +fool! It is the way of the world, and I do not understand why I did not +see long ago that Stuermer is fond of Anna Maria; it is, indeed, so +natural. How good it is that I am prepared; not the slightest shadow +shall fall on Anna Maria's happiness. Your eyes ask that, Aunt Rose? No, +be quiet, be quiet!" + +Anna Maria remained motionless on the cold floor, leaning her head +against the door-post. She no longer understood what they were saying +in the next room; she kept hearing only that one dreadful speech: "Put +the child out of the house; she interferes with our happiness!" His +happiness! Klaus's happiness! She passed her cold hand over her +forehead, as if she must convince herself whether or not it was a dream. +No, no; she was awake, she could move her feet as well, she could walk +out of the little room, along the corridor, to her own room. + +Marieken was just coming along the passage. Anna Maria stopped, and bade +her say to Fraeulein Rosamond that she was not coming to the table; she +had a headache, and wanted to be alone that evening. + +The girl looked in alarm at the pale face of her mistress. "Shall I call +Brockelmann?" she asked anxiously. + +Anna Maria made a negative gesture, and laid her hand on the door-knob, +and then turned her head. "Marieken!" + +The girl came back. + +"It is nothing--only go!" She then hastily turned away, and shut and +bolted her door at once. + +"She wishes to be alone with her thoughts," remarked Aunt Rosamond at +the supper table, where she and Klaus sat, right and left of the absent +one's place. Klaus did not reply at once, but looked at that place and +said at length: "So it will always be, soon!" And the old lady nodded +sadly; she knew not what to reply, and a secret anxiety about the future +stole over her, since she had seen that Klaus still bore the old wound +which he had received many years ago. She had supposed it healed long +since. + +The next morning Anna Maria went as usual, with her bunch of keys, +through kitchen and cellar. She was pale, and her orders sounded +shorter and less friendly than they had of late. Only to Klaus she gave +a friendly smile, but it was forced, and her eyes had no share in it. +She looked over accounts with him for two hours, and, though he was +distracted and restless, the results were perfectly correct. Aunt +Rosamond alone was alarmed at the girl's appearance, but she did not +venture to ask any questions. Anna Maria was as icily cold as often +heretofore. + +The next day, toward evening, Klaus came into Aunt Rosamond's room. The +old lady had just hung up Felix Leonhard's portrait again, after +carefully making fast the broken cord. + +"Well, who was right, Aunt Rose?" he asked. He was standing beside her, +and she saw that his face had grown very red, and that his whole being +was stirred. + +"Right? In what, Klaus?" + +"In your assertion about Anna Maria. She does not love him!" + +"Did she say so? Oh, well, it doesn't follow at all that a girl has +spoken the truth, if she says she does _not_ love a certain person, does +not even like him. I have experienced the contrary a hundred times; +those who talk so hide a warm affection under cold words." + +"Not this time, Aunt Rose. Anna Maria has definitely refused him!" + +The old lady sank, quite overcome, into the nearest chair. "Klaus! +_Est-il possible?_ Has he spoken already, then?" + +"Not to her, but to me, aunt. He came about five o'clock this afternoon; +Anna Maria was sitting at the window as he rode into the court, and she +got up at once and went to her room. Stuermer sent in word to me that he +wanted to speak to me alone; and then--truly, Aunt Rose, you do know how +to observe--then he said to me that he loved Anna Maria, that he thought +his affection was reciprocated, and other things that people usually say +on such occasions; he spoke of his age, and said that he would be not +only a husband but a father as well to Anna Maria. I assured him that I +had the deepest respect for him, which is quite true, and after about an +hour went to Anna Maria to get her answer. Her door was open; she was +sitting at her little sewing table by the window, looking out into the +garden; she held her New Testament in her hand, but laid it down as I +came near her. I thought she had been crying, and turned her face around +to me; but her eyes were dry and burning, and her forehead feverishly +hot. As I began to speak she turned her head to the window again and sat +motionless as a statue. I must have asked her certainly three times: +'Anna Maria, what shall I answer him? Will you do it yourself? Shall I +send him to you?' 'No, no!' she cried at length, 'don't send him! I +cannot see him; tell him that I--he must not be angry with me--I do not +love him! Klaus, I cannot go away from here! Let me stay with you!' And +then she sprang up, threw her arms about my neck, and stuck to me like a +bur; but her whole frame trembled, and I thought I could feel her hot +hands through my coat. After much persuasion, and promising that I would +never force her, I got her so far as to sit down quietly at last; but I +had to give the poor fellow his answer--and that was no trifling +matter!" + +"For God's sake, Klaus, what did Stuermer say?" + +"Not one word, aunt; I spared him all I could, but he grew as white as +the plaster on the wall. At last he asked: 'Can I speak to Anna Maria?' +I said, 'No,' in accordance with her wish; then he took up his hat and +whip, and bade me good-by as heartily as usual, to be sure, but the hand +he gave me trembled. Poor fellow! I do pity him!" + +"And Anna Maria?" + +"I cannot find her, aunt, either in the sitting-room or in her own +room." + + * * * * * + +At the farther end of the Hegewitz garden stood an old, very old linden; +the spot was somewhat elevated, and a turfy slope stretched down to the +budding privet-hedge which bounded the garden. Under the linden was a +sandstone bench, also old and weather beaten, and from here one could +look away out on the Mark country, far, far out over cornfields and +green meadows, dark pine forests and sandy patches of heath. + +There stood Anna Maria, looking toward the meadow on the other side of +the road, with its countless fresh mole-hills, and the wet road which +ran along beside the quiet little river, on whose banks the willows were +already growing yellow. How often of late had she stood here, how often +waited till a brown horse's head emerged from among the willows, and +then turned quickly and hurried into the house, for he must not see that +she was watching for him with all the longing of a warm, first love. And +_to-day_? She did not know herself how she had come hither, and she +looked blankly away into the mist of the spring evening as if she +neither saw the golden rays of the setting sun nor heard the shouting of +the village children in the distance. The air was intoxicatingly soft +and played gently with the black lace veil which had fallen from Anna +Maria's fair hair. She noticed it not. Then she quickly turned her head; +the breathing and step of a horse sounded along by the hedge: "Kurt +Stuermer!" she whispered, and started to go. But she stopped and saw him +come near, saw him ride away in the rosy evening; his eyes were cast +downward. How could he know who was looking after him with eyes almost +transfixed with burning pain? She stood there motionless, and looked +after him; the horse's tread sounded ominously in her ears as he stepped +upon the little bridge which united the Dambitz and Hegewitz fields, and +she still remained motionless after the willows had hidden the solitary +horseman from sight. + +Meanwhile the sunset glow had become deep crimson, and faded again; the +wind blew harder, and rocked the budding linden-boughs, and bore along +with it the sound of a maiden's voice; an old song floated past Anna +Maria out into the country: + + "I had better have died + Than have gained a love. + Ah, would I were not so sad!" + +Then she turned and ran along the damp garden path as if pursued; she +stood still by the fish-pond, so close to it that the water touched her +foot, and looked into the dark mirror. In these Marieken had sought +oblivion when she might not have her Gottlieb! Was it really such +madness, if one--? And Anna Maria stretched out her arms and sprang into +the little decaying boat by the bank. + +"Anna Maria! Anna Maria!" called a man's voice just then, through the +still garden. + +"Klaus!" she murmured, as if awakening; she tried to answer, but no +sound came from her lips. With a shudder, she climbed out of the +floating boat and turned her steps toward the house. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + + +Spring had come again. Two years had passed since that evening. In Buetze +Manor-house there was a vaulted, out-of-the-way room, which was entered +by a low, small door at the end of a dark passage; the windows looked +out upon the garden. Tall trees forbade entrance to the light, which had +to seek admission through an artistic old lattice-work as well. This had +been the lumber-room from time immemorial. All sorts of things lay, +hung, and stood there, in perfect confusion. Old presses and chests, old +spinning-wheels with yellowed ivory decorations, and dark oil portraits +on which one could hardly detect the trace of a face; a huge bedstead +with heavy gilt knobs--a French general had slept on it in the year +nine, and the late Herr von Hegewitz had banished the bed to the +lumber-room as a desecrated object after that, for it had originally +been made to shelter a prince of the royal family for a night. The wings +of the gilded eagle who sat so proudly at the top were broken off, and +his beak held now only a shred of the crimson curtain, as the last +remnant of former splendor. Fine cobwebs reached from one piece of +furniture to another, and yellowish dust lay on the floor, a sign that +the wood-worm was undisturbed here. + +Here Anna Maria stood and looked about her, as if in search of +something. She scarcely knew herself just why she had come in here; she +had happened to go by, and then it had flashed across her mind that it +might be well to give the old lumber-room a breath of fresh spring air, +and she had taken the bunch of keys from her belt and come in. The young +linden leaves outside let one or two inquisitive sunbeams through the +window, and myriads of grains of dust floated up and down in them. It +was so quiet in the room, among the antique furniture. Anna Maria was +just in the mood for it; she sat down in an arm-chair and leaned her +head against the moth-eaten cushion, her eyes half-closed, her hands +folded in her lap. + +She felt so peaceful; the old furniture seemed to preach to her of the +perishable nature of man. Where were all the hands that had made it? the +eyes that had delighted in it? She thought how some time her +spinning-wheel, too, would stand here, and how many days and hours must +pass before strange hands would bring it here, as superfluous rubbish. +Strange hands! She felt a sudden fear. Strange hands! For centuries +Buetze had descended in direct line from father to son--and now? + +Anna Maria rose quickly and went to the window, as if to frighten away +unpleasant thoughts; the soft, mild spring air blew toward her and +reminded her of the most unhappy hour of her life, and again she turned +and walked quickly through the room. Then her foot struck against +something, and she saw the cradle, lightly rocking in front of her--the +heavy, gayly painted old cradle in which the Hegewitzes had had their +first slumber for more than two hundred years--Klaus too, and she too. +And Anna Maria knelt down and threw her arms about the little rocking +cradle, and kissed the glaring painted roses and cherubs, and a few +bitter tears flowed from under her lashes, the first that she had shed +since that day. + +"Why did I, too, have to lie there in the cradle? It might have been so +different, so much better," she thought. "Poor thing, you must decay and +fall to dust here, and at last irreverent hands will take you and throw +you into the fire. Poor Klaus! For my sake!" And almost tenderly she +wiped the dust from the arabesques on the back, and shook up the little +yellow pillows. + +Just then came the sound of a quick, manly step in the passage, and +before Anna Maria had time to rise, Klaus stood in the open door. + +"Do I find you here?" he asked in astonishment, and at first laughing, +then more serious, he looked at Anna Maria, who rose and came toward +him. + +"I wanted to let some fresh air in here, and found our old cradle, +Klaus," she said quietly. + +"Yes, Anna Maria--but you have been crying," he rejoined. + +"Oh, I was only thinking that it was quite unnecessary that the poor +thing should have been hunted up again for me!" The bitterness of her +heart pressed unconsciously to her lips to-day. + +"Anna Maria! What puts such thoughts into your head?" asked Klaus von +Hegewitz, in amazement. And drawing his sister to him, he stroked her +hair lovingly. "What should I do without you?" + +She made a slight convulsive movement, and freed herself from his arms. + +"But, listen, sister," he continued, "I know whence such feelings come. +You must become low-spirited in this old nest; you have no companions of +your own age, you withdraw more and more from every youthful pleasure, +and, although you think you can do without these things, you will have +to pay for it some day." + +Anna Maria shook her head. + +"Yes, yes!" he continued, stepping in front of the window, and his tall +figure obstructed the sunlight so that the room grew dark all at once. +"I have seen more of life, I know it. What should you think, Anna Maria, +if you--" He paused and drew a letter from his pocket. "I had better +read the letter to you. I was just looking for you, to talk with you +about it. Professor Mattoni is dead!" + +Anna Maria looked over to him sympathetically. Klaus had turned around +and was looking out of the window; the paper in his hand shook slightly. +She knew how deeply the news of this death touched him. Professor +Mattoni had been his tutor, had lived in Buetze for years, and the +pleasantest memories of his boyhood were connected with this man. As a +youth he had had in him a truly fatherly friend and adviser, and had +since visited him every year, in Berlin, where he held a position as +professor in the E---- Institute. + +Anna Maria took her brother's hand and pressed it silently. "Yet one +true friend less," she then said; "we shall soon be quite alone, Klaus!" + +"He was more than a friend to me, Anna Maria," he replied gently, "he +was a father to me." + +She nodded; she knew it well. "And the letter?" she asked. + +"A last request, almost illegible; he wishes that I should take charge +of his little daughter, till she--so he writes--till she is independent +enough to take up the battle of life." + +"His little daughter?" asked Anna Maria. "Had he still so young a +child?" + +"I am sorry to say," said Klaus, "that I know nothing at all of his +family affairs. He married late in life, and probably had every reason +for not presenting his better half: some said he picked her up somewhere +in Hungary; others, that she had been a chorus singer in one of the +inferior theatres in Berlin. I never spoke to him about it, and when I +went to his house I saw in his study no indications that any female +being presided there. I have never noticed anything on my frequent +visits to show that such a person lived with Mattoni, and remember just +once that while we were having a pleasant hour's chat, a child's cry +came from the next room, whereupon he got up and knocked emphatically on +the door. The screaming child was probably carried to a back room, for +it grew still next door, and we talked on. Then I once heard that his +wife was dead; I have never seen any outward tokens of affliction on +him, but the child seems to be alive." + +"And now, Klaus?" + +The tall man had turned, and was looking absently at the little wooden +cradle. + +"And now, Anna Maria? I owe him so much"--he spoke almost +imploringly--"may I impose such a burden upon you?" + +"Klaus, what a question! Of course! Please take the necessary steps at +once, and have the child come." + +"The child, Anna Maria? Why, I think she must have reached the limits of +childhood now!" + +"That doesn't matter, Klaus. Then I will instruct her in housekeeping, +and all sorts of things which she may find useful in her life." + +"I thank you sincerely, Anna Maria," he replied; "I hope you will take +pleasure in the girl." He said this with a sigh of relief, which did not +escape Anna Maria's ear. + +"You act exactly as if you had been afraid of me, Klaus," she remarked, +with a passing smile; "as if I should not always wish anything that +seemed desirable to you." + +"Just because I know that, Anna Maria," he said, grasping her hands +affectionately, "I wish, too, that you might do it gladly, that it might +be no sacrifice to you----" + +"I am really and truly glad the child is coming," she said honestly. And +so they stood opposite each other in the forsaken lumber-room; it was +now flooded with sunshine, and the two strong figures stood out from a +golden background. The shadows of the young leaves about the window +played lightly over them, and the call of the thrush echoed from the +woods far away without. + +"A sacrifice!" he had said, and yet they had each already made the +greatest sacrifice of which a human heart is capable, and each thought +it unknown to the other. And at their feet rocked the heavy cradle, +moved by Anna Maria's dress, and it rocked on, long after the two had +left the room. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + + +Thirty years had passed away, and on a stormy autumn evening a young +couple sat before a crackling fire, in Buetze Manor-house--she, a +slender, girlish figure, fair, with pleasant blue eyes; he, tall, or +seeming so from a certain delicacy of form, and also fair; but a pair of +bright brown eyes contrasted strangely with his light hair. + +Without, the wind was raging about the old house, as it had done many +years before, and sang of past times; now and then it set up a howl of +furious rage, and then sounded again in low, long-drawn, plaintive +tones, as if singing a long-forgotten love-song. + +The young wife in the comfortable easy-chair had been listening to it a +long time; now she said in a clear voice: + +"Klaus, this would be just the evening to read aloud the journal." + +He started up out of a deep revery. "What journal, my child!" + +"That little packet of papers that we found the other day, in rummaging +about in Aunt Rosamond's writing-desk." + +He nodded. "Yes, we will do it," he said, "it will be a bit of family +history, perhaps about my parents. I was just thinking how little I know +of them, and it makes me sad. Mother Anna Maria makes her account so +short and scanty, as if she did not like to talk about it, and whenever +she mentions her only brother her eyes grow moist. Come, sit down on the +sofa with me; I will get the papers." + +He rose, went to an old-fashioned desk, and took a little packet of +papers from the middle drawer. The young wife had meanwhile taken up a +bit of dainty needlework, and now they sat, side by side, on the sofa, +before the lamp, and he unfolded the sheets. + +"What a pretty old handwriting," he said. "See, Marie!" + +She nodded. "One can make quite a picture of the writer from +that--small, delicate, and good, as loving as the first words sound." + +"Yes," he replied, "she was good and kind. I remember her so distinctly +yet. She used to give me sugarplums and colored pictures, and at +Christmas she used to come as Knecht Ruprecht, and I should certainly +have been frightened if I had not recognized Aunt Rosamond by her voice +and limp." + +"Ah, but please read, Klaus," begged the young wife impatiently; and he +began obediently: + +"My dear Anna Maria has driven away again with little Klaus----" + +"That is you!" interrupted the young wife, laughing. + +He nodded; his fine eyes gleamed softly. "But now be still," he said; +"for Aunt Rosamond surely never thought such a disturber of the peace +would ever put her nose in here." + +"You bad man! Give me a kiss for that!" + +"That, too?" he sighed comically. "There, but be quiet now!" And he +began again: + +"My dear Anna Maria has driven away again with little Klaus. It has +become very quiet at Buetze, not a sound in the great house; even +Brockelmann is no longer heard, for since last winter she has taken to +wearing felt slippers. All the rooms down-stairs are shut up, and it is +melancholy. Anna Maria consoles me, to be sure, by saying that there +will be life enough here again when the child has grown large; but, dear +me, by that time I shall have long been lying in the garden yonder! Oh, +I wish I might live to hear merry voices ringing again through the house +at Buetze, and see the rooms down-stairs occupied; but I do not believe +it possible. Well, I must not allow myself to be overpowered by the +loneliness and tediousness about me; I sit at my desk and will try to +narrate the late events here, in regular order. So much has happened +here; the stories rush to my mind all confused, but I should like to +recall the past in proper order. + +"If I only knew how to begin! I have already cut three goose-quills to +pieces! I look out of the window, the trees are clad in the first green, +the sky is blue, only a dark line of cloud rising over the barn yonder. +It is warm and sultry, as before an approaching thunder-storm, and now +another spring day rises before my eyes, and now I know. + +"It was a ninth of May, just as damp and sultry as to-day. Anna Maria +came in to me. My room was up-stairs here then, on the same story, the +same big flowered furniture stood here, and I was the same infirm, +limping old creature, only fresher and brighter; I laughed more than any +one in the house in those days. I can see Anna Maria before me so +distinctly, as she stood there by the spinet in her every-day gray +dress, with a black taffeta apron over it, and the bunch of keys at her +belt. + +"'Aunt Rosamond, will you look at the room which I have been getting +ready for the child?' she asked, and I rose, and limped along beside her +down the hall as far as the large, dark room. I never could bear the +room, and to-day, as I entered it, it oppressed me like a nightmare. To +be sure, dazzling white pillows stood up beneath the green curtains of +the canopy, and a spray of elder on the toilet-table sent its fragrance +through the room; but neither this nor the sultry air which came in at +the window could improve the damp, cold atmosphere, or convey any degree +of comfort to the room. + +"'You ought to have had it warmed, Anna Maria,' said I, with a little +shiver, 'and had that unpleasant picture taken away.' And I pointed to +the half-length portrait of a young woman looking boldly and saucily +forth into the world, with a pair of sparkling black eyes, who was +called in the family the 'Mischief-maker.' According to an old, +half-forgotten story, she had come by her nickname from her black eyes +having been the cause of a duel between two Hegewitz brothers, in which +one was killed by his brother's hand. A Hegewitz herself, and lingering +at Buetze on a visit, she had deliberately married another man. How, +when, and where, it happened, the story did not tell; but her portrait +had remained at Buetze, and hung from time immemorial in this room. + +"'Ah! let the picture stay: the child does not know whom it represents,' +replied Anna Maria. 'I think it is quite comfortable and pleasant here, +Aunt Rosamond, with the view into the garden.' + +"Anna Maria had, literally, no idea of comfort, so her remark did not +surprise me. She lacked that charming feminine faculty of making all the +surroundings pleasing with a few flowers or a bit of graceful drapery. +'The poor thing,' thought I, 'coming from Berlin--to this dreary +solitude!' + +"Anna Maria had suddenly turned around to me, and her face, usually so +austere, was glowing with tenderness. 'Aunt Rosamond,' she said, 'do you +know, I am really glad the little Susanna Mattoni is coming!' + +"'And I am glad for you, Anna Maria,' I replied, 'for you need a +friend.' + +"'I need no friend,' she replied bluntly, 'and how could that young +thing be a companion for me? She is a child, a poor orphaned child, in +need of love, and I will--' She broke off, and a hot blush spread over +her face. + +"'You are still young yourself, Anna Maria,' I interposed, 'and I think +she must be seventeen years old.' + +"'Years do not make the age, Aunt Rosamond, but the soul, the nature, +the experiences. If God will, she shall find in me rather a mother, for +as a companion I am worth nothing. I should have to conform her to +myself--oh, never!' + +"I knew that Anna Maria's whole heart, usually so coldly closed, had +opened to receive a fatherless and motherless creature, to love it, in +her way, with all her might--in her way, indeed, and that was not +understood by every one. How much time have I spent in trying to fathom +that nature, which apparently lay open to every eye, against whose sharp +corners and angles almost every one ran, who had anything to do with +her. + +"'Has Klaus gone to meet your guest?' I asked. + +"'No, he rode out into the fields. Why should he?' she rejoined. 'Old +Maier drove away to S---- yesterday, and I think every second she must +come. I only hope it will be before the approaching thunder-storm +breaks!' + +"The unpleasant stillness before the threatening storm pervaded the +outside world. I went up to Anna Maria at the open window and looked at +the black clouds looming up in the horizon. My eyes roved beyond the +trees in the garden, out into the country; strangely near seemed the +dark forests and Dambitz with its clumsy tower. + +"'How near Dambitz looks,' I remarked, 'and it is really so far away.' + +"Anna Maria turned quickly. 'Very far,' she said listlessly. + +"'Stuermer still stays away,' I began, designedly. I felt compassion for +the man whom an incomprehensible whim of a girl had driven away into the +world, just when he had hoped to find a home and heart; I had once, for +the space of half an hour, imagined that she loved him. + +"I received no answer, but about the girl's lips there lay such an +expression of pride and defiant resolution that I resolved never to +mention that name again. She gazed fixedly at the dark clouds, and at +last said, in a wearily oppressed tone: 'Is not that the rumbling of a +carriage?' + +"'Perhaps the thunder,' I replied. But before we had closed the window +and I had looked around the room again, Brockelmann stood, with flushed +face, before Anna Maria. 'Gracious Fraeulein, she is--they are here--God +in Heaven!' + +"'What is the matter?' asked Anna Maria. + +"'There are two of them, Fraeulein, and queer enough she looks--the old +woman, I mean. And a thunder-storm like this is just the time for them +to come to the house in!' + +"The storm had indeed broken loose, with thunder and lightning, and +torrents of rain. The old woman made haste to light the candles on the +great mantel, for it was almost dark in the room. + +"'They are coming up-stairs already!' she cried, and hurried out, +leaving the door open. + +"Anna Maria had not interrupted the old woman by a word; it was not her +way to apprehend quickly a new turn of affairs. So she snuffed the +candles quite composedly and remained standing by the mantel, so as to +keep the door in sight. Her face was as cold and still again as usual, +and did not show the slightest trace of expectation or curiosity, nor +did it alter when in the door-way. But how shall I describe the young +creature who, as suddenly as in a fairy-tale, stepped over the +threshold? + +"There never was but one Susanna Mattoni! I do not know whether she +could be called a beauty; perhaps her sparkling brown eyes were too +large for that, too widely opened for the narrow face, the nose too +short, the lips too full, and the complexion too pale; but this I know, +that only by an effort I suppressed an exclamation of surprise, as she +stood there, so small and slight, in her closely-fitting black dress, as +if she had been charmed thither. Her light mantle had slipped from her +shoulders, and a pair of very slender hands had impetuously thrown back +the crape veil from her hat. It was evident that the young girl was in a +state of great excitement; her searching, anxious eyes rested on Anna +Maria's imposing figure, and then dropped to the floor in embarrassment; +she apparently did not know what to do now, and breathed timidly and +faintly. + +"'God bless your coming, Susanna Mattoni!' said Anna Maria, in her deep +voice; and she put her arm for a moment around the slender figure. 'May +Buetze please you as a temporary home!' There was an unwonted sympathy in +these words, and as she bent down to the stranger I had to smile at my +former opinion. Anna Maria needed no friend; young as she was, she stood +by Susanna Mattoni with the maternal dignity of a woman of forty. It +was remarkable how she utterly belied her youth in everything she did. + +"But at this moment it first became clear what Brockelmann had meant +when she spoke of two--of the old woman. At the threshold of the room +appeared the figure of a small, elderly woman, in a worn black silk +gown, a shawl embroidered in red and yellow over her shoulders, and an +ill-shaped hood of black crape on her head, from which a yellowish, +wrinkled face looked forth; a pair of small dark eyes darted like +lightning about the room; then she ran to Anna Maria, who was regarding +her in amazement, and with a theatrical gesture raised her clasped hands +to her. 'Oh, Mademoiselle, pardon my intrusion, but the child--I could +not part from Susanna!' + +"'Stop that!' commanded Anna Maria, decidedly disturbed. 'Who are you?' + +"The woman dropped her eyes and was silent. + +"'Fraeulein Mattoni, who is the woman?' said Anna Maria, turning to the +young girl, who, it seemed to me, looked timidly at her companion. +Susanna was silent too. There was no sound but that of the rain beating +against the windows, and swaying the branches of the trees. Anna Maria +waited quietly a few minutes. + +"'I have been in Professor Mattoni's household since Susanna's birth,' +the old woman now began, 'and----' + +"'The child's nurse, then?' Anna Maria said, cutting off her speech. +'Very well, you may stay here twenty-four hours, and see how your +demoiselle is provided for. Brockelmann,' she ordered the old woman, +who, with a chambermaid, had just brought up a trunk that seemed as +light as a feather, 'make up a bed in the gray room for the woman. And +you, Susanna Mattoni, need to be alone after so long a journey. Make +yourself comfortable till supper-time; punctually at seven, I shall +expect you in the dining-room.' She took her basket of keys from the +mantel, and noticing me, motioned to Susanna and introduced her to me as +our future household companion. The little thing shyly kissed my hand, +and as I raised her chin a little to look at her face again, I saw that +tears were shining in the brown eyes. 'Heavens!' I thought as I went +out, 'how will this little princess get on here in that gloomy room, in +Anna Maria's chilling atmosphere?' I quietly patted the pale little +cheek, and followed my niece. Outside in the corridor we met Klaus, +dripping wet, having just dismounted from his horse. + +"'And so she is really here, then, the new accession to the family?' he +asked, giving himself a shake in his wet clothes. 'Well, what does she +look like, the little Berliner?' + +"I opened the door of my room, and the brother and sister entered. + +"'You will see her, Klaus,' replied Anna Maria. + +"'Right, little sister, that is true; I will change my clothes first of +all.' + +"'Yes, Klaus, but be quick: I would like to settle something with you +before you see the young lady at table.' + +"'Young lady? Whew!' rejoined the brother, and a disagreeable expression +lay for a moment on his kind, handsome face. 'Do you wish me to put on a +dress-coat, Anna Maria?' He laughed. + +"'Well, you will open your eyes, too, Klauschen,' thought I; and all at +once a thought came to me that fell like the weight of a mountain on my +soul, whether it would not be better if this Susanna Mattoni, together +with her black-eyed witch of a nurse, were a thousand miles away? + +"When Klaus and Anna Maria had gone, I stood still in the middle of the +room and said aloud, with a fierce conviction: 'The two children have +made an unpardonably stupid move; what will come of it?' And much came +of it! If the succession of sorrow, tears, and bitter hours that +followed Susanna Mattoni's little feet could have been foreseen on her +arrival, Anna Maria would have given not only the old woman, but Susanna +herself, no longer than twenty-four hours to stay in her house! + +"I was still standing on the same spot when the door flew open, and +Susanna's old companion entered. 'Gracious Fraeulein,' she cried +anxiously, 'do come; the child--she is weeping, she is ill, she will +kill herself!' + +"The excited creature wrung her hands, and her whole frame trembled. I +limped across to the girl's room, again with the thought, 'What will +come of it?' Susanna was sitting, half undressed, at the toilet-table, +her dark hair falling loosely over a white dressing-sack; her face was +buried in her hands, and she was crying. The old woman rushed up to her: +'Darling, the kind lady is here; she will be good to us, she will let me +stay here, and will speak a good word to the Fraeulein; please now, my +lamb, she surely will.' + +"Susanna Mattoni raised her head and dried the tears from her great +eyes; when she saw me she sprang up, and again I felt the magical charm +that surrounded the young creature. 'What is the matter, my child?' I +asked tenderly. + +"'You are very kind, Mademoiselle,' she answered; 'it is only the +strangeness and the long journey.' And she shivered with cold. + +"'Dress yourself quickly,' I advised her, 'there is a fire in the +dining-room, and the warm supper will do you good.' + +"The old woman seized a comb and drew it with evident pride through the +beautiful hair, and waited on the Professor's young daughter as if she +were really a princess. She talked meanwhile of her delicate +constitution and her nerves. I quite forgot going, and at that stood +still in amazement. Merciful Heaven! In old houses in the Mark 'nerves' +were not yet the fashion. What would Anna Maria say, what would----? + +"Anna Maria had spoken of having Susanna acquire the art of +housekeeping, so that in the future she might help herself through life +with her own hands. And here! a maid, nerves, the beauty of a _grande +dame_ with the little hands and feet of a child. + +"And now the old woman took from the trunk a little black dress, +evidently quite new, and trimmed with bows, flounces, and the Lord knows +what! Over the shining white neck she laid a black gauze fichu, which +she gracefully arranged on the bodice, and beneath the short skirts +peeped two shoes laced up with silk ribbons, such as scarcely ever +before glided over the old floors of Buetze Manor-house. Certainly the +old woman understood her business. Susanna Mattoni was, as she stood +there, the most charming girl I have ever seen, before or since, in my +long life. + +"'God help me, what will be the end of it?' I asked myself for the third +time, as the old woman broke off a white spray of elder, and placed it, +correctly and not without coquetry, in the fichu. + +"'But, my dear,' I said aloud, 'there is no company here this evening. +We eat to-day _en famille_, buckwheat groats with milk.' + +"But I got no answer; the busy lady's maid bent quickly to pull one or +two bows straight, and I glanced from Susanna--the color in whose cheeks +had mounted to a bright red--to the trunk, which looked suspiciously +empty after the taking out of the new dress. The old woman observed me, +and quickly shut the cover. 'The clock is striking seven,' she said; and +in fact, the weak, thin tone of the Buetze church-bell was heard just +seven times, and at once began the noisy sound of the servants' +supper-bell. + +"'Come,' said I to her, 'the servants' room is down-stairs.' + +"'Thank you,' she replied, with a look of refusal. 'I am not at all +hungry; but I would like to ask for some wood, for the child cannot +sleep in this damp atmosphere.' + +"I directed her to Brockelmann, and conducted Susanna Mattoni to the +dining-room. + +"Oh, I could paint the scene now! The four candles on the table vied +with the rosy twilight, and in the vaulted window-niche stood Klaus and +Anna Maria. He had put his arm around her, and had been saying some +kind, serious word--they never stood so near each other again! I seem to +see, at this moment, how they turned around toward me--how Klaus, full +of surprise, looked past me at the slender, girlish figure; how Anna +Maria was suddenly transfixed--and I could not blame either of them! I +have scarcely ever seen Susanna Mattoni more charming, more maidenly, +than at that moment, when she stood in embarrassment before the young +friend of her father. I wondered if she had imagined he was different. + +"A warm glow overspread her delicate face; Anna Maria blushed, too. I do +not know whether it was fear or anger that caused her to touch Klaus's +arm, as he stepped forward to say some words of welcome to Susanna. + +"'Please come to the table!' called Anna Maria. 'Here, Fraeulein Mattoni, +beside Aunt Rosamond.' As we stood at our places she said, in a +strangely faltering voice, the old grace: 'The eyes of all wait upon +Thee, O Lord!' The 'Amen' almost stuck in her throat, and in the look +which she gave the young girl's dainty dress, and which fell with +especial sharpness on the white flowers, I saw what the clock had struck +for Anna Maria. It was almost amusing to me to compare the two girls, so +unlike, and to wonder whether the high-necked, gray woollen dress and +the dainty little silk gown would ever live side by side, without having +to make mutual concessions. + +"Klaus talked to Susanna, who sat opposite him. He touched upon the +subject of her deceased father, but gave it up at once when he saw the +great eyes fill with tears, which she bravely tried to swallow with the +strange buckwheat groats. A fresh egg, afterward, seemed to taste better +to her, but with a timorous smile she refused a glass of foaming brown +beer, and I am convinced that she rose unsatisfied from the table. + +"The candles were lighted in the sitting-room, and at the master's place +lay a plate of tobacco and a matchbox beside the newspaper. At Anna +Maria's place lay her knitting-work, and at mine spectacles and +Pompadour, just as Brockelmann arranged them every evening, except that +in winter Anna Maria had her spinning-wheel instead of her knitting. +To-night Klaus did not take his pipe from the shelf in the corner; +Susanna Mattoni's delicate form sank into his comfortable easy-chair, +and her small head nestled back in the cushions; but Klaus, like a true +cavalier, with a chivalry that became him admirably, sat on a stool +opposite her. + +"The conversation, in which Anna Maria joined but little, turned upon +Berlin. Susanna was well informed about her native city, and now +chattered charmingly and without embarrassment; her eyes shone, her +cheeks grew red, and a roguish dimple displayed itself every instant. +Now she was in the opera-house or theatre, in the Thiergarten or in +Charlottenburg; now she related anecdotes of the royal family. All this +came out in a confused jumble, and Klaus did not grow tired of asking +questions. The newspaper lay disregarded, and his pipe did not receive a +glance. + +"Anna Maria sat silent, and knit. At nine o'clock she broke into the +conversation. 'I think you must be tired, Fraeulein Mattoni,' she said; +and one could perceive what an effort she made to speak kindly. 'We +usually retire about ten, but you need an extra hour's sleep to-night.' +And as Brockelmann appeared, in answer to the bell, the little thing, +with a certain astonishment in her eyes, said 'Good-night,' like an +obedient child. She turned around at the door, and asked, with a sweet, +imploring expression on her little face: 'May Isa sleep in my room?' + +"'A bed has been made up in another room for your companion,' replied +Anna Maria; 'you are surely not afraid? Brockelmann's room is next +door.' + +"Susanna did not reply, but made another exceedingly graceful courtesy +and vanished. + +"'Do let the old woman sleep with her,' said Klaus; 'think how forlorn +her first night in a strange house must be!' + +"But Anna Maria did not reply; she got her brother's pipe from the +shelf, and, smiling, pushed him into his easy-chair, and took up her +knitting again. + +"'There, Klaus, I beg of you, don't be so nonsensical in the future as +to sit on a footstool. That was very uncomfortable.' + +"'Sooner dead than impolite!' he replied good-humoredly. + +"'Everything in its time!' she rejoined. 'Susanna Mattoni is to be a +member of our household, and there is nothing so tiresome as formal +politeness and constraint. Susanna can sit on that stool just as well as +you.' + +"'_Bon_, Anna Maria! But now, what do you really think of her?' + +"'Since you ask me plainly, Klaus, I will answer you plainly. I say that +I expected to receive something different into the house.' + +"'So did I,' he rejoined laconically, drawing the first whiffs from his +pipe. + +"'And that if anything is to be made of the girl, the old woman must go +away to-morrow.' + +"'She is right,' thought I to myself, 'if it is only not too late!' + +"Klaus took up the newspaper. 'Well, Anna Maria, there may be something +to say about that by and by; but let her stay a week or two, so that she +may see how Fraeulein Mattoni gets on.' + +"'Am I to bring up the girl or not?' Anna Maria interrupted, with a +roughness such as she had never before shown toward her brother. 'How is +this spoiled lady of fashion to learn to take care of herself and to use +her hands, if that person remains at her side, to put on her shoes and +stockings for her whenever it is possible, and turn her head with +flowers and frivolities? Twenty-four hours I have said, and not a +minute longer; two such totally different methods as hers and mine +cannot agree.' + +"Klaus looked in surprise at the excited face. 'You are right, Anna +Maria,' he said appeasingly. 'I am only afraid that this being will +never develop according to your mind. She seems to me----' + +"'Made of different material!' finished Anna Maria ironically. 'I tell +you, that will be no hindrance to me, in educating a girl whose calling +it is to make herself useful in the world; affected dolls, painted +cheeks, and theatrical pomp, I will not endure in my house!' + +"She had risen, and all the indignation which the old woman's skill at +the toilet had called forth now glowed on her red cheeks and shone from +her sparkling eyes. + +"Klaus laid down the newspaper which he had just taken up. 'I beg you, +Anna Maria,' he said, almost indignantly, 'cannot that be settled +quietly? The girl has only this minute come into the house, and is she +to make discord between us already?' + +"Anna Maria sat down again in silence, and took up her knitting. But +after a little while she rose hastily, tied a black lace scarf over her +fair hair, and went out. + +"Klaus followed her with his eyes. 'Aunt Rosamond, what is this?' he +asked, sighing. + +"'She expected something different, Klaus,' I said; 'it is a +disappointment.' + +"'The girl is charming, Aunt Rosamond. I can understand the Professor's +anxiety about her. But how will she get on with Anna Maria's energy? +There are not only hens and such useful creatures in the world, but the +good God has made birds of paradise as well!' + +"'Klauschen,' came from the depths of my heart, 'let the bird of +paradise fly away; it is not suited to your nest.' + +"'Never, Aunt Rosamond,' he replied quickly. 'I am bound by the last +wish of the man whom I loved best in the whole world!' He was red, and +his eyes shone moistly, and it struck me, at this moment, what a +handsome, stately man he was. + +"Brockelmann's entrance put an end to our conversation. She was hunting +for Anna Maria, and looked irritated: 'It is too provoking, master; the +old woman isn't suited with her bed, and means to sit up all night in +her young lady's room. And there is a fire there hot enough to roast an +ox, and that in May! She is doing some cooking, too; the whole room +smells of green tea.' Muttering away, she disappeared. + +"Klaus laughed aloud. 'Open rebellion, Aunt Rosamond! Do me a favor, and +look after these two strangers. Perhaps you will be able to point out to +the old woman that--well, that she can't stay here.' + +"This really seemed to me the best thing to do, and I went up-stairs. +Through the hall window I caught sight of Anna Maria in the damp, +moonlit garden; she was standing motionless, like a dark shadow, and +looking out toward the dusky country. 'Strange girl,' thought I; 'if an +ugly little creature in a patched dress had come to the house to-day, +she would have taken it to her heart, and kissed it--and now?' + +"As I entered Susanna's room without knocking, the old woman hastily +motioned to me to come softly, for her charge was asleep. She was +sitting in a high-backed chair by the bed, and, as I came nearer, rose +and drew aside the curtains for me to look at the girl. + +"There lay the young thing in the deep sleep of fatigue, breathing +softly and quietly, a smile on the red lips; the drooping lashes rested +like dark shadows on the child's pale cheeks. Her little night-dress, +trimmed with imitation lace and adorned with a profusion of bows, did +not look badly in the dim light which came from two candles and the +dying embers in the fire-place. The slender hands were folded, and the +dark hair lay loosely over the white pillow. Yes, she was charming, this +maiden in her sweet slumber. + +"'Is she not beautiful? Is she not lovely?' said the old woman's proud +smile. + +"I nodded. 'Poor little bird of paradise!' I thought, 'how your gay, +shining feathers will be plucked. Well for you if you do not miss them!' +And, bethinking myself of my promise to Klaus, I turned and beckoned to +the old woman. By the fire-place I overturned a little silver kettle and +a cup that were standing on the floor. Aha, the tea-making apparatus! On +the sofa lay the clothes which Susanna had worn to-day, in picturesque +disorder; one little shoe was on the floor, the other I noticed on the +dressing-table, and beside it hats, ribbons, and all sorts of frippery, +in the wildest confusion. + +"'Will you not put the things away in the wardrobes intended for them,' +I asked softly, 'so that Susanna can find them without your help?' + +"'She will not need to,' the old woman replied confidently, and looked +at me with a friendly grin. 'They surely cannot be so cruel as to +separate us.' + +"'Certainly, my dear, you will leave the house to-morrow, and Susanna +Mattoni will remain under our protection, as her father was promised. +There was nothing said about you in this matter.' + +"'Then give me a rope at once,' whispered the old woman passionately, +'that I may hang myself on the nearest limb! What am I to do, then? +Where shall I go? I had a foreboding as we drove through the gate that +ill-luck awaited me!' + +"'My niece will surely allow you to visit your former charge from time +to time,' I said, to console her. + +"'And what is to become of her?' she asked, pointing to the sleeping +girl. 'She is not accustomed to be without me for a moment! No, no, I am +not going; I cannot go. If this young lady has no sympathy, surely the +kind gentleman will have, who used to come so often to the Professor. +Where is he? I will beg him on my knees, I will beg him to let me stay +here.' + +"'Listen, my friend,' I said earnestly, and took hold of the flowing +silk sleeves of her dress. 'It will be for your young lady's best good +if you are parted from her. This much I know, that Professor Mattoni has +left the girl quite without means, and it is now high time she learned +to put on her shoes and stockings alone. A poor demoiselle, of citizen's +rank, needs no lady's maid. She must learn to work and to make herself +useful.' + +"'Oh, Heaven!' sobbed the little dried-up woman, 'I thought she was to +be a guest in this house, and you will make a servant of her.' + +"A harsh answer was at my tongue's end. Had her tenderness for the girl +made this woman perfectly crazy? At any rate, she was not to be reasoned +with. 'Go down-stairs,' said I, in vexation, 'and carry your complaint +to the master. He will know better, at least, how to make you comprehend +what sort of a position Susanna Mattoni is to occupy here.' + +"She dried her tears, seized a candle, and flew to the mirror, bustled +about with comb and brush, and spread over her yellow face something +from various little jars. I began to feel a real horror of the old +woman, with her artifices. Now she tied her cap-strings afresh, pulled +from the trunk a lace-edged handkerchief, and holding it theatrically in +her hand, said she was ready to pay her respects to the master. + +"'Were you formerly on the stage?' I asked, wondering at her red, full +cheeks. + +"'For ten years, Mademoiselle!' she replied; 'I played the gay, her +mother'--she pointed to Susanna--'the tragic lovers. Oh, it was +glorious, that acting together!' + +"What she further related I did not understand. 'Merciful Heaven!' I +faltered, as I opened the door softly and showed her out into the hall, +'what has Klaus brought upon us, in his kind-heartedness?' + +"I sat still by the girl's bed, and looked at the young face. God only +knew in what slough this fair flower had grown! It was clear that the +old woman must go away, if anything was ever to be made of the girl; +please God it might not be too late! + +"The light from the candles scarcely sufficed to light up the nearest +objects. Dense obscurity lay in the corners, but the oil-portrait of the +Mischief-maker was feebly illuminated, and her black eyes seemed to give +me a demoniacal look. A vague fear came over me; involuntarily I folded +my hands in prayer: 'O Lord, Thy ways are wonderful! Lead us gently, let +not the peace go out from us that has dwelt so long beneath this roof, +let no second Mischief-maker have crossed this threshold, preserve the +old, sacred bond between Klaus and Anna Maria. Amen!' + +"At this moment the door opened and the old actress came back. She did +not deign to look at me, but knelt down by the bed, laid her head on the +pillow, and began to weep bitterly. + +"'Isa! Isa!' murmured Susanna in her sleep. The old woman raised her +head and pressed the dark hair to her lips. + +"'I am going, Mademoiselle,' she whispered to me; 'no one has a heart +here in this house. But if a hair of her head is hurt, or a tear falls +from her eyes, I--I--' She gasped out a few words more, and threw +herself down again beside the bed. + +"'When shall you leave?' I asked. + +"'Early in the morning,' she replied, in a lifeless tone. + +"'Then lie down now, and go to sleep,' I said, pointing to the sofa, and +prepared to leave the room. + +"'Oh, Mademoiselle!' She sprang up and held me fast. 'Promise me you +will be kind to Susanna, you will speak a kind word to her if she +cries!' + +"'Certainly, as far as I can; but she will receive only kindness from +every one here.' + +"'Not from the blonde lady,' she said. 'She is a girl without a heart; +perhaps she never had one, perhaps it is dead. She does not know what +youth, beauty, and love are. She never laughs. I notice that people who +cannot laugh are envious of every being that can be happy, that pleases +others by its charm; she will never love Susanna!' + +"She spoke pathetically and theatrically, yet a tone of deep pain rang +through her words. + +"'Life is so serious,' I returned. + +"'But laughing, cheerfulness, beauty are the air she breathes,' began +the strange person again. + +"'I promise you to look after the child,' said I, about to go; but in +vain. She held me by the dress, and begged me to hear first, for God's +sake, that it was not tyranny or arbitrary choice that bound her to the +child, but a sacred promise. And whether I would or not, I had to +listen to a story which the old woman delivered as if she were on the +stage, and which, in spite of the whispered tone in which it was given, +was, by means of gestures and rolling of the eyes, a perfect specimen of +high mimic art. I could not now repeat the words as they came from the +lips of the old actress, but only know now that she contrived to +announce that she was just forty years old and had been very beautiful. +The old song came into my head, which a poet puts into the mouth of his +old harpist: + + "'I once was young and fair, + But my beauty's gone--ah, where? + On my cheeks were roses red, + And bright curls upon my head. + When I was young and fair! + When I was young and fair!' + +"I did not dispute her pretended forty years, and she now unrolled +before my eyes a phase of life so varied and irregular, and yet again so +full of the poetry of a vagabond existence, that Father Goethe would +surely have been glad to have it to insert in 'Wilhelm Meister.' To make +a short story of it, Professor Mattoni had really loved _her_, when, in +consequence of a mood, to her inexplicable, he transferred his affection +to her fellow-actress. 'I was senseless from pain, Mademoiselle,' she +threw in, 'but I governed myself. I became the most indispensable friend +of Mattoni's young wife.' + +"She now described this person as a dreamy creature, beautiful as a +picture but quite uneducated; and the Professor, as an imperious man, +who, when he failed to find in his wife the companionship of his soul's +creation, treated her worse than a servant-maid. '_En verite_, +Mademoiselle, she was stupid; the thickest wall would have--' And she +made a gesture, as if to test with _her_ head whether the walls at +Buetze were a match for it. 'Oh, the men, even the wisest and best of +them are blinded when they love, Mademoiselle! He had received his +punishment for his breach of faith toward me.' + +"Then followed a description of the Mattoni household, in which Isabella +Pfannenschmidt, as my informant was called, heartily interested herself. +She became housekeeper for Frau Mattoni, who read novels all day long or +played with her cat. The women lived in a little back room, and the +Professor occupied two rooms as formerly. They received from him such +scanty means of support that often they knew not how to satisfy their +hunger. The troupe with which Isabella Pfannenschmidt had an engagement +went away from Berlin, but she could not go with them: 'for, +Mademoiselle, she and the child would have perished in dirt and misery; +she was a person who would go hungry if food were not put right under +her nose, rather than get up from her lazy position on the sofa, and the +Professor took all his meals at a restaurant. He did not want people to +find out that he had a wife and child, anyway. We dared not stir if any +one was with him. Susanna's first frock was made from a cast-off red +velvet dress, cut over, in which her mother once used to play queens. +The father never looked at the charming child till his wife had closed +her dreamy eyes forever. Then, as he went up to her bier, and his child +reached out her little hand after the few scanty flowers I had bought +with my last penny, he was first shaken out of the stupidity of the last +few years. He knelt down with the child and prayed God to forgive him +his wrong-doing! Well, good intentions are cheap, to be sure! He did +give somewhat more for our household expenses, and I was enabled to +dress Susanna so we could show ourselves publicly without attracting +attention; he even let her have lessons, and she learned bravely. He +never inquired for me, and yet I have remained true to him all these +long years; it was as if my care and work were a matter of course. He +had no longer a look for me, the past seemed to be wiped out from his +memory; and yet I have passed my youth in sorrow for his sake, I have +taken care of his wife and child, and now--now she is taken from me! +What have I done to deserve this?' + +"I was truly sorry for the little weeping woman, though the facts as to +her age and former beauty might be somewhat different, and though her +statement that he once had loved her might not be strictly true; at any +rate, she had loved him as truly as a poor, weak woman's heart can love. +For his sake she had loved his child, and without a murmur suffered want +and hunger for her sake. And now he repaid her by taking the child away +from her. Poor Isabella Pfannenschmidt, you have lived in vain! The +flame which burns in your heart shines forth triumphantly over all the +theatrical trumpery and baubles clinging to you, poor old Isabella! And +yet it would be a pity for this child to have to breathe in that dusty, +paint-scented atmosphere any longer. No, Isabella, you must go, though +the heart of the once gay actress break over it. + +"'Susanna will always be fond of you,' I comforted her, 'and never +forget what you have done for her.' + +"'Oh, that she will--that she will! She has her father's nature,' sobbed +the old woman; 'she will forget me, and, what's more, she will be +ashamed of me.' + +"'You make a sad exposure of the child's heart, my dear,' said I +reprovingly. + +"She started up. 'Oh, no, no! she really is good.' she murmured, 'very +good. And,' she continued, 'I shall not go very far away either, only to +the nearest town. What should I do in Berlin? I should die of longing. I +will hire a room in S---- and sew for money; I can embroider well, with +colored wool and gold thread. And if the longing becomes too great, I +can run up the highway, and if need be up here, to look at the house +where she lives.' + +"And now she began, amid streaming tears, to pick out one after another +of the garments lying around, and to lay them in a white cloth, and in +so doing caught up the little shoe on the table, and pressed the narrow +sole to her cheek. + +"'Don't forget the little jar of paint,' I whispered, in spite of my +sympathy. + +"She shook her head. 'No, no, I shall pack up everything. I will do it +at once, for if she wakes I cannot say good-by. I shall go before +daybreak.' + +"I held out my hand to her, for I was sorry for her. 'Go away easy; the +child is well off here--and may the thought console you, that it is for +Susanna's best good.' I went out, and as I turned again, in closing the +door, I saw in the dim light the little gypsy-like creature sitting on +the floor, amid all her rubbish and trumpery, and weeping, her face +buried in her hands." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + + +"My first inquiry the next morning was for the old woman. She was gone, +I learned, and the Fraeulein was already with the stranger in her room. +'Anna Maria's education is beginning,' I said with a sigh, and ate my +rye porridge less cheerfully than usual. Yesterday lay behind me like a +confused dream, and Susanna's presence in the house oppressed me with +the weight of a mountain. Soon I heard Anna Maria's metallic voice in +the corridor; she was speaking French, so speaking to Susanna at all +events. I caught only a few disconnected words, before she knocked at my +door, and came into the room with the young girl. + +"'We wish to say good-morning to you, aunt,' she began pleasantly. I +gave a searching glance at Susanna; a pair of great tears still hung on +her lashes, but the laugh--which was her element--lay hidden in the +dimples of her cheeks and shone from her beautiful eyes, as if only +waiting an opportunity to break forth. + +"She wore her black travelling-dress of yesterday, but Anna Maria had +tied a woollen wrap about her shoulders. In spite of that, the sight of +her was like a ray of sunshine. + +"'I would like to ask, Aunt Rosamond,' said Anna Maria, 'if you have +some little duty for Susanna, and beg you to let her profit, in the +future, by your skill in needlework. I have been examining her--she can +do nothing!' + +"'Certainly, Anna Maria!' I was glad to have, in a certain degree, a +slight claim on the girl. 'Do you like knitting, Susanna?' I asked. + +"She laughed and shook her head. 'Oh, no, no! I grow dizzy when I see +knitting always round and round.' + +"Anna Maria did not seem to hear this answer. 'Fraeulein von Hegewitz +will teach you netting and plain knitting,' she said; 'with me you shall +learn to understand the mysteries of housekeeping. And now we will have +breakfast, and then begin at once. Klaus has been in the field for a +long time already,' she added; 'the first grass is to be cut to-day.' + +"And they went. Susanna tripped along, with hanging head, behind Anna +Maria. 'Is she pursuing the right method with this child?' I wondered. +'With her energy she will destroy all at once, all the results of former +education; but it surely is not possible. God help her to the right +way!' + +"Later, as I was taking my walk through the garden, I saw Susanna coming +along by the pond; she did not walk, she actually flew, with +outstretched arms, as if she would press to her heart the green tops of +the old trees, the golden sunshine, and all the birds singing so +jubilantly to-day, and all nature. Her short skirts were flying, the +woollen wrap had disappeared, and her white shoulders emerged like wax +from the deep black of her dress. Indescribably charming she looked, +thus rushing along; she must have escaped somehow from Anna Maria. Close +by my hiding-place she stood still, and looked up at the blue sky; then, +singing lightly, she stooped, picked a narcissus and fastened the white +flowers in her bosom, and then put her hand into her dress pocket, and +drew out something which she put quickly into her mouth, but which did +not interfere with her singing, for now as she went on she trilled the +words: + + 'Batti, batti, o bel Masetto + la tua povera Zerlina.' + +"I followed her slowly, and observed lying in the path a little object +wrapped in white paper, which she had evidently lost. 'A bonbon! Well, +that is the height of folly!' said I, taking it up in vexation. 'One +could not expect anything different from such bringing up.' And as I +unwrapped the thing, I found in it a French motto, a more sugary and +frivolous one than which could scarcely have been composed in the time +of Louis XIV., supposing that bonbon mottoes were known at that time. +'If Anna Maria knew of this, with her pure, maidenly mind!' I thought, +shaking my head. 'Oh, Klaus, for my part, I wish your bird of paradise +were in the moon, at any rate not here.' I overtook her at the next turn +of the path, where there was a red thorn in the splendor of full bloom; +it bent its branches almost humbly under this superabundance of rosy +adornment, at which Susanna was looking admiringly. + +"'Oh, how charming!' she cried, as she saw me. 'Oh, how wonderfully +beautiful!' And the purest joy shone from her eyes. How did that accord +with the bonbon motto? + +"In that moment I resolved not to lose confidence in the girl's +character, and at every opportunity to help lift the young spirit into +higher regions. I have honestly striven to fulfil this promise. I may +testify to it to myself--not so violently, not in so dictatorial and +severe a manner as Anna Maria did I proceed; not like Klaus either. Ah, +me--Klaus! Those first eight weeks in general! Ah, if I only knew how to +describe the time which now followed! There is so little to say, and yet +such an immense change was brought about in our house. + +"Whether Susanna Mattoni ever missed her old nurse, I did not know. When +she awoke on that first morning and found Anna Maria by her bed instead +of the little actress, to inform her that the latter had left the house, +great tears had streamed from her eyes. Anna Maria had said: 'Be +reasonable, Susanna, and do not make a request that I cannot grant.' And +Susanna had replied, with an inimitable mingling of childishness and +pride: 'Have no fear, Fraeulein von Hegewitz, I never ask a second time!' + +"Anna Maria told me about it later, years afterward. Indeed, there was +no slight amount of pride in that little head. + +"Anna Maria began the practical education with the thoroughness peculiar +to her in everything. With her iron constitution, her need of bodily +activity, she had no suspicion that there were people in the world for +whom such activity might be too much. Susanna had to go through kitchen +and cellar, Susanna was initiated into the mysteries of the great +washing, and Susanna drove with her, afternoons, in the burning heat +into the fields, in order to explore the agricultural botany. Anna +Maria's face showed a glimmer of happiness; she now had some one to whom +she was indispensable, so she thought. + +"And Klaus? Klaus had never in his life sat so constantly in his room as +now; he went into the garden-parlor seldom or never, and only at +mealtimes came to look into the sitting-room or out on the terrace. And +then his eyes would rest on Susanna with a strange expression, anxiously +and compassionately it seemed to me. He said not a word against Anna +Maria's management. + +"'Aunt Rosamond,' the latter said sadly to me one day, 'I fear Susanna's +being here is a burden to Klaus; he is quiet, depressed, and not at all +as he used to be.' + +"'Why _that_ cause, Anna Maria?' said I. 'Klaus does seem out of humor, +that is true, but may it not be something else? Farmers have a new cause +for vexation every day, and are never at a loss for one.' + +"'Ah, no, Aunt Rosamond!' she replied. 'There has not been the prospect +of such a harvest for years; it is a pleasure to go through the fields.' + +"And Susanna, the breath of whose life was laughing? She wandered about +like a dreamer. How often, when she sat opposite me in the sewing-room, +her hands dropped in her lap, and she went to sleep, like an overweary +child. And I let her sleep, for on the pale little face the marks of the +unwonted manner of life were only too perceptible. Once Klaus came into +the room, as she sat there, fallen asleep, like little Princess +Domroeschen, only, instead of the spindle, the netting-needle in her +hand. He came nearer on tip-toe, and looked at her, his arms at his +sides. Then he asked softly: + +"'Do you not think she looks wretchedly, aunt?' + +"'The altered mode of life, Klaus,' I answered, 'the strange food, +the----' + +"'Say the over-exertion, aunt,' he broke in; 'that would be nearer the +truth. Poor little one!' + +"'Why do you not say so to Anna Maria, Klaus? I, too, think that too +much is required in this early rising and continually being on the +feet.' + +"He grew very red, bit his lips, and shrugged his shoulders in place of +an answer, and left me before I had time to speak further. + +"Susanna, moreover, never uttered a word of complaint; but it would +happen that Anna Maria had to seek her, seek for hours without finding +her, and that Klaus very quietly remarked, 'She must have run away!' But +she would appear again suddenly, with bright eyes and red cheeks, to be +sure; she had gone astray in the wood, she said, or gone to sleep in the +garden. Sometimes she would shut herself into her dull room, and open +the door to no knocks. Once, as she pulled her handkerchief quickly out +of her pocket, a paper of bonbons fell to the floor. Anna Maria, who +despised all sweetmeats, confiscated it at once; I can still see the +look of punishment she gave the blushing girl. We were all sitting on +the terrace, just after supper; Klaus had been reading aloud from the +newspaper, and this was usually a moment when Susanna waked from her +dreaming; her shining eyes were fixed on Klaus, and a rosy gleam spread +over the pale face. Klaus held the good old 'Tante Voss,' and read aloud +every little story which alluded to Berlin; that habit was now quietly +introduced, whereas he had formerly read only certain political news, +that he might talk about it with Anna Maria. + +"The falling bonbon package broke right into a report from the +opera-house, where Sontag had sung with wild applause. Klaus let the +paper drop, observed Anna Maria's look and the gesture with which she +laid the unlucky package beside her, and saw Susanna's confusion. + +"'Show me the package, Anna Maria,' he asked; and unwrapping one of the +bonbons in colored paper, he said, 'Ah! these are miserable things +indeed; they must taste splendidly!' He smiled as he said this, and the +smile put Susanna beside herself. + +"'I--I do not eat them at all!' she cried, 'I only have them for the +little children who come to the fence there below; they are pleased with +them, I know, for nothing was more beautiful to me when I was a child +than a bonbon!' + +"She said this so touchingly and childishly, in spite of her excitement, +that Klaus begged for her hand as if in atonement. + +"'Susanna, you might poison the village children with this bad stuff. I +will get some other bonbons for you that will taste good to you +yourself.' + +"Anna Maria rose, apparently indifferent, put the dish of fragrant +strawberries which she had been hulling for preserving on the great +stone table, and went slowly down the steps into the garden. When she +came up again, an hour had passed, and the moon appeared over the gabled +roof and shone brightly into her proud face. + +"'Where is Susanna?' she asked. The child had just gone down to the +garden, and Klaus was smoking a pipe in peace of mind. She seated +herself quietly in her place and looked out over the moonlit tree-tops +into the warm summer night. Then she said suddenly: + +"'May I say something to you, Klaus?' + +"'Certainly, Anna Maria,' he replied. + +"'Then do not give Susanna any bonbons; that is, do not contradict me so +directly when I have occasion to reprove her.' + +"Klaus sat bolt upright in his wooden chair. 'Anna Maria,' he began, 'I +don't think you can complain of my having found fault with or revoked +any regulation of yours with regard to Fraeulein Mattoni; although'--he +stopped, and knocked the ashes from his pipe against the flagstones. + +"'Did I do anything with Susanna which displeased you?' she asked. + +"But she got no answer, for just then the subject of discussion flew up +the steps, and sat down again, modestly, in her place. Anna Maria rose, +took a shawl from her shoulders, and wrapped it about the girl who was +breathing very fast. 'You are heated, Susanna, you might take cold.' +Klaus now smoked the faster, and on saying good-night held out both +hands to Anna Maria; but she placed hers in them only lightly. + +"Ah, yes, the first omens, slight and scarcely noticeable! Perhaps they +would have escaped my eyes if I had not had, from the very first, a +foreboding of coming evil. I do not know if Susanna received the +promised bonbons. Probably not; and after that episode everything went +on in the usual course, until there came a day full of unforeseen +events, full of developments, which placed us all at once in the most +dreadful entanglements. + +"It was an oppressively hot day, just in the middle of the harvesting. +In the court-yard and in the house a veritable deathly stillness +reigned, and not even a leaf on the trees stirred under the scorching +midday sun. I sat in one of the deep window-niches of the great hall +which lies on the garden side of the house and opens out on the terrace. +Here it was endurable, for the heat could not easily penetrate the thick +walls, and the tall elms which shaded the terrace, and the wild-grape +which covered it with its luxurious festoons, made a cool, green, dim +light. Even now the garden-parlor is my favorite retreat during the warm +weather. At that time, however, there was no carved-oak furniture here, +nor was there a gay mosaic pavement on the terrace; the white varnished +chairs and the couches covered with red-flowered chintz answered the +same purpose, as did the worn old sandstone flags with which the terrace +was paved, in whose crevices grass and all sorts of weeds sprung up +picturesquely; and the heavy gray sandstone railing had quite as feudal +a look as the artistic wrought-iron balustrade there now, and, to tell +the truth, pleased me better. Some of us have such an affection to the +old things; but that is pardonable, I think. + +"So I was sitting in the garden-parlor, and growing a little dreamy, as +I still like to do, and listening abstractedly to Anna Maria's voice as +she went over her accounts, half aloud, in the sitting-room close by. +Klaus was in the fields again, for the first wheat was to be brought in +to-day, and I was waiting for Susanna to come for a sewing lesson, but +in vain. She must be asleep, I thought, half content to think so, for +the heat fairly paralyzed my will-power. And so a long time passed, till +a heavy step sounded on the stone flags outside, and immediately after +Klaus, dusty and red with heat, came in and threw himself wearily into +the nearest chair. + +"'Where is Susanna?' he asked, wiping his hot forehead with his +handkerchief. + +"'She is sleeping, probably,' I replied. + +"'Are you sure of that, Aunt Rosamond?' + +"'No, Klaus, but I think it may be assumed with tolerable certainty. I +know her.' + +"'It is strange,' he remarked; 'I could have sworn I saw her vanish in +the Darnbitz pines a little while ago.' + +"'For Heaven's sake!' I cried incredulously. 'Impossible! in this heat! +It is half an hour's walk from here!' + +"'So I said to myself; but the gait, all the motions, the small, +black-robed figure--indeed, I rode across the field at once, but of +course nothing was to be heard or seen then.' + +"'I will wager she is sleeping quietly up-stairs in her canopied bed, or +staring at the "Mischief-maker,"' said I jestingly. + +"'And now, aunt,' began Klaus again, 'I have a piece of news which will +please you as it has me; but I do not know if Anna Maria--But then, it +is nearly three years since that painful affair!' + +"As he spoke he took a letter from the pocket of his linen coat, and +looking at it said: 'Stuermer is back again, indeed has been for two +weeks; I do not understand----' + +"At that instant something fell clattering to the floor, and in the +door-way stood Anna Maria, white as a corpse. In questioning alarm her +eyes were fixed on Klaus's lips. I had never seen the strong-willed girl +thus. Klaus sprang up and went toward her; I heard her say only the one +word 'Stuermer.' + +"'He is here, Anna Maria,' replied her brother; 'does that startle you +so?' + +"She shook her head, but her looks belied her. + +"'I have just received this note,' continued Klaus, and he read as +follows: + + "'MY DEAR OLD FRIEND: + + "'I landed here again two weeks ago, for the longing for home + finally overcame me; and when one has wandered about for three + years, it is time, for various reasons, to return to the + ancestral home. I come from--but I will tell you all that when + I see you. I have already been twice before your door, to say + good-day, but--I am meanwhile of the opinion that the past + should not interfere with our old friendly relations. I + certainly came off conqueror! It will not be hard for Anna + Maria to receive an old friend, which I have never ceased to + be, and which I shall always endeavor to remain. May I come, + then? To-morrow morning, after church, I had intended to make a + call, if you permit it. My compliments to the ladies. + + "'Ever yours, + + "'EDWIN STUeRMER.' + +"A deep pink flush had mounted to Anna Maria's cheeks as he read, and at +the words 'I certainly came off conqueror! It will not be hard for Anna +Maria to receive an old friend,' there was a quiver of pain on her +delicate lips. When Klaus finished, she had quite recovered her +self-possession. 'I shall be glad to see Edwin Stuermer again,' she said +clearly; 'ask him to eat a plate of soup with us.' + +"'That is lovely of you, Anna Maria!' cried Klaus, rejoiced. 'The poor +fellow has gotten over it, it is to be hoped; meeting again for the +first time is naturally somewhat painful, but you have done nothing so +bad. How could you help it that he loves you, and you not him? Splendid +old fellow, he----' + +"Anna Maria's eyes wandered with a strange expression over the green +trees outside; she kept her lips tightly closed, as if making an effort +to repress a cry, and was still standing thus when Klaus sat down at the +writing table near by, to answer Stuermer's note. + +"'Where is Susanna?' she asked at last. + +"'She must be asleep,' I replied. + +"She turned and left the room. + +"'Klaus,' I said, going up to him, 'it seems to me a dangerous +experiment for Stuermer to return here.' + +"'Why, aunt?' he asked; 'Anna Maria certainly does not love him; and he? +Bah! If he were not sure of his heart, he would not come; he simply +declares himself cured!' + +"'Are you so sure that Anna Maria does not love him?' + +"He looked at me, as if to read in my face whether or no I had lost my +senses. 'I don't understand that, aunt,' he replied, shaking his head. +'If she loves him she would have married him; there was nothing in the +world to hinder. For Heaven's sake, aunt, don't see any ghosts. I am so +inexpressibly glad to have a man again in the neighborhood with whom one +can talk about something besides the harvest and the weather.' + +"Yes, yes! He was right, of course. I did not know myself at that moment +how the thought had really come to me. + +"And Klaus rode into the field again, and I sat waiting for Susanna; +round about, the deepest silence, only a couple of flies buzzing about +on the window-panes; an hour slipped away, and yet another. Why, why, +the hands of the clock were pointing all at once at half-past six; I had +had a nap, as ailing old maids have a right to do occasionally. The +sinking sun was now peeping, deep golden, through the trees; one such +impertinent ray had waked me. Had Susanna been here? I rose and went to +my room, and then across to Susanna's: it was impossible that she should +still be sleeping. + +"No, the room was empty. The sun flooded it for a moment with a crimson +light, and made it seem almost cosey; or was it the bunches of flowers +all about on the tables and stands? Even the 'Mischief-maker' had a +garland of corn-flowers hung over the frame, and a sunbeam falling +obliquely on her full lips lit them up with a crimson light. No trace of +Susanna; her black gauze fichu lay on the floor in the middle of the +room; on the sofa, half-hidden in the cushions, was a note. I drew it +out--old maids are allowed to be curious--and my eyes fell on a bold +handwriting which, to my surprise, read as follows: + +"'Three o'clock this afternoon, in the Dambitz pines!' + +"How every possibility whirled through my head then! Klaus had seen +aright! But who, for Heaven's sake, had written this? With whom had +Susanna a meeting there! I thought and thought, and all manner of +strange ideas arose in my mind, and Susanna did not come; she had never +stayed away so long before. The supper-bell rang, and we three sat alone +again at the table, for the first time in a long while, and worried +about the girl. All the servants were questioned, and two lads sent +along the Dambitz road. + +"I did not know if I ought to speak of the letter. I should have liked +to speak first to Susanna alone; so I decided to wait and not cause any +further disturbance. Anna Maria was noticeably indifferent, and thought +Susanna would certainly come soon, she had probably gone to sleep in the +wood. But she must have felt an inward anxiety, for her hands trembled +and her face was flushed with excitement. + +"Klaus rose without having tasted anything. After a little we heard +again the sound of horse's hoofs on the pavement of the court; he was +riding out then to search for the missing one. Anna Maria mechanically +gave her orders for next day, and I walked alone through the dusky paths +in the garden. It was an unusually warm August evening; the moon was +rising in the east, the steel-blue sky above was cloudless, and from the +wood there came a light, refreshing breath of air. From the court came +the sound of men and maids singing, as they made merry after the hot +day's work. Ah! how many, many such evenings had I known here, and this +one brought back to me a precious memory of my youth, with all its +pleasure and all its suffering. Every tree, every bush I had known from +my earliest youth. Everything which life had brought to me was +associated with this little spot of ground. That feeling is known only +to one who can say to himself, 'Here on this spot you were born, here +will you live, and here will you die,' and it is a sweet feeling! So I +sat down in perfect content on a bench at the end of the garden, and in +my dim retreat rejoiced in all the beauty about me, yet at the same time +worrying about Susanna. Then I suddenly heard some one talking not far +from me: + +"'And then don't look so sorrowful to-morrow, do you hear, Susy? And in +any case wear the white dress to church to-morrow; I have my reasons for +wishing it. And to-morrow afternoon I will come; it has been long +enough, I can certainly come to visit you for once. And don't let out +anything, darling. What will you answer if they ask you where you have +been so long?' + +"'Nothing at all!' answered Susanna's voice defiantly. 'I do not like to +tell a lie, I shall not do it; but I shall not come to Dambitz again, it +is too far away for me.' + +"'Very fine!' was the reply; and I now recognized the voice of the old +actress. 'I have walked about with you in my arms all night long many a +time, no step was too much for me; and you will not go an hour's +distance away for my sake? I think of nothing but you and your future; I +devise plans and take pains to make your lot happy; I take up my abode +in a wretched peasant's house with a shingle roof, and everlasting smell +of the stable only to be near you; I sew my eyes and fingers sore--and +you--?' And she broke out in violent sobbing, which, however, it seemed +to me, made no impression upon Susanna, for she remained still as a +mouse. + +"'Go, Susy, be good,' the old woman began again. 'I have just given you +the pretty little dress to-day; look at it by and by and see how +carefully it is embroidered.' And now her voice sank to a whisper, and +immediately after Susanna's little figure ran quickly from the thicket +and passed close by me; she carried a white parcel in her hand, and her +round hat on her arm. I could distinctly see her flashing eyes and red +cheeks. I rose quickly, I _must_ speak before any one else saw her. +'Susanna!' I tried to call, but the name remained on my lips; for in the +path along which she flew stood, as if charmed thither, the tall figure +of a man, and Klaus's deep voice sounded in my ears: + +"'Susanna! Thank God!' + +"Had I heard aright? They were only three simple words, words which +perhaps every one would say to a person who had been missed and +anxiously sought. But here a perfect torrent of passion and anxiety +gushed forth, as hot and stifling as the summer night in which the words +were spoken. + +"I sat down again and leaned my swimming head on my hand. 'My God, +Klaus, Klaus!' I stammered. 'What is to come of this? This child! Their +circumstances compare so unfavorably, he cannot possibly want to marry +her; what, then, draws him to her? What conflicts must arise if he +really thinks of it! God preserve him from such a passion! It is surely +impossible; it cannot, must not be! Oh, Susanna, that you had never come +to this house!' + +"And round about me whispered the night-wind in the trees; the full moon +had risen golden, and bathed field and wood with a bluish light. And +Susanna is so young, and Susanna is so fair! Was it, then, strange if +Klaus loved her? What cared love and passion for all the considerations +which I had just brought up. And their--Oh, God! what would Anna Maria +say? + +"And I rose, quite depressed, to go to my room and collect my thoughts. +Klaus must have taken Susanna into the house long ago. Now Anna Maria +would ask where she had been. And she would not answer, as often before, +and Anna Maria would speak harsh words and Klaus walk restlessly about +the room! Nothing of all this. As I went slowly along the path I caught +sight of a dark figure on the stone bench under the linden. 'Anna +Maria?' I asked myself. 'Is she waiting here for Susanna?' She looked +fixedly out toward the dark country, and the moon made her face look +whiter than ever. + +"'Anna Maria!' I called, 'Susanna has come back!' She sprang up +suddenly, hastily drawing her lace veil over her forehead; but I saw, as +I came nearer, that tears were shining in her eyes. + +"'Have you been anxious?' I asked, and put my arm in hers, to support +myself, as we walked on. + +"'Anxious?' she repeated questioningly. 'Yes--no,' she replied absently. +'Ah, you said Susanna has come? I knew perfectly well that she would, +aunt, she is so fond of roving about; that comes from the vagabond blood +of her mother, no doubt.' + +"'Anna Maria!' I exclaimed, startled. + +"'Certainly, Aunt Rose,' she repeated, 'it is in her, it ferments in her +little head and shines from her eyes. So often I have noticed when she +is standing by me or sitting opposite me, busied with some work, how her +looks wander away, in eager impatience; how only the consciousness 'I +must obey' compels her to stay still by me. Then she naturally makes use +of every opportunity to rush out, to lie down under some tree and forget +time and the present. Happy being, thus constituted, through whose veins +runs no slow, pedantic, duty-bound blood!' + +"We were standing just at the bottom of the terrace, and I involuntarily +seized hold of the railing to steady myself. Was it Anna Maria who spoke +such words! Was not the whole world turned upside down then? And I saw +in the moonlight that her lips quivered and tears shone in her eyes. Had +Anna Maria something to regret in her life? And, like a flash of +lightning, Edwin Stuermer's handsome face came before my mind's eye. + +"'Anna Maria,' I whispered, 'what did you say? Who--?' But I got no +further, for the sound of a woman's voice fell on our ears; so full, so +sweet and ringing the tones floated out on the summer night, so +strangely were time and tune suited to the words, that we lingered there +breathless. Anna Maria looked up toward the open window in the upper +story. 'Susanna!' she said softly. + + 'Home have I come, my heart burns with pain. + Ah, that I only could wander again!' + +sounded down below. + +"But what was the matter with Anna Maria? She fairly flew back into the +garden. I stood still and waited; the singing above had ceased. 'Anna +Maria!' I called. No answer. What an evening this was, to be sure! Anna +Maria, who took the most serious view of the world, who hated nothing +more than sentimentality and moonlight reveries, was running about in +the garden, moved to tears by a little song! They were all +incomprehensible to me to-day--Klaus, Susanna, and Anna Maria, but +especially the latter. How could I talk to her about Susanna to-day? I +had to keep my discovery to myself; the best thing I could do would be +to go up myself to Susanna and ask her, for we should hardly assemble +about the round table in the sitting-room this evening, and Anna Maria +would hardly be in the mood to read aloud the evening prayers as usual. +And Klaus? No, I would not see him at all; better to-morrow by daylight, +when he would be his old self again, when his voice would have lost its +sultry summer-night cadence, it was to be hoped. No more to-day, I had +had enough. I should not be able to sleep, as it was. + +"And so I went, like a ghost, up the moonlit steps, and stole along the +corridor to Susanna's door, and knocked softly. No answer. I lifted the +latch and went in. The room was lighted only by the moon, and the heavy +odor of flowers came toward me; a pale ray shone just over the white +pillows of the bed and fell on Susanna's face. She was fast asleep; her +neck and arms glistened like marble. Should I wake her? She would surely +stifle in this air. I stole past her, opened a window, and set the +bunches of flowers out on the balcony. The room looked topsy-turvy, but +on the sofa was spread out with evident care the toilet for +to-morrow--the white dress, little shoes and stockings, even hat and +hymn-book for church. + +"I closed the window again softly and stole out of the girl's room. Let +her sleep; in this enchanted moonlight it would be impossible to say +anything reasonable, I thought. Indeed, I reproached myself afterward +for not having waked her from her dreams, in order to have brought all +my old maid's prose to bear against all this flower-scented poetry. But +what would it have availed? For God Almighty holds in his hands the +threads of human destiny. It had to be thus." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + + +"The next morning broke as prosaic and calm as I could desire. The sun +shone with obtrusive clearness into the most remote corner, and +mercilessly set out everything in a dazzling light. From below, +out-of-doors, I heard the sound of Anna Maria's voice, and caught +something about 'string-beans for the servants' kitchen.' Klaus whistled +out of the window, and immediately after I heard a dialogue concerning +Waldemann (the _Teckel_), who was just limping across the court, having +jammed his foot in the stable-door, according to the coachman's account. +Klaus's voice, thank God, had not a suspicion of that weak intonation of +last evening. Relieved, and smiling at my fears of yesterday, I got +ready for church. If we can only get well over the first meeting with +Stuermer, it may be quite a pleasant Sunday, I reasoned; I was wishing +some visitor would come, that we might not be so much by ourselves. + +"When our church-bell began to ring we three of the family were standing +down-stairs in the sitting-room waiting for Susanna. Anna Maria looked +weary and unnerved, and an old sort of expression lay about her mouth; +she moved quickly and was plainly out of humor at Susanna's want of +punctuality. The festal earnestness that usually pervaded her whole +being in going to church was lacking to-day. 'Rieke!' she called to the +housemaid, 'go to Fraeulein Mattoni and ask if she will be ready soon; +we are waiting for her.' The girl came back with the answer that the +young lady had not quite finished her toilet, and begged the others to +go on. + +"'I will wait for her,' said Klaus quickly, right out of his kind, +chivalrous heart, but it brought to my mind the voice of last evening. + +"'You will let your old aunt limp to church alone, for the first time?' +I asked jokingly. + +"'Ah, _pardon_!' he replied at once. 'Old my aunt certainly is not yet; +on that ground I might leave you; but I--may I beg the honor?' he asked, +offering me his arm. + +"Anna Maria walked ahead; there was something majestic in her walk, and +as she stepped from the garden through the gate of the church-yard, and, +walking between the rows of graves, recognized the peasants with an +inclination of her fair head, kindly stroking the flaxen heads of the +children, and here and there saying a friendly word to an old man or +woman, all eyes followed her with reverence and admiration, while Klaus +received more trusting looks, and even cheers. When in our pew in the +church, she bent her head low and prayed long, and then cast a shy look +toward the opposite gallery, the place of the Dambitz gentry; Dambitz +had always been in the parish of Buetze, and many a happy time have the +Stuermers sat on that side and the Hegewitzes on this, and listened to +the simple discourse of the clergyman and bowed the head in devout +humility. Those were the good old times, when the nobility led the way +before the people, with the motto: 'Fear God and honor the king!' + +"All at once a thrill went through Anna Maria's body, but her face +looked coldly over to the Stuermer gallery; she bent her head slightly +and returned a greeting. There he was standing bodily, my old favorite, +and I almost nodded my head off at him and made secret signs with my +handkerchief. His dark eyes sent a happy greeting across to me--Edwin +Stuermer was really there. + +"The clear voice with which Anna Maria joined in the singing drew my +looks to her again. She sang quietly with the congregation, but a +crimson flush of deep agitation lay on her face; it was evidently +excessively painful to her to see him again. + +"What the sermon was about on that day I cannot tell, for before the +clergyman ascended the pulpit something occurred which nearly put an end +to the devotions of all the small congregation and obliged me to leave +the church. + +"I had fixed my eyes steadily on Stuermer, as if I could not look my fill +at the man's handsome curly head; and the good God surely forgave me, +for I was as fond of Edwin as if he were my own child. All at once, +during the singing, I saw him start and look intently across to me; and, +following the direction of his gaze, I observed--Susanna. She had on a +white muslin dress, her neck and arms lightly covered by the misty +material; she held her hat in her hand, her black hair clustered in rich +curls about her small head; a white rose was placed carelessly in her +hair, and a bunch of the same flowers rose and fell on her bosom, and as +white as they was her sweet face as she raised it again after a short +prayer. + +"Most beautiful was this young creature, but, may God forgive me! I was +bitterly angry with her for being so and for coming to church dressed up +as if for a ball. 'Incorrigible comedian blood,' I scolded to myself. I +thanked God that Klaus could not see her from his seat, and gave Stuermer +an unfriendly look because he kept looking over at our pew. All at once, +as the clergyman was singing the liturgy, Susanna put her hand to her +forehead, as if to grasp something there, and then sank back silently, +with closed eyes, into her seat. + +"I cannot tell now the exact order in which all this happened; I only +remember that a chair was overturned with a loud noise, that the +clergyman was silent for an instant, and that there was a movement among +the congregation; at the same time Klaus left our pew, carrying out the +white figure in his arms, like a feather. I rose at once to follow him. +Anna Maria's head was bent low over her hymn-book; was she going to take +no notice of the affair? But now she slowly rose, and went behind me +down the narrow, creaking flight of steps which led up outside the +church to our pew; it was provided with a wooden roof as a protection +against wind and storms, and the ivy which grew over the whole church +adorned it like a bridal arch with green festoons. + +"Klaus was just disappearing into one of the nearest cottages, whose +shining window-panes looked out like clear eyes beneath the gray +shingle-roof, not at all sad at the constant view of the little +church-yard. Marieken Maertens and her husband lived here; she had been +in Anna Maria's service, a quick, industrious girl, but once was sent +away in the utmost haste because she--but that has nothing to do with +the case. Anna Maria had her brought back again at that time, and she +was married from the manor-house, and since then Anna Maria and I had +each held a curly brown head over the font. When there was anything +going on at our house--that is, when there was extra work--Marieken came +and helped. + +"She was at the threshold coming to meet us already, wiping her hands on +her clean apron, and pushing back her eldest child. 'She is lying on the +sofa inside,' she whispered. 'Oh, the master looks pale as death from +fright!' Anna Maria stepped by me into the little room; she made a sign +for me to stay outside, so I sat down on the wooden stool that Marieken +placed in the entry for me, and listened intently for every sound from +within. + +"For a little while all was still. Marieken ran in with fresh water, and +then I heard Anna Maria say: 'How are you now, Susanna?' + +"'Go back to church quite easy,' came the reply; 'it was a momentary +weakness. I am very sorry to have given you such anxiety and trouble.' +And the next moment the girl was standing on the threshold, a crimson +blush overspreading her whole face, and without noticing me at all, she +flew to the outside door and across the church-yard; her fluttering +white dress appeared again for an instant in the frame of the gateway +leading to our garden; then she had vanished like an apparition. + +"Shaking my head, I rose to go into the little room and hear what was to +be done now. But I sat down again, almost stunned at the sound of +Klaus's voice, which came out to me so crushingly cold and clear: + +"'I should like to ask you, Anna Maria, to occupy the girl hereafter in +some way better suited to her; this swoon was the natural effect of +constant over-exertion.' + +"I could not picture Anna Maria to myself at this moment, for Klaus had +never used such a tone to her before. My old heart began to beat +violently from anxiety. 'It is here! It is here!' I said to myself. +'Yes, it had to come!' + +"'I think this swoon is rather a consequence of Susanna's running about +too much in the fearful heat yesterday,' she replied coldly. 'However, +as you wish; I will leave it entirely to you to decide what occupation +is most fitting for Susanna Mattoni.' + +"'Great heavens! Anna Maria, do you not understand?' Klaus rejoined, +almost imploringly. 'Look at the girl: she is delicate and accustomed to +the easy life of a large city, never to a regular life. I beg you not to +take it amiss, it is my opinion and----' + +"'I am sorry that I have made such a mistake,' Anna Maria interrupted, +icily. 'I have tried to do my best for this unfortunate child, who has +grown up in most wretched circumstances. I wanted to make a capable, +housewifely maiden of her, but I see myself that such miserable comedian +blood is not to be improved, and I ask you now only for one thing----' + +"She broke off. What would come now? I looked about me in horror to see +if any one were listening. But Marieken was clattering about with her +pots and pans in the kitchen, and the children were playing before the +outside door. + +"'That you will not require me to endure this frivolous creature, this +frippery and finery, this trifling, flighty being. I have an unspeakable +aversion to her,' she concluded. + +"'So that is your confession of faith, Anna Maria?' asked Klaus, and his +voice sounded angry. 'I tell you Susanna Mattoni remains here in the +family. I will have it, for a sacred promise binds me, and I hope that +you will never let her feel what you think of her. Her light-mindedness, +her unsteadiness, and all the faults which you have just cited, cannot +be laid to her charge, for from her youth up she has never learned to +recognize them as faults. Of frivolity, moreover, I have no evidences, +for a couple of bonbons do not seem to me sufficient proof.' + +"'I cannot act contrary to my convictions,' returned Anna Maria, 'and if +I am no longer to educate Susanna as I think well for her, you had +better find another place for her.' + +"I had sprung up and laid hold of the door-handle; for Heaven's sake! +there would be a quarrel. But the storm had already drawn near. + +"'Susanna is to remain, I tell you!' thundered Klaus. 'Do you quite +forget who is master of the house? It appears to me I have let you go on +for years in an immeasurable error, in letting you govern uncontrolled, +and assenting to all your arrangements. It is time for you to remember +whose place it is to decide matters at Buetze.' + +"Merciful Heaven! My knees trembled; how was this to end? And now there +was no sound there within; only the low singing of the young wife was +heard from the kitchen, where she was rocking her youngest child to +sleep; and I stole softly away from the door and sat down on the wooden +bench before the house. Over the quiet, green graves in the church-yard +lay a Sunday calm, only a light breath of wind rustled in the tall +trees. Over in the little church the sermon was just finished, the +sermon for the fifth Sunday after Trinity. The sound of the organ and +singing of the congregation floated across to me, and my lips repeated +the words: + + "'Ah! stay with thy clearness. + Precious light, with us stay; + Let thy truth shine upon us, + That we go not astray.' + +"Ah, yes, clearness, clearness and truth and peace; help us in all time +of need! I knew Klaus, I knew Anna Maria. An almost exaggerated sense of +duty, an iron will when she thought she was doing the right thing, +inflexibility--that was the Hegewitz character; good, solid qualities +when they got on peaceably together, but thus? And there was Stuermer +coming out of the church door; he had not waited till the hymn was +finished, and was now hastening up to me. + +"'Fraeulein Rosamond, you still here?' he asked. 'Who----' + +"But I did not give him time to finish. 'Come, Edwin, give me your arm, +I have been waiting for some one to escort me back.' And actually +dragging away the astonished man, I succeeded in getting him into the +park without betraying the presence of Klaus and Anna Maria in the +little room. + +"'And now, a thousand times welcome, dear Edwin,' said I, breathing +freely again, as we walked under the shady trees. 'How have you been? +How delightful it is to have you here again, and how well and strong you +are looking!' + +"He bent to kiss my hand. 'Yes, thank God that I am among old friends +again!' he replied heartily. 'How have things gone here? But why do I +ask? Well, of course; at least, I saw you all unaltered in church. But I +would like to ask, at the risk of appearing curious, who was the young +lady who--oh!' He stopped, and pointed toward the thick, dark shrubbery +at one side, holding my arm so firmly in his that I was obliged to stand +still. + +"There sat Susanna in the deepest shade of the thicket. She was leaning +her elbows on the table, and her oval face rested on her clasped hands; +motionless, like a lovely statue, she was looking down before her. + +"A golden sunbeam flitted back and forth over the white figure; an +expression full of pain and woe lay on the lovely face, which I had +never before seen so sad and tearful. + +"'The poor child!' I sighed involuntarily. And as Stuermer almost forced +me into a side-path, I briefly satisfied his curiosity. 'She is the +daughter of Professor Mattoni; you remember Klaus's old tutor?' + +"My head was in a whirl, for I knew not what more might happen to-day. + +"'And is she to live here always?' inquired Edwin Stuermer. + +"'Yes--no!' I returned hesitatingly; I did not know what to answer. I +sought to reach the terrace and garden-parlor as quickly as possible, +and to my inexpressible relief saw Klaus, as if transported there by +magic, coming to the door to meet his guest; an uninitiated person would +scarcely have seen the slight cloud on his brow. + +"I did not linger with them, but went to seek Anna Maria, and found her +in the sitting-room, pale but calm. I was glad to avoid the greeting +between her and Stuermer, and caught only his look as he bent low over +her hands. + +"Anna Maria was a perfect enigma to me; I understood the outbreak of +passion of last evening as little as this decided opposition to-day. Yet +the latter was less inexplicable, for she too, must have seen the sparks +already glowing in Klaus's heart. But she had taken the wrong course. +Any man of chivalry, if told that he must turn a weak, helpless woman +out of the house where she has found a shelter, will refuse to do it; +particularly if she be as young, as strikingly beautiful as Susanna, +and--if he is already in love with her. To me it was an incontestable +fact: Klaus loved the girl! Perhaps he did not know yet himself how +much; but that he did love her I had seen and--feared. + +"I came to the table in a thoroughly unpleasant frame of mind. 'To-day +is the beginning of the end: what will the end be?' I said to myself, +sighing. That was a strange dinner; Susanna had excused herself, Klaus +was chary of words, and Anna Maria forced herself to be talkative and +affable in a way quite contrary to her nature; a little red spot burned +on her chin, the sign of violent agitation. + +"Brockelmann announced that the old actress had suddenly arrived; to be +sure, I had quite forgotten about her. Anna Maria made no answer; Klaus +looked sharply at her, and then gave orders for the old woman to be +given some dinner. Stuermer talked a long time about his travels, and +Pastor Gruene came to coffee. The gentlemen were soon involved in a +scientific conversation about the excavations at Pompeii, at which +Stuermer had been present several times, and Anna Maria walked slowly up +and down on the terrace, now and then casting a look at the gentlemen, +through the open door of the garden-parlor. + +"I sat under the shady roof of the wild-grape, and knitted, and followed +her with my eyes. Anna Maria had on a light-blue linen dress, and a thin +white cape over her rosy shoulders; her heavy plaits shimmered like +gold, and her complexion was fresh as a flower. Anna Maria had made her +toilet with especial care to-day; she was the picture of a typical North +German woman, tall, fair, slender, and clear-sighted, serene, and calm. + +"All at once she stopped in front of me. 'Aunt Rosamond, do you think +that Susanna Mattoni has been overworked in any way? I mean, can her +temporary weakness be the result of that?' + +"'Yes, Anna Maria,' I replied, 'I am convinced of it, for she had not +been accustomed to doing anything. She has hitherto sat in a cage like a +bird; when such a creature tries to fly all at once, it is soon made +lame by the motion.' + +"She made no reply, and continued her walking. The conversation grew +louder indoors; the gentlemen were now sitting over their Rhine wine. +The cool breeze of approaching evening began to blow, and the sun was +hidden behind a bank of clouds. + +"'Ah! Stuermer, do stay till evening,' I heard Klaus say. 'It will never +do not to finish the day together, after beginning it so; do not pervert +our good old custom.' + +"Anna Maria stood still and listened. But instead of an answer we heard +the chairs pushed back, and then Klaus's voice again: + +"'Ah! Susanna, have you quite recovered? Allow me to present Baron +Stuermer.' + +"Anna Maria turned and looked out toward the garden. + +"Pastor Gruene inquired after the health of the young girl, and soon they +all came out on the terrace. Susanna went up to Anna Maria at once, and +held out her hand, saying: 'Forgive me for having frightened you this +morning. I do not know how it happened; everything grew dark before my +eyes, and----' + +"'Oh! certainly,' interrupted Anna Maria, touching the girl's hand but +lightly; 'I was not at all frightened; a swoon is nothing so unusual.' + +"Susanna blushed up to her black curls, and sat down quietly by my side. + +"'Has Isa gone?' I asked her. + +"She nodded. 'She went half an hour ago.' + +"'Just where does she live?' I inquired. + +"'In Dambitz,' was the reply. + +"I let my work drop from astonishment. 'In Dambitz? How did she happen +to go to Dambitz?' + +"'S---- was too far away, Fraeulein Rosamond,' stammered Susanna shyly, +'and so she has hired a little room there at the blacksmith's. But she +says she does not notice the noise of the forge at all; her windows look +out on the castle garden, and that is wonderful, she says. She may live +there, may she not?' she added, beseechingly; 'it is certainly far +enough from here.' + +"'Of course she can live where she pleases, Susanna,' said I; 'we have +no right to lay down commands about that.' + +"Meanwhile Brockelmann had set the table for supper on the terrace, and +we seated ourselves. Candles were now burning on the table, and their +unsteady, flickering light fell on Susanna's beautiful pale face. Her +white dress was made quite fresh again, and even the withered roses were +replaced by fresh ones; one could see that the old Isabella had been +helping the child. + +"Susanna was seated between Klaus and me, Stuermer and Anna Maria +opposite. There was a strawberry _bowle_ on the table, and Susanna drank +eagerly; gradually color came into her cheeks, and her dark eyes began +to shine. And then all at once she was in her element--laughing, +jesting, and mirth. And how she could laugh! I have never heard such a +laugh as Susanna Mattoni's. It ran the whole compass of the scale, so +light and delicious that one was forced to join in it; and as she +laughed, her red mouth displayed the prettiest white teeth, and prattled +mere nonsense and follies, and as she held high her glass to touch with +Stuermer, I saw Klaus look at her with an expression that spoke even +more plainly than his trembling voice yesterday. + +"Anna Maria sat silent opposite her, and not the faintest smile passed +over her lips; this graceful trifling was decidedly unpleasant to her. +But Susanna had the majority on her side, for even honest old Pastor +Gruene did not conceal the fact that he was fascinated by her. + +"I tried to think how I might silence the little red lips, but in vain. +At last a thought struck me. 'Susanna 'I cried in the midst of her sweet +laugh, 'Susanna, what do you say to a song? I heard you singing so +prettily last evening.' + +"'Ah! no, no, Mademoiselle,' she objected; 'I cannot sing before +people.' + +"But the gentlemen echoed my request with one voice, and Stuermer +proposed to extinguish the candles, saying that one could surely sing +better by moonlight. + +"'Yes, yes!' she said joyfully, 'then I will sing!' And soon the reddish +light had disappeared, and the pale moon's silvery rays fell on the +bright figure of the girl, who had sprung up and was now standing by the +railing. + +"'What shall I sing?' she asked, 'Italian or German?' + +"'German! German!' cried the gentlemen. + +"'Oh! please Susanna,' said I, 'the song you were singing last evening; +Anna Maria and I did not understand the words very well.' + +"Anna Maria suddenly rose, but as if thinking better of it, sat down +again. Stuermer had turned half around in his chair and was looking at +Susanna. + +"And now she began, leaning on the balustrade; and the same tones came +to us, soft and sweet, and the same words we had heard last evening: + + "'Far through the world I have wandered away, + And the old strife goes with me wherever I stray; + Home have I come, and my heart burns with pain, + Ah, that I only could wander again! + I am held not by walls, not by bolts, not by bars-- + Two great blue eyes hold me, that shine like the stars I + And were but my fiery steed by my side, + Again on his willing back fain would I ride; + He would bear me away, far away from my home-- + But I've seen thee again, and can never more roam!' + +"I looked at Anna Maria in alarm, but her face was turned away, and only +in her trembling white hands, which she had clasped, did I detect the +agitation wrought in her by this song. Who had thought of such a song? +And Stuermer? He had sprung up and stood close by Susanna. + +"'Another song, Fraeulein,' he demanded, almost vehemently, 'a different +one. You are much too young for such melancholy!' + +"'A German knows no different songs, Herr Baron,' objected Pastor Gruene. +'Old national songs are sad, usually the lament for a faithless love, +for a dead treasure. Let our nation be as it is in this. I would rather +have one little German national song than a dozen French _chansons_.' + +"Stuermer did not answer, and there was a painful silence. + +"'Another song?' asked Susanna at last--'a lively one?' + +"'Yes!' cried Klaus, 'a lively one, a hunting-song, Susanna, or a +drinking-song! 'He had risen in embarrassment at the critical situation, +and filled his glass afresh. + +"And Susanna began, in a merry strain: + + "'In the early morn + A-hunting I went, + Past my darling's house + My steps I bent. + + "'Up to the window + A glance I threw. + Ah! if she would look down, + Good luck would ensue. + + "'In vain, she's still dreaming; + But something stirred. + By the apple-tree yonder + A laugh was heard. + + "'And bright as the rosy + Morning so fair, + My dear little treasure + I saw standing there. + + "'Nodding and smiling, + She beckoned away, + But not one lucky shot + Had I on that day. + + "'Are they bewitched, then, + My powder and lead? + Each ball flies away, + Bringing down nothing dead.' + +"Susanna suddenly stopped, as if exhausted, and drew a long breath. The +laugh had vanished for a moment from her face. + +"'More, more!' cried the gentlemen. 'The charming song cannot possibly +be finished?' asked Stuermer. + +"'No, the conclusion is surely wanting,' added Pastor Gruene. And Susanna +drew a long breath and sang on: + + "'And again past the house + I was going to-day; + Little grandmother peeped at me + Over the way. + + "'With a shake of the head. + She calls with sweet grace, + "God greet you, and are you + Off to the chase?" + + "'And with all my might + I cursed the old dame; + But my arm remained steady, + I missed no aim. + + "'And when in surprise + I told Liebchen the tale. + She began to laugh + In a perfect gale.' + +"The last verse ended in a real laugh, so roguish and charming and so +irresistible that we were all drawn into it. + +"'Now that is enough!' she cried at last. 'Oh! I do so like to hear how +people have to laugh with me when I begin! Oh! I have done it so often +when Isa tried to scold me, but now'--she suddenly stopped--'I haven't +laughed for so long, I thought I should have forgotten how, but, thank +fortune, I can still do it! Oh, I do like to laugh so!' + +"Anna Maria rose and went into the garden-parlor, as if she had +something to attend to there, but she did not come back, nor did she +come when Stuermer and the clergyman wished to take their leave of her. +Klaus looked for her in the sitting-room, and even went up to her +bedroom, but he returned alone, and the gentlemen had to leave without +bidding her good-by. + +"'Pray excuse Anna Maria, dear Edwin,' I heard Klaus say; 'she probably +does not dream of your going so early; you are certainly in a great +hurry.' + +"It was true; Stuermer's departure was very abrupt; toward the last he +had scarcely spoken a word. I thought it was because he was reminded of +his first love; that melody and the words still kept ringing in my ears; +an unfortunate song! + +"Susanna had long been in bed when Klaus and I stood together in the +sitting-room again. I had firmly resolved to inform him of my +observations of the evening before, for I saw that Anna Maria was not to +be spoken to again about Susanna. + +"'Klaus!' I began. He was walking slowly up and down, his hands behind +him, and an anxious wrinkle on his brow. 'Klaus, do you know where the +old actress is living now?' + +"He stood still. 'No, aunt, but--do not take offence--it is quite a +matter of indifference to me. Forgive me, my head is so full.' + +"I was silent. 'Good!' thought I; 'he is indifferent at last, then.' + +"'Please tell me,' he now turned around to me, 'what you think about +Anna Maria? I do not understand her at all as she is now.' + +"'You do not either of you understand each other, as you are now,' I +replied, not without sharpness. + +"Klaus blushed. 'That may be,' he said, stroking his face. + +"'Klaus,' I continued, 'do not let it go further, do not let this +discord between you take root. You are the eldest, Klaus, a reasonable +man----' + +"'No, aunt, no; in this I am right!' he interrupted vehemently. 'You do +not know what passed between us this morning----' + +"He broke off abruptly and turned to his newspaper at at the table, for +Anna Maria had come in. The basket of keys hung at her side, and she had +tied a white apron over her dress. Brockelmann followed her with the +silver that had been in use to-day, and was now rubbed up, ready to be +put away. Anna Maria opened the carved corner-cupboard, and began to lay +away the shining silver, piece by piece, in its place. + +"Klaus had seated himself and was turning over the newspapers; the clock +already pointed to midnight. The windows were open, and from time to +time faint flashes of lightning lighted up the sky over the barns and +stables. I had become wide awake again all at once; I could not and +would not let these two be alone again to-night; they should not speak +together about Susanna. + +"But Anna Maria now closed the cupboard and went up to her brother. +'Klaus,' she said in a soft voice, 'let us not leave each other thus; +let us talk the matter over once more, quietly.' + +"He laid down the paper and looked at her in surprise. A faint flush lay +on her face, and her attitude was almost beseeching. 'Gladly, Anna +Maria,' he replied, rising; 'you mean concerning Susanna's future +employment? Have you any proposals to make?' + +"'Yes,' she said, firmly; and after a pause continued: 'I will yield to +your opinion that physical labor is not the right thing for Susanna. But +a life of dreamy idleness I consider far more injurious to her. Indeed, +Klaus, my personal feelings toward Susanna do not speak in this. I do +not hate her, but that her nature is uncongenial to me I must own. So, +then, without regard to that, Klaus, I must repeat what I said this +morning: let Susanna go away from here, take care of her somewhere else; +she is out of place here; do it for her own sake.' + +"She had spoken beseechingly, and stepping nearer him, laid her right +hand on his shoulder. + +"'Well, what more?' he asked, rapidly stroking his beard. 'Where would +you think best to banish this child?' + +"'Send her to a good boarding-school; let her be a teacher; she is poor, +and it is an honorable position, or----' + +"'You are probably thinking of Mademoiselle Lenon in this connection, +Anna Maria?' rejoined Klaus. 'I still have her "honorable position" +distinctly before my eyes, which she held in dealing with your +stubbornness. If there ever was a being totally unfit to take upon +herself the martyrdom of a governess, it is Susanna Mattoni!' + +"A slight shadow passed over Anna Maria's face as he spoke of her +stubbornness, but she was silent. + +"'Perhaps,' continued Klaus bitterly, 'you would also like to make an +actress of her because she happens to have a voice and recites +charmingly.' He pushed away the newspapers and sprang up. 'I am +unutterably exasperated, Anna Maria, that you should venture to repeat +this proposition. I was not prepared for it, I must confess! What makes +you appear so hostile toward Susanna? Do you know, you who live here in +happy security, what it means for a girl so young, so inexperienced, to +be thus thrust into the world? Surely not! You fulfil your duties here, +you care and labor as hundreds would not do in your place; but here you +act the mistress, inapproachable, untouched by all the common things of +life. You do not know, even by name, those humiliations which a woman +in a dependent position must endure. I know, indeed, that hundreds +_must_ endure them, and hundreds, perhaps, do not feel what they are +deprived of; but this girl _would_ feel it, and would be unhappy, most +unhappy! + +"He paused for a moment and looked at Anna Maria. She had clasped her +hands, and coldly and steadily returned his look; an almost mocking +smile lay on her lips, and put Klaus beside himself. + +"'You certainly have no comprehension of this!' he cried, his face +flushed with anger. 'You have everything, Anna Maria, but you have never +possessed a heart! You can do everything but that which glorifies and +ennobles a woman--love. Anna Maria, that you cannot do! I feel deep pity +for you, for you lack a woman's sweetest charm; love and pity go +hand-in-hand. I could not imagine you as a solicitous wife, or even as a +mother; how can I expect pity for a strange child?' + +"'Klaus! for God's sake, stop!' I entreated in mortal terror, for Anna +Maria had grown pale as death, and her eyes stared out into the dark +night with a vacant, terrified expression, but not a word of defence +passed her lips. Klaus shook off my hand, and continued with unchecked +vehemence: + +"'It is time for me to tell you, Anna Maria; it must be said some time. +I am your guardian, and it is my right and my duty. I must, alas! accuse +myself of having given you too much liberty, and you have abused it. You +have become cold and hard; I said before I could not imagine you as a +loving mother, as a wife--that you will never be, for you will not bend. +You would never do a rash, thoughtless act, but you are unable to make a +sacrifice from real affection from your innermost heart--because you do +not understand loving, Anna Maria. As I looked at Edwin to-day, my +heart and courage sank; if ever a man was created to win a maiden's +love, it is he! But you, Anna Maria, just as you let him go away, so you +will let Susanna; it is not hard for you, because you have no heart----' + +"'Stop, Klaus, stop!' Anna Maria's voice rang through the room, in +piercing woe; despairingly she stretched out her arms toward him. 'Say +nothing more, not one word; I cannot bear it!' One could see that she +wanted to say more; her trembling lips parted, but no sound passed them, +and in another moment she had turned and gone quickly out of the room. + +"'Oh, Klaus!' I cried, weeping, 'you were too hard; you had no occasion +to speak so!' But I stood alone in my tears, for Klaus also left the +room, for the first time failing to pay attention to his aunt, and +slammed the door behind him. + +"Yes, I stood alone and believed myself dreaming! Was this the +comfortable old room at Buetze, where formerly peace had dwelt bodily? +The candles flickered restlessly on the table, a chilling draught of air +came through the open window, and thunder faintly muttered in the +distance. No, peace had flown, and injustice, care, and animosity had +entered, had pressed their way between two human hearts which till now +had been united in true love; and there, up-stairs, lay and slept a fair +young fellow-creature, and the picture of the Mischief-maker smiled down +on her, as if glad of a successor. Yes, Klaus was right, and Anna Maria +was right; how was the difference to be made up? Ah! how quickly is a +bitter, crushing word said and heard, but a whole world of tears cannot +make it unsaid again." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + + +"I could not sleep that night; I rose from my bed again and sat down by +my window in the gray dawn, and my old heart was fearful for what must +come now. I loved both the children so much, and, God knows, I would +have given years of my useless life if I could have blotted out the last +few months. And I was groping about wholly in the dark, for Anna Maria +was reserved and uncommunicative, and Klaus--what would he do? He could +not come and say, 'Aunt Rosamond, I love Susanna Mattoni, and I wish to +marry her!' I should have had to throw up my hands and laugh! Klaus, the +last Hegewitz, and Susanna Mattoni, the child of an obscure actress! And +Klaus would have had to laugh with me. + +"It was a rainy day, just beginning; wonderfully cool air came through +the open windows and the leaves rustled in the wind, and the rain +pattered on the roofs; the maids were running across the court with +their milk-pails, the poultry was being fed, and Brockelmann talking to +the maids, and there went the bailiff in the pasture; everything was as +usual and yet so different. + +"Then a carriage came rolling into the court-yard. Heavens! that was our +own with the brown span. It stopped before the front steps, and Klaus +came out of the house and greeted the gentleman getting out. I had +leaned far out of the window, but now drew back in alarm--it was the +doctor, our old Reuter, and at this early hour! Anna Maria was my first +thought. I ran out; but no, there she was, just coming out of Susanna's +room. She still wore her blue dress of yesterday, but there were +blood-stains here and there on the large white apron. + +"'Susanna?' I faltered. She nodded, and gave me her hand. 'Go in, aunt; +I wish to speak with Reuter first,' she said softly; 'Susanna is ill.' +Almost stunned, I let myself be pushed through the open door. The +curtains were drawn, but on the chimney-piece a candle was burning, and +threw its dim, flickering light on the girl's face, so that I could see +the dark fever-roses which had bloomed upon it during the night. Her +eyes were wide open, but she did not know me; she thought I was Isa. + +"'Isa, I have sung, too; Isa, don't be angry; it was so beautiful in the +moonlight, and it did not hurt me at all.' And she began to sing: + + "'Home have I come, my heart burns with pain-- + Oh! that I only could wander again!' + +"And then she passed her small hands over her white night-dress. 'Take +away the red flowers, Isa!' + +"I laid a white cloth over it for her. Poor child! The swoon, the +laughing, the sweet singing, that was already fever. + +"Old Reuter came into the room and stepped up to the bed. Anna Maria +stood behind him, the torment of expectation on her pale face, and from +outside, through the unlatched door, came the sound of heavy breathing; +that must be Klaus. The old gentleman felt Susanna's pulse long and +cautiously; he was not a man of many words, and one could scarcely find +out from him what one's disease was; but he turned at last to Anna +Maria: + +"'A pitiful little lady, Fraeulein; the good God made her expressly for +a knick-knack table; wrapped in cotton, sent to the South, and treated +like a princess, without making any sort of exertion herself, something +might yet be made of her. But first'--he drew his watch from his pocket +and took hold of her hand again--'first we have enough to do here. Who +will undertake the nursing?' + +"'Doctor, do you think that bodily exertion--I mean, very early rising +and domestic activity--could be the cause?' asked Anna Maria, with +faltering voice. + +"'Up at four, and from the kitchen into the cold milk-cellar, and then +again in the glowing sun, at the bleaching place, and so alternately, +was it not?' asked the old gentleman. 'By all means the surest way to +completely prostrate a person of such a constitution; moreover, you +might have perceived it before, Fraeulein.' + +"Anna Maria grew a shade paler. 'But day before yesterday she walked for +an hour in the heat, and sang a great deal,' I interposed, for I felt +sorry for Anna Maria. "'Then one thing has led to another,' declared the +old gentleman. 'Singing is poison--no more of that! Will you undertake +the nursing, Fraeulein Hegewitz?' he asked me. + +"'No, I,' replied Anna Maria. + +"'Isa! Isa!' called Susanna. + +"'Where is she staying?' asked Anna Maria, while Dr. Reuter had gone out +to write a prescription. + +"'In Dambitz,' I returned, oppressed; but she did not look at all +surprised. She only begged me to stay with Susanna till she had changed +her dress, and sent a messenger to the old woman. Then she came back, so +as not to stay long away from Susanna's bed, for, strangely enough, +Mademoiselle Isa Pfannenschmidt did not appear. + +"Anna Maria had sent Brockelmann in a carriage to fetch the old woman. +Meanwhile Susanna pushed Anna Maria away with her weak hands, and called +'Isa!' incessantly in her delirium. With a white face Anna Maria pushed +her chair behind the curtains and listened to the low, eager whispering +of the sick girl. But once the surging blood shot from neck to brow, as +Susanna spoke of Klaus, and Anna Maria turned her eyes almost +reproachfully toward the door, behind which a light step had just +stopped. + +"That was surely Klaus again; certainly twenty times during the day he +came to the door to listen; yet who could have closed the little red +mouth which had just called his name again, quite aloud, and laughed, +and talked of bonbons, of moonlight, and of songs? + +"On the way to my room I met Brockelmann, who had just returned, and was +standing in the corridor by Klaus. Her face was very red; she pointed to +my room, and here began to describe, in a voice half-choked with +indignation, all that she had found in the dwelling of the old comedian, +excepting herself. The blacksmith's wife had told her she had lately +boiled some red pomade, and put it in a number of little porcelain jars, +and taken them away to sell. She would often go away so, and be gone a +fortnight. 'She is an old vagabond,' added Brockelmann, 'a beggar-woman +whom the constable ought to shut up in the nearest tower!' And with a +contemptuous air she drew forth one of the little boxes in question, +which was correctly tied up with gold paper, and bore a label which +explained at length the red pomade and its value: '_Rouge de Theatre, +premiere qualite!_' + +"'Paint!' said I, smiling. + +"'And for these sinful wares she gets a pile of money,' continued the +old woman, 'and what does she do with it? She eats cakes and chocolate, +and the children at the forge run about with gay silk ribbons on their +rough pig-tails; and all around in the corners there were heaps of +knick-knacks, enough for ten fools to trim up their caps with. It is a +shame!' + +"'When is she coming back?' asked Klaus. + +"'The Lord only knows; she went away yesterday.' Brockelmann turned to +go, irritated by her vain mission, which had taken so much time. But she +stopped at the door, and a friendly expression lay on her face. 'I am +charged with best greetings from the Herr Baron,' she said; 'he was not +a little surprised to see me looking into his garden from the old +woman's window; I explained to him shortly what brought me there.' + +"'Is the house so near the castle garden?' I asked. + +"Brockelmann nodded. 'Yes, indeed, the old woman sees the whole +beautiful garden; and what a garden!' With that she went out. + +"'It is well, on the whole,' said Klaus, after a pause, 'that the old +woman is not there. But will Brockelmann be able to nurse her?' + +"'No,' I replied, 'Anna Maria.' + +"'Anna Maria?' he asked, and his lip quivered. + +"'Klaus,' I begged, 'don't humbug your own self. You must be convinced +in your inmost heart that this girl could not have a better nurse than +Anna Maria.' + +"'I have been perplexed about her,' he answered gloomily. + +"'And she about you!' I replied. + +"He grew red. 'For what reason?' he asked. 'Because I took this girl +under the protection of my house? Because I interfered with an +over-taxation of her strength? Because----' he broke on. + +"'Anna Maria fears that--well, that _la petite_ will be too much +spoiled,' I replied. + +"Klaus shrugged his shoulders. 'Well, and now?' he asked. 'Listen, aunt, +I thought nothing in the world could alter me; I thought I had become a +calm, quiet man; but every nerve has twitched since I have been +compelled to see how this girl is treated. Once, as a little boy, I +looked on, powerless with rage, to see two great boys tormenting a +may-bug; they had climbed a tree because I had scratched and bitten +them; my small limbs would not carry me up there, but the dumb fury, the +rising tumult in my childish heart, I have never forgotten to this day; +and I felt exactly the same way when I heard those little feet tripping +here and there about the house--on, on, now on the kitchen-stairs, now +in the corridor. Do you not suppose I could see how they kept growing +more and more weary, and what a mighty effort they made when Anna +Maria's merciless voice called, "Here, Susanna!" or "_Venez donc_, +Susanna!" "Quickly, we will go into the milk-cellar!" "Susanna, where is +the key of the linen-press?" I was a coward to endure it, not to have +interfered till it was too late. Great heavens! it shall be different,' +he cried, and his clenched fist fell threateningly on the table. The +great, strong man was beside himself with anxiety and rage. + +"I did not venture to answer, and after a few minutes he left the room. +I heard him lingering again at Susanna's door, and then go away softly. +The misfortune was here! Poor Anna Maria! Poor Klaus! + +"Toward noon Anna Maria came to me, even paler than before. 'She talks +incessantly of Klaus,' she said slowly. 'I knew that it must come, but +Klaus did not understand me. She loves him, aunt, believe me.' + +"My thoughts were so full of Klaus that I said, quite consistently: 'And +he loves her!' + +"Anna Maria did not understand me aright. 'What did you say, aunt?' she +asked, the weariness all gone from her eyes. + +"'I said Klaus is tenderly inclined toward Susanna Mattoni,' I repeated +boldly. + +"The girl broke into a smile--nay, she even laughed--and I saw her firm +white teeth shine for the first time for many a day; then she grew +grave. 'How can you joke now, aunt?' + +"'_Mais, mon ange_, I am not joking,' I replied warmly. Anna Maria +puzzled me; she must have noticed it for a long time; then why was she +so opposed to the child? + +"'You are not joking, aunt?' she asked icily. 'Then you little +understand how to judge Klaus. Klaus, with his cool reason, his calm +nature, he who might have had a wife any day if he had wished, should +care for this child--it is ridiculous, perfectly ridiculous!' + +"'But, Anna Maria, are you so blind?' I cried. + +"'I am not blind,' she replied, with one of her glances which showed +plainly her contempt of my opinion. 'Not till I see the two come, +united, out of the church will I believe that Klaus loves her, and that, +Aunt Rosamond, neither you nor I will live to see.' + +"'Stop, Anna Maria!' I begged. 'It is, of course, possible that I am +mistaken, but--God grant that you are right,' I added. + +"Anna Maria was silent for a moment. 'No,' she said then, as if to +herself, lifting up her arms--'no, Klaus is not capable of such an +error. I believe in Klaus. His kind heart, his compassion for the +orphan, impel him to be hard toward me; our opinions as to Susanna's +welfare are so contrary. But I know, aunt, that Klaus loves me so much, +that I stand before any other in his heart, so I will gladly bear the +harshness; perhaps he has borne something harder for my sake. When +Susanna is gone we shall find the old good-will back again.' + +"'I do not believe that Susanna will go away, will be allowed to go +away,' I threw in, uncertainly, touched by her confidence. + +"Her eyes shone. 'Leave that to me, Aunt Rosa,' she replied; 'she +_shall_ go, take my word for it.' + +"'And if you vex Klaus afresh by such a demand?' + +"'Klaus desires Susanna's best good, and he will find some other place +for her as soon as he learns that he is not an object of indifference to +her. Klaus is a man of honor, and a glance will suffice.' + +"'What, Anna Maria?' I groaned; 'you would inform him that--that----' + +"'Yes,' she replied. + +"'I beg you, Anna Maria, do not do it; do not pour oil on the fire, my +child; be silent----' + +"'Never, aunt; I have been silent too long already!' she said decidedly. +'I saw it coming on, it had to come, and I had not the courage to warn +Klaus, and say: "Protect this child from the saddest thing that can come +to a maiden's heart; do not let it awaken into a first love, which must +then be renounced."' + +"'Anna Maria, for Heaven's sake,' I implored, 'how do you know so +certainly that Susanna no longer regards Klaus with indifference? You +cannot take her feverish talk for anything positive. She talks about +Stuermer as well as Klaus. I beg you, keep silent. It is only a +conjecture of yours; Susanna may be in a state of uncertainty still, +herself.' + +"'A precocious, passionate nature, like that girl's?' she asked, and +went to the door, about to leave; 'there is nothing uncertain there. I +owe it to her.' + +"'Anna Maria, let her get well first; it is over-hasty, and may make a +dreadful jumble!' + +"She did not answer, but gave me a nod that agreed with her earnest +look, and then left me alone with my thoughts. + +"How sorry I was for her, this young maiden with the heart of an old +woman! How this firm confidence in Klaus touched me! I had expected a +little jealousy from her, had supposed that Susanna's appearance seemed +dangerous enough to her to rob her of her brother's heart; but nothing +of all this--that she wished to preserve the girl's peace of mind. She +believed in Klaus with a firm, unshaken trust. 'I know that I stand +before all others in his heart, only our opinions about Susanna differ +widely.' Klaus was a man of honor, Klaus could not marry Susanna; it lay +beyond the reach of possibility! A love without this final end was not +conceivable to her pure mind; of a passion which could outreach all +bounds she seemed to have no foreboding. It did not occur to her to +consider her brother's altered manner, his hasty vehemence of the day +before, as anything but the expression of his lively anxiety about an +orphaned child, as excessive chivalry, as a justified irritation at her +energetic opposition; but if she had only first spoken---- + +"Ah, me! My old head showed me no outlet. What should I do, with whom +speak? Neither of them could judge of the matter as it lay now; the only +remaining way was to appeal to Susanna's maidenly pride. But dared I? +Had I the right to contrive an intrigue behind Klaus's back? For, +although I meant well, still it was an intrigue. And suppose that I did +tread this by-way, what certainty was there that it would lead to the +goal? And how, after all, should I tread it? + +"Susanna's illness was violent but brief. The delirium had ceased by the +next day, but she lay very feeble for a week after, without speaking or +showing interest in anything. But her great eyes continually followed +Anna Maria, as she moved noiselessly about the sick-room. Anna Maria's +manner toward Susanna was altered; there was a certain gentleness and +tenderness about her that became her wonderfully well. Whether it was +sympathy with the invalid, or whether she wanted to show the girl whom +she had wished to send away from the shelter of her home that she +cherished no ill-will toward her, I do not know; at any rate, she took +care of her like a loving mother. + +"After about a week Susanna raised her head, begged to have the windows +opened, and showed an appetite; and when the doctor came he found her +sitting up in bed, eating with excellent appetite the prescribed +convalescent's dish, a broth of young pigeons. + +"'Bravo!' cried the gay little man, 'keep on so! A small glass of +Bordeaux, too, would do no harm.' + +"'And to-morrow I shall get up!' cried Susanna. + +"'Not to-morrow; and day after to-morrow I shall inspect you again +before you do it,' answered the doctor. + +"Susanna laughed, and then, with the pleasant feeling of returning +health, lay back on the pillows, took a hundred-leaved rose from the +bunch of flowers which Klaus sent daily through Anna Maria, to be placed +by the sick-bed, and asked--what! did I hear aright? Horrified, I turned +my head away and looked for Anna Maria; fortunately, she had gone out +with the doctor--and asked: 'Has Klaus--Herr von Hegewitz--ever inquired +for me?' And as she spoke her dark eyes flashed beneath the long lashes. + +"'Oh, yes, Susanna, but he is very much occupied with the harvesting +now,' I said deceitfully, 'and he knows you are having the best of +care.' + +"She nodded. 'And has not Herr von Stuermer been here? Did he not know +that I was ill?' + +"'Stuermer? Yes, I think he has been here frequently,' I replied. + +"'And hasn't he asked at all how I was?' she questioned me further. + +"'You are assuming, _ma mignonne_!' said I, irritated. 'He has inquired +for you, perhaps--yes, I remember--nothing more.' + +"'How ungallant!' whispered Susanna, sulkily. At that moment the door +opened and Brockelmann entered with a little basket of choice apricots, +with a fresh rosebud placed here and there among them. + +"'An expression of regard from Baron von Stuermer, who sent his wishes +for the Fraeulein's improvement, hoping that she might like to eat the +fruit.' With these words the basket was set down rather roughly on the +table beside the bed. The old woman's glance met mine, and in her eyes +was plainly to be read: 'Well, let anybody who can understand such a +state of affairs; I can't!' But Susanna, with a cry of joy, had seized +the basket, and buried her nose in the flowers, inhaling their spicy +odor. Then she rested it on her knees, put her delicate arms around it, +leaned her head on the dainty handle, and with a happy smile closed her +eyes, and thus Anna Maria found her. She frowned at this ecstasy. 'It +is very kind of Stuermer,' she said, quietly; 'he always shows such +delicate attentions when he knows any one to be ill and suffering.' Then +she rang for a plate and silver fruit-knife. 'Give them to me, Susanna; +I will prepare some of the beautiful fruit for you.'" + + + + +CHAPTER X. + + +"Late in the afternoon one dull rainy day we were sitting in the +garden-parlor, Anna Maria with her sewing, Klaus reading the newspaper +and smoking, when Stuermer came in to talk over some matters with Klaus. +Then conversation about horses ended in a political discussion, in which +Anna Maria took part with a certain degree of liveliness, and Klaus +joined warmly, drawing strong whiffs from his pipe. Stuermer, who had +never taken a pipe in his mouth, now and then drove back the clouds with +his silk handkerchief in sport, and I amused myself with listening to +the ready answers which came from Anna Maria's young lips. + +"The demeanor of brother and sister toward each other was singular. Anna +Maria waited upon her brother with almost humble tenderness, while he +seemed distrustful, and then again secretly touched by the +self-sacrificing spirit of the nurse who devoted herself to Susanna. He +especially avoided looking at her, or speaking to her directly. + +"'How is Fraeulein Mattoni getting on?' broke in Stuermer in the midst of +a well-turned sentence of Klaus's about the recent attempts to make +beet-root sugar. + +"'Well!' replied Anna Maria; 'she is reading an old family history which +I hunted up the other day, and enjoying your delicious apricots. Thank +you for them, Stuermer; they give Susanna great pleasure.' + +"Then the conversation turned upon the lately deceased Duke of Weimar, +Charles Augustus, and from him to his celebrated friend, Goethe, of whom +Stuermer affirmed that he was intending to marry again after the death of +his wife. Anna Maria rejected the idea incredulously; she could not +believe that he, at his great age, would be so foolish. She was a sworn +enemy to Goethe. Her plain, straightforward mind had been disagreeably +affected by Werther; such an overflow of feeling could but seem strange +to her. Goethe's numerous love-affairs set him out in a light which +brought the ideal conception of him down to the atmosphere of common +mortals. That genius draws different boundaries, that a fiery spirit +like his was not to be measured by the common standard, did not occur to +her, and so she now indignantly shook her head. + +"'A fable!' I, too, cried, smiling. + +"'Not at all,' rejoined Stuermer; 'I have it from Von N----, who is +correctly informed, depend upon it!' + +"'My!' said Klaus, 'he must have become an old icicle by this time, +scarcely able to go among people any more.' + +"'A man who has created a Gretchen ossify?' threw in Stuermer. 'Never!' + +"'And a Werther?' said I, in joke. + +"'Werther is insupportable!' declared Anna Maria, 'bombastic, overdrawn! +A man who behaves like Werther is in my eyes no man at all, but a +weakling!' + +"Stuermer's dark eyes looked quietly over at her. 'Your opinion, Fraeulein +von Hegewitz, is surely a rare one among women. A woman usually +discovers from her standpoint, and naturally, that with a lost love the +value of life is gone, and why should not this be the case with a man +as well? Of course, in a man's occupation, in the demands which his life +makes of him, there are a thousand aids offered to enable him more +quickly to recover from such a pain. But to regard it purely +objectively, that demands such a cool manner of contemplation that I am +fain to believe that those who thus judge do not know what loving really +means.' + +"At these last words Anna Maria had grown as white as the linen on which +she was sewing. She dropped her head, as if conscious of guilt, and her +trembling hand could scarcely guide the needle. A painful pause ensued; +Klaus cast a compassionate glance at Stuermer; it was the first time that +he had given expression to the pain of his bitter disappointment in her +hearing and ours. + +"'Heavens, what a storm!' I cried, as a perfect flood of water was +hurled against the windows; even the despised subject of water satisfied +me to break the awkward silence. + +"'Indeed,' said Stuermer, rising, 'it is bad; I must make haste to get +under shelter while it is yet daylight.' He took leave with a haste that +left me to imagine he wished to be alone with his bitter feelings. + +"'Adieu, dear Edwin,' said I, tenderly, pressing his hand. Neither +brother nor sister gave him the customary invitation to spend the +evening here. Anna Maria had risen and laid her hand on Klaus's +shoulder, who was now standing beside her. She was still very pale, and +said her 'Good-night, Stuermer!' with a wearily maintained steadiness. + +"As soon as the gentlemen had left the room, she went to the door and +opened it impetuously; breathing hard, she stood in the door-way, and +the storm blew back her skirts, and the rain-drops beat in her face and +lay like pearls on her fair locks. Once or twice it seemed to me as if +her bosom heaved with suppressed sobs, so that, in alarm, I turned my +head to look around the curtain, but to no purpose, for as Klaus +reentered the room she turned back too, and an almost transfigured +expression lay on her face. + +"She went up to him and took his arm. + +"'Dear brother,' I heard her say, and again there was a quiver in her +voice; she leaned her head against his breast. 'Dear Klaus!' she +repeated. + +"'Anna Maria?' he asked, taking hold of her hand. + +"'Klaus, let what has lately passed between us be forgotten! Forgive me +for having so violently opposed you; it was very wrong of me----' + +"'No, no, my old lass; I was more violent than was necessary,' he +replied hastily, drawing her to him; 'we were both in fault.' + +"'Yes, Klaus; you see I was not honest; I ought to have spoken at once, +but I was not sure enough of it. I did not wish to make you uneasy.' + +"'By what?' said Klaus hastily. + +"Anna Maria hesitated, but held her brother's arm more firmly. I cleared +my throat as a warning from my corner by the window, but Anna Maria paid +no attention to it; she acted from quick, firm resolution in all that +she did, and when occasion came she bravely met the difficulty, which +she thought easy enough to overcome. + +"'By telling you of a fact which makes Susanna's remaining in this house +questionable,' she said, quietly, but decidedly. + +"'The old song again, Anna Maria?' he said. 'Your vehemence did not +suffice; do you think to catch me this way?' + +"'No, Klaus, in Heaven's name, no!' she replied. 'Something different +drives me to you now; I did not mean to speak of Susanna to you again; I +wished in this hour only one word from you as of old, a single kind +word; that it happened thus was the course of the conversation. Forgive +me!' + +"'You have judged Susanna very severely, Anna Maria,' Klaus began, after +a pause, 'and now you have nursed her devotedly and made up for it a +hundred times; and yet the same sentiments?--now, when she is ill, and +may perhaps remain sickly?' + +"'I have expected too much of Susanna's constitution, Klaus, and day and +night I have prayed that God might restore her to health. I have desired +only her good, believe me. But my opinion of Susanna's character I +cannot alter.' + +"They were not standing close together now, but opposite one another. +'But beneath all the show and glitter which I despise there beats a +quick, warm human heart, Klaus. Susanna is no longer the child you think +to see in her. Susanna has--Susanna is--Susanna _loves_ you, Klaus!' + +"The twilight had gradually deepened. I could no longer see Klaus's face +distinctly, but only heard a quick, violent breathing. He did not +answer, he stood motionless. 'Foolish child!' thought I, looking at Anna +Maria. + +"'You do not believe me, Klaus?' she asked, as he remained silent. 'But +it is so; I am not mistaken! Susanna talked of you incessantly in her +delirium; I know it from a hundred little indications. Such an affection +increases daily and hourly--is the girl to become unhappy? Perhaps she +does not know it yet herself, but the awakening must surely come.' + +"Again no answer. Klaus sat down in the nearest chair, and looked before +him, motionless. The servants' supper-bell was now ringing outside, a +fresh shower of rain came pelting against the sandstone pavement of the +terrace, and there was a spectral light in the great, dim room. I +imagined phantoms were rising out of every nook and corner, and the +great flowered portiere moved slightly, as if some one were standing +behind it, listening. + +"'You are right,' said Klaus, at length, in a lifeless tone; 'what is to +become of her? The wife of a Hegewitz--that is impossible; so you think, +do you not, Anna Maria?' + +"'Yes,' she replied, simply. + +"'Yes,' he repeated, springing up and pacing the room with long steps. +'And whither would you banish the girl?' he asked, stopping before his +sister. + +"'Not _banish_, Klaus; that sounds so different from what I intend,' she +said, frankly. 'Take her to a _pension_ in a southern district, perhaps +in Switzerland, and so give her an opportunity to thoroughly heal her +sick heart.' + +"'That sounds reasonable and well-considered,' he returned, bitterly. +'Meanwhile, Susanna is not yet restored to health.' And after a pause he +added: 'I have put off for a long time a necessary journey; I shall go +to-morrow to O----, in Silesia; I shall be acting to your mind so, shall +I not?' + +"Anna Maria started. 'To O----, do you say?' + +"'Yes,' he replied, very red; 'I have been a little negligent, and +affairs are in such a bad condition there a meeting of creditors is +unavoidable. Platen has repeatedly urged me to come myself, in order to +check the thing; you know my mortgage is the largest, but----' + +"'And you have not gone, Klaus?' said Anna Maria reproachfully. 'Why?' + +"'I shall start to-morrow morning,' he answered, shortly. + +"She evidently did not understand him aright, but she went up to him and +put her arms around his neck. 'Do not let a misunderstanding arise +between us again, Klaus. Shall I act contrary to my conviction?' + +"'No, no!' he replied in a hollow tone; 'I thank you.' But he did not +draw her to him, he freed himself from her arms and left the room. Anna +Maria stood motionless for a moment looking after him. Then she shook +her head energetically, as if to ward off intrusive thoughts, and taking +up her basket of keys went out too. + +"Half an hour later we were sitting at the supper-table. Anna Maria had +brought Klaus from his room; he looked disturbed and let his soup grow +cold, and crumbled his bread between his fingers in a distracted manner. + +"'Have you been to Susanna's room?' I asked Anna Maria. + +"She nodded. 'I was in a hurry, but stopped at her door up-stairs, and +called to ask what I should send her for supper. But I got no answer; +she was probably asleep, so I closed the door softly and came away.' + +"'And what do you intend to tell her as a pretext for her removal?' I +asked further. + +"'Her health is a sufficiently cogent reason, aunt,' replied Anna Maria. + +"I was silent and so were the others; we finished the meal in silence, +and then sat silent about the table in the sitting-room, without a +suspicion of what was happening meanwhile. Each was occupied with his +own thoughts, and without the monotonous rain still fell splashing on +the roof and poured from the animals' heads on the gutters upon the +pavement of the court. There was an incessant drizzle and splash, and +the storm, coming over the heath, swept together the rain-drops, and +drove them pelting against the well-protected windows. + +"All at once Brockelmann entered the room; frightened and startled her +eyes sped about. 'Is not Fraeulein Mattoni here?' she asked excitedly. + +"'Susanna?' we all three cried with one voice, and Klaus sprang up. + +"'She is not in her room! Merciful Heaven, where can she be!' she +continued. 'Before supper she got up and dressed herself, laughing and +tittering; she meant to go down-stairs to surprise the family. I +scolded, but what good did it do? Oh, she must be hiding somewhere!' The +old woman's voice was choked with anxiety; Anna Maria had hurried out of +the room, and her flying steps reechoed from the corridor, fear lending +her wings. Brockelmann took a candle from the table and began to search +the adjoining garden-parlor, and Klaus stood, pale as a corpse, as if +rooted to the spot. + +"'She must be here!' said I. + +"He did not hear. His whole attention was concentrated upon Anna Maria, +who was just crossing the threshold, and looked at her brother's serious +face with eyes that seemed twice their usual size. + +"'She is gone, Klaus,' she said, tremulously; 'I know not whither--why?' + +"He stepped past her without a word. + +"'Klaus!' Anna Maria called after him, 'take me with you!' But she +received no answer. 'She heard it, my God, she heard what I said to +him,' she whispered. 'Aunt, I beg you, go with him, do not let him go +alone!' She hastened away and came back with shawls and wraps. I could +hear from the court the hasty preparations for departure--indeed, how I +got to the carriage, where Klaus was already sitting on the box, I do +not know to this day. + +"It was a half-covered chaise in which we rolled out on the dark +highway; the rain beat against the leather hood, and the wind assaulted +us with undiminished strength; Klaus's coat-collar flapped in the light +of the carriage lamps, whose unsteady light was reflected in the water +of the one great puddle into which the whole road was transformed. Klaus +drove frantically; to this day I do not understand how we came, safe and +sound, in the pitch-dark night, before the Dambitz blacksmith's shop. +The little house lay there without a light. When Klaus pounded on the +door with his whip-handle the watch-dog gave the alarm, upon which a +man's voice soon asked what we wanted, and if anything had happened to +the carriage. It happened sometimes, doubtless, that the man was called +from his sleep because of an accident. + +"'Is your lodger at home?' asked Klaus, in place of an answer. + +"'Since this noon, your honor!' was the polite answer. The man knew the +master of the Hegewitz manor from his inquiry, for it was known all over +the village that the Buetze people had the foster-child of the old +actress with them. + +"'Is she alone?' + +"'Ah! has your honor come on account of the young mam'selle?' cried the +man. 'She came here an hour ago, wet as a rat, and is lying in bed +up-stairs there. I will open the door at once.' + +"Klaus helped me out of the carriage. 'Will you go up to her?' he +asked, and pressed my hand so hard that I nearly screamed. + +"'Certainly, certainly, my lad!' I made haste to say; 'we will soon have +the fugitive back at Buetze.' But sooner said than done. The blacksmith's +wife, who had also appeared on the scene, carefully lighted the way up +the creaking, dangerous flight of stairs, which I was scarcely able to +climb with my lame foot, and there, in the low, whitewashed back room of +the forge, stood Isabella Pfannenschmidt before me, like a roused +lioness. She stood with outstretched arms before the bed, which was in +an alcove-like recess, and was half covered with fantastic hangings of +yellow chintz. With theatrical pathos she called to me: 'What do you +want? You have no more right to this child!' + +"Without further ado I pushed her aside and looked at the bed; from a +chaos of blue and red feather-beds emerged Susanna's brown head. + +"She turned her face to the wall without looking at me, and remained +thus, motionless. + +"'Susanna, was that right?' I asked. + +"No answer. + +"'Why did you run away so suddenly, my child? Do you know that you may +have made yourself ill and miserable for life by this recklessness?' + +"Silence again, but the breathing grew heavy and loud. + +"'You are an obstinate, naughty child!' I continued. You frighten the +people who love you half to death, and sin against yourself in an +unheard-of manner!' + +"The old actress meanwhile stood with folded arms, and an indescribable +smile played about her mouth. + +"'Are you well enough to get up and drive home with me, Susanna?' I +asked. + +"'No!' cried the old woman. 'Why should she go to you again? Sooner or +later they will be sure to show her the door!' + +"'Susanna, Klaus is below; he has been anxious about you; and Anna Maria +is impatiently waiting at home. Be reasonable, be good; you owe us an +explanation.' + +"But in place of an answer a violent fit of coughing followed; she +suddenly began to toss about and clutch at the air, and her eyes looked +over at me, large and fixed, strangely unconscious. The old actress fell +on the bed with a piercing cry, and wound her arms about the girl. 'Oh, +Lord, she is dying!' + +"Had Klaus heard this cry? I know not; I only know that all at once he +was in the room, and pushed the old woman away from the bed, and that +that moment decided the fate of two human beings. All that had been +fermenting in him for weeks, the stream of his passion which had been +wearily held back by cold reason, was set free by the sight of the girl +lying thus unconscious. No more restraint was possible; he threw his +arms about her, he kissed the little weak hands, the dark hair; he +called her his bride, his wife, his beloved; never again, never, should +she go from his heart, who was dearer to him than all the world! In dumb +horror I heard these impetuous words rush on my ears. Thank God, +Isabella Pfannenschmidt had left the room; she had evidently rushed out +for a restorative, for tea or water. + +"I laid a heavy hand on the man's shoulder. 'Are you mad, Klaus? Do you +not see that she is sicker than ever?' Susanna now lay in his arms, +really swooning; her head had fallen on his shoulder, and the small +face, like that of a slumbering child, showed a slight smile on the +lips. + +"'Aunt,' said the tall, fair man, without getting up, tears shining in +his honest blue eyes, 'she shall not die; I should reproach myself with +it forever!' He pressed his lips to her forehead again and went out, +without looking about him; he sat on the stairs there a long time. +Susanna opened her eyes at last, under our efforts. She then let dry +clothes be put on her without resistance, but there was no sign, no +look, to betray to me whether she had heard Klaus's wild whisperings of +love. But she did not for a moment object to accompanying me to Buetze, +and energetically chid the old woman's lamentation. Warmly wrapped, I +led her over the threshold of the low room; she wavered for a moment, as +she saw Klaus on the stairs by the light of the oil-lamp. Then he raised +her in his arms, and in the smoking, unsteady light of the lamp, which +was being put out by the draught, I saw how he went down the steps with +her, how two slender arms were put around his neck, sure and fast. With +tottering knees I followed them, to take Susanna Mattoni to Buetze again. + +"And the way home! Never has a drive seemed so endless to me. I sat +silent beside the girl; I was angry with her, bitterly angry for being +loved by Klaus. The pride of a pure and ancient stock arose in my heart +in its full strength, and if ever I hated Susanna Mattoni it was on that +night, in the dark carriage. Then I felt her lightly touch my clothes, +slip to the floor beside me, and embrace my knees and lay her head on my +lap. 'I was going away, Fraeulein Rosamond,' she whispered; 'why did you +come after me?' + +"They were only a few simple words, but such a persuasive truth lay in +them that my anger vanished almost instantly. A feeling of deep sympathy +pulled at my heart, and sent a flood of tears to my eyes. + +"What avail the arduously established limits of human law and order, +even though uprightly preserved for centuries long, against the storm of +a first passion? A single instant--the proud structure lies in ruins, +and the crimson banner of love waves victoriously over all +considerations, over all reflections. + +"I felt Susanna's hot lips on my hand; they burned me like glowing iron. +I did not draw away my hand, but left it to her, without pressure, +without a sign that I understood her. Before my eyes hovered the image +of Anna Maria. 'Oh, Anna Maria, I could not prevent its happening thus!' + +"And now the carriage rolled under our gateway, rattled over the paved +court, and stopped before the steps. I saw Klaus swing himself down from +the box, and saw Anna Maria, in the light of the lantern, standing in +the vaulted door-way. Klaus opened the carriage-door; Susanna first +raised herself up now, and he carried her like a child up the steps, +past Anna Maria, into the house. They had forgotten me; the lame old +aunt clambered out of the carriage with Brockelmann's help, and on +entering the sitting-room I found Anna Maria and Susanna alone--Susanna, +with a feverish glow on her cheeks, in Klaus's arm-chair, Anna Maria +standing before her with a cup of hot tea. + +"Not a question, not a reproach passed her lips; she silently offered +the warming drink, and Susanna silently refused it. 'You must go to bed, +Susanna,' she then said. The girl rose and took a step or two, but +tottered, and held on to her chair. 'Put your arms around my neck, +Susanna!' Anna Maria cried, and in a moment had raised her in her strong +arms, and went toward the door as if she were carrying a feather. +Brockelmann followed; I heard her muttering away to herself, 'That caps +the climax!' + +"Utterly exhausted, I sank into my chair. What was to be done now? God +grant that Klaus and Anna Maria might not see each other again this +evening, only this evening! + +"Half an hour had passed when I heard Anna Maria's step in the hall; the +door was wide open, and I could distinctly see her tall figure approach, +in the faint light of the hall-lamp. She stopped at Klaus's door and +knocked. I leaned forward to listen; all was still. 'Klaus!' I heard her +say. No answer. Again I thought I detected a suppressed sob in her +voice. 'Klaus!' she repeated once more, imploringly, pressing on the +latch. She waited a minute or two, then turned away and went up-stairs +again. + +"'He is angry with her,' I murmured, half aloud, 'and she wants to +conciliate him. My God, turn everything to good!' I put out the lights +in the sitting-room and went over to Klaus's door and listened. Regular +and heavy came the sound of his steps; he was there, then! 'Klaus!' I +called, with an energy which frightened myself. The steps came nearer at +once, the key was turned, and he opened the door directly. + +"'Come in, aunt,' he bade me. I looked at him in alarm, he looked so +pale, so exhausted. His hand seized mine. 'It is well that you are +looking after me, aunt; something has come over me, I know not how.' + +"'And now, Klaus?' I asked, letting him lead me to the sofa, which had +descended from my father and still stood on the same spot as of old, +under a collection of about fifty deers' antlers, all of which had been +taken on the Buetze hunting-grounds, and had decorated that wall as far +back as I could remember. + +"He had stopped in front of me. 'And now?' he repeated, passing his hand +over his forehead. 'It is a strange question, _au fond_, aunt--Susanna +will be my wife. I can give you no other answer.' + +"It was out! I had long known that it must come, and yet it fell on me +like a blow. + +"'Klaus,' I began. But he interrupted me impatiently and indignantly. + +"'I know all you would say, aunt; I have said it to myself a hundred +times! I know as well as you that Susanna belongs to the common class, +that her mother came from doubtful antecedents. I know that Susanna is a +trifling, spoiled child, who seems little suited to my seriousness. I +know that I am old in comparison to her; and I know, above all, that +Anna Maria will never regard her as a sister. Nevertheless, aunt, my +resolve stands firm, for I love Susanna Mattoni, love her with all her +childish faults, which are hardly to be called faults. I love her in her +charming, trifling maidenhood; it will make me happy to be able to +educate and guide her further, and the love that Anna Maria denies her I +will try to make up to her.' + +"I was silent, there was nothing more to be said. + +"'You do not look happy, aunt,' he said, bitterly. 'Listen: this +afternoon I was thinking of flight; but when Anna Maria said, "Susanna +loves you!" it almost crushed me. Amid all the happiness which this +revelation opened to me, yet much that has been sacred and not to be +trifled with forcibly appealed to me. But when I beheld Susanna, like a +dying person, in that poor room, all at once it was clear to me that +everything in the world is powerless against a true, deep passion, and +then----' + +"'And Anna Maria, Klaus?' + +"'I cannot talk with her any more this evening, aunt,' he replied; 'wait +till I am quieter; there is time enough. I grow violent if I think that +it was her words that drove Susanna out in the stormy night. God grant +that it may do her no harm!' + +"'Yet do not misunderstand the fact, Klaus, that Anna Maria wished +Susanna's best good,' I besought him, tears streaming from my eyes. +'Think how she loves you, how her very existence depends upon you. I +shall wish from my heart, Klaus, that what you have chosen may be the +right thing; but do not expect that Anna Maria will, without a struggle, +see you take a step which may perhaps bring you heavy burdens and little +happiness.' + +"Klaus did not answer. He stood before his writing-desk and looked at +Anna Maria's portrait, which she had given him at Christmas three years +before; it was painted at the time that she refused Stuermer. The clear +blue eyes looked over at Klaus from the proud, grave face, which had the +slightest expression of pain about the mouth, as if she were again +speaking the words she had said to him at that time: 'I will stay with +you, Klaus; I cannot go away from you!' + +"'I do not wish to proceed violently, aunt,' he began, after a long +pause; 'I am no young blusterer who would take a fortress by storm. +Susanna, too, requires rest; she ought not to be disturbed and excited +any more now. Believe me, I love Anna Maria very dearly, but I cannot +give up a happiness a second time for her sake; then she was a child, +and toward the child I had obligations; to-day she is a maiden, who +sooner or later will be a wife.' + +"'No, no, Klaus," I cried. + +"'Very well, not so, then. She is different from others I admit; at any +rate, hers is a nature that is sufficient to itself. She is, and +remains, in my heart and in my home, my only and beloved sister, who +will ever hold the first place, next to--Susanna. But with that she must +be satisfied, and in return I demand love, and above all, consideration +for her who will be my wife. But, as I said before, I cannot possibly +speak quietly with Anna Maria about it now. I will let it wait over, +with my absence, perhaps three weeks, perhaps longer, and we shall all +have time to become more calm--I, too, Aunt Rosamond. I thought of +writing to Anna Maria about this affair, calmly and lovingly, and almost +believe it is the best thing to do.' + +"'And when shall you start, Klaus?' + +"'Frederick is packing my trunk now; the bailiff is coming at four +o'clock for a necessary conference; at five the carriage will be at the +door.' + +"'And does Anna Maria know?' + +"'No--I would like--to go without saying good-by.' + +"'You will make her angry, Klaus; it is not right.' I sobbed. + +"'Let time pass, aunt, that the breach may not grow wider; you know her +and you know me. There have been discussions between us of late which +have left a thorn in my heart. I do not want to be violent toward her +again.' + +"'And Susanna?' + +"'Susanna knows enough,' he replied, simply; 'you will be so kind as to +explain to her that I had to go on a necessary journey, and hope next to +see her well and sound again.' + +"'Will she not interpret it falsely, after that vehement storm of love +to-night?' + +"He blushed to the roots of his curly hair. + +"'No, aunt,' he said, 'it would be untimely were I to make her any +assurances. Susanna knows now that I love her, and I think she returns +my love; of what use are further words?' + +"Honest old Klaus! I can still see you standing before me, in the +agitation which so well became you, and so truly brought out your fine, +brave character. + +"'Farewell, then, Klaus,' said I, placing my hand in his, and he drew it +to his lips and looked at my tearful eyes. 'Hold your dear hands over my +little Susanna,' he asked tenderly; 'I will thank you for every kind +word you say to her. And should she be in danger, should she grow worse +again, write me. I will leave a few lines for Anna Maria.' + +"'God be with you, Klaus; may all be well!' + +"He accompanied me through the dim hall as far as the stairs. A short +whirr from the old clock, and two hollow strokes were heard. Two o'clock +already! I waved my hand again, and went up-stairs, with how heavy a +heart God only knows! + +"I stopped at Susanna's door and softly lifted the latch. By the +uncertain light of the night-lamp I saw Anna Maria in the arm-chair +beside the bed; her head rested against the green cushion of the high +back, her hands were folded over her New Testament in her lap, and she +was sleeping quietly and soundly. I glided softly in and looked at +Susanna; she lay awake, her eyes wide open. As she caught sight of me +she dropped her long lashes, pretending deep sleep, but raised them +again, blinking, as I withdrew. Was it any wonder that she did not sleep +and that her cheeks glowed like crimson roses? + +"My sleep was restless that night, full of confused, troubled dreams. +Toward morning I woke with a start; I thought I heard the rumbling of a +coach. 'Klaus,' I cried, and a feeling of anxiety came over me. I rose +and glided to the window; a thick, white autumnal mist hung over the +trees and roofs of the barns; it was perfectly still all about, but the +door of the carriage-house stood open and a boy was slowly sauntering +into the stable; the gates were opened wide, showing a bit of the +lonely, poplar-shaded highway. + +"I stole away and sought my bed again; so far everything was certainly +quiet and orderly. I had been sleeping soundly again, when suddenly +opening my eyes, I perceived Brockelmann by my bed. + +"'Fraeulein,' she said, unsteadily, 'the master has gone off early this +morning!' + +"'He will come back, Brockelmann,' I said, consolingly. 'Does Anna Maria +know yet?' + +"'To be sure!' replied the old woman; 'and she was not a little +frightened when Frederick brought her the letter which the master left +for her. But you know, Fraeulein, she always judges according to the +saying, "What God does and what my brother does is well!"' With that the +old woman went. + +"I believe I sat at the window for two hours after that in _deshabille_, +thinking over yesterday's experience; Klaus had gone, and when he +returned Susanna would be his wife--that was ever the sum of my +reflections. + +"When I came down-stairs I found Anna Maria engaged in business +transactions with the bailiff and forester. How clearly she made her +arrangements! The men had not a word to reply. Offers had been made for +the grain; the harvest was richer than ever before, and the price of +grain low. Anna Maria did not wish to close the bargain yet; in Eastern +Prussia the grain had turned out wretchedly. 'Let us wait for the +potato-crop,' I heard her say. 'If that turns out as badly as seems +probable now, we shall need more bread, for our people must not suffer +want.' + +"She proceeded with calmness and caution. Oh, yes. Klaus was right; his +house was in good care. As she followed me afterward into the +garden-parlor she pressed my hand. + +"'Klaus's departure seems like a flight,' she said; 'but it must be all +right.' + +"Not a word of yesterday's occurrences! Nor in the future either. +Susanna observed the same silence. When I went to her bed to inform her +that Klaus was gone on a journey, a bright flush of alarm tinged her +pale face for an instant, but she was silent. + +"For some time yet she had to keep her bed; then her childish step was +heard again about the house, her slender figure nestled again in the +deep easy-chair in the garden-parlor, and she went about the park as of +old, idling away the days, and gradually signs of returning health +appeared in her cheeks. + +"She evidently missed Klaus; it was most plainly to be seen in her +dress. She seemed astonishingly negligent; at a slight word of blame +from me, the question, 'For whom?' rose quickly to her lips, but she did +not speak it, and turned away her blushing face. Isabella Pfannenschmidt +came to the house a few days after Klaus's departure, while Susanna was +still in bed. I entered the room soon after her, and found the old woman +by the bed, a vexed expression on her face. My ear just caught the +words: 'Yes, now, there we have it: the egg will always be wiser than +the hen!' + +"She was embarrassed at my entrance, but remained fierce and surly. I +purposely did not leave them alone, and toward evening she took her +leave, with a thousand fond words to Susanna, and a cold courtesy to me. +'All will yet be well, my sweet little dear; only wait!' she whispered +before she went." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + + +"Life went on quietly in the house without a master. Anna Maria was busy +until late in the evening; she possessed an endless capacity for work. +'I can bear Klaus's absence easier so,' she said, when I urged her to +give herself some rest. 'I miss him infinitely, aunt!' Stuermer came +occasionally to inquire for the ladies. Once he arrived at the same time +with Anna Maria; she, like him, was on horseback; they had probably met +on the highway, for Anna Maria came from the fields, the bailiff behind +her. I was standing at the window with Susanna. 'What a splendid +couple!' said I, involuntarily, and indeed I thought I had scarcely ever +seen Anna Maria look so handsome. + +"Klaus wrote rarely; those times were not like the present, and one was +well satisfied to receive a letter once a fortnight. Anna Maria answered +promptly; her accounts must have been sufficiently detailed, for no +letter or inquiry in regard to our secret came to me. Anna Maria used to +read Klaus's letters, with the exception of the business portions, +aloud, after supper. There was a certain homesick sound in the words, +calmly and coolly as they were written. But her face beamed at every +word which he wrote from the enchanted Silesia in praise of the poor +home in the Mark; it stirred her whole heart. Next to her tender +affection for her brother, she clung with an idolizing love to her +home; no mountain lake could compare with the brown, oak-bound pond in +the garden, no high mountain-range with the charm of the heath, with the +pine-forests in the cradle of Prussia. + +"And the object which doubled all the longing, which made the old +manor-house at Buetze seem in the eyes of the distant owner like a fairy +castle, like a rendezvous of the elves--this object sat playing with her +kitten during the reading, and now and then I even had to tap her +shoulder as she yawned slightly. + +"'Is that only feigned indifference?' I asked myself. Then, again, a +sad, weary smile would play about her mouth if Klaus were the subject of +conversation. I thought at the time that she was fretting over the +long-delayed continuation of that hot declaration of love; that she, +with her ardent nature, was tormenting herself to death with doubts. And +I could not speak a consoling word to her; Klaus did not wish it. Why +should Susanna be spared a + + "'Hangen und Bangen + In schwebender Pein'? + +"One morning a peasant lad came running into the yard, bringing a letter +for Susanna; the old mam'selle at the forge had sent him, he said. I met +him on the steps, just as I was coming in from the garden, and bade +Brockelmann go up to Susanna with the note, which was written on the +finest letter-paper. The boy trotted away, and I sat down with Anna +Maria in the sitting-room. In a few minutes Susanna's light step was +heard in the hall, and she entered the room in haste. + +"'I must beg you for a carriage, Fraeulein Anna Maria!' she cried, out of +breath; 'my old Isa is ill: I must go to her.' + +"Anna Maria put down her pen, rather unwillingly, at this disturbance; +she had been making out accounts. + +"'But, Susanna, how often have I requested you not to walk so fast? You +are out of breath again.' + +"'Shall we not find out first what is the matter with Isa?' said I, for +all at once Klaus's words, 'Hold your hands over this girl!' fell +heavily on my soul. Klaus had asked it of me. Klaus was no child; he was +a calm, strong-willed man, and he was going to make her his wife, and I +knew he would accuse me, bitterly accuse me, if a hair of her head were +hurt. + +"'It might be a contagious disease, Susanna,' I continued, with all the +decision at my command, as her eyes sparkled at my opposition. + +"'And what if it were the plague?' she cried, and clinched her little +hands, and swung her foot impatiently under the folds of her dress. + +"Anna Maria stood up. 'For shame, Susanna! I think you are quite right +to wish to take care of Isa; it would be unnatural if you did not have +this desire. But you have scarcely recovered, and a long stay in that +musty little sick-room would be poison to you; and besides, as Aunt +Rosamond says, the disease may be contagious; we must find out about it +first.' + +"'And meanwhile she may grow worse and die!' cried Susanna passionately. +'What if I do take the disease? I must go to her!' And bursting into +tears, she threw herself into a chair, and buried her head in the +cushions. Anna Maria went up to her and bent over her. + +"'Susanna,' she said, kindly, 'a sensible woman shall go at once to your +Isa. And now compose yourself; I have a quiet word to say to you when I +come back.' + +"'God knows what that may mean!' I thought, looking at the weeping girl. +'What does she mean to say quietly to her?' I stroked Susanna's hair +gently. 'Do not cry, _ma petite_,' I said, consolingly. 'Everything is +in God's hand. He guides and rules every human life according to his +will; trust him, he will bring it right!' I do not know if Susanna +understood me; a fresh burst of tears was the reply, and all +inconsolable sounded this bitter sobbing. + +"Anna Maria came back and sat down opposite Susanna. 'Will you listen to +me rationally?' she said, somewhat severely. + +"Susanna started up and gave her a defiant look. 'I am listening,' she +said. + +"Just then I was called away; the pastor's sister, an early friend of +mine, had come to pay me a visit. I went, not without anxiously +regarding the two girls. What in the world could Anna Maria have in +view? + +"After two mortal hours Mademoiselle Gruene took her leave; she no doubt +found me more distraught than is usually permissible; even talking over +a wedding festivity which we had attended together in the remote period +of our youth, at which Minna Gruene came very near becoming engaged, and +which ended in a fire, failed to interest me as usual. When I came +down-stairs again I found Anna Maria over her housekeeping books; +Susanna was not to be seen. + +"'Anna Maria,' I asked, more hastily than is my wont, 'what have you +been talking about with Susanna?' + +"'I wanted to talk with her about her future,' she replied, 'but----' + +"'About her future?' I repeated, faintly. + +"'Yes, indeed, aunt, for things cannot go on in this way any longer. +Susanna suffers from a dreadful disease--she has _ennui_. In my opinion +this doing nothing is enough to make the most healthy people ill.' + +"'And what did she say, Anna Maria?' + +"'She? she ran away as soon as she heard the one word future! Susanna is +a naughty child, and it is high time for Klaus to come back and put her +in a pension; she is worse than ever since he went away.' + +"I had to smile, and yet tears came suddenly into my eyes, and yielding +to an involuntary impulse, I asked: 'Anna Maria, do you really believe +that Klaus will send Susanna away.' + +"She turned about and gave me a startled look. 'Can you doubt it? He has +no doubt gone away for that express purpose. Do you not suppose the +justice could have despatched that business?' + +"The next day Susanna, pale and low-spirited, drove to Dambitz, to take +care of her Isa. She had cried all night long, did not get up in the +morning, and kept on crying in her bed, till Anna Maria ordered a +carriage for her. + +"Isa was said to be suffering from a stitch in the back, quite free from +danger, so there was no contagion to be feared. Susanna packed up a host +of things, as if she were going to a watering-place. Without ado, Anna +Maria took flowers, ribbons, laces, and white dresses out of the trunk, +and put in half a dozen strong aprons. 'You will have more use for +these,' she explained, gently. I was entirely opposed to this journey; +in consideration of my private instructions, I could not approve of it, +yet it seemed right to Anna Maria. 'I cannot bear the old woman either,' +she said; 'but if she is ill and wants Susanna, she must go.' + +"'How could a man fall in love with this childish little creature?' I +thought, as she leaned back in the carriage with a happy smile of +satisfaction; the black crape veil floated about her small face, her +little feet were propped against the back seat, and she gracefully waved +her hand to me again. Oh! mademoiselle had the manners of a duchess, +mademoiselle will already act as Frau von Hegewitz. If Anna Maria +dreamed of that! + +"A letter from Klaus came that evening. My heart began to beat, as it +always did when one came, for each time I thought Klaus would write his +sister of his love. I watched Anna Maria closely as she read; she +frowned and shook her head. + +"'Klaus has had to take possession of the property, in order not to lose +everything,' she said. 'He writes that he had expected to be back in a +week, but now, alas! he is obliged to stay longer. "The harvest festival +should be kept just as if I were there,"' she read on. "You can say a +few words to the people in my place. As may easily be imagined, I have +my hands full, and there are not a few disagreeable things: in the midst +of the harvesting and nothing in order; the people a lazy, Polish +element; the bailiff a knave whom I sent off the first day! The +situation of the manor is wonderful, as well as the building itself and +the great, shady garden; however, I shall be glad when I am free from +the business at last. The high hills not far away depress me; they shut +out the view too much; how far do you suppose I can see from my window? +Just through the space between the two barns, over the wall of the +court-yard. As soon as I have things in some degree of order here I +shall have Beling (the bailiff) come and take the management in my +place. I hope you are all getting on well. Is not Aunt Rosamond going +to write me at all? Is Susanna well, perfectly well? You did not mention +her in your last letter."' + +"'Aha!' thought I, as Anna Maria, reflecting, let the letter drop, 'the +longing! Oh, you foolish Klaus! And if I were to write him now, "Susanna +is in Dambitz," what would he say?' + +"'I should like to drive over to-morrow to look after Susanna,' said I, +turning to Anna Maria, who was drawing in and out the colored wools on +the table-cover she was embroidering for Klaus. + +"'I will wager, aunt, she will be back again to-morrow; do you think she +will hold out long there in that mean room, with the uncomfortable bed +on that neck-breaking sofa? Just wait; she will be here again before we +know it.' + +"The next day Anna Maria was sitting with her table-cover beside my bed; +I had wrapped a rabbit-skin about my arms and shoulders, for the evil +rheumatism. Such an attack sometimes chained me to my bed for a week or +more, and this time I lay there feeling like a veritable culprit. I kept +thinking of Susanna, and this tormented me into a state of nervousness. +And there sat Anna Maria beside me, in her calm way taking one stitch +after another. I followed her large yet beautifully formed hand, and the +trefoil which grew under it; the lions supporting a shield were already +finished, and the last leaf would be done to-day. 'Fear thy God, kill +thine enemy, trust no friend,' was the strange motto of our family. It +doubtless originated in those times when races lived in perpetual feud +with one another, each ever ready for combat on the fortress of his +fathers. + +"'Anna Maria!' I began, at length. + +"She started up out of a deep revery. 'Shall I read the paper to you?' +she asked. + +"'No, thank you, _mon ange_; but tell me, do you know if Susanna--is +she----' + +"'She is still with her Isa, aunt,' replied Anna Maria. 'I packed up a +little basket of food for her this morning. Marieken carried it, +and----' + +"'Well, Anna Maria?' + +"'Oh, well, she sits by the old woman's bedside, Marieken tells me, and +round about her lie laces and ribbons and flowers; Susanna is making a +new hat or two for herself. Marieken says she had no eyes for my +appetizing basket; with cheeks as red as roses, she was all absorbed in +her finery.' + +"'Incorrigible!' I murmured; 'Anna Maria, why have you let her stay +away? Is the old woman really so ill?' I added, out of humor. + +"'Well, it did not seem to me so alarming from Marieken's account. If +you were not a patient yourself, aunt, I would have driven over.' + +"I lay back with a sigh. Of course, I had to be ill just now. Out of +doors a cold wind was blowing over the bare fields; we should have an +early autumn. My good times were over, and now were coming again the +days of stove-heat and confinement to the house, of rabbit-skins and +herb-bags. + +"'I shall invite no one to the harvest festival this year, aunt,' began +Anna Maria, after a pause. 'What would all the people do here without +Klaus? It will give me no pleasure without him; on the contrary, it is +painful to me.' + +"'But Klaus wishes----' + +"'Ah, aunt, but he will be content _au fond_. I know him!' said the +girl, with a smile. + +"Just then Brockelmann announced Baron Stuermer. Like a flash of fire a +sudden blush mounted to Anna Maria's face, the fingers which held the +needle trembled, and her voice was unsteady. + +"'Excuse me to the baron. I am prevented, unfortunately; aunt is ill.' + +"Anna Maria had hitherto seen him only in the presence of others; she +feared being alone with him; was that indifference? + +"'Ask the baron to come up here,' said I with sudden resolution. 'I am +certainly old enough to receive him in bed,' I added to Anna Maria. + +"'Come, _mon cher_ Edwin, if you are not afraid to see a sick old woman +in bed,' I called to him, as he was now entering, and pointed to a chair +by the head of my bed, opposite Anna Maria. Edwin Stuermer was the most +versatile man I ever saw, and at once master of a situation. And so he +was soon sitting by me, chatting pleasantly. The twilight deepened, and +Anna Maria let her hands rest. She listened to us as we spoke of old +times; I saw how her eyes were fixed on his face, how now and then a +slight flush spread over it. She spoke little, and all at once rose and +left the room. + +"'Anna Maria is quiet, and looks badly,' I remarked; 'the work is too +much for her.' + +"He did not answer at once; then he said: 'She was always so still and +cold, Aunt Rosamond.' + +"'No, no, Stuermer, she is in trouble, she is worried about Klaus.' + +"'Of all things in the world, that is a needless anxiety,' he returned, +laughing. And evidently trying to get away from the subject, he asked: +'But where is Fraeulein Mattoni?' + +"'Nearer to you than you think, Edwin.' + +"'With the old witch, her duenna?' he asked, with that indifference +which involuntarily suggests the opposite quality. + +"'Yes; the old woman is ill and Susanna is taking care of her. _Eh +bien_, you will come, of course, to our harvest festival? Anna Maria +intends to celebrate it very quietly, quite _entre nous_; but you must +come, Edwin.' + +"'What?' he asked, absently. + +"'For pity's sake, tell me where your thoughts are hiding?' I scolded, +irritably. + +"He laughed, and kissed my hand. 'Pardon, Fraeulein Rosamond, I was still +thinking about Klaus.' + +"'And the result, Edwin?' + +"'Is that I have come to none; he is really incomprehensible to me.' + +"'Why?' + +"'Do allow me _not_ to say it,' he replied; 'but I _envy_ him.' + +"'May I not also know what?' + +"'Yes,' he said, rising, 'his cool temperament. How much needless +agitation, how many sleepless nights one to whom such calmness has been +given is spared!' + +"'But Klaus is not cold; I do not know what you mean,' said I, +reproachfully; 'as little cold as Anna Maria, and--as you.' + +"He sat down again, and without regarding my objection, continued: 'For +Heaven's sake, do tell me where they got this even temperament, this +indifference, this coolness. The father was an eccentric, energetic man, +warmly sensitive, even to passionateness--perhaps the mother was so?' + +"'I assure you, Edwin,' I repeated, almost hurt, 'you know them both +very little yet when you speak thus. They are neither indifferent nor +cold-hearted; but both have, alas! inherited too much of the father's +warm feelings and eccentricity. Believe me,' I added with a sigh. I was +thinking of the scene in the Dambitz forge. + +"Edwin Stuermer laughed. 'Well, well,' he said, 'I am far from +reproaching Klaus with it; it is only incomprehensible to me. I suppose +I seem odd to you?' + +"'Oh, Stuermer, such a hot-head as you Klaus has never been, certainly, +and I know that you owe to your vivacity my brother's love, which +preferred you before his own son. You may be convinced that just that +passionate, changeable nature of my brother has made the children so +earnest, so deliberate.' + +"'Klaus is the best, the noblest of men; he is my friend!' cried +Stuermer, with warmth. 'Do I say, then, that I reproach him? But he has +not learned to know life; he has never come from mere fidelity to duty +and deliberation, to call his a moment of inspiration which is able to +carry one quite out of himself; he has ever kept to the golden mean, +blameless; he has always done enough, but not too much. In short--in +short, such men are model men. But what life means, Aunt Rosamond, that +he does not know, and only _he_ could trust himself----' + +"He broke off suddenly. 'I should like to know how I came to deliver +such a lecture to you,' he added, jokingly. + +"It was almost dark in the room now. I could scarcely distinguish +Stuermer's profile. He twisted his beard rapidly and nervously. + +"'You may say what you will, Stuermer, but cold my two children are not,' +I declared, and just at that moment Anna Maria entered. + +"'A light will be brought directly,' she said, cheerfully, stepping over +to her chair. 'Pardon me, baron, for staying away so long; I was kept by +domestic duties, which occupy me more closely than when Klaus is at +home.' + +"He made no reply; I only saw him bow. Anna Maria could have said +nothing more pedantic, I thought. Conversation would not flow, the light +did not come. Anna Maria was just on the point of ringing for it when +the bell in the church-tower began to ring in quick, broken strokes. + +"'Fire!' cried Anna Maria, in alarm, hurrying to the window. Already +there was a commotion in the court-yard; Stuermer had also thrown open a +window. 'Where is the fire?' he called down. + +"With beating heart I sat upright in bed. 'Where?' called Anna Maria, +'where is the fire, people?' Then the words were lost in the tumult. + +"'In Dambitz,' at last came up the reply, amid all the tramping of +horses and noise of the people. '_Sacre Dieu!_' murmured Stuermer, +overturning a chair in the darkness; 'Dambitz!' + +"'I will light a candle,' said Anna Maria, calmly; 'give me a moment and +I will go with you.' Below, the fire-engine was just rattling across the +court. The candles flared up under Anna Maria's hand. + +"'Send me a wrap, aunt, please; I wish to go over on Susanna's account; +do not worry. I am ready, if you will take me with you in your +carriage,' she added to Stuermer; and again a red glow spread over her +face. + +"'The carriage is ready, if you please, Fraeulein.' He was already +hurrying out of the room. + +"'For God's sake, Anna Maria, bring back Susanna to me!' I cried. And +then I lay alone for hours. Brockelmann came up once: 'The whole sky is +red,' she informed me; 'it must be a big fire.' The little bell rang +unremittingly its monotonous alarm, and before my eyes stood the burning +houses, and I fancied Anna Maria beside Stuermer in the carriage, driving +rapidly along the lonely highway, and Susanna in danger. And my thoughts +flew to Klaus: 'Hold your hands over this girl. I will thank you for it +all my life!' 'My God, protect her!' I prayed in my anxiety. + +"And hour after hour passed, the bell became silent, after long pauses, +and Anna Maria did not come. Brockelmann said the fire-light had +disappeared. I heard the carriages and people returning home; then the +court was quiet. And then Brockelmann came in again: 'It broke out in +the second house from the forge, the lads say, and the forge is +half-burned, too.' Oh, Heaven, and Anna Maria does not come! + +"The old woman sat down by my bed. 'She does not think of herself,' she +complained; 'she will run into the burning house if it is possible. Ah, +if the master were only here!' Good Brockelmann, she knew better than +Stuermer how to judge Anna Maria. + +"'Fraeulein,' she whispered, already following another train of thought, +'do you know--but you must not take it amiss--the baron comes so often +now, and as I saw them both drive out of the yard to-day, then--I keep +thinking she will marry him yet.' + +"'Oh, how can you talk such nonsense?" said I, chiding these words in +vexation. + +"'Yet, I say, the next thing will be a wedding in the house!' declared +the old woman. 'The great myrtle down-stairs is full of buds, and I also +found a bridal rose in the garden. And last New Year's eve I listened at +the door and heard the young master just saying: "Invite to the +wedding!" And that will all come true. And then--but you must not act as +if you knew it--I have had Anna Maria in my arms from the day she was +born, and know her as no one else does, and I know how she cried over +the note that the baron wrote her at the time when he went far away into +the world, and, Fraeulein, she always has it with her! Oh, I see so much +that I am not intended to see; but she cannot dissemble, Anna Maria.' + +"Ah! what the old woman was saying was of no importance to me; only news +of Susanna; everything else later! 'My God, Susanna,' I murmured, 'if +anything has happened to her!' And unable to stay quietly in bed any +longer, I bade Brockelmann help me dress. At last a carriage rolled in +at the gate and stopped before the house. I sat up in bed, and kept my +eyes on the door. Susanna _must_ come! Brockelmann had hurried +down-stairs; I heard Anna Maria's voice on the stairs, and her +footsteps, and then she came in. + +"'For God's sake, where is Susanna?' I cried to her. + +"'With her old nurse, who has been made really ill from fright,' she +said quietly, and sank exhausted into the chair by my bed. + +"'But, Anna Maria,' I wailed, 'the forge is burned down!' + +"'They are at the castle,' she replied, gently. 'Stuermer has given a +shelter to all who were burned out.' + +"'In the castle?' At the first moment the thought was quieting to me, +but then my heart grew heavy. 'Oh, but that is impossible! How could you +let Susanna accept the hospitality of an unmarried man? It is wrong of +you; you are usually so observant of forms. You _ought_ to have brought +her with you, and the old woman too!' I had spoken impetuously, in my +anxiety. Anna Maria gave me a strange look. + +"'Isa is so ill she was in no condition to make the journey hither,' she +replied. 'But Susanna lies across her bed with torn hair and face bathed +with tears; she is nearer to her than all of us, and at such a moment, +aunt, one does not think of--etiquette.' I first noticed now how pale +and exhausted Anna Maria looked. Her fair hair had fallen down, and one +golden tress falling over the white forehead lay on her plain dark-green +dress; her eyes were cast down and her lips quivered slightly. + +"'Poor child!' I cried, seizing her hands. 'It has been too much, and +here am I reproving you!' + +"She let her hand remain in mine, but did not look up. 'I am quite +well,' she replied; 'but it is painful--to behold human misery and not +be able to help. It was fearful, aunt! And it has cost one human +life--nearly two.' Her voice was strangely lifeless as she said this. +'An old man,' she continued, 'in the act of saving his cow from the +burning stable, was buried beneath the falling building. Stuermer carried +out his grand-daughter, who was trying to help him, unhurt--but it was +at the very last moment--a falling beam injured his arm.' + +"She had spoken in snatches, as if it were hard for her to breathe. And +now the peculiar sobbing sound came from her breast; I knew that so +well, for even as a child she had thus suppressed a burst of tears. I +grasped her hands more firmly; she was feverishly hot, and her bosom +heaved violently. + +"'The splendid, warm-hearted man! Just the same to-day as he ever was!' +said I, gently. 'God be praised for having protected him!' + +"Then we sat silent for a long time. The candles in front of the mirror +had burned low, and flickering they struggled for existence; and the +clock on the console ticked restlessly. I longed to beg the girl beside +me: 'Anna Maria, confide in me; it is not yet too late! See, I know now +that you love Stuermer--since to-day I am sure of it. Anna Maria, it is +not yet too late!' But how could I do it? She had never given me the +slightest right, never allowed me to share in what moved her heart. Oh, +that she would come of her own accord, then, and speak, that she might +know how much easier it is for two to bear a burden. + +"I pressed her hand, beseechingly. 'Anna Maria, my dear child!' I +whispered. Then she roused herself as out of a confused dream, and +pushed the hair from her forehead. + +"'Susanna?' she asked; 'Susanna got off with a fright. I led her over to +the castle myself, and Stuermer's old servant carried Isa; they are safe. +As soon as the old woman can be moved I shall have her brought here, of +course; to-day it was impossible. The excitement might be bad for +Susanna, too, for such a passionate outburst of grief I never dreamed +of. She loves the old creature more than I ever mistrusted, and her cry: +"Isa, Isa, if you die I have no one else in the world!" was repeated +till she broke down from exhaustion.' + +"I listened as if stunned. 'Anna Maria,' I said, 'I must go over +to-morrow.' + +"She nodded. 'If it is possible--for I should be glad to avoid it." + +"'It must be possible, Anna Maria. Go and rest, we are both tired; sleep +well.' + +"Wall, there I lay, and no sleep came to my eyes. Klaus and Susanna, +Anna Maria and Stuermer, revolved in wildest confusion in my brain. I +started up out of my dozing, for I thought I heard Susanna's voice: +'Isa, Isa, if you die I have no one else in the world!' And I dreamed +that I cried in anger to her: 'Ungrateful one, have you not more than a +thousand others--have you not the heart of the best and truest of men?' +And I awoke again with a cry, for I had seen Stuermer hurry into the +burning house, and seen it fall on him; and Anna Maria stood by, pale +and calm, with disordered locks of fair hair over her white forehead; +her eyes looked fixedly and gloomily on that ruin, but she could neither +weep nor speak." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + +"It was a fearful night! I was almost astonished to see the bright +sunshine streaming in my window, and the blue sky, the next morning. +Brockelmann helped me dress, for my shoulder was still painful. + +"Some trouble oppressed the old woman; it was always to be observed that +when anything weighed on her heart she used to smooth her hands over the +hem of her apron, and therewith take aim at the person on whom she had +designs. For a little while I watched it to-day, but when, after tying +my shoes, she remained sitting on the deal floor, stroking her +dazzlingly white apron, and seeking for a way to begin her speech, +evidently a difficulty to her, I said: 'Well, speak out, Brockelmann; +what is it?' + +"But instead of an answer she threw her apron over her face and began to +weep bitterly. + +"'Do write, gracious Fraeulein, for the master to come back soon, or +things will not go right in my life-time with Anna Maria,' she sobbed. +'It eats into my heart like a worm that he went away without a good-by. +She says nothing, but, Fraeulein, I have known her ever since she was +born; I know her as well as I do myself. She stays for hours in the +master's room, and when she comes out her eyes are red with weeping, and +then it is always: "Brockelmann, the master would certainly do this so, +and wish that so," and "When the master is here," or "When the master +comes," is the third word with her. When Christian brings the mail she +runs out into the court to meet him, and the first time the master wrote +I was just going through the room, as she read the letter. She did not +see me, but I saw how the letter trembled in her hands, and then she +said to herself: "He is different from what he used to be; it is past!" +And then she got up and went into the garden, and I looked after her and +watched her as I used to when she was yet a wild thing with long braids. +And then she walked up and down by the spot where her mother lies +buried, up and down, up and down, oh! certainly for an hour. It was +nothing to her that it rained, and that the wind blew her half to +pieces. At last I went out there and asked her something about the +housekeeping; I could not see it any longer. Then she came in with me. +But last night, when she came back from the fire, when I had brought her +a glass of mulled wine, she looked so wretched. When I knew she was in +her own room I took it to her--I did not wish to disturb her here. But +listen, Fraeulein Rosamond, when I went in there Anna Maria had just been +crying, crying as if her heart would break. She did not see me; she had +laid her head on the table, and on Herr Klaus's picture, and her whole +body shook and trembled. Then I closed the door again softly, for, +believe me, it would have been dreadful to her to have had any one see +that she was crying. Indeed, she does not like it if anybody cries +aloud. But to-day I could not rest. Only write, Fraeulein; when the +master is here all will be well again!' + +"'Ah, good old Brockelmann, if that would settle it! Yes, Klaus would +come, but it would never be again as it used to be, never again!' + +"The old woman took my silence for acquiescence. 'And, Fraeulein,' she +continued, drying her eyes, 'I know perfectly well since when things +have been different. If I had had the power I would have said to +Christian at the time when the coach came driving into the yard with the +theatrical people: "Turn around, for Heaven's sake, Christian; these are +birds which are not suited to this nest!" But, good heavens, some of us +are silent, and see and hear! The master is so kind-hearted, Fraeulein, +so kind-hearted; God grant that it may remain kind-heartedness! I could +have fretted myself to death when it was rumored in the servants' hall, +and in the village, that the Ma'm'selle who had snowed down was not +unpleasing to the master. In Rieke, it has gone to a blockhead; she was +not bad, but what is the use--the talk is once out--if Fraeulein Anna +Maria only doesn't hear of it, although it is nothing but lies,' she +continued, after a short pause, and looked at me confidently, 'for the +master could have the fairest and best any day, and doesn't need to wait +upon such a vagabond thing, yet it would make the Fraeulein ill if she +were to hear of it.' + +"'So the servants are already talking about it,' said I softly, when the +old woman had gone. 'And they are not far from the truth! Brockelmann, +too, only sings so loud because she has fears, and she wanted to know +what I thought of it. But Anna Maria will not believe, Anna Maria has +other troubles.' + +"As I went down to get into the carriage which was to carry me to +Dambitz, Anna Maria was just coming out of Klaus's room. She was quiet +and friendly as usual; there was no sign of yesterday's tumult. She +asked how I had slept, and said she had just come in from the fields. +'The harvest is a blessing of God this year,' she added; 'look at the +crops as you drive past the rye-fields. How pleased Klaus will be!' And +as I was sitting in the carriage, she put a little parcel into my hand: +'Give that to Stuermer for the burned-out people, will you, please? Klaus +will approve.' She was blushing crimson. 'It is out of the milk-fund; +you know that is my own!' + +"Touched, I nodded to her, and then the carriage rolled away with me, in +the misty autumn morning. What a refreshing odor came from the +pine-forests; a golden mist hung over the distant heath, and the sky +seemed higher and bluer than I had seen it for a long time. And yet it +seemed as if I were breathing the heavy air before a thunder-storm the +nearer I came to Dambitz and the shaded manor-house. We drove past the +burned houses; the charred beams and timbers were still smoking, and +thin columns of smoke circled up from the ruins; a loathsome odor lay +about the unfortunate spot, but human hands were already at work again. +The blacksmith's shop was half demolished, the gabled wall was warped by +the heat of the fire, and the blacksmith's young wife was bravely +rummaging among her household goods, which had been thrown, _nolens +volens_, into the street, a promiscuous heap of beds, clothing, and +furniture. A little woman was sitting on a chest, weeping bitterly; it +was her husband who had met with the fatal accident last night, the +coachman told me. A young girl of perhaps sixteen was hunting about the +half-burned and partially wet rubbish; her eyes were swollen with +weeping. + +"'You poor people,' thought I; 'no one can give you back what has been +taken from you, but we will help to replace the earthly property.' And I +looked at the small but heavy roll in my hand; it was a not +insignificant sum in gold. Well for him who can give, and gives gladly +and lovingly! + +"We now drove along by the park wall; the great gate of skilfully +wrought iron stood open; the luxuriant foliage of the beautiful park +here parted, and let the eye roam over velvety green lawns and broad +flower-beds to the white, castle-like buildings. Awnings protected the +terrace from the sun's rays, and a black and white flag waved gayly in +the morning wind. A delicious freshness lay over the garden; not a +yellow leaf was yet to be seen on the broad gravel-walk; everywhere most +painstaking neatness. + +"I called to the coachman to stop, and had myself lifted out of the +carriage, so as to walk through the park. I do not know myself how the +idea came into my head. How long it was since I had been here! I was +then still a girl; my sister-in-law was by my side, and Klaus and Edwin, +wild lads, rushing about us. I felt very strangely; there was still the +little bridge of tree-trunks, the ingeniously planned moat, which always +used to be dry; to-day water was splashing in it. The trees had grown +taller, the shrubbery more luxuriant, and a marble Diana stood out +against the green of the taxus-hedge. Stuermer's taste for the beautiful +struck me at every step. At home no one thought of marble statues and +English turf; at home the wish had never yet been spoken to see such +jets of crystal water as those shooting up before the group of fine old +elms; there was still the same old garden with its gnarled oaks, its +primitive arbors, its flower-sprinkled grass-plots; but it was pleasant +and home-like, as it is to-day. + +"I followed a shady path which I knew would bring me to the side of the +house, but all at once I stopped short. I could not be deceived; that +was Susanna's ringing laugh, floating like the note of a nightingale +through the shrubbery. Susanna in the garden and Susanna laughing? I +walked on and went up on a little knoll surrounded by old lindens; in +the middle was a Flora on a stone pedestal; monthly roses were blooming +in the flower-beds, mingling their fragrance with that of the +mignonette. At one side was a group of pretty garden furniture, and in +one of the seats was Susanna, leaning back and looking with a smile of +delight at the spray of roses which Stuermer had just offered her. + +"He stood in front of her, his arm still in a sling, and looked down at +her. She had evidently made her toilet with the greatest care; the time +at Isa's sick-bed had not passed unused, it seemed. She still wore a +black dress, but her white neck gleamed beneath a quantity of delicate +black lace, and filmy lace also fell over her arms; the fichu knotted +below her bosom was held together by a pale rose, and there was also a +rose in her hair; Susanna Mattoni looked charming in her half-Spanish +costume. And yet if, with disorderly hair and careless toilet, and, +instead of the lace, one of Anna Maria's aprons, I had found her at +Isa's bed, could I have detected in her face a single sign of the fearful +night before, I would have thrown my arms about the child and said: +'Come, Susanna, my little Susanna, your refuge is at Buetze.' But now? But +thus? + +"My heart seemed almost paralyzed. In another moment I was standing by +Susanna, and was able to say pleasantly that I had come to take her +home. + +"Stuermer drew my hand to his lips, much pleased, 'Ah! my dearest, best +Aunt Rosamond, again at Dambitz at last," he cried. Susanna stood as if +petrified by my unexpected appearance. 'Well, my child,' I said to her, +as Stuermer, after pushing up a chair for me, went into the castle; 'how +is your Isa? She is quite well again, is she?' + +"Susanna shook her head. 'No,' she replied, 'Isa is still very weak.' + +"'Who takes care of her then?' I asked, sharply. + +"'Herr von Stuermer has engaged a woman to nurse her,' she informed me, +'who probably understands it better than I.' + +"'And you were on the point of returning to Buetze, were you not?' I +asked, severely. + +"Susanna bent down her crimson face, and uttered a low 'Yes!' She had +understood me. + +"'_Allons donc_, my child, we will not delay.' I rose and went forward; +slowly she followed me, with a decided expression of ill-humor. At the +front steps of the castle we met Stuermer, a look of happy surprise still +on his face. + +"'Oh, dear Aunt Rosamond, you will breakfast with me!' he begged, giving +me his well arm to escort me up the steps. 'Such a rare occasion!' And +he gave me a look so winning, so truly delighted that it would have been +more than uncivil to refuse. And the personality of my old favorite +exercised such a charm over me that, smiling, I let myself be dragged +away. + +"Susanna flew past us up the steps; her lace-trimmed skirts stood out as +she ran, fluttering about her light feet; the rose fell out of her hair +and dropped in front of Stuermer. He picked it up, and held it absently +in his hand. Susanna disappeared behind the glass door of the vestibule; +Stuermer's eyes, which had followed her, now looked at me again, and our +eyes met and remained for a moment fixed on each other, as if each would +read the other's thoughts. Then he silently led me through the rooms of +his house. + +"How often had I been here before! I had always liked to think of the +comfortable great rooms, which, with their oak wainscoting and huge +tiled stoves projecting far out from the walls, presented such an +attractive appearance to the half-frozen guests who had come in sleighs +from Buetze. It had always been a dream of mine to see Anna Maria ruling +here some day, but the picture was erased from my mind when I entered +the first room. + +"Where were they, the comfortable rooms, the dark oak wainscoting, the +old tiled stoves? Gilding and colored mosaics shone, with a foreign air, +on the walls; odd draperies concealed doors and windows; low, dark-red +couches in place of the sofas; fragile little bronze tables, and vases; +everywhere mirrors reaching to the floor; groups of exotic flowers in +the corners; a Smyrna rug on the floor, in which the foot sank deep. +Astonished, I stood still on the threshold. + +"'_Mon Dieu_, Edwin, have you fallen among the Turks?' + +"'It is my furnishing from Stamboul, that I brought home with me,' he +replied, simply. 'But, alas! I could not charm hither the view. Imagine +that wall gone, Fraeulein Rosamond, and in its place slender marble +pillars, forming a covered walk, and then imagine yourself looking out +between them on the blue sea; see the sweet pines, swaying in the fresh +sea-breeze; yonder a cypress-wood, and on the waving billows a hundred +white sails; and imagine a child of that South, slender as a gazelle, +leaning on the balustrade, a pair of sparkling dark eyes shining through +a white veil--then you have what I saw daily in those beautiful days.' + +"How did it happen? In the midst of this imaginary picture which he had +just drawn for me I saw Anna Maria standing, in her dark dress, her +basket of keys on her arm, and saw her great clear eyes wander in +astonishment over this splendor. I smiled involuntarily; I could never +imagine Anna Maria resting, in sweet indolence, on those cushions. I had +to laugh at this idea, but it was a bitter laugh, and pained me. + +"I followed him through several rooms; everywhere luxury, foreign +furnishings; but at least the chairs were sensible. Everywhere a perfume +of roses, costly rugs, a profusion of foreign draperies. In a +one-windowed room was a little table spread for three persons, shining +with glass and silver. Edwin escorted me to the seat of honor. 'Your +little protegee will appear directly,' he said gayly. And kissing my +hand, he assured me again how happy he was to have me here at last. 'I +really do not know why you have not visited my solitary abode long +before,' he said, jokingly. + +"'Why have you never told me, Edwin, that you have so many treasures +from the "Thousand and One Nights" here?' I returned. + +"'I do not like to seem boastful,' he said, offering me a mayonnaise, +which I declined, taking some cold fowl. 'My acquaintances have looked +at the things _en passant_, and Klaus has been here often. I really +supposed you were not interested in such things at Buetze.' + +"Indeed, Klaus had told us nothing about all this; at the most had +mentioned the costly furnishings and various rare articles from foreign +countries; he had himself no fancy for curiosities of that sort. Just +then Edwin Stuermer rose. I thought I saw a faint smile on his lips, +which vexed me, I know not why. But it vanished again at once, and gave +way to a different expression. He opened the door and let Susanna in; he +had probably heard her step. She sat down opposite him at the richly +appointed table; above her dark head waved the fan-shaped leaf of a +great palm, and white blossoms crowded against the back of her chair; +from a group of southern plants in another corner rose the Venus de Milo +in purest marble. + +"And yet this sumptuous little room seemed but to form the frame for +Susanna's own peculiar beauty. She looked sad; she ate nothing, and only +now and then lifted her slender cup to moisten her lips; she did not +speak, either, and when she raised her lashes tears shone in the dark +eyes. Stuermer was also quieter; he spoke of the fire at last, and told +me that work was to be begun on the new buildings to-morrow. + +"I delivered Anna Maria's little parcel to him; he grew red for a +moment, but did not thank me with the warmth I had expected. + +"'And now,' said I, rising, after the dessert, 'I will relieve you of a +burden; I will drive Isabella and Susanna home. In a bachelor's +establishment such patients must be more than a disturbance. Susanna, +have the kindness to conduct me to Isa.' + +"Susanna's eyes sought Stuermer, but he turned away. 'I fear the old +woman is not yet able to be moved,' he said, politely. 'Besides, she is +no burden to me. She cannot, to be sure, find such a nurse as at Buetze; +we have to depend upon hired persons.' He offered me his arm and led me +along the hall to a door which Susanna, running ahead, opened, and then +he withdrew. + +"Isabella lay in a beautiful large room, in a fine bed with white +hangings; evidently a guest chamber. It looked out on the garden, and +great linden-trees shaded the windows from the sun's rays. That +Isabella and Susanna both slept here was evident. There was a second +bed, still unmade, the pillows tumbled over each other; and Susanna's +whole stock of knick-knacks and trumpery lay, just as it had been +brought hither from the burning house, with the dress, cooking utensils, +and salve-boxes of the other, tumbled together on the floor. An old +woman in a neat dress and white cap stood among them, trying to restore +order. She was probably the nurse of whom Susanna had spoken. + +"I went straight up to Isa's bed. 'Mademoiselle Pfannenschmidt, are you +well enough to drive to Buetze with Susanna and me?' I asked. + +"'No!' she replied, looking at me very angrily. + +"'Well, then, come after us as soon as you are well enough,' said I, +coldly; 'are you ready, Susanna?' + +"'Susanna stays with _me_!' she declared, her voice trembling with +anger. + +"'She is going with me,' I replied, quietly; 'spare yourself all further +pains. I shall not leave Susanna in the house of an unmarried man; +according to _our_ views, it is improper.' + +"'Under my charge?' shrieked Isabella, sitting up in bed with a jerk; +'under my charge?' + +"I shrugged my shoulders in silence, and turned to Susanna; she stood +motionless, and looked at Isa. + +"'Will you take away the girl a second time?' cried Isa, wringing her +thin hands. 'You will not even let me have the child on my death-bed? +Susanna, my darling, stay with me!' + +"'You are far from dying, my dear,' said I, in a clear voice. 'Have the +kindness to submit quietly to my arrangements; they are for Susanna's +good.' She was silent, and looked on, as I put a shawl over Susanna's +shoulders, pulled out her straw hat from under a heap of clothing, and +put it on her head. + +"'I shall ask Baron Stuermer to have you driven to Buetze as soon as you +are at all well enough,' said I, turning to Isa again; 'till then I know +you will be well cared for. Farewell.' Without further ado, I pushed +Susanna toward the door, and heard once more the shrill cry: 'Susanna, +Susanna, stay here!' + +"She stopped, and looked at me as if she meant to defy me and run back. + +"'_En avant!_ my child,' said I, energetically; 'you have been away from +Buetze too long already; I shall never forgive myself for having let you +go at all.' She was pale, and I saw her clench her little hands; but she +followed me. + +"Stuermer was waiting for us at the carriage, which was standing before +the front steps. He was holding the spray of roses which Susanna had +left lying in the garden in the morning, and handed it to her with a bow +which, in my opinion, was lower than was really necessary. I could not +see the look he gave her with it, for his back was turned to me, but I +saw a crimson glow mount to Susanna's cheeks and a bright look flash +over to him from under her long lashes, which alarmed me. I scarcely +heard Stuermer commission me with greetings for Anna Maria, adding that +he would bring his thanks himself for the money. I drew down my veil and +motioned to the coachman to start, and we rattled across the court and +out on the highway. Susanna's head was turned around, and her eyes sped +over the rows of windows of the stately house; two shining drops escaped +from them and fell on the roses. + +"How it came about I know not, but all at once I had seized her firmly +by the arm. 'There before you lies Buetze, Susanna Mattoni!' I cried, +sternly. She started, and gave a little cry; her face had grown pale, +but her eyes sparkled in rebellion. + +"'You punish me like a naughty child!' she cried, her lips quivering. +'What wrong have I done? I followed you without opposition.' + +"'Ask your own heart, Susanna,' I returned, gravely. She blushed, and +then began to cry bitterly, incessantly. + +"'Isa! Isa!' she sobbed. + +"'Are you really crying about Isa?' I asked, gently now, and took her +hand. 'I do not believe it, Susanna; you have some other grief. Only +place confidence in me. _Could_ I not help you, if you were frank?' + +"She pushed away my hand. 'No, never, never!' she burst out, violently. + +"'But if I only knew what is the matter with you, Susanna, I might, with +a word----' + +"She stopped crying, and a defiant expression came over her face. 'I +really want no sympathy,' she said, with a gesture of inimitable pride. +'There is nothing the matter with me; am I not to be allowed to cry when +the person who watched over my childhood lies ill and alone in a strange +house?' + +"I was silent; I thought where I had found her to-day--not indeed at the +sick-bed! And she understood my silence better than my words, for she +dropped her eyes in embarrassment, and remained quiet during the whole +drive. Ah, and it was such a sunny day! I followed a lark with my eyes, +as it joyously and on trembling wings rose high in the blue sky, till it +looked like a mere dot. A herd of deer ran away over the stubble as we +drove quickly past; in the meadows over yonder the peasant's cows were +feeding; far in the distance earth and sky blended in a blue haze; and +now the roofs of Buetze emerged, peaceful and sunny, from the dark +foliage of the oaks and elms--the dear old father-house! To me it seemed +all at once as if I were coming home from a long journey from distant +lands. + +"Anna Maria was standing in the door-way, with apron and bunch of keys, +as ever. She had a few beautiful white asters in her hand, and as +Susanna came up the steps she said, drawing the girl to her: 'Thank God, +Susanna, that you have returned unharmed; it was a bad night!' And she +shyly put the flowers in the girl's little hand, beside the bunch of +roses. One could see that she was really pleased. 'How is Isa doing?' +she asked, 'and how is Stuermer's arm?' She turned to me when she saw +that Susanna had been crying, and on my reply that the condition of both +was hopeful, she turned again to Susanna. + +"'Do not cry,' and a lovely expression beautified her serious young +face; 'as soon as Isa can drive she is coming, and you will nurse each +other quite well again.' + +"Anna Maria seemed transformed; there was a tenderness in her actions, +in her voice, which only the consciousness of a great happiness, an +endless gratitude for something undeserved, can give. This tone cut my +heart like a hundred knives. + +"Susanna begged to be excused from the dinner-table, on the plea of a +headache, and she did not come down to the garden-parlor during the +afternoon; she was sulky. Anna Maria had taken up her sewing, and sat +opposite me in the window-recess; it was quiet and cosey in the +comfortable room, so peaceful--and yet the threatening storm was +drawing near with great haste, to drive away our peace for a long time. + +"'I would like to know if Klaus would miss me if I--were suddenly no +longer here; if I should die, for instance, aunt?' asked Anna Maria all +at once, quite abruptly. Then she quickly laid her hand on my arm: 'No, +I beg you,' said she, preventing my answer; 'I know of course he would +miss me, miss me very much!' + +"After we had sat silent together for a little while the coachman +entered with the mail-bag, which he handed to Anna Maria. She felt in +her pocket for the key, opened the bag, and drew out letters and +newspapers. + +"'Ah, from Klaus!' she cried, in joyful surprise; 'and what a thick +letter, aunt; just look!' She held up a large envelope. How strange,' +she remarked then; 'it is for you, aunt.' + +"I started as if I had been apprehended of a crime. 'Give it to me!' I +begged, and broke the crested seal with trembling hand, for I suspected +what it was. An enclosure for Anna Maria fell out of the letter +addressed to me, and I stealthily threw my handkerchief over it--Anna +Maria had opened a business letter--and began to read: + + "'DEAREST AUNT: When I went away a few weeks ago, I said to you + at the last moment I should write to Anna Maria to tell her + that I love Susanna Mattoni, that she is to be my wife. + Meanwhile, I had given up the idea, and thought I would speak + quietly with Anna Maria on my return. But now I am again of the + opinion that a written confession is best. When I ask you now + to give the enclosed letter to Anna Maria, it is chiefly for + this reason, that she may have a support in you. If I were to + write to her directly, she would keep the matter all to + herself, she is so reserved; but in this way she must speak, + and will be more easily reconciled to what cannot be altered. + That it will be hard for her I cannot conceal from myself, + after various scenes between us. But my decision stands + irrevocably firm. I love Susanna, and God will help us over the + near future, and not separate the hearts of brother and sister, + who have so long clung to one another in true love. I shall + come as soon as I have news; the longing takes hold of me more + than I can tell.' + +"I let the sheet drop, the letters danced before my eyes. How should I +begin to make this news known to her? + +"As I rose hastily, the letter fell at Anna Maria's feet. She raised her +head and looked searchingly at me, and saw that I was making a great +effort to compose myself. + +"'Aunt Rosamond!' she cried, stooping and picking up the letter, 'what +is it? Bad news from Klaus? Please, speak!' She knelt by my chair, and +her anxious eyes tried to read my face. + +"'No, no, my child!' I caught hold of the letter which she held in her +hand. + +"'It is certainly to me!' she cried, quickly taking it back. + +"All at once I became master of my trembling nerves. 'It is to you, Anna +Maria,' I agreed, 'and contains----' + +"'I will see for myself, aunt,' she said, and there was a tone of +infinite anxiety in her voice. She rose and sat down in one of the deep +window-niches of the hall. I could not see her face from my seat; I +heard only the rattling of the paper in the stillness, and my heart +thumped as if it would burst. The anxious pause seemed to me an +eternity; then a cry of pain sounded through the room. I sprang toward +Anna Maria; her fair head lay on the window-seat, her face was buried in +her hands, and an almost unearthly groaning was wrung from her breast. + +"'For God's sake, Anna Maria!' I cried, embracing her. 'Compose +yourself, be calm; you do him injustice; he is not lying on his bier!' +But she did not stir; she groaned as if suffering from severe physical +pain. + +"'Anna Maria, my dear Anna Maria!' I cried, weeping. + +"'For that, ah, for that, all that I have suffered!' she cried out, and +raised her pale face, transfixed with pain. She stretched up her arms, +and wrung her clasped hands. 'My only brother!' she whispered, 'my only +brother!' Then, springing up impetuously, she ran out. + +"As if stunned, I remained behind; I had not expected this; for such an +expression of pain I was not prepared. + +"And the old house was still; my steps creaked on the cement floor of +the corridor before Anna Maria's room, and a long, long time I stood +there and listened for a sound, but it remained quiet behind the closed +door. The autumn evening drew on, night closed in, solemn and clear +shone the stars from the sky upon the earth beneath. 'What art thou, +child of man, with thy small trouble? Look up to us and fold thy hands,' +said they in their dumb language. And I clasped my hands. 'He who +created the stars to give us light by night will also lighten this +spot!' I whispered. + +"Eleven o'clock struck as I knocked at Susanna's door. She did not +answer. I went softly into the room; a candle on the mantel, just on the +point of going out, threw its unsteady light on the girl. She was lying +on one side, her face turned toward the room, a smile on the red lips; +beside the bed Stuermer's spray of roses, carefully placed in water. + +"It was a dismal morning that followed. Anna Maria remained in her room; +she did not answer our knocks, and there was no movement within. +Brockelmann's eyes were red with weeping; she shook her head, and went +about the house on tip-toe, as if there were a dead person in it. I was +in sheer despair, and limped from Anna Maria's door to my room, and back +again. The bailiffs came and inquired for her, and went away +astonished--she did not appear. + +"About eight o'clock I went softly to Susanna's room. She had just +risen, and was arranging her hair. The windows were opened wide; through +the branches of the trees golden sunbeams slipped into the room and +played over the young creature who, trifling and smiling and fresh as a +rose, stood, in her white dressing-sack, before the mirror. She did not +hear me enter, for she went on trilling a little song half aloud; clear +as a bell the tones floated out on the clear morning air. Isa's +death-bed was forgotten; ah! and something else, probably. + +"I closed the door again cautiously; I was never so anxious before in my +life. + +"'Is Fraeulein Anna Maria ill?' asked Susanna, as she found only two +places set at dinner. She had come from the garden, and had a bunch of +white asters at her bosom, and her eyes shone with delight. + +"'I think so,' said I, softly, and folded my hands for the grace. +Susanna showed a pitying face for a moment, and then began to chatter; +she was in a most agreeable mood. + +"The day wore on. Anna Maria remained invisible. Brockelmann was quite +beside herself. 'She is crying, she is crying as if her heart would +break,' she said, coming into my room before going to bed. + +"'She is crying? That is good!' said I, relieved. + +"'She has never cried so much in all her life before, whispered the old +woman; 'something must have happened that cuts deep into her heart.' + +"'I cannot confide it to you, Brockelmann,' I replied, 'but you will +know it soon.' I was sorry for the old woman; she was trembling in every +limb. + +"'Oh, I can guess it already, Fraeulein,' she said; 'it would surprise me +above all things if it did not come from that quarter!' She pointed in +the direction of Susanna's room. 'One woman's head can ruin a whole +country!' + +"The following day was a Sunday, and a Sunday stillness lay over the +house and court; even more than ordinarily, for the house down-stairs +was stiller than usual, as Anna Maria had not yet left her room. + +"Sadly I got ready for church, and then went to Susanna's door to call +for her. As I looked in I saw her still lying in bed, still sleeping, +her limbs stretched out, like a tired kitten. On the whole, I was glad; +I would rather go alone to-day, with my heavy heart. + +"The little church was unusually full on this Sunday, especially of +Dambitz people. A danger commonly encountered, a great misfortune, +brought them hither. They wanted, too, to hear what the clergyman had to +say about the calamity of the fire. So it happened that the little nave +was full to the last seat; only the seats of the gentry, above, were +empty. + +"'What God does is well!' sang the congregation. I folded my hands over +my book, and tears fell on them. I spoke no words, but more warmly I +surely never prayed, for Klaus, for Anna Maria. God knows all the sad +thoughts that came to me. I had already fought in vain against one of +them the night before: 'What if Anna Maria were not to yield; if she +were, perhaps, to go out from the ancestral home, in defiance, in order +to live no longer with Susanna? Oh! it was possible, with her +temperament, and then what would become of them both?' + +"Just then the door of the gallery moved, creaking slightly, and there, +on the threshold, stood--Anna Maria! Was it really she? Her face was +pale, with deep bluish shadows under the eyes; and beside her, even +paler, her great eyes directed toward me, as if seeking help, +stood--Susanna! Anna Maria held her hand and led her to the chair in +which the mistress of Buetze had always sat, and which, of late, had been +Anna Maria's seat. + +"The girl sank into it, a crimson glow now on her cheeks, and bent her +head. Anna Maria sat behind her, and folded her hands. It had been done, +then; she had yielded to her brother's will. What she had suffered in +that her face showed plainly. + +"Anna Maria raised her head only once during the sermon, when Pastor +Gruene, in speaking of the Dambitz fire, mentioned the man who had +perished, and, in a few moving words, uttered a prayer of thanksgiving +that God had protected him who had risked his own life to save another, +almost lost. Then she cast a long look across at Stuermer's empty seat. +Susanna, too, raised her lashes, but dropped them at once, shyly, as if +she were doing something wrong. + +"On the way home Anna Maria walked beside me with her usual firm step, +Susanna's hand in hers. There was something solemn in her manner, and +when we stood in the garden-parlor, the tall, fair girl drew Susanna to +her. + +"'Make him happy,' she bade her softly; 'a nobler, a better man does not +exist. God has bestowed a very rich happiness upon you.' She kissed the +girl on the forehead, and went down into the garden. But Susanna +suddenly fell on my neck and broke out in convulsive sobs. + +"'Why, Susanna, are you not happy?' I asked. No answer; she only clung +more closely to me. + +"'Have you thought that you have now a home and the heart of a noble +man; that you are his bride-elect, loved beyond everything?' + +"She gave a shiver, and stopped crying. + +"'Come, Susanna,' I begged, kindly; 'you belong to us now; you have now +a family home and I am now your aunt,' I added, jokingly. 'Stop crying. +Come, let us go down to Anna Maria; you have not said a friendly word to +her yet.' + +"She threw her head back, and seemed to be deliberating for a moment; +then she ran out. I heard her swiftly retreating steps in the corridor. +'I will seek Anna Maria, at least to learn what has passed,' I murmured, +arid turned at once to the garden. So it had come about. Klaus was +betrothed; how often I had imagined it formerly. And to-day? A sort of +film came over my eyes, and the grayest of gray seemed the world round +about. + +"Anna Maria was standing by the little pond, looking into the brown +water; she gave me her hand, quietly and kindly. + +"'My dear Anna Maria,' said I, 'God leads human hearts together.' + +"She nodded mutely. + +"'Shall you write Klaus?' I continued. + +"'It is already done. I wrote on that night,' she replied. + +"'It has not been easy for you, Anna Maria?' + +"She raised her hand, defensively. 'I love Klaus very much,' she said, +gently. + +"'When did you speak with Susanna, Anna Maria; may I know?' + +"'This morning,' she replied. 'I went to her, as Klaus wished. He wishes +the marriage to be very soon, and will return just a little while +before, so that Susanna may not need to seek another shelter beforehand. +So she will pass her time of being engaged without her lover. He does +not wish that the engagement should be made public, either; he does not +intend to give notice of his marriage until after the ceremony is over.' + +"She had spoken very fast, and was silent now, drawing long breaths. + +"'And did he write you everything, Anna Maria, in that letter, day +before yesterday?' + +"'Everything, aunt.' + +"'And Susanna?' + +"'I do not know,' she replied; 'I did not look at her, and she did not +speak. Perhaps happiness makes one dumb?' she added, questioningly. It +sounded as if she meant: 'I do not know--I am sure I do not know--what +happiness is.' + +"'Tell me just one thing, dear, good child,' I begged, seizing her +hands. 'Did the thought really never come to you that Klaus might have a +feeling of affection for this beautiful young creature?' + +"She was silent for awhile, and her breast heaved with suppressed sobs. +'No,' she said, 'I had never thought that he would stoop for a +poison-flower----' + +"An infinite bitterness, a deep woe, lay in these few words, and as if +she had said too much, she whispered: 'He is my only brother!' And then, +no longer able to control her emotion, she cried, throwing her hands +over her face: 'And I cannot hold him back, I cannot keep him from a +disappointment; I have no right to!' It sounded like a wild cry of pain. +And a hot stream of tears gushed forth between her fingers. + +"I stepped up to her to embrace her consolingly, but she hastily averted +it. 'Let me alone; I did not mean to cry, I thought I was stronger.' And +drawing out her handkerchief, she turned into the nearest shady path. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + +"A few hours later a carriage drove into the court. I recognized +Stuermer's livery, and from my chamber window saw Brockelmann help out +the old actress, hardly with the haste of anticipation. + +"'There, we really ought to have just such a sort of mother-in-law in +the house!' I whispered, and smiled bitterly; but tear after tear fell +on my lilac cap-strings. Like misfortune itself, the old woman came up +the steps. Ah! Klaus, Klaus, whither have you gone astray?' Our whole +family seemed to me unspeakably fallen in this moment, and I could do +nothing in the unfortunate affair, but only try to raise Susanna to us, +to keep her away from everything which might remind her of the folly, of +the frivolity of the sphere from which she sprang; again and again to +point out to her what a rich, fair lot had fallen to her; to make her +comprehend that the wife of a Hegewitz must also be a pattern of dignity +and noble womanhood. I should have much preferred to bundle Isabella +Pfannenschmidt into the carriage again, to send her to some place miles +away, and against my will I was going out of my door, when I heard her +slow, shuffling step in the hall. + +"'Please, ma'm'selle, come into my room a minute before you go to +Susanna,' I said to her. Frankly confessed, I do not know myself why I +did it; but I felt instinctively that I must speak with her first, +before she learned the latest turn in Susanna's fate from her own lips. + +"The small person came slowly over the threshold, looking at me +distrustfully. She seemed to me infinitely wretched in her rumpled +bonnet and threadbare silk cloak, her face yellower than ever, and +sunken, and she was somewhat bent, as if still suffering pain. She sat +down in the nearest chair, and looked at me with her sharp, sullen eyes. +I stood before her and tried to speak, yet no word passed my lips. All +the craft, all the low sentiments which flashed out of those small eyes +toward me reminded me anew of the sort of atmosphere in which Susanna +had grown up. I had been walking up and down the room with these +thoughts; now I took a seat opposite the old woman, who had silently +followed me with her eyes. I wanted to tell her that a great, great +happiness had befallen Susanna, and found no words for it. It seemed as +if I were choked. + +"'I would like to inform you,' I began, hesitatingly, but I got no +farther, for Anna Maria came in. 'Dear aunt,' said she, 'I have to speak +with Isabella Pfannenschmidt a moment.' I drew a breath of relief, and +went into the adjoining room. + +"Then I heard Anna Maria's sonorous voice. She spoke of a great piece of +good fortune that had come to Susanna, and said that she hoped Susanna +would reward so much love, such infinite trust, with all her powers, in +order to make the man happy who offered her a name, a home, and a heart. + +"Tears came into my eyes again; there was something in Anna Maria's +voice that pained me infinitely. I pictured to myself the proud maiden +before the vagabond actress, to whom she was now speaking as to an +equal. That which I had considered impossible now happened, out of love +to her brother. Now I thought the old woman must break out in an ecstasy +of joy; I shuddered already at the thought of the theatrical +glorification in her darling's good fortune. Far from it; she spoke +quietly and coolly. I could not understand her, but it sounded like a +murmur of discontent. + +"'I do not comprehend you,' Anna Maria said, now icily; 'if I have +rightly understood my brother's letter, Susanna gave her assent on the +evening when she fled to you. What? Is she, meanwhile, to have changed +her mind?' + +"Again a murmur; then I heard disconnected words between the old woman's +sobs: 'Defence--true love--' and so forth. This homeless woman was as +pretentious as a ruling princess making arrangements to give her +daughter in marriage to a man of a lower class. + +"Then I heard her leave the room. When I reentered Anna Maria was +standing at the window, her forehead pressed against the panes, her +clenched hand rested on the window-sill, and her lips were tightly +closed. + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'this person must leave the house.' + +"'Klaus may decide that,' she replied, gently; 'I have no longer any +voice in this matter.' + +"'She is an arrogant thing!' I continued, in my wrath. + +"Anna Maria turned. 'Ah, aunt,' said she, 'the old woman loves Susanna +like a mother, and such a relative naturally asks, in respect to the +most brilliant match: "Will it be for the child's happiness?" I ought +not to have taken it amiss; it was unjust in me.' + +"I pressed her hand softly. Anna Maria's noble sentiments sprang forth +in her pain, like flowers after rain. God grant that she was right in +her excuse! + +"Half an hour afterward, Isabella Pfannenschmidt came in with Susanna, +whose eyes were red with weeping, and hair dishevelled. Isabella led her +to Anna Maria, and Susanna made a motion as if to take her hand, but her +own fell to her side again, and so, for a moment, the two girls, so +unlike, stood opposite each other. Anna Maria had turned pale, to her +very lips; then she put her arm about Susanna's delicate shoulders, and +drew her to herself. But Susanna slid to the floor, and, sobbing, +embraced her knees; it seemed as if she wished to ask forgiveness for a +heavy offence, but not a word passed her lips. She only looked up at +Anna Maria, with an expression which I shall never forget my life long, +she seemed so true in those few moments. But before Anna Maria could +stoop to raise the girl, Isabella had already pulled her up with the +sharp, quick words: 'Susanna, be sensible!' + +"Did the old woman consider prostration before the sister of the future +husband too much devotion, or did she fear that thereby her darling was +subordinating herself, once for all, to the sister's strict _regime_? I +could not decide at the time; I did not know till later that this moment +was a fearful crisis in Susanna's heart. + +"The next three days passed quietly. Anna Maria had given Isabella a +little room next Susanna's, had told her Klaus's plans for his wedding; +and the old woman agreed to all the arrangements without a word of +opposition, but without showing any joy either. The sewing for the +trousseau was to be begun immediately after the harvest festival. +Isabella had arranged a cushion for lace-making, and under her thin, +skilful fingers grew filmy lace of the finest thread--'for the wedding +toilet!' she said softly to me. + +"Susanna's manner was quite altered; she unsociably avoided not only our +company, but Isa's as well. Meanwhile the old woman seemed little +concerned that her darling ran about half the day in the wood and +garden, looked pale, and ate little or nothing, and now and then started +up impetuously from her quiet, absorbed state, looking about with +terrified eyes. 'That is the way with people in love,' she would say in +excuse, with a peculiar smile, if I worried about Susanna's pale looks. + +"In a few days there came a letter from Klaus for Susanna. I went +up-stairs to give it to her. The first love-letter, a wonder in every +girl's life! With beating heart it is opened, read in the most secret +corner, kissed a thousand times, and kept forever. After long years +there still rises from such a yellow, crumpled paper a faint odor of +roses; a blush flits over the wrinkled cheeks, the dimmest eyes shine +once more in recollection of the hour when they first fell on those +lines. I was in quite a festive mood. What might not be enclosed in that +blue envelope? All the love, all the trust, all the true, noble +sentiment that could come only from such a heart as Klaus's! And all +this fell like a golden rain into the lap of the little vagabond girl. + +"I opened her door and looked in. Isabella sat, making lace, at the open +window. Susanna lay on the sofa, her head buried in the cushions, +apparently dreaming. The golden autumn sun streamed in through the +trees, which were already becoming less shady, and played upon the +inlaid floor, and Susanna's little kitten, with a blue ribbon around its +neck, was jumping nimbly about after the bright, moving flecks. + +"'Susanna, a letter from Klaus!' I cried, going to the sofa. + +"She started up, and stared at me with frightened eyes, but she did not +reach out for the letter in eager haste; her little hand made rather an +averting gesture. Isabella, on the other hand, was standing beside me in +an instant. 'A letter from the lover, Susanna!' she cried, cheerfully. +'Well, well, before I would be so affected! Quick, take and read it!' +The words had a certain harsh sound, and Susanna seized the letter, took +her straw hat from the nearest chair, and slipped out of the door; but +it was not the joyous haste of anticipation, it looked rather like a +speedy escape from Isa's sharp eyes. + +"'A strange child, Fraeulein Rosamond,' said the old woman, smiling and +shaking her head. 'She is different from others, God bless her!' Then +she began to rummage in Susanna's bureau, and brought out a little +portfolio, from which she took a sheet of gilt-edged paper, with a +bird-of-paradise with outstretched wings, sitting on a rose, on the +upper left-hand corner, and arranged blotter, pen, and ink-stand. 'She +will want to write immediately, when she has read the letter,' she +explained, 'and a first love-letter like that is not easy, for one dips +in the pen a hundred times, and still what one would like to say does +not come.' + +"I went away with the thought that Susanna would know well enough what +to write. When the heart speaks, the pen is easily guided. Anna Maria +had a great deal to do on this day; the animals were to be killed for +the harvest festival. In the housekeeping rooms a restless activity +reigned. Marieken was required to help, as on all such occasions, and +Brockelmann had poured the flour to be used in cooking for the festival +into a great tray in the baking-room. Anna Maria was in the storeroom; +I found her sitting on a great sugar-firkin, with a slate in her hands; +at her feet lay the scales with different weights, and Brockelmann was +just bringing great bowls of raisins and sugar to be weighed for the +cakes. Anna Maria wore, as usual, her great white housekeeping apron +over her simple dress; her fair hair lay, smooth as a mirror, in +luxuriant plaits on her beautifully shaped head; her sleeves, being +pushed up a little, exposed her white arms; not a blemish on the whole +appearance, from the lace-trimmed mull kerchief about her shoulders to +the shapely foot in the little laced shoe. Would Susanna ever practise +household duties thus? + +"Never! That princess, that will-o'-the-wisp, with the curly hair and +little, childish hands! But would Anna Maria remain here forever? Lost +in thought, I stood for a moment at the door of the cool cellar. Anna +Maria drew a line below her figures, laid the slate aside, and took up a +letter. 'From Klaus,' she said, as she caught sight of me. 'I will read +it by and by in my room.' On the table lay another letter, significantly +smaller than the first, and already opened. Anna Maria noticed that my +eyes rested on it a moment, questioningly. + +"'Stuermer announces his coming to the harvest festival,' she explained, +bending forward quickly and putting something on the table. When she +raised her head again a slight flush still lay on her cheeks. + +"'You have accepted, Anna Maria?' + +"'Yes,' she said, quickly; 'I think it is only right to Klaus.' + +"'Klaus has written to Susanna too,' said I; 'did you know it?' + +"She quivered, noticeably. 'No,' she replied, 'but that must be.' + +"'She has run, the Lord knows where, with her treasure,' I continued, +smiling; 'she will probably answer it to-day, too.' + +"Anna Maria nodded. 'We will go up,' she said; 'I would like to read, +too.' We went through the busy kitchen and up the stairs. Anna Maria +went at once to her room, and I to the upper story, to seek my own room. +In the hall I stopped; the sound of Susanna's sobbing came to my ear, +and the indignant voice of the old woman: + +"'For shame, Susanna!' + +"'No, I cannot, I will not!' sobbed the girl. + +"They had forgotten to latch the door; I slipped nearer, but did not +understand Isabella's hissing whisper, nevertheless. + +"'No, no!' cried Susanna again, but with little resistance. Fresh +whispering, then a kiss. 'My little hare, my Susy, it may all be yet; +now the thing is, to put a good face on the bad game!' in genuine Berlin +speech. 'Now at it; you are brave!' + +"An icy chill crept over me, even to my heart; I could not account for +it to myself. But I was in no mood then to open the door, and went to my +room with the consciousness that something wrong, something mysterious, +was going on over there. + +"An hour later Isabella came to me with a letter. 'Here it is,' said she +proudly. 'Susanna is ready with her pen, she gets it from her father, +and all that she says in this is beautiful. It is a shame that you +haven't read it, Fraeulein; how pleased Klaus will be.' + +"'Herr von Hegewitz!' I corrected, bluntly. + +"'Pardon!' returned Isabella, 'the name came so easily to my lips; I +have heard it so often from Susanna that----' + +"'Very well!' I interrupted. 'Now, to return to the letter; it almost +sounds as if you knew the contents. I hope Susanna does not conduct her +correspondence under your direction!' + +"Isabella Pfannenschmidt grew crimson. 'Heaven forbid!' she said, +casting an angry glance at me. 'Susanna only spoke in a general way of +what she was going to write, to tell him how grateful she is and how +honored and how she loves him.' + +"'I do not wish to know anything about it,' I replied, coldly. 'I only +expect of Susanna that she will not allow all that she has to say to-day +to her lover--something which, it seems to me, should be as sacred as a +prayer--to be desecrated by meddling eyes.' + +"Isabella smiled in embarrassment; she evidently did not understand me. +'To whom can I give this letter,' she asked, 'to send it to the +post-office?' + +"'Leave it here; I will see that it is put into the mail-bag,' I +replied. When I went down later, I found Susanna sitting motionless on a +bench in the garden. She seemed to be buried in a book; but her first +letter was already with a messenger, on the way to the city. + +"Anna Maria had grown calmer than I expected; it seemed as if some great +force had carried her half over her sorrow about Klaus. She brought me +his letter at supper time; it contained warm expressions of thanks, +infinite love for his sister, permeated with rapture at the possession +of Susanna. The world seemed to him more beautiful than ever; he +pictured to himself such a wonderful future, with Susanna, with Anna +Maria. Again and again came a fervent, 'But how shall I thank you, Anna +Maria, for this, that you will love my little bride as a sister? I have +always known that we think an infinite deal of each other, and it seems +to me as if my love for you had become even greater! Anna Maria, how I +wish for you such a happiness as mine!' He added that he should be as +pleased as a child at the first lines from Susanna, that he had an +endless longing to come home, but, unfortunately, business made it +impossible; the fatigues of the journey he would think nothing of. + +"Anna Maria silently folded the letter which I returned to her, and put +it in her pocket, 'Have you seen Susanna since she received her letter?' +she asked. + +"'No, Anna Maria.' + +"'How happy she must be, aunt!' + +"'I find Susanna very quiet for an engaged girl,' I replied. + +"'Yes,' she agreed. 'But I cannot describe to you how infinitely better +she pleases me; it is quieting to me that she does not take the matter +lightly.'" + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + + +"The harvest festival was celebrated more quietly than usual this year, +at least at the manor-house. Otherwise everything was as usual. Under +the four great oaks in the yard, near the garden wall, the dancing-floor +was laid; gay garlands, tied with bows of ribbon, hung on the old trees, +the whole court-yard seemed to be made as clean as a room, and +everywhere there was an odor of pine-boughs and fresh cake. + +"The weather was splendid on this October day, a little hoar-frost, to +be sure, on the roofs, but the sun soon melted that away. Early in the +day everything was under way; the village children, in new red flannel +dresses and dazzling white shirts, appeared first to receive their cakes +from Brockelmann. In the servants' kitchen three maids were cutting a +regular wash-kettle full of potato salad, and the odor of roast beef and +veal rose seductively to the noses of the farm people and day-laborers +just assembling in the court for the festal church-going. + +"Anna Maria was standing in the hall waiting for me as I came +down-stairs. 'Are you bringing Susanna with you?' she asked. At the same +time steps were heard behind me; Isa came down, begging excuse for +Susanna, who felt fatigued, and could not make up her mind to go to +church. + +"Anna Maria frowned. It was the custom in our family that not a single +member should be absent to-day. 'Is it absolutely impossible?' she +asked. + +"'Yes!' declared Isabella, and Anna Maria and I went alone. The bells +were ringing gayly, and the sun shone brightly in at the windows of the +little church, upon the garlands of corn with their red and blue +ribbons, on the altar, and upon the happy faces of the people. With +festal gladness was sung the 'Now thank we all our God.' It had, indeed, +been a blessed harvest year. And in earnest words the clergyman charged +the people with heartfelt gratitude to God, who gave this year of +blessing, gradually passing on to speak of the seed in the heart of man. +'Take care that there may be a blessed harvest here, too, when, by and +by, it will be autumn with you; think of the heavenly Harvest Home; well +for him who brings precious fruits, ripened in humility, planted in +love!' He then counselled the men to labor, the women to gentleness in +the home, and finally remembered in his prayer the absent master of the +manor. Anna Maria's head was bent low; I saw how she joined with her +whole heart in the prayer for her brother, how a great tear fell from +her eye upon the leaves of her hymn-book. + +"When the last verse had been sung we had to hurry home; for immediately +after service the people always brought the harvest wreath, and to-day +Anna Maria had to thank them in her brother's place. She cast a glance +across to Stuermer's seat; it was empty. Perhaps he was already waiting +at the manor. We walked through the greeting throng as rapidly as my +lame foot would allow, and Anna Maria quickly laid aside hat and shawl +in the garden-parlor, for we already heard the music in the village +street. + +"'I don't know about it, aunt,' she said. 'It is dreadful to me without +Klaus; if only Stuermer, at least, were here!' + +"'The baron has been in the garden for an hour,' remarked Marieken, who +had just run in, in dazzlingly clean attire, to inform us that the +people were coming. + +"'Then go and look for him, Marieken,' I bade. 'I will call Susanna and +Isa.' + +"'There comes the baron, now,' cried Marieken, with a glance at the +window, and opened the door leading to the terrace. + +"I could not believe my eyes; yes, there he was coming along the +garden-path, and beside him--Susanna. She did not walk, she floated, as +if carried along by the sound of the march, borne hither on the warm +autumn air. A pink dress fluttered and blew about her delicate figure, +and her lips and cheeks were tinged with the same color. With +outstretched arms she flew up the steps. + +"Oh, Anna Maria, oh, Fraeulein Rosamond, listen, just listen!' she cried, +in ecstasy. + +"Stuermer followed her, smiling, and offered Anna Maria his arm. +Hesitatingly, with a long look at Susanna, she took it. The latter +looked after them in wonder, and walked silently beside me. + +"Before the house a crowd of people had assembled, in eager expectation; +then came the children, dancing and skipping, in at the gate; behind +them came the musicians, and over the long procession which followed +hovered the wreath of golden corn, adorned with colored ribbons, waving +gayly in the warm autumn wind. + +"Anna Maria stood beside Stuermer, on the front steps, her hand still +resting lightly on his arm; she wore her blue dress and white lace +kerchief. A sad smile lay on her lips as the speaker, followed by two +girls bearing the wreath, now advanced to the steps, and, making a sign +for the music to stop, began the old speech: + + "'God be praised, who gives sun and rain; + God be praised, who gives his blessing again; + God be praised, who, in this year, + Has blessed our fields so richly here. + May he give further fortune good, + To man and beast, to field and wood, + And may his gracious blessing fall + On man and beast, on people all. + And on the house we hang to-day + The wreath, that blessings here may stay. + A pious wife, and children fair, + May they ere long be dwelling there! + That is our wish upon this day; + God will provide for come what may. + Take not this speech of ours amiss. + Full of good-will, indeed, it is!' + +"A peal of music accompanied the three hearty cheers of the people; the +two pretty girls laid the wreath at Anna Maria's feet as she kindly +shook hands with the speaker. 'I thank you heartily, people,' she said +in her deep, mature voice. 'I thank you in the name of my brother far +away, who is much grieved not to be able to stand here to-day. I thank +you for the honest diligence and labor of this year, and wish that the +good old harmony may continue between gentry and people as has ever been +the manner at Buetze. And now, in my brother's name, enjoy the present +day, and be happy as befits this feast.' + +"'Long may she live, our gracious Fraeulein!' cried the people; the lads +tossed their caps in the air, and with music the procession went into +the great barn, where long tables were set for the harvest banquet. + +"Anna Maria had dropped Stuermer's arm as she stepped forward to speak. +He appeared strangely moved, and a slight, indefinable smile lay on his +lips. I remembered his once saying that nothing was more dreadful to him +in a woman than to see her, even for a moment, assume the position of a +man, and in that light he evidently regarded the speech. + +"During the shouting I looked around for Susanna; she had disappeared. +There was not much time to reflect where she might be. Anna Maria now +made the round of the tables; she had to have her health drunk, and +drink in return. Stuermer accompanied her; it was a pretty sight to see +them walking together across the court. + +"On that day not the slightest thing escaped me, but now I cannot tell +exactly what this and that one did; it only came to me upon reflection, +much later; and then one thing after another came into my mind. At the +time I did not wonder at the rose-colored dress which Susanna wore, and +which was so charmingly suited to her transparent complexion; it did not +occur to me at all that she was still in mourning for her father, nor +did I think about her having been too indisposed to go to church in the +morning, and then, soon after, coming running from the garden, with rosy +cheeks. I thought nothing of it, that at the table--to-day there was a +long row of us, the clergyman and his sister, two bailiffs, three +farm-pupils, a forester, and Isabella (by way of exception)--she laughed +through the entire scale every minute, and carried on all manner of +nonsense. + +"Anna Maria sat at the head, beside the clergyman, Susanna at her right, +and Stuermer next; I sat next to Pastor Gruene, and we formed the upper +end of the table. I could see that Anna Maria often looked gravely at +Susanna; yet a ray of pleasure broke from her eyes when they rested upon +this embodied rosebud, and saw how roguish were the dimples in her +cheeks, how her eyes shone, and her little teeth flashed behind the red +lips, and how she chattered all manner of pretty, foolish stuff. +Isabella's face shone with pride and she looked at the guests in turn; +almost every eye was fixed on the girl. + +"Then Stuermer rose, and proposed the health of the master of the +house--'his best friend,' as he said--and 'the house that was as dear to +him as a paternal home.' + +"And Anna Maria's face glowed as she raised her glass to touch with him. +But Susanna trembled, and put her glass down untouched; she grew pale +and quiet, and scarcely spoke again. + +"Pastor Gruene raised a full glass to the lady of the house; 'the +mistress of Buetze,' he called Anna Maria. The old man was much moved as +he made mention of her youth and how serious and careful she was; +nevertheless, a Martha, who was never weary in working and doing. Anna +Maria let the current of his remarks pass her by, and quietly thanked +him as she raised her glass. All crowded about her to touch her glass, +last of all, Stuermer; she did not look at him as their glasses touched. +But Susanna fixed her eyes on Anna Maria with an expression of +astonishment; she had probably never reflected that there was anything +great about such activity. I noticed, too, that she shivered suddenly, +as if under a disagreeable impression. + +"Then there came sounds of music through the wide-opened windows; the +dancing was beginning under the oaks, and the family must not be wanting +there. Anna Maria rose from the table, and beckoned to Susanna; we old +people sat still longer, and chatted of this and that. My old friend was +enjoying her afternoon coffee, which she declared she never could do +without, too much to leave; the pastor lighted a pipe, and leaned +comfortably back in his great arm-chair. Ah! how long we had known each +other, had borne together joy and sorrow. We had, indeed, no lack of +conversational matter. + +"But I did not stay here long, for there is nothing I like so much to +see as happy young people dancing. 'Oh, let us go under the oaks,' I +said; but Mademoiselle Gruene preferred to take a nap up-stairs in my +quiet room, assuring me that she would follow soon; so the pastor +escorted me down. When we arrived at the dancing ground, which was +surrounded by people, I saw Anna Maria with the head-servant, and +Stuermer with the upper housemaid, turning in the floating waltz, for +they had to dance with all in turn. But where was Susanna? + +"I went around the living wall of people. Under one of the oaks, chairs +and tables had been set apart for the family, and, the people had +respectfully kept away from this spot. Here stood Susanna, her arm +thrown around the rough trunk of the tree, her great eyes fixed on the +dancing couples; her delicate nostrils quivered, her breast heaved +violently, and tears sparkled in her eyes. + +"'I want to dance, too,' she burst forth, passionately; 'I want to +dance, too, just one single time!' + +"Already Stuermer was coming through the crowd and hurrying up to her. +There was no ceremonious request, for a dance, he forgot every formal +bow, she was even stretching out her arms toward him, longingly. I think +he carried her through the throng rather than that they walked; then he +put his arm around her. Was it my imagination, or did he really press +her so fast to him that they scarcely touched the ground? As in a dream, +I heard Pastor Gruene say something about a Titania. I only saw the +gracefully swaying figures, the fluttering pink dress, the bright rose +in the dark hair, whirling in the rapid dance, and heard the floating +melody of the waltz. And above them the old oaks swayed their branches, +letting sportive sunbeams through. So distinctly, ah! so distinctly, I +can see all this before me. + +"Then she stopped, out of breath, and leaned on his arm, a smile of +rapture on her glowing face. Was it all only my fancy? Anna Maria so +quiet yonder, scarcely breathing after the quick dance; it was surely my +imagination that made me think Susanna ought to have looked a little +less enchanted, that she ought not to have danced, being betrothed to +another. Yes, indeed, I was carrying it too far. And with whom was she +dancing then? With Stuermer, with Klaus's best friend. Could there be any +danger in that now, when everything was plain between them? + +"My thoughts went no farther, for just then the clear tone of a +post-horn rang out in the midst of the dance-music, a yellow coach +rattled into the court and stopped before the steps, and a man swung +himself out. + +"'Klaus!' I cried out, and at the first moment would have gone to meet +him; then I thought of Susanna--he came on her account, of course; they +could not meet here, in the face of all these witnesses. I turned +hastily to lead Susanna through the park to the house. + +"She was lying unconscious in Isa's arms. 'The dance, the fatal dance!' +lamented Isa; 'she cannot bear it!' + +"Anna Maria, pale with fear, bent over her. 'Alas! just at this moment! +Aunt,' she whispered, 'go to Klaus, or I--no, you, I beg you.' + +"I limped across the court as quickly as I could; he was already coming +toward me in the hall, his whole handsome face glowing with pleasure; +without further ado, he took me in his arms. + +"'They are under the oaks, are they not?' he asked. 'I wanted to be here +to dinner, but these post-horses are miserable nags; they went like +snails.' And he took my hand and pressed it to his lips. 'Is she +not--Susanna--she----' + +"'No, Klaus, they are no longer there. Wait a minute, come into your +room; Anna Maria will be here at once. The fact is, Susanna is not quite +well to-day; I would rather tell her first that you have come, so +unexpectedly.' + +"I pushed him back into the sitting-room; Stuermer was just coming in +through the garden-parlor. A frightened look came over Klaus's face, but +the question died on his lips as Stuermer cordially held out both hands +to him, and then, turning to me, said: 'What is the matter with Fraeulein +Mattoni? Can it really be the effect of dancing? Only think, Klaus, a +moment ago she was rosy and happy, and just as you came rattling into +the yard, I saw her turn pale and totter, and before I knew what it +meant, her old duenna had caught her, and was lamenting, "That comes of +dancing!" Is that possible?' + +"'Of course!' I declared, quickly; 'Susanna is delicate, and the giddy +round dance--' I broke off, for Klaus looked so anxious I feared he +might betray himself on the spot. + +"'Dear Edwin,' I begged, 'will you take my place with the guests outside +for a moment longer? Pastor Gruene is sitting quite alone on the bench; +you know he is sensitive. Klaus, you will excuse me; I will see how +things are going up-stairs, and send Brockelmann to you with something +to eat.' + +"I do not know if Edwin Stuermer was enraptured at my request, but like +an ever-courteous man he went down at once. + +"Anna Maria met me on the stairs. + +"'Where is he?' she asked hastily, without stopping. + +"'Susanna is not seriously ill!' she called back; 'she has opened her +eyes again already.' Her blue dress fluttered once more behind the brown +balustrade; then I heard the cry, 'Klaus, dear Klaus!' a sob, and the +door closed. + +"Susanna was lying on her bed; her dress had been taken off, and she was +lightly covered with a shawl; she held both hands pressed to her +temples. Isabella was perched before her, holding a flask of +strong-smelling ether. She tenderly stroked the girl's cheeks, and +whispered eagerly to her. When she saw me, she got up. + +"'How disagreeable, Fraeulein! Just in this joyful hour the foolish child +has to faint; but so it goes, if young people will not listen,' she +began, in a remarkably talkative mood. 'Susanna, my heart, are you +better? I have said a hundred times you mustn't dance; it isn't even a +refined pleasure to whirl about among those common people. Heavens! what +a smell! But, obstinate as ever--wait, I shall tell your _fiance_ of it, +that he may keep a firm hand over you. Oh, yes, young people----' + +"Susanna gave her nurse a look which expressed everything possible +except love and respect. + +"'Come, come, be brisk, Susy,' she continued inexorably, 'or do you +think it is pleasant for Herr von Hegewitz to be waiting for you like +this?' + +"Susanna raised herself with a jerk. 'Do be still,' she said, folding +her hands, 'I am so dizzy, so ill!' + +"'Lie still, Susanna,' I said, to calm her. 'Perhaps you will be better +toward evening. Klaus must have patience. Shall I take any greetings to +him, meanwhile?' + +"She lay back on the pillow, her face turned away from me, and nodded +silently. 'Let her sleep,' said I to Isabella; 'she is really +exhausted.' + +"The old woman shrugged her shoulders. 'I cannot do anything to help +matters, either,' she whispered. 'It is unpleasant, but she will soon +recover. I know--the nerves, yes, the nerves!' And she sat down on the +girl's bed. She looked strangely grotesque and weird, in her enormous +black cap with bright orange-colored bows. + +"Anna Maria and Klaus were just going down the front steps to the +dancing-ground, and he had his arm around her. When they saw me they +turned around. Klaus looked troubled, and in Anna Maria's eyes there +were traces of tears. + +"'You will see her to-day, yet,' I said to him, consolingly. He pressed +my hand, and sighed. + +"'He is only going to stay till to-morrow, aunt," Anna Maria informed +me; 'he only came on Susanna's account.' She spoke pleasantly, and +looked up at him with a smile. + +"'Alas, alas!' said Klaus, 'affairs are so involved there; but I just +wanted to see how such an engagement is good-for-nothing without having +once expressed one's self in words. Anything written sounds so cold, +doesn't it? It seemed so to me! And then I am glad that I have come, for +Susanna's health does not seem to be quite firm yet. I will speak with +the doctor, and after the wedding will go south with her.' A very +anxious expression lay on his countenance. + +"'Poor Klaus, such a reception!' bewailed Anna Maria. 'I do not +understand it, either; Susanna was so suddenly seized; she was just +seeming so bright again.' + +"'You must not let her dance,' said he in reproof. + +"'Oh, the kobold was between them before we could prevent it,' I joked. + +"'Stuermer dances so madly,' remarked Klaus. + +"Meanwhile we had arrived at the scene of festivities. The dancers were +still floating gayly about there; Stuermer was leaning, with folded arms, +against a tree, and was apparently out of humor. As soon as the people +discovered their master, he was received with a storm of greetings, for +they were all waiting to welcome him. Klaus spoke a few words to them, +and then would have withdrawn, but that was not permitted; he had to +dance with the upper housemaid. With a half-amiable, half-morose +expression, he took a few turns with the girl, who blushed red at the +joy and honor. + +"Anna Maria had seated herself in one of the chairs under the trees; +Edwin was standing before her, and a happy smile was on her lips. The +rays of the setting sun glimmered over her fair head and tinged her face +with a warm color. + +"She looked wonderfully pretty at this moment; Stuermer looked +meditatively down at her. I thought of everything possible as I looked +at the two. What will one not think under a blue sky, amid sunshine and +gay music? + +"It was deep twilight when Isabella came into my room to say that +Susanna was ready to see Klaus, and to ask if the meeting might be here. +I assented joyfully; the old woman went away, and a moment after a +slender white figure entered, and leaned, almost tottering, against the +great oaken wardrobe by the door. Isabella went away, saying she would +inform the master. + +"Slowly Susanna came as far as the middle of the room. I made haste to +light a candle, but she begged me not to do it; her voice sounded almost +breathless. When I heard Klaus's rapid step in the hall, I went into the +adjoining room, whereupon Susanna took a few hasty steps after me, as if +she would detain me; but I would not have spoiled this quarter of an +hour for Klaus by my presence for anything in the world. Why should a +third person hear what two people who are to belong to each other +forever have to say? And so I drew the door to, and only heard a voice, +full of emotion, cry: 'Susanna!' + +"I stood at the open window, and looked out on the moonlit court; in the +house all was still. Edwin Stuermer had driven away before supper, +rightly supposing that we should have a great deal to talk about during +Klaus's short stay; the guests from the parsonage, too, had gone home +early. Isabella had doubtless called Klaus from Anna Maria's side to +Susanna; the people were dancing on gayly under the oaks, by the light +of lanterns; the sound of music, and now and then of a bold shout, came +over to me, or the beginning of a song from a girl's fresh voice; and +the air was mild as on a spring evening. + +"'Anna Maria?--what is she doing now?' thought I. And the minutes ran +away and became quarter-hours; with a clank, the old clock struck seven. +I sprang up; no, the old aunt did not quite forget the requirements of +etiquette. I opened the door and went into my room. I saw the two +standing at the window; he had put his arm around her, and was bending +low over her. + +"'And now, say _one_ word, Susanna; say that you love me as I love you!' +I heard him whisper, hotly and beseechingly. + +"The moonlight fell all about her bright, delicate figure, and I could +distinctly see her arm begin slowly to slip from his shoulder. The music +out of doors had just ceased; for an instant there was a breathless +silence, then the deep, sad tones of a young man's voice floated in at +the open window: + + "'I thought I held thee wondrous dear, + Ere I another found; + Farewell, I know it first to-day + What 'tis to be love-bound,' + +came up the sound. Susanna's arm slipped quite down Once more I heard +him whisper, more softly than before. 'Yes!' said Susanna, quickly and +in a half-stifled tone, and I saw Klaus take her in his arms impetuously +and kiss her. + +"The following day fairly flew away, I can scarcely toll how, now. There +were so many things to be talked about, agreed upon, and arranged. + +"Klaus had talked with Isabella about the wedding, and they were agreed +that the 22d of November should be the festal day. Isabella came out of +his room with a new silk dress on her arm; she did not look wholly +enraptured, for he had told her that he was going to hire a comfortable +little dwelling in Berlin, and provide for her support; until the +wedding she might stay here. Anna Maria had prevailed upon him to do +this, and he himself did not consider the old woman exactly a desirable +appendix to his wife. She cast an enraged look at Anna Maria as she went +out; she knew to whom she owed this arrangement, so little to her mind. + +"On Susanna's hand sparkled a brilliant ring. Klaus was constantly at +her side. I saw them in the morning wandering up and down the +garden-paths, and once, too, heard her charming laugh, but it was +shortly broken off. She was quiet, but nevertheless let herself be +adored like a queen by her attentive lover. + +"How happy he looked, the dear old fellow, and how truly concerned he +was about the little maiden to whom he had given his heart! Like an +anxious mother, he bundled her up in shawls and rugs when she sat out on +the terrace in the warm midday sun. Every sentence which he uttered +began: 'Susanna, would you be pleased if it were thus?' and concluded: +'If you are content, of course, my darling!' + +"Anna Maria had a great deal to do out of doors. Was it really the case? +Did it pain her to see the two thus? Had a feeling of real jealousy come +over her? She left the tiresome business of a _dame d'honneur_ almost +entirely to me. + +"At evening Klaus had to go away again, and the hour drew quickly near; +he grew silent and tender the nearer the moment of separation came. +After supper we sat in the garden-parlor, about the lighted lamp. +Klaus's travelling cloak and rug lay on a chair; Susanna had gone to her +room for a moment, and Anna Maria to the kitchen to prepare a glass of +mulled wine for Klaus, for he had grown icy cold. Klaus held a knot of +ribbon in his hand, which he had taken from Susanna's hair. + +"'Aunt Rosamond,' said he, suddenly, looking over at me, 'Stuermer comes +here very often now, doesn't he?' + +"'Yes, Klaus, very often.' + +"'Does he intend to ride a pair of horses to death to--to play whist +with you?' he asked, smiling. + +"'I don't know, Klaus,' I replied. + +"He came nearer to me. 'If it only might be, aunt,' he said gently; 'do +you think that this time Anna Maria would, again----' + +"'No, Klaus; if I understand Anna Maria aright, she still loves +Stuermer.' + +"'Still, aunt? _Now_, you mean to say?' + +"I knew not what answer to make. + +"'I should be so glad,' he began again, 'if Anna Maria and Edwin----' + +"He broke off, for Susanna had entered; she had such a light, floating +gait that we did not notice her till she was already standing in the +middle of the room. Slowly she came nearer; she was doubtless suffering +at the thought of separation, for she looked very pale and scarcely +spoke that evening. When Klaus folded her in his arms on his departure +she looked up into his true, agitated face, and for an instant, raising +herself on tip-toe, she put both arms around his neck, but for his +affectionate words she had no reply. + +"She remained standing beside me on the front steps, looking after him, +as, wrapped in his great cloak, he got into the carriage. Anna Maria +went down the steps with him, and put extra rugs and foot-sacks in with +her own hands. The brother and sister held out their hands to each +other, but Klaus's looks sped past Anna Maria up to the delicate figure +standing motionless in the flickering light of the lanterns. Brockelmann +looked, suddenly transfixed, at the girl, who only waved her hand +lightly. The carriage drove rattling away; once more he leaned his head +out; then the carriage rolled through the gateway, out into the night. + +"Susanna did not wait till Anna Maria had come up the steps; she ran +back into the house as if pursued, and I heard her light step going +up-stairs. + +"Anna Maria and I went back to the garden-parlor. Neither of us spoke; I +laid my knitting-work and glasses in my work-basket, and Anna Maria +stood, reflecting, in the middle of the room. All at once I saw her take +a few steps forward and quickly stoop over; when she stood upright again +she had grown pale. Her hand held a small, shining object--Susanna's +engagement ring! + +"She said not a word, but put the ring on the table and sat down. She +waited for Susanna. She _must_ miss the ring, and would hurry down +directly, anxiously hunting for it. + +"An hour passed. Anna Maria had taken up one of Scott's novels; she +turned the pages at long intervals. I had taken out my knitting again. +At last she laid aside the book. + +"'We will go to bed, Aunt Rosamond,' said she. 'Will you give the ring +to Susanna?' + +"I took the little pledge of love, wrought in heavy gold. 'It must be +too large for her,' said I, in excuse. + +"'Yes,' replied Anna Maria, harshly, 'it is not suited to her hand.' And +nodding gravely, she left the room before me. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + + +"It seemed as if the autumn had only delayed commencing its sway in +order not to interfere with the Buetze harvest festival. Now it broke in +all the more violently, with its gusts of rain, its storms, and its +hatred toward everything which reminded one of summer. Each little green +leaf was tinged with yellow or red, and the garden was gay as a paper of +patterns; the purplish-red festoons of the wild grape hung moistly down, +and in the morning a heavy white mist lay over the landscape. The +storks' nest on the barn roof was empty, whole flocks of wild geese flew +away screaming over the village, and inevitably came the thought of the +long, monotonous winter which Anna Maria and I were to pass alone. + +"Anna Maria did not give herself up to idle reveries; she took hold of +work, even too much work, as the best defence against worry and against +a growing sadness. Only in the twilight she would sometimes stand idle, +and look away across the court-yard, and listen to the measured sound of +the threshing that came across from the barn. Then she would pass her +hand over her forehead, light a candle, and move up to the table with +her work--and work there was in abundance. + +"Anna Maria had taken Susanna's outfit in hand without delay. She led +the young girl to the huge linen-chests, and, with the pride of a +housewife, showed her the piles of snow-white linen, told her which +pieces she had spun herself, and spread before her eyes the choicest +sets of table linen. Susanna stood beside her, and cast a look rather of +astonishment than admiration at these splendors; she did not understand +what one could do with such a monstrous pile; it was more than one could +use in a hundred years, she thought. Isa, too, seemed to have no +appreciation of the important treasures. 'Too coarse, too coarse, +mademoiselle!' was all she said, letting the linen, which three +seamstresses were making up into Susanna's underclothing, slip through +her fingers. 'That will last forever, and will rub the child's tender +skin to pieces.' + +"Susanna grew somewhat more interested when dress-patterns arrived from +Berlin, by Klaus's order. The small hands turned over the gay little +pieces with real satisfaction; she ran from Anna Maria to Isa, and from +Isa to me, asking whether we preferred satin or moire antique, brocade +or _gros de Tours_. And every evening, punctually at seven o'clock, came +Edwin Stuermer, through autumn darkness, rain, and wind. + +"I remember how one day he came into the room and inquired after the +health of the ladies; how, when he was preparing to leave, Anna Maria +said her friendly: 'Will you not stay with us, baron?' And how he then +laid aside hat and riding-whip again, ate supper with us, and then sat +down at the whist-table--all as usual, and yet so different. + +"Susanna was a careless and not a clever player; she threw her cards +down at random, never knew what had been played, and had no idea of the +real meaning of the game. Anna Maria took this, like every occupation of +life, seriously, and examined it thoroughly. + +"'But, Susanna, do pay attention; you are playing into your opponent's +hand!' she would say during the game; or, 'Please, Susanna, do not look +at Aunt Rosamond's cards; you must not do that!" It had a pedantic sound +when one looked at that smiling, rosy creature, who held the cards in +her little hands with such charming awkwardness, forgot every instant +what was the trump, laughed out from pure pleasure when she took a +trick, and would be so truly disheartened when she lost. 'Oh, _est il +possible_?' she would ask, shaking her head; 'not a trick?' + +"Stuermer played this whist with the patience of an angel; he picked up +Susanna's fallen cards unweariedly, smiled when she laughed, and when +Anna Maria scolded an almost imperceptible wrinkle came between his +brows. Occasionally, when he was Anna Maria's partner, she would appear +confused and embarrassed, and he distracted; and once or twice they lost +the rubber, just as they had done before. 'Unlucky at cards, lucky in +love!' said Pastor Gruene, who sat behind Anna Maria's chair on such +evenings. She blushed suddenly, and her hand, which still held the last +card, trembled. Edwin Stuermer, with fine tact, seemed not to hear the +allusion, and Susanna was silent and looked at Anna Maria with, all at +once, a strange sparkle in her eyes. Of her relation to Klaus no mention +had ever been made in the presence of a stranger, according to +agreement; she herself had the least thought of betraying herself by a +hasty utterance. Once I had asked if Stuermer might not be initiated. But +Anna Maria declared that Klaus would not wish it, so I kept still. + +"Susanna rarely spoke of her absent lover; but Isa put two letters +to him into the mail-bag, regularly, every week, in answer to +his frequent, longing epistles. In her room, meanwhile, all +manner of presents accumulated, which Klaus bought for her in +Breslau--knick-knacks, ornaments, fans, and such useless things, which I +could never think of in connection with Anna Maria. Klaus had never +cared for such things before, either, and therefore did not exactly +understand choosing them, and many an old, unsalable article may have +been put into his hand as the latest novelty for the sake of heavy +money. Susanna had a remarkably well-developed sense of beauty, and the +charming way of women, of wearing a thing out of devotion because a +beloved hand gave it, seemed totally unknown to her. But she exulted +aloud when she discovered a little old lace handkerchief which Anna +Maria had found, in rummaging in a long-unopened chest; and in the +evening, when Stuermer came, she wore it daintily knotted about her neck, +and in the delicate yellowish lace placed the last red asters from the +garden. + +"Anna Maria was more serious and chary of words after every visit from +Stuermer; but an unmistakable expression of quiet, inward happiness lay +on her proud face. She reminded me daily, more and more, of that Anna +Maria who once, on a stormy spring day, came into my room, fell on my +neck, and almost--oh, if it had only happened!--confided to me the +secret in her young heart. Unspeakably pleasing she appeared, in her +quiet happiness, beside that young, childish bride-elect, who was never +still, who now laughed more wildly than a kobold, and the next minute +wept enough to move a stone to pity. Yes, Susanna Mattoni could laugh +and cry like scarce another human being. + +"Often I saw Anna Maria standing in the twilight under the old linden; +motionless, she looked over yonder, where, in the evening haze, the +dark, gabled roofs of Dambitz emerged from the trees of the park. She +had fallen into a dreamy state, out of which she would suddenly start, +when she was reminded of Klaus by some eccentricity of Susanna's. Then +she would look again in warm anxiety at the mercurial little creature, +and then run into her solitary room, and not appear again for several +hours. + +"One day, just three weeks before the appointed wedding-day, I was +returning, toward evening, from a visit to my old friend, Mademoiselle +Gruene, at the parsonage. It was windy and wet and cold, a regular autumn +evening, such as I do not like at all. I drew my veil over my face for +protection, wrapped my cloak more tightly about me, and took the +shortest way across the church-yard and through the garden. The +manor-house looked gloomy behind the tall trees; not a window was +lighted, but from the great chimney the smoke blew away over the roofs, +like long, dark, funeral banners, and wrestled with the wind which +dissipated it in all directions. + +"I began to think with pleasure of the comfortable sitting-room, of a +warm beer-soup, and the regular evening whist-table. Just as I was +passing a side-path, I saw a dark figure sitting under the linden. 'Anna +Maria!' I murmured, 'and in this storm!' For an instant I stood still, +with the intention of calling to her, for a fine, drizzling rain was now +falling, and I feared she would take cold on this dreary evening. But I +gave it up, because I thought, on reflection, she would not probably +want to be seen at all, or have an inquisitive look taken at a shyly +guarded secret, and I made haste to walk away down the path as quickly +as possible, to get away unobserved. + +"But my foot stopped again; a horseman was coming along by the hedge, +and, in spite of the gray twilight, I recognized Stuermer; he waved his +hat in greeting over toward the arbor, and there some one beckoned--I +very nearly had palpitation of the heart from joyful fear--with a white +cloth, and this little signal waved in the misty evening air till he +disappeared behind the trees on the other side of the bridge. + +"'Anna Maria! Is it possible?' said I, half-aloud, as I walked on--that +it sounded like a cry of exultation I could not help. Ah, all must be +well yet, and surely all would be well! I hurried up the steps to write +a few words to Klaus. 'Anna Maria and Edwin were nearer than he had +hoped'--how pleased he would be! But I did not accomplish that to-day. +Brockelmann came to meet me in the entrance-hall, and in spite of my +happy agitation, I had to listen to a long story, for which she even +urged me to come into her neat little room. A married niece of hers, +living in the village, had had a quarrel with her husband yesterday, in +the course of which he had emphatically tried to prove conclusively the +'I am to be your master!' with a heavy stick. The good Brockelmann was +beside herself at the 'wicked fellow,' and would not let me go till I +had solemnly promised to take the tyrant to task. 'Anna Maria +understands it even better, perhaps,' she added, 'but I don't know what +is the matter with her now. I think I might tell her a story ten times +over, and at the end she would look at me and ask: "What are you saying, +Brockelmann?" I wish I could just get at the bottom of it!' + +"'Well,' I said, smiling, 'I will see to it; send the rude old fellow up +to me to-morrow.' She followed me into the hall, and clattered +down-stairs in her slippers, scolding away, and in a very bad humor, +because Rieke had not yet lighted the hall-lamps. + +"In my room still glimmered the last ray of daylight, and in this +uncertain light I saw a figure rising from the arm-chair by the stove. +'Anna Maria, is it you?' I asked, recognizing her. + +"She came slowly over to me. 'Yes, aunt, I have something to deliver to +you. Stuermer has been here; he wanted to speak to you; about what, I +don't know.' She spoke hesitatingly and softly. 'Then he asked me to +hand you this note, which he wrote hastily.' + +"She pressed a note into my hand. 'Here, aunt, read.' I sat down in the +low chair by the stove, and held the sheet in the flickering light of +the flames, but the letters danced indistinctly before my eyes. 'We must +have a light,' said I; 'or read it aloud to me, Anna Maria, it takes so +long for Brockelmann to bring a lamp.' + +"Anna Maria knelt down beside me, and took the letter. 'Ought I to know, +too, what it contains?' she asked. + +"'Oh, of course I allow it, only read!' And Anna Maria began: + + "'MY DEAR, ESTEEMED AUNT ROSAMOND:--Unfortunately I did not + find you at home. Please expect me to-morrow afternoon at five + o'clock. I have something to discuss with you, and want your + advice in a matter upon the issue of which the peace and + happiness of my heart will depend. Say nothing yet to Anna + Maria! + + "'In haste and impatience, + + "'Your most devoted + + "'EDWIN STUeRMER.' + +"Anna Maria did not read it just as it stands here; it came out in +broken sentences; then the sheet fluttered to the floor, she buried her +fair head in my lap, and threw her arms impetuously about me. 'Aunt, +ah, aunt!' she groaned. + +"I took her head between my two hands, and kissed her forehead; tears +flowed from my eyes. 'Anna Maria! ah, at last, at last!' I sobbed; 'now +everything may yet be well.' + +"She did not answer; she rose and began to walk up and down the room, +her arms crossed below her breast, her head bent. I could not +distinguish her features in the deep twilight, but I knew that she was +deeply affected. 'Aunt,' she said at last, coming up to me, 'what answer +shall you make to Stuermer?' + +"'That I will receive him, Anna Maria.' + +"'No'--she hesitated--'I mean to-morrow, to his question--'she said, +slowly. + +"'What you will, Anna Maria. Shall I say yes?' + +"Slipping to the floor, she threw her arms around my neck. 'Yes!' she +said, softly, and burst into tears. The pain borne quietly for years +gushed with them from her soul; I stroked her smooth head caressingly, +and let her weep. How long we sat thus I know not. Then the girl rose +and kissed my hand. 'I will go down,' she whispered. + +"'Yes, Anna Maria,' I bade, 'you ought to rest a little or your head +will burn. Let Brockelmann make you a cup of tea; you have surely caught +cold in your head out in the wet garden.' + +"She had her hand already on the door-latch, and now turned about again. +'I have not been in the garden, aunt,' she said; 'I have been waiting +here up-stairs for you, certainly for half an hour, since he went away.' +She nodded to me once more, then she went out, and left me standing in +unutterable bewilderment. + +"Anna Maria not in the garden? Who in the world could have stood there +and beckoned to him? An oppressive fear overwhelmed me, and almost +instinctively I went across to Susanna's room; my first look fell upon +her, sitting on the floor before the fire-place; the bright light +illuminated her face with a rosy glow, and made her eyes seem more +radiant than ever. Her hands were clasped about her knees, and she was +looking dreamily at the flickering flames. Isa was bustling about at the +back of the room; she came nearer as she caught sight of me. + +"'Susanna,' I asked, 'were you in the garden a little while ago?' + +"She started up and looked at me with frightened eyes. 'No!' answered +Isabella in her place. 'Susy has not left the room all the afternoon. +What should she be doing out of doors in this weather?' + +"'I do not know--but I surely thought I saw you, Susanna?' + +"She turned her head and looked in her lap. 'I was not down there,' she +said, hesitatingly. + +"I went away; my old eyes were failing then. Close by the door my foot +caught in something soft. I stooped down; it was the lace veil that +Susanna used to wear over her head, heavy and wet with rain. Without a +word I laid it on the nearest chair. Why did Susanna tell a lie? Why was +she frightened? + +"And all at once an ugly, shocking thought darted like lightning through +my brain, that made me almost numb with fear. But no, surely it was not +possible, it was madness; how could one imagine such a thing? I scolded +myself. With trembling hand I lit a candle and went to my writing-desk; +to this day I cannot account for my answer to Stuermer being as it was, +and not different. I wrote under the influence of an inexplicable +anxiety. Strangely enough the letter sounded: + + "'MY DEAR EDWIN:--I shall be glad to see you here to-morrow + afternoon at five o'clock, and can also tell you an important + piece of news, which will please you. What do you say to this, + that Klaus, our old Klaus, is engaged; and that the bride-elect + is no other than Susanna Mattoni? Very likely you have guessed + it easily? + + "'They have been engaged for some time, but it has been kept a + secret for the mean time; but an old chatterbox like me may + surely make an exception in your case. + + "'Affectionate greetings from your old friend, + + "'ROSAMOND VON HEGEWITZ.' + +"In the greatest haste I folded the note, rang, and gave it into the +immediate charge of the coachman. I was seized with a nervous trembling +as I heard him ride out of the yard. I sent down word to Anna Maria that +I should not come to supper; I was rather fatigued. + +"About eight o'clock I heard Susanna's light step in the hall; she was +coming from supper, and trilling a love-song. Then the door of her room +closed, and all was still. + +"It was long past midnight when I stole out to the hall window to see if +Anna Maria had gone to bed. She was still awake; in the candle-light +which fell from her windows over the flower-beds of the garden a shadow +was moving to and fro, incessantly, restlessly. In the anxiety of my +heart I folded my hands: 'Lord God, send her no storm in this new +spring-time,' I whispered; 'let her be happy, make me ashamed of my care +and anxiety. Let my fear be an error. Ah! give her the happiness she +deserves!' + +"The next day broke gray and dark, not at all like a day of good +fortune. Anna Maria stood at the open window in the sitting-room, +breathing in the warm air, which was unusually sultry for a November +day. She had a stunted white rose in her hand. 'See, aunt,' she said, +holding the flower up to me, 'I found it early this morning on the +rose-bush on mother's grave; how could it have bloomed now? We have had +such cold weather lately, it is almost a miracle, like a greeting for +the day.' And she took a glass and carefully put the awkward little rose +in fresh water, and carried it to her room. + +"In the mail-bag which came at noon there was, beside a letter for +Susanna from Klaus, also one for Anna Maria from him concerning +arrangements for the longer absence of the master of the house. 'Since I +do not know how long I shall be away with Susanna,' he wrote, 'and since +I probably shall not find time in the short stop at home to talk this +over quietly with you, I have written down for you about how I think +this and that will be best arranged.' Various arrangements of a domestic +nature now followed. 'If any alteration seems necessary to you,' he +continued, 'do as you please; I know it will be right. The furnishing of +Susanna's rooms can be attended to during our absence. I should be very +grateful to you if you would sometimes have an eye upon the work, that +the nest for my little wife may be as comfortable as possible. In her +last letter she told me a great deal about Stuermer's furnishings, and I +have taken care to get something similar, at least, for her, as far as +it in any degree agrees with my own sober taste; the terrace is to be +re-paved, too. Now for the chief matter, my dear Anna Maria: on the +right hand, in the secret drawer of my writing-desk, lie the papers +which are necessary for the banns. Take them out and carry them to +Pastor Gruene; Susanna's baptismal certificate and marriage license, +which I had sent on from Berlin, will already be in his hands, as I am +sending them off with this letter. Remember me to the old man, and say +to him that he must not let us fall too roughly from the pulpit next +Sunday.' + +"Anna Maria had given me the letter, and gone with her key-basket into +her brother's room. 'How will it be,' I whispered, looking over the long +columns of these domestic arrangements, 'when he has _her_ no longer? He +has been fearfully spoiled by her.' As I read about the banns, my old +aunt's head began to whirl like a mill-wheel with what had happened +yesterday--what was to come to-day. How would it result? + +"I limped over to Anna Maria; she was standing before her brother's open +desk, the papers in her hand. 'Aunt Rosamond,' said she, 'I wish this +day were over, for see, when I think of Klaus I almost lose my courage!' +And she laid the yellow papers on the flat shelf of the wardrobe-shaped +desk, and folded her hands over them. 'It will seem almost wrong to me +that I should think of my own happiness when he--is not going to be +happy. Aunt, ah, aunt!' she sobbed out, 'I cannot help it; I love him +none the less on that account, believe me! But I have not the strength +to thrust from me a second time something which--' She did not finish; +she colored deeply, took up the papers again with trembling hands, and +closed the desk. 'I don't know what I do to-day,' she whispered, 'and I +don't know what I say. I wish it were night, I am so anxious!' + +"'You need not speak out, Anna Maria,' said I, seizing her hands. 'I +have long known that you gave Stuermer up at that time only because you +would not forsake Klaus.' + +"She took a step back, and gave me a frightened look. 'No, no; it is +not so!' she cried, 'it was my duty; he had lost so much for my sake!' + +"'Anna Maria, I do not understand you,' I rejoined. + +"'His bride! I know it,' she nodded. 'Because I was in the way, she +forsook my poor, dear Klaus. How he must have suffered!' + +"'How you came to know of that affair, my child, is a riddle to me,' I +returned; 'but tell me, was that the reason that you--' + +"'Oh, hush, aunt!' she cried, 'I know nothing any longer, it all lies +behind me like a dark, oppressive dream. I could not tell you now what I +thought and felt at the time, for it is not clear even to me. Some time +I will tell you everything, but not now, not to-day. But you must +promise me one thing,' she continued, beseechingly, looking at me +through her tears; 'you must always keep an eye on Klaus; you must read +from his face if he is in trouble, if he is unhappy, and then you must +tell me. Ah! aunt, I cannot really believe that he will be happy with +her! Dear Aunt Rosa, why must it be _she_? Why not some one else who +would be more worthy of him?' + +"'Do not worry about it, Anna Maria,' I begged her; 'all is in God's +hands.' + +"'You are right, Aunt Rosa,' she replied, a crimson flush spreading over +her face. 'I will not let this trouble me to-day; I will rejoice, will +be happy. Ah! aunt, I do not know, indeed, what that really is; I am +such a stupid, dull being. Listen, last evening I could have opened my +arms and embraced the whole world from happiness. I could not sleep, I +walked about my room restlessly, and read his letter a hundred times; as +long as my eye rested upon it I was calm, and when I had folded it up +doubts came to me, such anxious, evil doubts, such as, "What if you +have made a mistake? What if he has something to say to Aunt Rosamond +which does not concern you at all?" And then it seemed to me as if I +were sinking into a deep, black abyss, and there was nothing that I +could hold on to, aunt. Oh! it was frightful, so empty, so cold, so +dead! Dear Aunt Rosamond, do laugh me out of these foolish thoughts, +scold me for a stupid girl; tell me how faint-hearted I am, that a doubt +of Edwin's love should come to me! He does love me, Aunt Rosamond, does +he not? One can never forget it when one has once loved a person with +his whole heart. I know it; yes, Aunt Rosamond, I am a foolish, childish +creature; do laugh me right out of it, please, please!' + +"She had drawn me to the sofa as she spoke, and hidden her face on my +shoulder. Amid laughing and crying the words came out, all +self-consciousness was gone, that unapproachable harshness of her nature +had disappeared, and she was now like any other girl expecting her +lover. She trembled and sobbed, and wound her arms tightly about my +neck--the proud, cold Anna Maria had become a happy child. What a +fulness of love and resignation now gushed from her heart, now that +happiness touched it! 'So do laugh me well out of it, aunt,' she said, +again. + +"I stroked her hair caressingly; how gladly would I have laughed her out +of it! But in my soul, too, there were doubts, inexplicable doubts; and +why? There was really no reasonable ground for them, no, no! Susanna +might have denied the walk in the garden because the evening air was +prohibited on account of her health; and just because she stood under +the linden and waved her handkerchief--was that any proof? And I thought +of my letter to Stuermer, and really had to laugh. + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'I will laugh at you, but you must laugh back at +me. Only think, yesterday I sent an announcement of the engagement to +Stuermer; I could not keep it to myself any longer that Klaus is +engaged.' + +"She straightened up with a start. + +"'Heavens, the papers! I forget everything. The banns--I must see to +that first, aunt.' + +"To-day the hours seemed to pass much more slowly than usual. Toward +four o'clock I sat waiting at the window; my heartbeat as violently as +Anna Maria's, perhaps. She, I knew, was down-stairs in her room, +restless and anxious. Half-past four struck, five, and Stuermer was not +yet here. Instead, Susanna came into my room and sat down opposite me; +she had her kitten in her arms and began to play with it. + +"I should have liked to send her away, but no suitable excuse occurred +to me at that moment. It is fearful how slowly the minutes pass when one +is counting them in anxious expectation; heavy as lead, each second +seems to spin itself out to eternity, and one starts at every sound. No, +that was a farm-wagon, now a horseman; ah! it is only the bailiff. + +"Susanna felt my silence and restlessness painfully at any rate. 'Oh, it +is fearfully tiresome in the country in winter!' she sighed. 'What can +one do all day long?' + +"'Have you written to Klaus yet?' I asked. + +"'O dear, no!' she replied, with a suppressed yawn. 'I don't know what +to write him; I have no experience, I hear and see nothing.' + +"'Well, an engaged girl is not usually at a loss for something to write +to the future husband,' I remarked. + +"'Indeed?' she asked, absently. 'Yes, it may be, but I--I find it so +stupid just to drag out variations of the theme, "I love you."' + +"'Klaus has written you, no doubt, Susanna, that you are to be published +from the pulpit on Sunday?' + +"She started, and stared at me with wide-open, awestruck eyes. 'I don't +know,' she stammered, 'I----' + +"'But you must know what is in his letter,' I said, impatiently. + +"'Yes, I--' She put her hand in her pocket and drew out a letter. 'I +haven't read it yet; I was going to this evening--but----' + +"'You have not opened the letter yet?' I cried, quite beside myself. +'Well, I must say, this case is unparalleled! You complain of _ennui_, +and yet carry quietly about in your pocket the most interesting thing +that can exist for you! The variations on the familiar theme do, indeed, +seem tiresome to you, Susanna!' + +"I had spoken bitterly and loud. Susanna remained silent, and the same +choking feeling of fear came over me as yesterday. I heard the girl sob +gently, and was sorry at once for my vehemence. + +"'Susanna,' said I, softly, 'you are standing before a very serious turn +in your life, and you trifle along like a child!' + +"She suddenly broke out in loud weeping. 'What can I do, then?' she +cried, wringing her hands. 'Have I not a will of my own? must I be +treated like a child?' And the passionate little creature flung herself +on the floor and embraced my knees. 'Have pity on me, dear, dear +Fraeulein Rosamond. Do not let me be unhappy. I----' + +"She got no further; the door opened, and the sound of Anna Maria's +voice came in, so constrained, so forbidding, that my heart stopped +beating, and the girl sprang up hastily from the floor. + +"'Aunt Rosamond, Susanna--Baron Stuermer wishes to--say farewell to you.' + +"I can see them all so plainly as they were at that moment: Anna Maria, +pale to her lips, holding firmly on to the back of a chair for support; +Stuermer beside her, his eyes fixed on Susanna; behind them Brockelmann +with the lamp, and the trembling, sobbing girl, clinging to me, a +troubled expression on her tear-stained face, and her great eyes +unintelligently returning the man's look. + +"At the first moment all was not clear to me; I did not understand how +Stuermer had come to Anna Maria, but that a deep wound had been made in a +young human heart, that I saw, and an icy chill crept over me. + +"'Anna Maria,' I stammered, and sought to free myself from Susanna's +arms. Then Stuermer came up to me. + +"'I am going away to-morrow for a long time, Fraeulein Rosamond,' said +he, in a firm, clear voice, 'and want to take my leave of you. It is a +hasty decision of mine, but you know that is my way. I thank you, too, +for the letter, Fraeulein Rosamond.' He kissed my hand and turned to +Susanna. There was a tremble on his lips, as with a formal bow, he +expressed a brief congratulation on her engagement. + +"She looked fixedly at him, as if she did not understand him, her arms +slipped from my waist, and she made a movement toward him; but he had +already turned away. He bent again over Anna Maria's hand and left the +room. I can still hear the closing of the door and his reechoing steps +in the hall, and can still see the vacant expression with which Anna +Maria looked after him. She was standing, drawn to her full height, her +proud head slightly bent, yet she seemed inwardly broken, and a ghastly +smile lay on her firmly closed lips. + +"'Anna Maria!' I cried, hastening over to her. She did not look at me, +but pointed to Susanna, who had slipped, fainting, to the floor. + +"'Her!' she said, lifelessly--' he loves _her_!--both love _her_! And +I?' She passed her hands over her forehead. 'Nothing more, aunt, nothing +more, in the great wide world; nothing more!' + +"She bent down to the unconscious girl and raised her in her arms, and +the beautiful head with the dark curls rested on her breast. Anna Maria +looked for an instant at the pale, childish face, and then carried her +over to her room and laid her on the bed. + +"'Take care of Susanna,' said she to Isabella, who stood before the bed, +wringing her hands. 'If it is necessary, send for the doctor.' She went +past me out of the room; I hurried after her; what did I care for +Susanna at this moment? + +"'Anna Maria,' I begged, 'where are you going? Come into my room, speak +out, have your cry out; do not stay alone, my poor, dear child!' + +"She stood still. 'I do not know what I should have to speak about, +aunt--and cry? I cannot cry. Don't worry about me; nothing pains me, +nothing at all. I would like to be alone, I must think about myself. Do +let me.' + +"She went away with as firm a step as ever; she even turned down a +smoking lamp in passing, and the sound of her deep, pleasant voice came +up to me from the stairs as she spoke to Brockelmann; then I heard her +steps die away in the hall. + +"What sort of storm may have shaken her in her solitary room I know not. +When, late in the evening, I listened at her door there was no sound of +movement within; but that she watched through the saddest hours of her +life in that night, her pale face, her sunken eyes, and the expression +about the corners of her mouth told me the next day. + +"Ah, and over it all lay, like a veil, that old coldness, and her fair +head was poised just as obstinately as before, and her words had an +imperious sound. Anna Maria was not desperate, Anna Maria had no +passionate complaints to make. With her maidenly pride she had subdued +the sick heart; no one saw, now, that it was mortally wounded. The pain +within, the struggles, they were _her_ affair. Who would dare even to +touch that closed, strongly guarded door? + +"And so the next morning she went up to the bed in Susanna's room, where +the sobbing girl lay. Susanna had begun to cry on regaining +consciousness the day before, and kept on crying, as if she would +dissolve in tears. Isabella sat by the bed, with a red face; she had +doubtless talked herself hoarse with consolatory arguments during the +night; now she was silent and feigned ignorance of all that had passed. +'I don't know, Fraeulein Anna Maria,' she whispered, 'what is the matter +with Susanna--these unfortunate nerves; I don't understand it!' She +looked very much cast down, the little yellow woman. + +"'Susanna,' said Anna Maria, clearly and severely, 'stop crying, and +tell me the cause of your trouble; perhaps I can help you.' + +"'Oh, heavens! no, no!' screamed Isa, vehemently, pressing close up to +Anna Maria. 'She is so excited; don't listen to her words, she doesn't +know what she is saying!' + +"But Susanna made no answer; she stopped sobbing, turned her head away +from Anna Maria, and lay still as a mouse; but in the quick rising and +falling of her bosom one could see how excited she was. + +"'Be calm, Susanna,' repeated Anna Maria; 'and where you are, I have to +speak with you concerning the explanation of a great mistake.' + +"She turned quietly from the invalid, and observing the glasses beside +the bed, asked Isabella if Susanna liked lemonade, and went away. She +had given me only a hasty greeting; now she came back, and we stood +together in the hall, and I held her hand in mine. + +"That words of consolation were not to be thought of in dealing with a +nature like Anna Maria's, I knew well; yet I could not help tears coming +into my eyes as I looked at her. She looked at me for a moment, her face +quivered as with a passionate pain, and the sobbing sound came from her +breast. But she composed herself by an effort, and pointing to Susanna's +door, said: 'There is the worst thing--my poor Klaus!' She pressed my +hand, and then went about her household duties as usual. It is not every +one that would have done as she did! + +"When I entered Susanna's room again I found her sitting up in bed, +wringing her clasped hands. 'Nobody has asked _me_ about it!' she +repeated, amid streaming tears; 'my wish is of no account; they have +pushed me away where they wanted me to go! And now, now--' She murmured +something to herself, which I did not understand, and stopped weeping, +only to begin anew with the passionate cry: 'No one loves me, no one!' + +"'Do not listen to her,' Isabella implored me; 'she really does not know +what she is doing; leave me alone with her! 'The little creature was in +a thousand terrors. She ran from the bed to the window, and then back +to the bed; she called the weeping girl all sorts of pet names, she +besought her by heaven and earth to be quiet--it was in vain. Susanna +wept herself into a state of agitation that made us fear the worst; she +struck at Isa, and then wrung her hands again, like a person in perfect +desperation. I stood by, helpless; as long as the girl was in this state +of excitement I could not step up to her, and say: 'Susanna, what have +you done? You have given your word to a man of honor, and you love +another! You have made mischief in the house which was so hospitably +opened to you; you have made three human hearts miserable! Is that your +gratitude for all this kindness?' + +"And then her cry, 'No one asked me; they pushed me away where they +wanted me to be, and I had not the power to defend myself!' sank deeply +into my heart, and my thoughts went back to that evening when she had +run away in the storm and rain, and how Klaus had brought her back, and +called her 'his!' Had he asked if she loved him? No; he had not even +thought of the possibility that such might not be the case; he had gone +away with firm confidence in her love. And then Anna Maria had pressed +her to her heart one day, and called her 'sister,' and Klaus had come, +and had put the engagement ring on her hand. She had not dared to send +him away, and had gone on, in her light manner, trifling with that +engagement ring, while becoming deeper and deeper involved in the +passion for another. Her lover was away, he did not hear her. Now +Stuermer was going into the wide world, a fresh thorn in her heart. +Susanna was shaken out of her dreams, and near despair. And Anna Maria, +and Klaus--what was to become of them? + +"Then Brockelmann brought me a letter from Stuermer. I went into my room +and read it; it was written from Dambitz, and ran as follows: + + "'HONORED FRAeULEIN:--I do not like to go away from you without + a word of explanation, or without thanking you for your letter, + which kept me from taking a step which would have been + painfully hard for me in more than one respect. You have, with + delicate tact indeed, rightly discerned that Susanna Mattoni is + not an object of indifference to me, and you wanted to save me + from a disappointment. My dear Fraeulein Rosamond, why should I + deny it? I love Susanna very much, and I intended yesterday to + beg for your mediation in my suit. I _had_ to suppose that she + returned my love. + + "'I have no luck in your house--a second time I have been + bitterly undeceived. Now I have come to consider myself one of + the most arrogant men the world contains. Anna Maria does not + love me. I required years to get over that first + disappointment; it was not easy, for I believed myself + perfectly sure of her reciprocal love. Well, I succeeded at + last; I will even assert that Anna Maria was right. We were + ill-suited to each other; perhaps she would have been unhappy + with a man of such entirely different inclinations. Then I see + Susanna and--love the betrothed of my best friend! + + "'What remains to me? Again I turn my back on my home and seek + to forget. + + "'In Buetze everything will remain as of old, and I--go. But I + do not like to leave you, who have suspected it, in darkness. + Pardon me if have caused you anxiety; I did so unconsciously. + Think of me kindly! When I come home again some day, Susanna + will be the wife of my friend, and I--a calm man, who will have + forgotten all the dreams of youth. I kiss your dear hands, and + beg you to let what I have said here remain our secret. Susanna + will be most likely of all to suspect why I went--she will + secretly mourn for me, but only soon to forget me in her young + happiness. + + "'Farewell, with most heartfelt respect, + + "'Your most devoted + + "'EDWIN VON STUeRMER.' + +"The sheet trembled in my hands, and every instant tears hindered my +reading. + +"About half-past three in the afternoon Pastor Gruene came with his +sister to offer congratulations on the engagement. Ah, me! yes, +yesterday the appointment for publishing the banns was made. Anna Maria +and I sat in painful embarrassment, receiving the hearty congratulations +of the two old friends. They inquired for the young bride-elect, and the +pastor praised her beauty and her happy, child-like nature. When he saw +Anna Maria's pale face, he took her hand: + +"'My dear child,' said he, kindly and earnestly, 'marriages are made in +Heaven. God leads the hearts together, and when they have found each +other no human being may disturb them. So few marriages are made to-day +out of true, unselfish love that it ought to be a real joy for every one +who experiences it, to see a couple go before the altar who are +restrained by no earthly consideration from belonging to each other in +true love. God's blessing be upon Klaus von Hegewitz and his bride!' He +was much moved, the old man who had held Klaus and Anna Maria over the +font, but in surprise he let the girl's hand drop, with a look of +disapprobation at the cold, unsympathetic face. She did not answer a +syllable. + +"My old friend had, a little while before, drawn a sheet of paper from +her knitting-bag and put it in my hand. I first glanced at it now; it +was the printed notice of the engagement of Klaus and Susanna. 'We +received it this morning,' she nodded, 'but I saw it yesterday at Frau +von R----'s at Oesfeld; I was there to coffee. You ought to have been +there, Rosamond, to see how the ladies contended for that little sheet.' + +"I looked in alarm at Anna Maria, who blushed suddenly and then grew +pale again. Now the engagement was in everybody's mouth, and up-stairs +lay the bride-elect, wringing her hands and weeping for another! Of what +importance was Anna Maria's own sorrow in the face of that which +threatened Klaus? She seized the sheet, and after the first glance +pushed it from her in abhorrence. It was a most painful quarter of an +hour, and many, many such followed that day. + +"The news of Klaus's engagement had spread with lightning speed. Visitor +after visitor came; it seemed as if the whole neighborhood wished to +make our house a rendezvous. Carriage after carriage drove into the +court; people whom we had not seen for years came to offer +congratulations on the happy event. Anna Maria sat like a statue among +the questioning, chattering people, and with trembling hands and ashen +face Brockelmann offered refreshments. The faithful old soul felt with +us the pain that every question gave; only by an effort could she +suppress her tears, and as she passed me she said, in a hasty whisper: +'I truly believe the end of the world is coming!' + +"Anna Maria had, nevertheless, forced a smile. She said that she was +sorry not to be able to present Susanna, but the young girl had been +suddenly taken ill; it was to be hoped it was nothing serious. + +"'But now do tell us how it came about. When did he become acquainted +with her? From what sort of a family does she come?' asked the elder +ladies. + +"'Is she pretty, Fraeulein Rosamond? Ah, do describe Klaus von Hegewitz's +_fiancee_ to us; she must be something remarkable!' the young girls +teased me. + +"And beneath all these curious, interested questions there lurked +something which could not be defined and which seemed like a very slight +sort of surprise, and I heard Frau von B---- whisper to the wife of +Counsellor S----: 'The sister doesn't seem exactly enchanted?' and she +was answered: 'No, her rule is at an end now; until now she has just had +the good Klaus under her thumb.' + +"Poor Anna Maria! she answered all the questions so mechanically. She +told them that Susanna was very beautiful; she said that the girl's +father had been a most fatherly friend to her brother--but the way she +did it was strangely stiff and uncomfortable. They looked at her in +surprise and interchanged glances. + +"Meanwhile the brisk housemaid brought the lamps and lighted the candles +on the old chandelier of antlers, and the outside blinds were closed +with a creak. Some of the guests rose; the ladies looked about for their +fur cloaks, the gentlemen took up their hats. I thanked God, for Anna +Maria's appearance frightened me. Then something unexpected happened, +something which caused me to drop back into my chair, quite +disconcerted. Brockelmann had suddenly opened the door, and there stood +one whom I had certainly not expected to see at that moment--Susanna! +Isabella's small figure was seen for an instant in the background, then +the door closed again. + +"A pause ensued, all eyes being directed toward the young girl. She was +really embarrassed for a moment, and this gave her beauty an additional +bewitching charm. Like a shy, confused child she stood there, in the +little black lace-trimmed dress, which so peculiarly suited her, her +head somewhat bent, and the blush of embarrassment on her cheeks. + +"It was an infinitely painful moment, for Anna Maria did not take a step +toward her. I saw how Susanna's beseeching eyes turned away at her fixed +look, which seemed to ask: 'What right have you to be here?' and here +her lips were firmly closed. It was only one moment; the next I was +standing by Susanna and introducing her as Fraeulein Mattoni, and +therewith the ice was broken. They crowded about her, shook hands with +her, and devoured her with admiring eyes. Her cheeks grew crimson, her +eyes shone, and not a trace of the morning's tears remained; the mouth +which had poured forth such fearful laments now smiled like a child's, +and Anna Maria stood alone yonder. God knows what pain she must have +felt! + +"The guests sat down for another minute, out of respect to Susanna, and +after the storm of customary formalities had subsided, they spoke of +country life, wondering if a city girl could accustom herself to it. +They asked Susanna how the Mark pleased her, and at last the old wife of +General S----, whose estate touched Dambitz on the south, remarked: +'Tell me, Fraeulein von Hegewitz, is it true that Stuermer is going away +on a journey again?' + +"She had turned to Anna Maria, who was sitting bolt upright beside her, +and whose color now suddenly changed. 'He is on his way to Paris, your +excellency,' she replied. + +"'The butterfly!' joked the amiable old lady. 'I did hope that he would +settle down here with us, but he seems to prefer the unfettered life of +a bachelor. To Paris, then?' + +"'Well, Paris is not a bad place for a man of Stuermer's stamp,' said +Captain von T----, smiling, who was known as a pleasure-loving man. 'Any +one who can avoid it would be a fool to bury himself in this old +sand-box and the _ennui_ of the Mark.' + +"Anna Maria looked into space again. Susanna's eyes sparkled at these +words; she seemed to be considering something, and then she laughed. Was +this the same Susanna whom I had seen afflicted to death this morning, +who was now sitting, in all the bliss of a happy bride, among these +people, and turning red with pleasure at each admiring look? Oh, never +in my life was there so long a half-hour as this! + +"And now, at last, the guests rose and took their departure. Susanna was +commissioned on all sides with greetings and congratulations for Klaus, +and she thanked them with her most charming smile and a beaming look +from her great eyes. + +"'By Heaven, Fraeulein,' said the captain to me, twirling his mustache, +'your future niece is the prettiest girl I ever saw, a pearl in any +society. I hope the young ladies will not disdain our winter balls?' He +turned to Susanna with this request: 'The place is not very comfortable, +but the society--' He kissed the tips of his fingers, murmuring +something about the crown of all ladies, and Susanna laughed and +promised to come, 'because she was so fond of dancing.' + +"And by the time the last of the guests were in their carriage Susanna +had made at least a dozen promises which all had reference to a +pleasant, lively intercourse. We accompanied the guests to the steps; in +the confusion of parting words Susanna must have taken herself off, for +when the last carriage rolled away I was standing alone beside Anna +Maria in the dimly lighted hall. + +"'Come, my child,' said I, taking her cold hands and drawing her into +the room. And then she sat in Klaus's chair for perhaps a quarter of an +hour, without speaking a word, her hands folded on the table, her eyes +cast down. The clock ticked lightly, the wind rustled through the tall +trees out-of-doors, and now and then a candle sputtered; it began to +seem almost uncanny to me, sitting there opposite the silent girl. + +"'Anna Maria!' I cried at last. + +"She started up. 'Yes, come,' she said, 'We will ask her! Rather the +shrugs of those people than a misery here in the house. I would rather +see Klaus unhappy for a time than deceived all his life long. Come, +aunt.' And with firm step she went out of the room, along the corridor, +and up the stairs. + +"I followed her as quickly as I could; my heart beat fast with anxiety +and grief. 'Anna Maria,' I begged, 'not to-day, not now. Come into my +room, you are too excited.' But she walked on. Up-stairs, in front of +Susanna's door, I perceived by the light of the hall lamp a great flat +chest; white tissue-paper showed under the lid, which had not been +tightly closed. + +"'What is that?' Anna Maria asked Brockelmann, who was just coming out +of the room. + +"'The chest came from Berlin to-day,' the old woman replied; 'I suppose +from the master.' + +"Anna Maria nodded and opened the door quickly. A flood of light +streamed out toward us, and surrounded the slender white figure before +the large mirror; soft creamy satin fell in heavy folds about her, and +lay in a long train on the floor; a gauzy veil lay, like a mist, over +the nearest arm-chair, and a pair of small white shoes peeped out from +their wrapper on the table. She turned around at our entrance, and stood +there with a shamefaced smile--Susanna Mattoni was trying on her +wedding-dress. + +"Anna Maria let go of the door-handle and stepped over the threshold, +looking fixedly at Susanna, her face crimson. + +"'Take off that dress!' she commanded, in a voice scarcely audible from +excitement. + +"Susanna drew back in alarm, and turning pale looked up at Anna Maria. + +"'Take off that dress!' she repeated, in increasing agitation; 'you are +not worthy to wear it. So help me God, this wretched comedy shall come +to an end!' + +"'Anna Maria,' I begged, full of fear, catching hold of the folds of her +dress, 'keep calm! For God's sake, stop!' But she paid no attention to +me; the girl, usually so cool and collected, was beside herself with +pain and anger. Her _own_ suffering she had borne in silence; but the +thought of Klaus, the conviction that he was deceived where he had +completely surrendered his kind, honest heart, robbed her of all +consideration and self-control. + +"Susanna stood speechless opposite her, an expression of penitence on +her childish face. She was incapable of a defence, of an apology. Then, +as ill-luck would have it, the old woman stepped between them, with a +theatrical gesture placing herself in front of Susanna. + +"'Do not forget that you are standing before your brother's betrothed,' +she said, with a tone and a gesture which would have been ludicrous at +any other time. + +"Anna Maria contemptuously pushed the small figure aside like an +inanimate object, and laid her hand heavily on the girl's shoulder. +'Speak,' she said, with a wearily forced composure; 'do you not feel +what you are on the point of doing? Are you then still so young, still +so spoiled, that you have entirely lost the sense of honor and duty? Is +this wretched comedy your gratitude for all that this house has given +you?' + +"Susanna tried to shake off her hand. + +"'I do not know what you mean!' she cried, in anxious defiance; 'I have +done nothing wrong!' + +"Anna Maria stared at her as if she could not grasp the words. There was +a pause of breathless silence in the room; then the storm broke loose, +and the proud girl's wrath carried her away like a whirlwind. + +"'You have done nothing wrong?' she blazed forth. 'You have done nothing +wrong, and you are on the point of deceiving the best of men; you are +ready to perjure yourself? Your eyes have looked after another, and wept +for another. I tell you, so long as I have power to move my tongue, I +will not cease to accuse you before my brother! He shall not fall a +victim to you!' And she shook the girl violently for a moment; then, +recollecting herself, she pushed back the delicate form. The girl fell +staggering to the floor, and struck her head heavily against a carved +chair-back. + +"It was a fearful moment; Susanna had cried out in pain as she fell, and +Isa now held her in her arms and wailed. The girl's eyes were closed, +but a narrow red stream was trickling down from her temple, staining the +white lace of the bridal dress. A sort of numbness had come over us; +even Isa grew silent, and with trembling hands dried the blood on +Susanna's cheek. + +"Anna Maria looked absently at the swooning girl; then suddenly, +recollecting herself, she threw her hands over her face, and hastily +turning around, left the room. I helped Isabella carry Susanna to the +bed, and take off the unfortunate dress. It is still hanging in the +wardrobe over there, just as we hung it up at that time, with the +blood-stains on the white lace frill. Isa did not speak; she did all in +a tearless rage. Now and then she kissed the girl's small hands, and +dried the tears that were trickling, slowly and quietly, from under the +dark lashes, over the young face. + +"I did not speak either; what would there have been to say? I went away +to look for Anna Maria as soon as I saw that Susanna was coming to +herself, and left it to Isa to put the compresses on the wounded temple. + +"I found Anna Maria in the sitting-room, in her chair, with her +spinning-wheel before her, as on every evening, but her hands lay +wearily in her lap, and her eyes were cast down. As I came nearer she +started up and began to spin; her foot rested heavily on the frail +treadle, her hands trembled nervously as they drew the threads, and her +face was fearfully white and her lips tightly closed, as if no friendly +word were ever to pass them again in the course of her life. + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, stopping in front of her, 'what now?' + +"She did not answer. + +"'You have let yourself be carried away,' I continued. 'How will it be +now between you and Klaus?' + +"Again she made no reply, but the treadle of the spinning-wheel broke in +two with a snap; she sprang up, and pushed back the stretchers. 'Leave +me, leave me,' she begged, putting her hand to her forehead. + +"'Write to Klaus; tell him he must come,' I advised. She sat down again, +and leaned her head on her hand. 'I will bring you paper and ink, Anna +Maria, or shall I write?' + +"She shook her head. 'Do not torment me,' she wailed; 'I no longer know +if I am in my senses; leave me alone!' + +"I still lingered; she looked fearfully. Her face was so pale and +distorted one could scarcely recognize the blooming, girlish +countenance. 'Go,' she begged; it is the only thing that you can do for +me.' + +"I went; no doubt she was right. In such an hour it is torment even to +breathe in the sight of others. But why did she not fly to her room? I +turned around once more at the stairs; I wanted to ask her to drink a +glass of lemonade, and go to bed. The sitting-room was dark, but through +the crack of the door which led to Klaus's room came a ray of +candle-light; she was in there. + +"Two days had passed since that evening, and Anna Maria continued to go +about without speaking. At dinner she had sat at the table, but had +eaten nothing, and she wandered about for hours through the garden, in +rain and storm. Brockelmann insisted upon it, with tears, that I ought +to send for the doctor, for her young lady was bent upon doing something +which, she thought, pointed to the beginning of a disease of the mind. +Anna Maria was no longer like herself. Did she rue her violence, or did +she fear seeing Klaus again? I knew not. She had not written to him. I +intended to do so in the beginning, but then gave it up; he _must_ come, +and the more time that elapsed, the calmer our hearts would be. + +"Susanna sat by the window up-stairs, in her room, a white cloth bound +about her forehead, and her eyes, weary and red with weeping, looked out +upon the leafless garden. I had been to her room several times to speak +with her as forbearingly as possible. I wished to set before her her own +wrong, to tell her that a warm, almost idolatrous love for Klaus, and +the fear that he might not be happy, had driven Anna Maria to an +extreme. But here, too, I met with silent, obstinate resistance--that +is, I received no answer, only that Isabella said to me, with a sparkle +in her black eyes: 'She has been abused, and she has been pushed, my +poor child!' Whether or not Susanna had written to Klaus I did not +learn." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + + +"It was almost evening, on the 13th of November, as an extra post drove +quickly into the court. 'Another visit!' was my first thought, so many +people had been turned away in those days. 'You will fare no better,' +thought I; 'you will soon turn around and drive home.' But, no, the +carriage stopped, and a gentleman swung himself out. My heart stood +still from fear--Klaus! How came Klaus to-day? + +"Should I hurry out to meet him? Prevent him from meeting Anna Maria? +Prepare him, forbearingly? But how? Could I speak of the conflict +without mortally wounding him? It was too late already; I heard his step +on the stairs; he was going up to Susanna first of all; he had probably +been told that she was up-stairs. I stepped into the hall quite +unconsciously, and at the same time Susanna's door opened, her light +figure appeared on the threshold, then she flew toward the man who was +standing there with outstretched arms. 'Klaus, Klaus! my dear Klaus!' +sounded in my ear, tender and exultant with joy. Oh, Anna Maria, if you +were to speak to him with the tongue of an angel it would avail you +nothing; it is too late! + +"I saw Klaus press the slender figure to him, and saw her throw her arms +about his neck, and again and again put up her lips to be kissed; and I +heard her begin to sob, first gently, then more vehemently, and cry: +'Now all is well, all, now that you are here!' And she clung to him +like a hunted deer. + +"I stepped back softly; I still saw how Susanna drew him into her room, +caressing him, and heard his deep, passionate voice; then the door was +closed behind them. 'Caught!' said I, softly, 'caught, like Tannhaeuser +of old in the Hoerfelsberg!' And bitter tears ran from my old eyes as I +went down-stairs to go to Anna Maria. + +"Brockelmann came toward me in consternation. 'The master is here,' she +called to me, 'but Anna Maria will not believe it.' I went into her room +without knocking; she was sitting on the little sofa, her New Testament +before her on the table. In the dying daylight her great blue eyes +looked forth almost weirdly from the face worn with grief. + +"'Klaus has come, my child,' I said, going up to her. + +"She looked at me incredulously. + +"'I have seen him, Anna Maria; it is true.' + +"'Where is he, then?' she asked. 'Why does he not come to me?' + +"'My dear child'--I took her hand--'Klaus is with Susanna.' + +"She let her head drop. 'But then he will come,' she said; 'he must +come, of course! He will want something to eat, and he will want to +scold me. I wish he would tell me how bad I am, how unjustly I have +acted, so that I might tell him everything, everything that lies so +heavily on my heart. Perhaps, perhaps my voice may penetrate him once +more, when he thinks of all that we have lived through in common, when +he thinks how I love him!' + +"I pressed her hand and sat down silently beside her; that sweet, clear +'Klaus, Klaus! my dear Klaus!' still rang in my ears, and then the +sobbing. And now, if he should hear from her own lips why she wept? If +he should lift the white cloth from her brow? The calmest man would +become a tiger, and he was not calm, any more than Anna Maria--God help +them! I trembled at the thought of those two standing face to face. + +"And the darkness fell and concealed the objects in the room; before the +windows the branches of the old elms swayed, ghost-like, in the wind, +ever bending toward us, as if beckoning with their lean arms. And Anna +Maria waited! At every sound in the house she started up--I thought I +heard her heart beat--and each time she was deceived. + +"At last, at last! That was his step on the stairs! She rose, all at +once, to her full, proud height. 'Klaus,' she said, 'my brother +Klaus!'--as if she must be encouraged in mentioning the entire, +intimate, sacred relation in which they stand to each other--'my only +brother!' In these few words lay the destiny of her whole life. + +"The sound of Klaus's voice came in to us; it sounded as if he were +giving various orders; now it came nearer in the hall, then the steps +retreated, and at last reechoed the creaking of the front door. + +"'He is going!' shrieked Anna Maria, 'he is going, and I have not seen +him, and he has not asked for me!' + +"'No, no, my child,' I sought to calm her, 'he is not going away, he +cannot go; whither should he? Only be calm; he wants to speak to the +bailiff, or to see about his baggage. Let me go, I will find out; and +you--come, sit down quietly in your place. I will bring Klaus to you, I +promise you.' + +"It was an easy thing for me to lead her back from the door and push her +to the sofa; the tall, strong girl seemed stunned by anxiety and +weariness. + +"I kissed her forehead and hurried out; Brockelmann was in the hall, +coming toward me with rapid steps. She looked heated, and her white cap +was all awry on her gray hair. She carried a lighted candle in one hand, +and with the other quickly unfastened her great bunch of keys from her +belt. The housemaid followed her with a basket of fire-wood. + +"'Great heavens, gracious Fraeulein,' said the old woman, when I asked, +in surprise, the meaning of her haste; 'if I knew myself! The hall is to +be heated and lighted; in an hour everything must be ready, and the +dust-covers haven't been taken off for a whole year in there. I think +the master has lost his head!' And with trembling hands she unlocked the +folding-doors which led to the two rooms which, under the names of the +'Hall' and the 'Red Room,' had been, from my earliest youth, opened only +on particularly important occasions. Here was formerly assembled, +several times a year, a very aristocratic company, who, after a fine, +stiff dinner-party, would close the evening with a dance; here had been +held, for generations, the christening and wedding feasts of the +Hegewitzes; here, too, had many a coffin stood, before it was carried +out to the vault in the garden below. + +"What did Klaus mean to do to-day? Involuntarily I followed Brockelmann +into the hall; the candle lighted the great room but faintly; its feeble +light made here and there a prismatic drop among the pendants of the +crystal chandelier sparkle, and the gray-covered pieces of furniture +stood about like ghosts. The old woman began to arrange things in the +greatest haste, and under the hands of the maid the first feeble flame +was soon flickering up in the fire-place. I beheld it as in a dream. + +"'What, for God's sake, does this mean?' I asked again, oppressed. + +"Brockelmann did not reply at once; she wanted to spread out the rug in +front of the great sofa. 'Go, Sophie, the fire is burning now; +Christopher may come in a quarter of an hour to light the candles.--They +will surely last,' she added, with a glance at the half-burned candles +in the chandelier and sconces. + +"The girl went; the old woman stopped taking off the dust-covers. 'One +experiences a great deal when one is old and gray, and nowhere are there +stranger goings on than in this world!' said she, excitedly; 'but that +anything like this should happen! Do you know, Fraeulein, where he has +gone, the master, without even having said "Good-day" to his sister? To +Pastor Gruene. And there up-stairs sits the old Isa, and has cut bare the +little myrtle-tree which you gave to the--the strange young lady, so +that it looks like a rod to beat naughty children with. And the young +thing lies on the sofa, playing with her cat, and laughs out of her red +eyes, and she laughs with all her white teeth, because things have gone +so far at last. Gracious Fraeulein, they have wept and lamented. If the +master has lost his reason, I can understand it. Not an hour longer will +they stay here in the house, the little one cried, where they were +trodden under foot and scolded. And when the master sent for me he was +holding her in his arms, and looked as pale as the plaster on the walls. +I must put things in order here as well as possible, said he, but +quickly--in an hour, Fraeulein; there will be no more disturbance to be +made about it. And though the king himself were to come, in an hour they +will be man and wife.' + +"'Is it possible?' I stammered. 'Anna Maria--' My head whirled about +like a mill-wheel. It was decided, then; Susanna was to be his wife! + +"Klaus had been stirred up to the utmost extent; that his hasty decision +proved. Of what use would it be if I were to go now to Anna Maria and +say: 'Compose yourself, it is not to be altered now!' In her present +state of mind she would throw herself at his feet and accuse Susanna, +though he were already standing with her before the priest. In his +passion for this girl he would believe nothing of all this; he would +require proofs. And proofs? Who would accuse her of infidelity? How +could _she_ help it that Stuermer loved her? That she had wept and wrung +her hands, was that anything positive? That Stuermer fancied himself +loved by her, could that be made out a crime on her part? It would have +been madness to excite Klaus further, to say to him now: 'Leave her; she +will not make you happy.' + +"With fixed gaze I followed the old woman about, and in restless anxiety +saw her begin to light the candles beside the great mirror; their light +was reflected from the polished glass and fell sparkling on the gilt +frames of the family portraits; deep crimson color shone from the +curtains and furniture, and a warm breath now came from the fire through +the chilly air. Was it a reality? + +"Then I started up. Anna Maria was still sitting alone and waiting; my +place was with _her_. I found her in the dark, still in the same spot, +and sat down beside her. + +"'He has gone away,' she asked, 'has he not?' + +"'No,' said I, 'he is coming back directly.' + +"'To me?' + +"'I do not know, my child.' + +"'What is that loud slamming of doors?' she asked after a while. 'And +why do I sit here so cowardly, as if I had something to fear, when I +have done nothing wrong? I need not wait for him to come to me; I can go +to him first.' + +"And she stood up again. With firm step she went to the door, but before +she could put her hand on the latch the door opened, and Pastor Gruene, +in full official robes, crossed the threshold. + +"Involuntarily the girl drew back at this unexpected appearance. The old +man was plainly embarrassed. After a moment's hesitation, he went up to +Anna Maria and took her hands. 'I come, commissioned by your brother,' +he began. 'He wishes, through me, to put a request most fervently to +your heart. Herr von Hegewitz intends, for reasons which he has not +shared further with me, to consummate his marriage with Fraeulein Mattoni +to-day.' + +"Anna Maria's pale face turned crimson. 'It is impossible!' she said, in +a lifeless tone; 'it is not true!' + +"'But, my dear child,' the old gentleman went on, laying his hands +kindly on the girl's shoulders, 'look at me. I stand all ready in +official robes to perform the solemn act. But first your brother would +have peace made with his sister; he would not take this step until she, +to whom he has been hitherto so closely bound in fraternal love, has +again extended her hand to him in reconciliation.' + +"'I am not angry with my brother,' came the denial. + +"'Not with him, perhaps, but with her who in a short time will be his +wife. His heart is heavily oppressed by this situation, and he begs you +earnestly to speak a single word to his bride.' + +"Anna Maria suddenly shook off his hand. 'I am to beg her pardon?' she +cried, raising herself to her full height, her eyes flaming--'I beg +Susanna Mattoni's pardon? Has Klaus gone mad, to think that I will +humble myself before that girl? Go, Herr Pastor, tell him he must come +himself to speak with me. I will fall at my brother's feet if I have +grieved him, but I will also tell him what drove me to push the girl +from me, and--go bring him before it is too late, or I----' + +"'Anna Maria,' the old man broke in, raising his voice, 'cease from this +defiance! Judge not, that ye be not judged, says the Scripture! You have +no right to press yourself between these two; you have been prejudiced +against your brother's bride from the first moment, you have judged her +childish faults too harshly. Do you think by complaint to tear a man's +love from his heart? Foolish child! then you do not know what love is, +which forgives everything, overlooks everything. Stop, control yourself! +Anna Maria, you have an uncommonly strong will, a courageous heart; do +not wholly imbitter the solemn hour for your only brother; it lacks +already the consecration of a festal feeling. Your brother tells me he +means to go away this evening with his young wife. Come, my child, +follow your old teacher and pastor once more; come!' + +"She drew back a few steps. 'Never!' said she, gently but firmly. + +"'Anna Maria, not so, not so; bitter regrets may follow,' he said, +appeasingly. + +"'Never!' she repeated. 'I cannot go against my conscience; I should be +ashamed to stand at the altar and listen to a lie! I had placed my +entire hope on speaking to Klaus, on begging him to leave her. He does +not wish to see me, or he would have come. I cannot do what he wishes; +believe me, I have my reasons. Farewell, Herr Pastor!' + +"She turned and went to the window, and pressing her head against the +panes, looked out on the sinking darkness of the November evening. She +was apparently calm, and yet her whole body shook. + +"Meanwhile a familiar step was heard outside, pacing up and down. I +stepped out. 'Klaus,' I begged, looking in his pale, excited face, 'why +this terrible haste?' + +"'How am I to do it, then?' he cried, impatiently. 'I cannot stay here, +I am still needed in Silesia, so I must take Susanna away; what else can +be done? Do you think I will expose her to this treatment any longer? By +Heaven, aunt, when the girl's desperate letter came, it was fortunate +that I could not come here on wings, that the vexations of the journey, +and in M---- the procuring of the marriage license, detained me, or I +should not have been able to control myself. Anna Maria is a stubborn +thing; she has no heart or feelings, or she would at least be ready now +to hold out her hand to Susanna and me.' + +"'Anna Maria loves you more than you think,' said I, grieved, 'and if +she was angry with your bride, she had sufficient cause.' + +"He stood still, white as chalk. 'Aunt,' he implored me, with a wearily +maintained composure, 'do not completely spoil this hour for me. Susanna +has told me everything, and Anna Maria, in her views of united prudery +and onesidedness, has regarded as a deadly sin what was an innocent, +perfectly innocent act on Susanna's part.' + +"At this moment Pastor Gruene came out of Anna Maria's room--alone. I +shall never forget the sad look with which Klaus met the eyes of the old +man. + +"So we three stood there; Klaus was just taking a step toward the door +when in the same instant Isa stood beside him, as if charmed hither. +She already had on her black silk dress, and her withered face shone +with joy and triumph. + +"'Susanna is waiting, sir,' she whispered. + +"'I am coming,' he replied, and turning around he said to me: 'It is +better for me not to see her. I know _her_, I know myself, and I wish to +remain calm.' + +"Indeed it was better! God knows what would have happened if they had +met. I promised to be present at the marriage ceremony, but first I went +again to Anna Maria. She was still standing at the window, and did not +turn on my entrance. + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'I will come back soon; you shall not remain +alone long.' + +"Then she suddenly slipped to the floor, and buried her head in her +mother's old arm-chair. 'Alone!' she cried, 'alone, forever, forever!' + +"A few minutes later I was on my way to the hall. Several lamps had been +lighted in the corridor, and the servants, with curious, pleased faces, +were pressing before the open door. The report that the master was to be +married to-day had, with lightning speed, reached even to the village. +Right in front by the door stood Marieken, looking anxiously into the +lighted room, in which Brockelmann was still busy, helping the sacristan +arrange the improvised altar. She put another pair of cushions before +the table, covered with a white damask cloth into which the crest was +woven, and set the heavy silver candlesticks straight. + +"Pastor Gruene stood waiting at the back of the room. He came toward me +with an inquiring look. + +"I shook my head. 'She is not coming!' + +"'It is bad,' said he, 'when a good kernel is covered by such a prickly +shell. Anna Maria lacks humility and gentle love; she has no woman's +heart.' + +"'You are mistaken in the girl!' I cried, imbittered, with tears in my +eyes. 'She is better than all the rest of us put together!' + +"'And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,' said he, +impressively, 'and though I give my body to be burned, and have not +charity, it profiteth me nothing.' + +"My poor, proud, honest Anna Maria! If they only knew what I know, if +they could only see right into your heart! thought I, and bitterly my +eyes fell on the ravishing, lovely creature, now crossing the threshold +on Klaus's arm. She did not wear the unfortunate white dress; she was in +that little black lace-trimmed dress which she had worn the first time +Klaus saw her, nothing but the myrtle-wreath adorned with white flowers +in her hair to remind one of a bride. But if ever Susanna understood how +to make her external appearance effective, it was now, as she came, +without ornament or parade, to the altar. It was no wonder that Klaus +did not turn his eyes away from her, that he pressed the delicate arm so +closely to him, that he dismissed as groundless chattering what people +might say about this pure, childish brow. + +"And then the low whispering stopped; Pastor Gruene was beginning to +speak. + +"If I could only tell now how he opened his address! The words went in +at one ear and out at the other; I saw only Klaus, his handsome face, so +proud, so penetrated with kind, honest sentiment, with a glimmer of +tender emotion over it; and I thought of Anna Maria lying over there on +the floor, in pain and fear. Then I saw Klaus make a quick, convulsive +motion, and now every word went to my heart: + +"'It was on this spot that you once stood by the coffin of your dead +mother, holding in your arms a dear legacy, promising with hand and +heart to take care of the child and protect her in all the vicissitudes +of life. And the way you did this, it was a joy for God and man to see! +There is no more intimate bond than that which united the orphaned +brother and sister; and let not this bond be broken, let not the knot be +untied by the coming of a third person! The wife'--he turned to +Susanna--'must be a peacemaker; she must strive that unity may dwell +under her husband's roof; that she may be to him a blessing and not a +curse! A love between brother and sister is not less holy than between +married people. There are old, sacred claims which brother and sister +have upon one another, and therefore, young bride, let your first word +in your new life be a word of peace; take your husband's hand and join +it in reconciliation with that other which is not folded here in this +place with us to pray for you. Do not leave this house without a word of +peace, even if you think injustice has been done you in this hour which +gives you, the homeless orphan, a home and a protector. Be gentle and +ready for peace; ask yourself how great a share in the burden you bear.' + +"A few shining drops ran down the cheeks of the bridegroom, while +Susanna, like a child, listened with wide-open eyes to the clergyman's +words, evidently painfully affected by the seriousness which he imparted +to the situation. + +"Then the affair came quickly to an end; the rings were exchanged, the +solemn decisive 'Yes' died away--Susanna Mattoni was Klaus's wife. The +servants withdrew, the doors of the hall were closed, Pastor Gruene +spoke a few more affecting words to Susanna, and Klaus silently pressed +my hands. + +"Brockelmann served a cold lunch and presented a glass of champagne; Isa +brought in furs and cloak; the young couple intended to start in half an +hour. Then the clergyman went away, Brockelmann and Isa had already left +the room, and I was alone with Klaus and Susanna. He had drawn the +smiling young wife to him. 'Susanna,' I heard him whisper, 'let us go to +her, tell her that you forgive her; let us part in peace from Anna +Maria, my sister.' + +"The smile vanished, she stood there defiantly looking down to the +floor, a deep blush on her face, and gradually her eyes filled with +shining tears. + +"'My first request, Susanna,' he repeated beseechingly. She remained +silent, but rising on tip-toe, flung her arms about his neck; with +infinite grace her head was slightly thrown back, and she looked up to +him with her sweet eyes moist with tears. Impetuously he drew her to him +and kissed the red lips and the little red scar on her forehead again +and again. + +"I stole softly out. The word of peace remained unspoken! + +"An hour later the candles in the hall were extinguished, the house lay +dark and silent." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + +"Anna Maria did not become ill, as we expected; hers was too firm, too +strong a nature; but she had grown bitter and gloomy. She did not belong +to that class of people whom a great sorrow makes tender. + +"Joyless times followed that wedding--days and weeks, empty and cold. At +first I had besought her to write to Klaus, not to let the breach become +wider. She had answered me with a cold smile, and torn in two a letter +from her brother after the first glance. I saved the pieces and found an +effusion of honeymoon bliss, and nothing different could have been +expected. Anna Maria had probably not observed the short business +announcement that he had advantageously sold the estate in Silesia, and +now thought of going to Paris with Susanna. + +"Klaus wrote again, several times, to Anna Maria. She would carry a +letter from him about with her all day, unopened, then occasionally tear +it open, and begin to read, only to throw it into the fire before she +had half finished. Later these letters to Anna Maria were discontinued. +The old bailiff appeared now and then in the sitting-room, to tell her +that the master had written him, and wished this and that, thus and so. +Anna Maria would usually nod her head silently, and the man would +stand, embarrassed, at the door a little while, and then go quietly away +again. + +"'Things are not as they ought to be any longer,' he declared to me. +'Formerly the Fraeulein used to concern herself about every trifle, so +that I often cursed her zeal; to-day anything may happen that will, it +is all the same to her; and even if all the barns and granaries should +burn down in the night, she would not stir.' + +"It was true, Anna Maria no longer asked about anything; she seemed to +have sunk into a regular apathy. It was a grief to see this young +creature, from whom everything on which her heart was fixed was taken, +and who now, without check or purpose, in the most tormenting pain of +soul, shut her eyes and ears in dark defiance. + +"'Diversion!' said the doctor. + +"I looked at him in astonishment. 'I beg you, you have known the girl +since her childhood, have you ever known a time when trifles and +nonsense could give her pleasure, or could divert her at all from a +sorrow?' + +"'Nonsense!' replied the old man, 'but she is only a woman. She ought to +marry, then everything would be different! It would be a pity if that +girl should become a dried-up old maid.' + +"I shook my head sadly. + +"'Why the devil is she so unreasonable, too, as to fret about her +brother's marriage?' he continued, undisturbed. No gray hair need be +made grow over that. Take the young lady, pack her trunk, and go to +Berlin for a few weeks. Go to the theatre every evening for my sake, and +see something classical; but take her away from here!' + +"'Ah, doctor, you do not know Anna Maria.' + +"I made an attempt, nevertheless. She let me have my say, and then +said: 'I do not understand the outside world at all. I miss nothing +here, I complain of nothing. Do not tease me any more!' + +"When the workmen appeared, one after another, to put in order the rooms +for the young couple, when the dear old articles of furniture were taken +out and the wall-papers torn off, she fled to her room. The writing-desk +at which her father had formerly sat and worked was to remain in its +place, at Klaus's express desire; but the old thing looked so +ridiculously awkward beside the _Boule_ furniture that paper-hanger and +cabinet-maker refused to receive it, so Anna Maria had it taken into her +room. She now sat there all day at the window before her mother's +sewing-table, and looked blankly out on the wintry garden, every stroke +of the hammer from the workmen making her start. The bunch of keys no +longer hung at her belt; Brockelmann had taken charge of that. + +"No one came to see us in those desolate winter days, except the old +brother and sister from the parsonage, and even from them she fled. I +stood by her faithfully, and beheld the struggles of her proud heart. + +"At first Isa had lived on quietly up-stairs by herself, disregarded by +Anna Maria. Then one day toward Christmas she came into my room, beaming +with joy, and announced to me that the young Frau wanted her to come to +her; she was in need of her help at her toilet, and she was to have the +position of lady's maid with her. '_Je vais a Paris ce soir, a Paris_, +and from there to Nice. Oh, I speak French excellently!' + +"I wished her a prosperous journey, and commissioned her with messages. +Then I sat down and reflected. Klaus, quiet, easy-going Klaus, who +valued the comfort of his arm-chair in the evening beyond everything, +in Paris, the gay Paris, with a young wife who needed a maid to make +her toilet? I could not make that rhyme without a dissonance. + +"In the rooms down-stairs an exquisite elegance was being gradually +revealed, and I learned from the workmen that the pale blue silk +hangings of the boudoir (the little library next to Klaus's study was +converted into a boudoir), and the dainty rosewood furniture, Frau von +Hegewitz had chosen herself in Berlin; that the crimson silk drapery for +the salon cost ten _thaler_ a yard, and that the Smyrna rug in there was +real. Tears came into my eyes. What had become of our dear old, +comfortable sitting-room? What had we ever known of salons and boudoirs +at Buetze? + +"As in passing through the garden-parlor one day Anna Maria's feet sank +in a Persian rug, and she perceived the low divans which ran along the +sides of the room, and the gold-embroidered cushions; and as she caught +sight of a gleaming, gay mosaic floor on the terrace instead of the +honest stone flags over which her childish feet had so often tripped, on +which she had stood so many a time beside Klaus; and saw, instead of the +gray stone balustrade, a gilded railing, a slight tremble came upon her +lips, and a few great tear-drops ran down her cheeks, and she slowly +turned her back to the room. She always went to the garden through the +lower entry afterward. + +"It was on a stormy evening in March that Anna Maria for the first time +broke her long, habitually sober silence. I had not seen her all day; +her door remained closed to my knocking. And yet I would have so gladly +said a few affectionate words to her--to-day was her birthday. + +"In vain had Brockelmann made the huge pound-cake wreathed with the +first snow-drops, and in vain placed a couple of blooming hyacinths on +the breakfast-table. The door of Anna Maria's room had not been opened. +A letter addressed to me had come from Klaus, requesting me to give to +his sister the enclosed open letter. It was affectionately written, +begging that she would soften her heart, and requesting a few lines from +her hand. 'What sort of a home-coming will it be for Susanna and me,' he +wrote, 'if the unhappy misunderstanding is not forgotten? We are ready +to consider all as not having happened, if you will come to meet us in +the old love. Be friendly to Susanna, too. I can honestly confess to you +that I long to be at home, in our dear old house, regularly employed. A +life like this here is nothing to me; I always hated idleness. Susanna's +health, so far as temporary demands are made upon it, is satisfactory; +but for her, too, I wish, especially now, the quiet of the less exciting +life at home. Let me once more add to the heartiest wishes for your +welfare the desire that we may soon meet again in the old fraternal +love.' A dainty visiting-card, 'Susanna, Baroness von Hegewitz,' with a +lightly scribbled wish for happiness, lay with the letter. + +"In his letter to me Klaus repeated that he was longing for home, that +he earnestly besought me to induce Anna Maria to be gentle, for he made +his home-coming especially dependent upon her state of mind, as he could +not possibly expose Susanna now to excitement and unfriendly treatment. +But he cherished a strong desire to return at the beginning of spring at +the latest, for this and other reasons. + +"The two letters lay before me on the table; how should I make their +contents known to Anna Maria? For she read no letters at all. And how +would she receive the news of his return? A change in her feelings was +not to be hoped for so soon, not even at the announcement of this glad +news. + +"Brockelmann had come in and complained, with a shake of her head, that +Anna Maria had not eaten a mouthful to-day, and it was four o'clock +already. 'She is growing old before her time,' added the old woman; +'does she look now as if she were under thirty? Yesterday I brushed her +hair and found two long silvery threads in it. O Lord! and so young!' + +"In the depth of twilight Anna Maria came suddenly into the room. She +did not say 'Good evening' at all, but only, 'Please do not allude to my +birthday, aunt!' And after a pause she added: 'Things cannot remain as +they are here; Klaus will want to come home, and then there will be one +too many in Buetze. I have been considering lately how I should manage +not to be in his way, and have at last decided to go at once to the +convent in B----.' + +"'You would grieve Klaus to death, Anna Maria,' said I; 'it does not do +to carry a thing too far. You are both defiant, you are both stubborn, +but Klaus has been the first to extend his hand, and he still offers it. +Here, read his letter, read it just this once, and be of a different +mind.' + +"I lit a candle, and pressed the letter into her hand; and she really +read it. A slight blush rose to her pale face, then she nodded her head +seriously. 'Believe me,' she said, 'he will really be best pleased if he +does not find me here. Write him that, aunt. In this way no possible +conflict can ensue.' + +"'Anna Maria, you would--you could really go away from here?' cried I, +pained. 'How can it be possible? Truly I had expected more feeling, more +attachment in you. You can be heartless sometimes!' + +"She was silent. 'Stuermer is coming back next month,' she said at last, +in a strangely trembling voice, 'and I would like to be as far away as +possible.' + +"I sprang up, and threw my arms around her. 'My poor, dear child,' I +begged, weeping, 'forgive me!' + +"And she went, she really went away! On one of the first days of April, +early in the day, the carriage which was to take her away stopped before +the front steps. + +"Anna Maria went down the steps with me, followed by Brockelmann. She +quickly got in, and drew her dark gauze veil over her face. 'Greet Klaus +heartily for me,' she whispered to me again; 'all the happiness in the +world to him and his wife!' + +"Then she was gone, and I went quietly up the steps. It seemed +unspeakably strange and lonely here to me all at once. I wandered +through the newly furnished rooms; they had all been heated and the +windows opened. Comfortable, elegant, very pleasant it looked all about +here, as if made expressly for Susanna's beauty; but they were no longer +the old Buetze rooms, with their ancestral comfort, their dear +associations. I stood now in Susanna's little boudoir; I noticed a fold +of the pale blue portiere yonder hanging, out of order, over an +indistinguishable object--the upholsterer surely had not intended it so. +I went over and lifted up the heavy silk to lay it again in regular +folds on the carpet, when my eye fell upon a little old wooden cradle, +painted with a crest, and oddly curved, strangely contrasting, in its +rude form, with the elegant appointments of the room; and gently rocking +in it were shining white, fine, lace-trimmed pillows, daintily tied +with little blue bows; a basket pushed half under the couch of the young +wife concealed little clothes of the finest linen, most beautifully +sewed, hem-stitched, and trimmed with lace, made as only a skilled hand +knows how. + +"'Anna Maria,' I said, softly, looking with moist eyes upon the old +cradle in which she, in which Klaus had once lain, and which now stood +here, a greeting of reconciliation to the heart of the young wife who +had robbed her of her peace and happiness. + +"Two days later there was a lively stir at Buetze. Unfortunately, a bad +headache banished me to a sofa in my dark room, so that I could not +welcome the young couple on the threshold of their home. But I heard up +here the unusual moving about; the bell in the servants' room, which had +been formerly so seldom used, rang a regular alarm, and there was such a +slamming of doors and rushing and running about for the first few hours +that I had to draw the thickest pillow over my aching head in order to +have any quiet. + +"Klaus came up to me very soon; he sat down quietly by my bed and +pressed my hand. + +"'You are glad to be at home again?' I asked kindly. 'How is your little +wife?' + +"'Thank you,' he replied, 'she is asleep now. I do not know; I must +accustom myself to it first; it has been made so different, so strange, +with all these alterations. And then'--he was silent--'one misses Anna +Maria everywhere,' he added. + +"'You incorrigible people, you!' I scolded vexatiously, 'Bend or break, +but not yield, and then perish with longing for each other! A silly, +stupid set you are!' + +"He made no reply to that. 'After three months in the country,' said +he, 'I will go and get her. Now it is better that Susanna should remain +alone.' + +"'You have been living very happily there?' I asked. + +"'Oh, Heaven, yes!' he replied. 'The gay life was new to Susanna, and +amused her delightfully. Thank God that we are here! How do you really +like the rooms down-stairs?' + +"'Well, they are very beautiful, Klaus, without doubt. But if I am to be +honest, it was more comfortable before.' + +"'Susanna is quite enchanted with them,' he continued. 'But I had a +melancholy feeling when I found the sitting-room without the old stove, +the great writing-desk, and Anna Maria's spinning-wheel. I really cannot +sit in these spider-legged easy-chairs without fear of breaking down.' +He laughed, but it had not a hearty sound. + +"'Shall you be able to eat supper with us?' he asked. + +"I promised to do so if I were well enough. If you will let me sleep a +little longer now, Klaus, I shall be able to come down.' And then he +went away. + +"Toward evening I was awakened from a light slumber by the ringing of +bells again; again I heard doors shutting, and footsteps of people +hurrying to and fro. At the first instant I thought of an accident, but +then recollected that it had been just so in the afternoon, and made my +toilet and went down. + +"The first person to step up to me was Mademoiselle Isa. She greeted me +very warmly, and with a certain pretentiousness. 'The gracious Frau had +drunk a cup of chocolate and was quite well,' she added, as she opened +the door of the former sitting-room, which was agreeably lighted by two +lamps, and pointed to the drawn-back portiere: 'The gracious Frau is in +her boudoir.' + +"Indeed, I was curious to see Susanna again as 'gracious Frau,' and +limped quickly across to the little room. The soft carpet had deadened +the sound of my steps, and I entered the snug little room unperceived. +Susanna was resting on the divan; I saw her beautiful black curls +falling over the blue cushions, a tiny lace cap was half-hidden among +them. Her face was turned toward the fire, which, notwithstanding the +warm April evening, was burning brightly in the little fire-place. + +"'Susanna!' I called softly. She started up, and with a cry of joy fell +on my neck. 'Aunt Rosamond, dear aunt!' she cried, and kissed and patted +me with the pleasure of a happy child. 'My good Aunt Rosamond!' And she +seized my hands and drew me, without letting go, to the sofa. She +exercised the same old charm upon me; I had never been able to be angry +with her; her grace was irresistible, and took heart and mind prisoner. + +"I raised the round chin a little and looked at her. It was the old, +sweet, childish face, only still more attractive by reason of a slight +pallor and a strange, sad look about the mouth; the eyes had lost the +questioning look which sometimes gave them such a peculiar expression, +but I thought they had grown larger and more brilliant. She threw her +arms about my neck again, and kissed me and laughed, and then came a +tear or two, and then she laughed again. + +"She chattered about Nice, about Paris, and said she wanted to live here +quietly only a little while, and then fell on my neck again and +whispered a thanks. + +"'No, no!' said I, smiling, 'I am not guilty of that; your thanks belong +to Anna Maria.' + +"She grew silent and pale. Then she sprang up and drew me into the +salon. I had to gaze at a hundred things which she had brought with +her--worthless toys, knick-knacks, fans, and all manner of folly, of +whose existence I had never dreamed till now, and which struck me as +infinitely useless. 'Klaus has had to give me everything, everything,' +she cried, joyfully, 'except this. Aunt, do you see?' She pointed to a +charming shepherdess of Sevres porcelain. 'That is a present from +Stuermer.' + +"I stared at her. 'Have you met him on the way?' She did not return my +look, but her face glowed as rosy red as the ribbons on her white dress. +'Yes,' said she lightly, 'we were with him a day in Nice, but he went +away in haste, and this is a souvenir.' And then she told me about the +sea and the palm-trees, of gondola-sails by moonlight, till her cheeks +grew crimson at the recollection. + +"'Ah, life is so beautiful, so beautiful!' she cried, 'and--' She broke +off, for Klaus entered. He wore a short coat and high boots, and his +face was radiant with joy in the long-suspended activity. + +"'I have been clattering all over the fields,' said he gayly, 'and am +tired as a dog, little wife, and hungry and thirsty. Do you know what +would particularly please me?' He pushed the curls from her forehead and +kissed her. 'A slice of honest German ham and a good glass of beer! The +French sauces had a miserable after-taste to me, brrr--! Holla! ho!' he +called out at the door, 'will supper be ready soon?' + +"He did not seem to notice at all that Susanna made a wry face at his +declaring it was unnecessary for her to make a fresh toilet for supper, +and that she took his arm reluctantly. 'Ah, but we will live here in +comfort,' said he beseechingly, holding her two hands over the table, +'not as in a hotel. When we go to Nice again I promise you always to +appear in dress-coat. Here I should have no time at all for the +continual changing of dress; and as for you, you do not look more +charming in any state costume than in that white thing there.' + +"She shook her head, laughing, and showed him a little fist. 'Wait,' +said she, 'what did you promise me?' + +"'Well, then, in the future,' he persevered; 'but to-day, and to-morrow +too, let me enjoy the comfort I have so long done without--do.' + +"Susanna smiled; and he ate German ham and drank German beer to his +heart's content, while she took a roll spread with something or other, +with her tea, which Klaus prepared for her. I saw, in astonishment, how +carefully he made the tea, how he heeded her every glance; now +attentively passed her pepper and salt, and now cut a fresh sausage and +roll, or carefully removed bones and tail from a sardine, every instant +asking if it tasted good to her, if she were satisfied with her rooms, +if she liked the flowers in the salon. He treated her like a little +spoiled princess. + +"After supper I was going to withdraw; I thought they must be tired from +their journey. Susanna had lain down again on her couch; she kissed me +once more, and Klaus accompanied me as I went out. I saw that he held a +book in his hand. 'Good-night, aunt,' he said, 'I am going to read aloud +to Susanna.' + +"'For heaven's sake!' I cried, 'you are already yawning privately!' + +"'Yes, I am tired to-night,' he replied, 'but Susanna is so accustomed +to it; she does not go to sleep before one o'clock.' + +"'Klaus, Klaus!' I warned him, 'if she has accustomed herself to it, let +her become disused to it. Only think, when you want to rise early in the +morning!" + +"He heard me not. 'Aunt,' said he, holding me fast by the hand, his +eyes shining so happily, 'is she not a good, charming little wife?' + +"I smiled in his face. 'Very charming, Klaus!' + +"'And who prophesied to me that I should be unhappy all my life, eh?' he +asked. + +"'Oh, Klaus, not I, indeed!' I contradicted earnestly. 'If Anna Maria +had apprehensions, they were certainly not without foundation, and a +housewife Susanna will never be.' + +"'No, she is not yet a German housewife,' he broke in, in a somewhat +disheartened manner, 'but she can be, and will be yet.' + +"I nodded to him: 'Sleep well, Klaus!' + +"'Is it not so?' he asked, holding me back.' You will write to Anna +Maria that we are happy with one another; you will tell her how good and +charming she is?' + +"'Yes, my boy, and now, good-night.' + +"Anna Maria's letters were brief and meagre; her handwriting very large +and angular, as it is to-day. She wrote me that she was very well there, +occupied a pair of pretty rooms, and was much with the abbess, who had +been a friend of her mother. 'But I miss activity,' she added; 'a life +on the sofa, in the company of stocking-knitting and books, is hateful +to me; that is not resting.' A greeting for Klaus and Susanna was added. + +"I answered her, writing that Klaus worshipped his wife and was happy. + +"'May God keep him thus!' she answered laconically. She was not to be +reached with that; she had no belief in a happiness with Susanna. + +"Stuermer, who, as Anna Maria thought, was to come in April, was not yet +here. He was a migratory bird, only without the regularity of one." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + + +"May came on in the country in all its glory; the trees blossomed and +the seeds sprouted, and Buetze lay as in a snowy sea. The sun laughed in +the sky, as Susanna walked through the trim garden-paths on Klaus's arm. +Now and then I saw her cross the court, with straw hat and parasol, in a +light summer dress, and go a little way into the fields to meet him. The +people stood still as she passed, the women and girls courtesied, the +men made as deep a bow to her as to the rest of us from the house, and +the children ran up to her in troops, and the sound of their 'Good-day, +gracious Frau,' and Susanna's clear, laughing voice came up to me; her +charms fairly bewitched everybody. Then she would return on her +husband's arm, a great bouquet of field flowers in her hands, he leading +his horse by the bridle and carrying her parasol and shawl; and her +chatter and his deep voice, calling her a thousand pet names, reechoed +from the old walls when they had come into the house. + +"If Anna Maria could only have seen them thus, thought I, would she have +been reconciled? Poor, lonely Anna Maria! + +"Susanna never inquired for her; her stay here seemed to be entirely +taken up with all manner of little trifles. Occasionally there came a +perfect swarm of guests, and then the sound of laughing and chattering +was heard in the garden-parlor till far into the night, and +Brockelmann, with a very red face, bustled about at the sideboard. + +"'I don't feel my feet at all, any more,' the old woman would sometimes +complain; 'I really must have some one else to help me. In old times one +used to know it beforehand when there was to be a great supper; but if +any one came unexpectedly, he took just what there was in the house and +was satisfied. But how should I dare take thinly sliced ham and fresh +eggs and a herring salad to the Frau? I tried it once--how she turned up +her nose and begged her guests to excuse it! And then the master comes +and says: "Good Brockelmann, though it is a little bit late, do get us a +couple of warm dishes, and this and that, and a little fowl, for my wife +does not like a cold supper when there is company; you must have some +asparagus or green peas?" Heavens and earth! And then old Brockelmann is +so stupid, too, as to run her heels off and make the impossible +possible. Oh dear, oh dear, if Anna Maria knew how my storeroom looks, +and my account books!' + +"And she put her hands up under her cap and shook her head. + +"'You may believe it, Fraeulein Rosamond,' she would sometimes add, 'the +Frau is well enough yet, at least she doesn't concern herself about me; +but the old woman--O Lord! She sticks her nose into everything, and more +than a hundred times she has brought her chocolate out to me again--it +wasn't hot enough, or was burned, or the Lord knows what! As if the old +creature understood anything about it, anyway! Oh, yes, and then, if my +patience is utterly exhausted, the master comes into the kitchen. "Good +Brockelmann," he says, in his friendly way, "do keep peace with Isa, +that my little wife may not be vexed." Well, then I keep still; but I +see how he takes to heart everything that concerns his wife. And then I +think how loud and angrily he has often spoken to Anna Maria in spite of +all his love, and here he even spreads out his hands for the little feet +to walk on!' + +"Indeed, she had not said too much. He did lay down his hands for the +little feet, and they walked on them without particularly noticing it. +Klaus had a boundless love for his wife, and she received this love as a +tribute due her. She had no conception of what she possessed in him. + +"I do not know if he felt this. Occasionally, when Susanna was asleep, +or making her toilet, or gone to a drive, and he had an hour to spare, +he would sit with me up in my room, and would look so weary and +oppressed. We spoke often, too, of Anna Maria; but when Susanna was +present he did not mention her name, for at that a shadow regularly +passed over her face, and her chattering lips grew silent. + +"'My old Anna Maria!' he would say; 'she is still angry with me, and yet +she is such a good, reasonable girl.' The last words were unconsciously +accented. 'How pleasant it would be if she and Susanna could live +together like sisters--the unfortunate stubbornness. Do you suppose, +aunt, she will come when the old cradle down-stairs--?' And his eyes +grew moist at this thought. + +"'I do not know, Klaus, but I think so,' said I, 'if Susanna can only +forget--' + +"'Ah, aunt, I place my entire hope on the cradle about her, too. Anna +Maria shall be godmother; I will not have it otherwise. Please God, it +may not be far off!' + +"And was it then so far off? On a dull, sultry August night, I was +still sitting in my easy-chair by the window, and could see distant +flashes of lightning over the barns; the air was uncomfortable and +stifling, or was it only the imagination of my old, restlessly beating +heart, and my thoughts, which were below with Susanna, anxious and +prayerful? + +"Ah, what does not pass through one's soul in such an hour--trembling +joy and happy fear, and each minute seems to stretch out endlessly. I +listened to the walking down-stairs, to the sound of the opening and +shutting of doors; would some one never come up with the glad news? + +"And my thoughts wandered back to the night when Anna Maria was born, +when I sat up here in the same fear and anxiety. Klaus had gone to sleep +in the arm-chair over there. I had not disturbed him, had let him sleep, +till his father came to call him to his mother's death-bed. The boy's +pale, frightened face stood before me so plainly this evening, as he +knelt before the cradle of his little sister. + +"Below, in the court-yard, it was still as death; only old Mandelt, the +watchman, was going slowly along, shaking his rattler; and above the +slumbering world glittered the brilliant stars of the August sky as +through a light mist. + +"Then I started up; heavy steps were approaching my door, and now +Brockelmann called into my room: 'A boy, Fraeulein Rosamond! Come +down-stairs--such a dear, splendid boy!' + +"Never did I hurry down those stairs so quickly as on that night, nor +did Klaus ever take me in his arms so impetuously, so full of thankful +jubilation, as then, when he came toward me to lead me to the cradle of +his child. The strong man was quite overcome, and the first words that +he whispered to me were again: 'How Anna Maria will rejoice!' + +"If ever a child was welcomed with joy it was this one. His presence +worked like a deliverance upon us all; even Brockelmann and Isa spoke +pleasantly to each other to-day. Isa's anxiety about her darling had +reached the highest pitch, and she had left her place in the room of the +young mother to the quiet old woman; and Brockelmann--well, she would +not have been the honest old soul that she was not to rejoice with her +master over his son. Whatever grudge against Susanna may have still +lingered in her heart, this day wiped out; with a truly motherly +tenderness she presided at the sick-bed. And did it fare better with me? +I, too, old creature that I was, knelt down between the bed and the +cradle, and kissed the little pale face again and again; in this hour +everything with which she had once troubled us was forgotten. + +"And Klaus sat at his writing-desk and wrote to Anna Maria. 'Do you +think she will come?' he asked as he came in again. He had sent a +special messenger to E---- with the letter to his sister. 'Will she +come?' + +"'Surely, Klaus!' I replied. + +"The messenger was gone three days; then he returned with a letter from +Anna Maria. Heartfelt words it contained, here and there half blotted +out by tears. She would come soon, she wrote, come soon--in a week or +two, perhaps--but would it be right to Susanna? + +"I was sitting by the bed of the young wife as Klaus came into the room +with this letter. She was holding the small bundle of lace in her arms. +Isa had had to adorn the young gentleman's toilet to-day with blue +ribbons. Susanna played with him as if he were a doll, and wanted to +know what color would best suit the young prince. She was so merry and +pretty about it, and laughed so heartily when the little thing made a +queer, wry face. + +"'Oh, see, just see!' she called to her husband. 'Who does he look like +now? Only look!' Of course we stood in dutiful admiration and looked at +the little creature. But Brockelmann, who was just going through the +room, said: 'Ah, I have seen it from the first moment. He has a real +Hegewitz face; he looks most like his aunt, Anna Maria.' + +"Susanna started up as if the greatest injury had been done her. 'It is +not true!' she whispered, and kissed the child. But Klaus had heard it, +nevertheless; he had grown very red, and slowly put the folded letter in +his pocket, and an expression of disappointment passed over his face. He +sat down by Susanna and kissed her hand, but did not mention his +sister's name. + +"What Klaus wrote in reply to Anna Maria I never learned; but he said: +'Anna Maria is always right; it was well that she did not come +immediately, as I wished.' + +"And three weeks more passed. Susanna already walked up and down on the +gay mosaic pavement of the terrace occasionally, and Isa walked about in +the sunny garden with the blue-veiled child. Then one rainy evening, +about six o'clock, a slender woman's figure walked into my dim room. + +"'Anna Maria!' I cried joyfully; 'my dear old child, are you really here +again?' + +"She put her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder. 'Yes, +aunt,' she said softly, and I felt her heart beat violently. 'Yes--but +now take care that I may greet Klaus first alone; we have so much to +say to each other!' + +"He had entered, meanwhile, before I could answer. 'I saw you coming +through the garden, Anna Maria,' he cried joyfully, holding her two +hands; 'thank God that you are here again!' + +"The next instant she fell, weeping, on his neck. They had so much to +say to each other; I would not hear them beg forgiveness of each other, +and went softly out. + +"And Susanna? I asked myself. I found the young wife down-stairs in the +salon the sound of her merry laugh came toward me. There were one or two +ladies from the neighborhood there, and Isa had just brought in the +child. There was so much laughing, chattering, and congratulating that I +got no chance at first to inform Susanna that her sister-in-law had +arrived. At last the ladies took their leave, and we two were alone. +Susanna walked up and down the great room, playing with the child. + +"'So stupid,' she scolded, 'that I don't know a single cradle-song! But +I can't bear the silly things they sing here, about goslings and black +and white sheep. But it is all the same, he doesn't understand the +words.' And lightly she began the old refrain: + + 'Home have I come, and my heart burns with pain. + Ah, that I only could wander again!' + +"'Susanna,' said I, quickly, 'Anna Maria has come back, a little while +ago.' + +"She stood still, as if rooted to the spot. I could no longer +distinguish her features in the deep twilight, and she spoke not a word. +'Susanna!' I cried, in a low, reproachful tone. + +"Just at that moment Brockelmann brought in a light. 'The master is +coming with Fraeulein Anna Maria!' she cried joyfully. 'Oh, Fraeulein, +Anna Maria--how pleased she will be with that little doll!' + +"Hand in hand Klaus and Anna Maria entered the room. She had been +weeping hot tears, but now a smile was on her lips, and she went up to +Susanna, who had dropped into the nearest chair. + +"'Let everything be forgotten, Susanna,' she begged. 'Let us be +sisters!' She knelt beside her and kissed the slumbering child. 'I shall +love him very much!' And now she raised her tear-stained face to Susanna +and offered her lips, but the young wife slowly turned her head to one +side. + +"Anna Maria stood up instantly; a reproachful look met Klaus. + +"'Susanna!' said he, going up to his wife and taking the child from her +arms, 'give Anna Maria your hand and be at peace with her!' + +"Slowly she extended her right hand, coldly and briefly the two hands +touched, then the young wife went quickly out of the room, and directly +after Isa came to take away the child. + +"'Why have I come?' said Anna Maria, bitterly. + +"Klaus walked up and down with long strides. 'Forgive her, Anna Maria,' +he begged; 'she is still ill, still weak. I will speak quietly with +her.' + +"'No, Klaus,' replied the girl; 'wherefore? I will be no disturber of +the peace. She is your wife, you are happy, and I--I will go away +again.' + +"'But this is your father-house! This is _your_ home as well as _mine_!' +he cried, irritated. 'By Heaven, I would never have believed that it was +so hard for two women's hearts to agree!' + +"Isa called him to Susanna. He went in; we heard him speak loud and +vehemently, and then heard Susanna crying. + +"'I shall go away again to-morrow, aunt,' said Anna Maria, and her pale +face with the red eyes had the old stubborn expression. 'I did not come +to make discord.' How I pitied the girl! I knew well how hard it had +been for her to take the first step toward Susanna, what a struggle it +had cost her proud heart, and yet she had done it for Klaus's sake, and +for---- + +"Klaus returned, leading Susanna on his arm; he took her hand and placed +it in Anna Maria's. + +"'There now, be reconciled," he said, with a sigh. 'Give each other a +kiss; there must be no more allusions to old tales. I forbid it +herewith!' + +"They did kiss each other, but their lips touched only lightly. We then +sat down, and Klaus and I started a conversation with difficulty. Anna +Maria talked about her convent, but after had to stop; it seemed all the +time as if she were choking down the tears. Susanna spoke still less, +and only answered when Anna Maria asked about the child, and upon a +direct remark of Klaus. Brockelmann, who summoned us to the table, burst +out with the question whether Anna Maria were to assume the direction of +the housekeeping again. + +"'I am not going to remain here,' she replied, smiling sadly. + +"'We shall see about that,' said Klaus, quickly. 'First of all, the +child is to be baptized, and then I have so much to talk over with +you--everything has been lying over! No, you can't go away again so +quickly.' + +"'When is the christening to be, then?' I asked. + +"'Oh, we have not talked about that at all yet, have we, Susanna?' said +he, turning to her. + +"'No, but it must be soon,' declared the young wife. 'Isa says it is not +proper to wait more than four weeks.' + +"'As you like,' he replied, heartily glad to have the way paved for some +sort of an understanding. He hoped, indeed, that these two would become +reconciled, and that Anna Maria would stay in the father-house. + +"Yes, she did stay, but it came about in a different way from what he +thought. + +"Anna Maria came in search of me the next morning. To-day I first saw +how she had altered; her face had grown thin, and fine lines were drawn +about her mouth. She was sad and sat still by the window. + +"'Have you seen the baby to-day?' I asked cheerfully. + +"She shook her head. 'Klaus wanted to take me in with him, but Isa said +Susanna was at her toilet. I only heard him try his voice.' + +"'And have you talked with Klaus about the christening?' + +"She nodded. 'On Monday,' she replied, 'and in the day-time. Susanna +wishes a great festivity.' + +"'Well, Brockelmann will be in despair!' I cried; 'and Klaus will not be +exactly enchanted. But what is he to do?' + +"'What is he to do?' asked Anna Maria, in astonishment. 'He is to +exercise his authority as her husband, and say "No!" Great heavens! has +she entrapped you all together, that you still do what _she_ wishes?' +She had sprung up. 'Everything, everything here dances as she pipes, +even Brockelmann. She has trained you all like poodles; you do +beautifully, if she only raises a finger!' + +"'Anna Maria,' I begged, 'do not be so angry right away; she is still +ill, and she----' + +"'No, no,' cried the girl, 'it is dreadful here! What has become of +Buetze, our dear old Buetze? Where now are order and regularity? +Everything goes topsy-turvy, and things run over each other in order +that the gracious Frau need not wait. Whether or not the master of the +house gets his dues, or the servants theirs, is of no consequence, if +only madame smiles and is friendly. I wish I had never come back!' + +"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'are these your good resolutions?' + +"'Oh, have no fear,' she replied, her lips quivering. 'I have repented +bitterly enough letting myself be carried away _once_; I shall not do so +again. But in my father-house I shall not stay; the torment would be +greater than I should be able to bear.' + +"She went to the window and looked out. Klaus was just riding in at the +gate; he had probably been in the fields. His eyes sped to the +ground-floor, and he kissed his hand up there. 'Susanna is standing at +the window with the child,' thought I. + +"'Klaus looks fatigued,' remarked Anna Maria. 'Is he well all the time?' + +"'I think so,' I replied; 'at least, I do not remember his having +complained.' + +"'Complained!' she repeated. 'As if Klaus would ever complain!' + +"But he did complain; we met him at the breakfast-table down-stairs. +Anna Maria was right; he looked wretchedly. 'I have a fearful headache,' +he said, as she looked at him with a troubled face. + +"Susanna did not hear it. 'Klaus,' she begged, coaxingly, 'we will +illuminate the garden day after to-morrow, shall we not? Will you get me +some more colored paper lanterns?' + +"'Yes, Susy, willingly,' he replied; 'but I have no messenger. If you +had only spoken of it earlier; Frederick has already gone to the city +for Brockelmann, and I can spare no one from the harvesting, for I must +make use of the little good weather.' + +"'But you did know it, Klaus,' she pouted; 'I thought it would look so +charming when evening comes, with the whole garden hung with lanterns.' + +"He passed his hand over his aching head. 'Forgive me, my darling, I had +forgotten it; I had so much on my mind. You shall have the lanterns.' + +"'Have you written the invitations, Klaus?' the young wife continued. + +"'Yes, yes,' he replied, 'I did it all very early; they are already on +the way, and you shall have the lanterns to-morrow.' + +"'To-morrow?' she asked, disappointed. + +"'If my headache is better I can ride over this afternoon,' he said. + +"Anna Maria sat by silently and looked at her plate. Then Isa brought in +the child; Susanna was still eating. 'Oh, do give it to me,' begged Anna +Maria, her eyes shining. She rose and went to the window, and +scrutinized the little face. + +"'He resembles our family, Klaus,' she said; 'he has your nose and your +kind eyes.' And she kissed him tenderly. + +"Isa had hurried out again. There was a great din in the usually quiet +house; beating and brushing everywhere, and everything seemed to be +turned upside-down. Klaus rose at length. 'Anna Maria,' he asked, going +up to her, 'would you help me to go over some things in my books which +it is necessary to attend to?' + +"She looked up joyfully. 'Gladly,' she said, 'but must it be done +to-day? You look so wretchedly.' + +"'Yes,' he replied, 'I would like to put the matters in order; the +headache will surely go away.' I took the child from Anna Maria, and the +brother and sister went out. + +"Klaus did not come to dinner; he had gone to lie down. When he appeared +at coffee he looked red and heated. Anna Maria looked at him in concern. +'Only don't be ill, Klaus,' she said anxiously. + +"He smiled. 'Perhaps the ride to the city will do me good.' + +"'For Heaven's sake!' cried Anna Maria and I in one breath. 'You surely +are not going to take that long ride?' + +"'Oh, it will do no harm!' And he looked tenderly at Susanna, who lay on +one of the low divans, playing with the bows of her dress. She made no +reply; she did not say: 'If you have a headache, why stay; it is only a +childish wish of mine.' She did not ask: 'Is it really so bad?' She was +simply silent, and Klaus went to order his horse. + +"'Susanna,' begged Anna Maria, very red, 'I think he really has a +violent headache; do not let him go.' She spoke in real anxiety. Susanna +stared at her coolly. 'He is his own master,' she replied, 'he can do as +he pleases.' + +"'Yes; but you know that only your wish--if he should be ill you would +reproach yourself.' + +"Susanna laughed. 'Klaus ill? How funny! Because he has a little +headache?' And she went humming into the next room. Then we heard her +call out of the window: 'Good-by, Klaus, good-by!' + +"'She means no harm,' I said, taking Anna Maria's trembling hands. + +"'It is heartless!' she said, and went down into the garden. + +"Klaus did not return until nearly dark. + +"'Your package will come soon,' he said to Susanna. 'Stuermer has it in +the carriage; I met him in the city; he had just arrived with the +Lueneburg post.' + +"'Stuermer?' she asked, in an animated tone. 'Did you invite him to the +christening, Klaus?' + +"'No; indeed, I forgot it,' he replied. + +"She flung her arms about his neck. 'Oh, do write to him yet,' she +coaxed. 'Yes, please, please! Mercy,' she cried then, 'you are quite +wet!' + +"'Well, it has been raining hard for two hours,' he replied. 'But don't +be offended if I do not write to-night, for I feel miserably; to-morrow +will do? I would like to lie down.' He kissed her forehead and went into +his sleeping-room. I saw how he shivered, as if he had a chill. 'Thank +God that Anna Maria did not hear,' I thought; but I went to tell her +that Klaus was not feeling well, while Susanna sprang up to hasten to +her writing-desk, and with a happy smile took up a pen. + +"Anna Maria was in her room. I told her that Klaus was lying down on his +bed. She sat quite still. 'Poor Klaus,' she whispered. + +"'Stuermer is back again, too, my child,' I added. She made no answer to +that. We sat silent together in the dark room. + +"After a while Brockelmann's voice was heard at the door. 'Fraeulein, +perhaps it would be better if you were just to look after the master. +The gracious Frau'--she spoke lower--'probably knows no better; she sits +there chattering to him, and he doesn't seem at all well to me.' + +"'Anna Maria had sprung up impetuously. Then she slowly sat down again. +'Dear aunt, go,' she begged. + +"'Willingly,' I replied; 'I only thought you should be the one to go to +him.' + +"'I?' she asked, in a tone that cut me to the heart. 'I? No; it is +better that I should not go; I could not keep calm.' + +"I found Klaus's sleeping-room brightly lighted, Susanna sitting by the +bed, her tongue going like a mill-clapper. Over the nearest chair hung a +pale blue silk gown, richly adorned with lace; the candelabra were +burning on the toilet table, and the lamp stood on the little table +beside the bed, throwing its dazzling light right into Klaus's red eyes. +He held a cloth pressed to his fore head and was groaning softly. + +"From out-of-doors came the sound of beating carpets and furniture, and +in the hall opposite they were at work with wax and brushes, none too +quietly. + +"'Then I may send off the note, Klaus?' Susanna was saying. 'Can +Frederick ride over now, or shall the coachman take it? Do you think +Stuermer is at home by this time? Klaus, do answer, dear Klaus!' + +"He made a motion of assent with his hand, and turned his head away. + +"'If you are so tiresome, I sha'n't try on the dress again,' she pouted. + +"'But, dear child,' I whispered, 'do you not see that your husband is +ill?' I took away the lamp, and laid my hand on his white forehead. + +"'Ah, only a little quiet,' he moaned. + +"'Come Susanna.' I begged the young wife, gently; 'go over to your +room; I think Klaus is in a high fever, and he must have quiet." + +"Susanna looked at me incredulously. 'But it will be better to-morrow?' +she asked quickly. 'You will be well again to-morrow, won't you, Klaus?' + +"He nodded. 'Yes, yes, my darling; don't worry.' + +"'Well, then, I will go away quickly, so that you can sleep. Good-night, +Klaus!' she said, taking the silk dress on her arm. And she hastily bent +over him and kissed his forehead. Then she disappeared, but her silvery +voice floated over here once again: 'Isa, Isa, here; Christian is to go +to Dambitz directly, to Herr von Stuermer; he must wait for an answer.' + +"Suddenly Klaus gave a deep groan. 'My poor boy.' I lamented over him; +'are you feeling very badly?' + +"'I think I am going to be very ill,' he whispered. 'I can't control my +thoughts, everything turns round and round. Anna Maria, bring me Anna +Maria.' + +"Brockelmann was just outside in the hall. 'Call the Fraeulein,' I bade +her, 'and make them be quiet outside.' Anna Maria came, and went up to +the bed. He seized her hand. + +"'My old lass,' he said feebly, 'I fear I shall give you a great deal to +do.' + +"'Do you feel so ill?' she asked anxiously, and bent down to him. He +groaned and pointed to his head. 'Don't worry Susanna,' he begged. + +"Anna Maria did not answer, but she had grown very pale. Then she set +about procuring him some relief. Cold compresses were soon lying on his +forehead, a cool lemonade stood on the table by the bed, and outside the +tired horses were once more taken from the stable, to go for the doctor. +It had become quiet in the house, quiet in the next room also. Susanna +lay in her boudoir, reading; she did not know that the doctor had been +sent for, she did not hear how her husband's talking gradually passed +into delirious ravings, or know how his sister sat by the bed, her fair +head pressed against the back, and her eyes fixed on him in unspeakable +anxiety. + +"When the doctor came, Susanna was sleeping sweetly and soundly; and +with noiseless steps Isa carried about the awakened child, that it might +not disturb the mother. + +"Klaus was ill, very ill. The dreadful fever had attacked him so +quickly, so insidiously, and had prostrated him with such force, that a +paralyzing fear came over the spirits of us all. + +"The servants went about the house whispering, no door was heard to +shut, and the bailiff had straw laid down in the court, so that no sound +might penetrate the curtained sick-room. + +"Susanna would not believe at all that Klaus was seriously ill. She had +come merrily into the room, the child in her arms, and had found the +doctor at the bedside, and looked in Anna Maria's red eyes. She resisted +the truth with all her might. 'But he must not be ill,' she cried, 'just +now. Oh, doctor, it is too bad!' But when the confirmation in the +wandering looks of the invalid was not to be rejected, she flew to her +sofa and wept pitifully. It was not possible to reach her with a word of +consolation; she sobbed as I had seen her do but once, and Isa knew not +which she ought to quiet first, the screaming child or the weeping +mother. But Susanna did not for a moment attempt to make her hands +useful at the sick-bed. + +"The doctor came again toward evening. The fever was raging with +increased power; Klaus talked about his child, called for Susanna, and +even in his delirium everything centred in his wife. Sometimes he seized +Anna Maria's hand and pressed it to his lips, with a half-intelligible +pet name for Susanna; he called her his darling, his wife. And Anna +Maria stroked his forehead, and tear after tear rolled down her cheeks. + +"'Shall I have her called?' I asked the doctor. The old man shrugged his +shoulders. 'Well, since she has not come of her own accord, she spares +me a great deal of trouble,' said he; 'I should have had to carry her +out. She is still weak, and----' + +"I went away to look up Susanna. Isa informed me that she was in the +salon. + +"'Is she still crying?' I asked. + +"The old woman shook her head. 'Baron Stuermer is in there.' I heard +Susanna's voice through the portieres. I heard her even laugh. My first +impulse was to hurry in, but it suddenly became impossible to me. I only +looked at the child, and went away, weary and weakened from watching and +anxiety, up to my room. + +"A basket of garlands was standing in the corridor, and beside it the +package of the unfortunate lanterns. The baptism was to have been +to-morrow, but the coachman was already on his way to inform the +numerous guests that it was given up, as the master was ill. My God in +heaven, let not the worst come, be pitiful! What would become of +Susanna, of his child--ah! and of Anna Maria? + +"Then I sat down in my arm-chair and listened to the pattering of the +rain, and the wind blowing against the windows; after a little while +there came a knock at my door, and Edwin Stuermer entered. He was quite +changed from what he used to be; indeed, the news of Klaus's illness +might well make him so. Conversation would not flow. I could not help +thinking of how I had last seen him, when he took leave of Susanna and +me; how she had wept, and how he had written to me afterward. 'There +have been great changes here!' said I, in a low tone. + +"He did not answer immediately. 'How does Anna Maria get on with--with +her sister-in-law?' he asked. + +"'Anna Maria?' I was embarrassed. Should I tell him that those two had +not learned to understand each other yet? + +"'She is here very little,' I said at last; 'she has been living in the +convent since Klaus's marriage.' + +"He started. 'Still the old quarrel?' he murmured. 'Anna Maria never +liked her; I noticed it from the beginning. She is a strange character. +There are moments when one might believe she has a heart; but it is ever +deception, ever delusion!' + +"'Edwin,' I cried bitterly, 'you think you have a right to affirm that; +you are mistaken! Perhaps she has more heart than all of us.' + +"'It may be,' he remarked coldly, 'but she never shows it.' + +"He too, he too! My poor Anna Maria! If I could have taken him down to +the sick-room, if I could have shown him how she knelt beside her +brother's bed and buried her weeping face in the pillows, if I could say +to him: 'See, that is the secret of all her actions; she has too much +heart, too much generosity. She has done everything for the sake of her +only brother, who once lost a happiness on her account.' If I only might +show him this---- + +"Slowly the tears ran from my eyes. + +"'I did not mean to grieve you, Aunt Rosamond,' said he, tenderly. 'I +am in a hateful mood, and ought not to have come over. The empty house +has put me out of humor; an old bachelor ought to have no house at +all--everywhere great empty rooms, everywhere solitude. One wants to +talk to one's self to keep from being afraid. I knew it well, and for +that reason put off my return from day to day.' He gave a shrug. 'I +shall go away again; that will be the best thing.' + +"I now first looked at him attentively. He had altered, he had grown +years older. I did not know how to answer, he had spoken so strangely. +After a while he rose. 'I wish for improvement with all my heart. Do not +worry; God cannot wish that he should go now, right from the most +complete happiness.' + +"God cannot wish it! So we mortals say when we think it impossible that +some one should leave us on whose life a piece of our own life depends. +God does not wish it--and already the shadow of death is falling deeper +and deeper over the beloved face. Such times lie in the past like heavy, +black, obscure shadows; that they were fearful we still know, but _how_ +we felt we are not able to feel again in its full terror. + +"Days had passed. Anna Maria had long ceased to weep; she had no tears, +for breathless fear. Without a word she performed her sad duties, and +listened benumbed to the wandering talk of the invalid--Susanna and the +child, and ever again Susanna. + +"Then came a day on which the physicians said, 'No hope.' In the morning +Klaus had recovered his senses, and Anna Maria came out of the sick-room +with such a happy, hopeful look that my heart really rose. She beckoned +to me, and I took her place at the sick-bed for a moment. + +"He reached out for my hand. 'How is Susanna?' he said softly. + +"'Well, dear Klaus; do you wish to see her? Shall she come in?' + +"'No, no!' he whispered, 'not come; it may be contagious--but Anna +Maria?' + +"'She will be here again directly, Klaus,' said I. And, as if she had +been called, she came in at the door, and, kneeling by his bed, laid her +cheek caressingly on his hand. + +"'Anna Maria,' he complained, 'my thoughts are already beginning +again--my child, my poor little child----' + +"She started up. 'Klaus, do not speak so, dear Klaus!' + +"'It is so strange,' he whispered on; 'I don't see Susanna distinctly +any longer, but I hear her laughing, always laughing. I shut my ears, +and yet I hear her laugh.' + +"Anna Maria gave me a sad look. 'I will stay with your child, Klaus,' +said she. He pressed her hand. His eyes were already glowing feverishly, +and all at once he started up, the sound of a silvery laugh came in. +Susanna was actually laughing, perhaps with her child--I know not. The +next moment the door opened a little way. 'How is Klaus to-day?' she +asked. + +"Anna Maria did not answer; her eyes were looking at Klaus; he had +already fallen back, and his fingers began to play, unnaturally, over +the silk quilt. + +"I hastened to Susanna. 'He is not very well, my child,' I whispered to +her; 'the fever is returning.' Her face grew grave, and she quietly +closed the door. 'Always the same thing!' I heard her say, disappointed. + +"Stuermer came toward evening, almost at the same time with the two +physicians. Susanna was sitting in her blue boudoir, reading. With a +sigh of relief she laid her book on the table when Stuermer was +announced. He entered quickly. 'Well,' said he, sympathetically, and +breathing fast, 'I hear he is not so well again to-day?' + +"Susanna gave him her hand. 'So-so, baron,' she replied; 'they are not +very wise about the case. The physicians themselves do not know what +they ought to say, and Anna Maria is so fearfully anxious, and Aunt +Rosamond no less so. They think he is going to die right away. People do +not die so easily, do they?' she asked confidently. 'I know from myself; +I have been delirious, I----' + +"She got no further, for our old family physician suddenly came into the +room. I knew what he meant as soon as I looked at him--Klaus was worse. + +"Susanna gave him her hand, and went to the bell to order wine, she +said. Isa came with the child and presented it to the old gentleman. +'How is my husband?' asked Susanna. 'He is better, is he not, than Aunt +Rosa's and Anna Maria's funeral faces predict?' + +"He did not answer, but looked at her, almost benumbed. At last he said +slowly: 'All is in God's hands. He can still help when we mortals see no +longer any way before us.' + +"Susanna sprang up out of the chair in which she had just taken her +seat, the color all gone from her face. Her horrified eyes were fixed on +the old man's face as if they would decipher if those words were truth. +And when she saw his unaltered, sad expression, she began to totter, and +would have fallen to the floor if Edwin Stuermer had not caught her. + +"'Is it really so bad?' he asked the doctor, reluctantly, as he carried +the young wife to the couch. + +"'The end has come,' he replied, looking after Susanna. + +"She had lost consciousness only for a moment. She awoke with a loud +cry, and now all the passion that dwelt in the delicate woman broke +forth in its full force. She screamed, she fell at the doctor's feet; he +should not let Klaus die, she could not live without him! She wrung her +hands and began to sob, but not a tear flowed from her great eyes. She +sprang up and threw herself upon the cradle of the child, whose +frightened crying mingled with a terrible sound with her sorrowful +laments: 'I will not live if Klaus dies, I will not!' + +"'Calm yourself, gracious Frau,' bade the doctor, much shaken; 'think of +the child, take care of yourself.' + +"'I made him ill,' screamed the young wife. 'I sent him to the city in +the rain, in spite of his feeling poorly then; I am guilty of my +husband's death!' The lace on her morning dress tore under her +convulsively trembling hands; she ran up and down the room, accusing +God and demanding death. Silently Isa took the cradle with the child and +carried it into another room. Meanwhile Dr. Reuter had poured a few +drops of a sedative into a spoon and begged the young wife to take it. + +"She pushed the medicine out of his hand. 'I will not!' she cried, +sobbing. 'If you knew anything you would have saved Klaus! Oh, if I had +only taken care of him! But you did not let me go to his bed once, and +now he is dying!' + +"'Susanna, control yourself,' said I, severely, as the doctor shrugged +his shoulders. 'Is this proper behavior in the hour in which a human +life is making its last hard struggle? Surely there should be peace,' I +added, weeping. + +"She grew silent, not at my words, but at the entrance of Anna Maria. + +"'Come, Susanna,' said she, in a lifeless tone, 'let us go to Klaus. +Before the last parting, the doctor has told me, there sometimes returns +a clear moment. His last look will seek you, Susanna, he has loved you +so much.' + +"The young wife let herself be led away without resistance, but her face +had grown deathly pale. When they reached the door, she tore her hands +impetuously away from Anna Maria's. 'I cannot!' she cried, shuddering, +and turning her terrified eyes toward us; 'I cannot see him die, I +cannot!' + +"Anna Maria looked sadly at the young creature, who was now on her knees +before her, beginning afresh her despairing lamentations. Then she +silently turned away and went back to Klaus. We carried the young wife +to the sofa, and Dr. Reuter busied himself with Isa about her. + +"I started to go into the death-chamber, and Edwin Stuermer followed me. +In going out he cast a peculiar look at Susanna. In the next room, +through which we had to pass, stood the cradle; alone and unwatched +slumbered the poor little fellow in it, without a suspicion that the +black wings of death were hovering so near to his young existence. 'No +hope!' They are fearful words. + +"Stuermer came with me into the chamber of death. I did not wonder at it; +it seemed to me as if it must be so, as if he, the best and oldest +friend of the family, had a right to come to the dying bed of our Klaus. +Anna Maria was on her knees beside the bed, her hands folded; she was +waiting for that last look. + +"Then the house grew still, the servants stole about on tip-toe, and +outside, before the front door, stood the day-laborers and the men, with +their wives, looking timidly and with red eyes up to the windows. Edwin +Stuermer sat opposite me, deep in shadow, behind the curtains of the bed; +he leaned his head on his hand, and looked at Anna Maria and at the pale +face there on the pillow. I could not distinguish his features, but I +heard his deep and heavy breathing. I do not know if Klaus looked at +Anna Maria again, I could not see the two from my place. But I heard him +whisper once more: 'My child--Susanna' and 'Anna Maria, my old lass!' +with an expression of warm tenderness. + +"It was deathly still in the room; no sound but the swift, low ticking +of the clock. I started up all at once at this stillness. When I came up +to the bed Anna Maria was still on her knees and holding her brother's +hand, her fair head buried in the pillow. + +"Seized by a terrible foreboding, I went up to her. She started up. 'My +only brother!' she sobbed out. To my heart penetrated this shrill, +broken cry: 'My only brother!' + +"Then I heard the door open softly, and saw Stuermer go out; he held his +hand over his eyes, though it was so dark round about us, so fearfully +dark." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + + +"As formerly Anna Maria had been baptized beside the dead body of her +mother, so now was the little boy at his father's coffin. On the same +spot where, scarcely a year before, the clergyman had married the young +couple stood the black, silver-mounted coffin, almost covered over with +wreaths and flowers. The folding-doors of the hall were opened wide; the +last crimson ray of the setting sun fell through the windows and made +the light of the numerous candles appear feeble and yellow, and touched +Anna Maria's face with a rosy shimmer, as she bent over the child in her +arms. + +"The long white christening-robe of the child contrasted strangely with +the deep black of the mourning dress which enveloped the tall figure of +the girl. I stood beside her, my hands resting on the child; by my side +was Isa in a profusion of black crape. A throng of mourners filled the +hall, gentlemen and ladies. I do not remember who they all were, but I +can still see Stuermer's pale face. + +"A chair had been placed aright for Susanna, and she sat in it as if +petrified in pain and sorrow--a strange sight, this child in widow's +garb. The raging pain had abated, she had wept and sobbed herself weary; +now only great tears rolled down her marble cheeks. Bluish rings lay +about her eyes, and made them shine more ardently than ever. She kept +her slender hands folded and listened to the words of the clergyman, a +picture of the most hopeless and comfortless pain. + +"How many eyes then grew moist; how the servants wept outside the door! +The clergyman spoke affectingly; once before he had thus baptized a +child in this house. A quiver went through Anna Maria's tall figure, but +she pressed her lips firmly together. She did not weep, she only pressed +the child closer to her; then she took it to the young mother. I can +still see how Susanna sat there, with the little boy on her lap, as the +clergyman blessed them. She bent her head so that the black veil almost +covered her and the child. + +"But now the clergyman passed on to the funeral address, and when he +mentioned the full name of the dead man I saw Isa spring up quickly--the +young wife had fainted. She was carried to her room. A murmur of +sympathy went through the assembly. 'A bruise for her whole life,' I +heard whispered behind me. 'Poor young wife--still half a child! She +will never recover from it!' + +"Of Anna Maria, who stood there, no one thought. No one had said a +sympathetic word to her. All the pity belonged to the young widow, still +so young, so charming, and already so unhappy! They knew she was not on +good terms with her sister-in-law. They knew Anna Maria only as proud +and cold. + +"Anna Maria, if they could have seen you late that evening, in the dark +garden, at the fresh grave; if they had found you, as I found you, so +undone with grief and pain, kneeling on the damp earth, unwilling to +leave the flower-strewn mound under which your only brother lay--would +they not have granted you, too, a word of sympathy? + +"Those were sad, dreadful weeks which now followed, weeks in which we, +first regaining our senses, began to miss him who had left us forever. +Everywhere his kind, fresh nature, his ever-mild disposition, were +wanting. It seemed every moment as if he must open the door and ask in +his soft voice: 'How are you, aunt? Where is Anna Maria?' + +"Anna Maria! The whole weight of the extensive household management +rested on her shoulders, the whole wilderness of the inevitable domestic +business which her brother's death had caused. She found no time to +indulge in her grief. She had to drive into the city at fixed times, she +had to look through Klaus's books, letters, and papers, with her +trembling heart. And if then, in her swelling pain, she but threw her +hands over her face, she always regained the mastery over herself, and +could work on. + +"Susanna mourned in a different way. She fled to her little boudoir, and +always had some one about her. She was afraid in bright daylight, and in +twilight her heart would palpitate, and she was short of breath, and Isa +had to read aloud to her constantly. The little boy, who had been named +'Klaus' for his father, was not allowed to be called so; she called him +her little Jacky, her treasure, the only thing she had left in the +world, and yet sometimes would start back from the cradle with a cry, he +had looked at her so terribly like Klaus! + +"Then came the mourning visits from far and near, and Susanna received +them in the salon. She sat there, so broken down, her charming face +surrounded by the black crape veil, the point of her little widow's cap +on her white forehead, and her black-bordered handkerchief always wet +with bitter tears. + +"Anna Maria was never present during such calls. She fled to the garden +and did not return till the last carriage had rolled away from the +court. She was gentle and tender toward Susanna--'he loved her so much!' +she said softly. + +"It was November. In Susanna's little boudoir the lamp was lighted, and +the young wife lay, in her deep black woollen dress, on the blue +cushions; she held a book in her hand, and now and then cast a glance at +it. Occasionally she coughed a little, and each time quickly held her +handkerchief to her lips. I had come down, as I did every evening, to +look after her and the child. The little fellow was already +asleep--'thank God,' as Susanna added. The nurse was probably asleep +with him in the next room, it was very still in there. Isa was bustling +busily about the stove, for it was bitterly cold out-of-doors; on the +table beside Susanna lay a quantity of colored wools, as well as a piece +of embroidery begun, and extremely pleasant and comfortable was this +little room. Who in the world could have desired a more comfortable spot +on a snowy, stormy evening? + +"'Where is Anna Maria?' I asked pleasantly, after the first greeting. + +"Susanna shook her head. 'I don't know,' she said feebly, and let her +book drop. + +"'Fraeulein Anna Maria is in the master's cabinet,' Isa answered. 'Herr +von Stuermer has just ridden away.' + +"Susanna's eyes flamed up for a moment. 'Why did he not come in here?' +she asked. She raised herself a little. 'Ah! aunt,' she whispered, 'I +think I am going to be ill. I have a constant irritation in my throat, +and I feel so wretchedly. Dr. Reuter said last week I ought not to spend +the severe winter here. Ah! and yet I cannot bring myself to decide to +go away.' + +"'I can feel with you, my dear child,' I returned. 'I would not go +either, in your place.' + +"Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. 'Yes, it is all the same if I die +_here_!' she replied. + +"'Oh, don't believe any such thing, Susy,' I said jestingly. 'You must +live for your child; you are exhausted by all this dreadful affair; the +winter will soon be over.' + +"At this juncture Anna Maria entered. 'How are you feeling, Susanna?' +she asked kindly. + +"'I am ill,' sobbed the young wife; 'very ill! I shall stifle yet in +these overheated rooms; I have not your sound lungs.' + +"Anna Maria looked down at her in astonishment. 'I am very sorry for +that,' she said sympathetically. + +"Oh, if Klaus were only alive, he would have gone south with me long +ago!' cried Susanna; and Isa shook her head doubtfully. + +"That was Anna Maria's weak spot. 'Dear Susanna,' she said tenderly, 'if +it is necessary, then go. I know that you are delicate, that you have a +cough; let us consult with the doctor to-morrow, and decide where. And +then we will pack you both up and----' + +"'Both?' asked Susanna. 'That is just it; I cannot take the baby with +me!' + +"'And you cannot make up your mind to part from him?' Anna Maria asked +hesitatingly. + +"'No, no!' sobbed Susanna. + +"'I suppose,' said the maiden softly, the bright blood mounting to her +cheeks, 'you will not intrust him to me'--she hesitated--'even if I +promise to watch over him day and night?' + +"Susanna stopped sobbing. 'But why not, then?' she cried. 'He is Klaus's +child, and you are so fond of him!' + +"Anna Maria turned and went out of the room, and Susanna sprang up and +followed her. After a while they came back, and for the first time there +was a smile on the lips of each. Susanna would fly away out of the +desolate, snowed-in house of mourning, and Anna Maria had one more care. +She might fondle and care for the child of her only brother to her +heart's content; the child to whom she had only ventured timidly, in +order not to excite Susanna's jealousy, should now belong to her alone +for a long time. + +"And Susanna went away with chests and trunks, and with Isa. She was +overcome with pain at the parting from her child; at the last moment she +wanted to tear off hat and cloak again and stay here. However, she got +into the carriage. That she would not be here at Christmas did not +disturb her; it would be no festival this year, she thought, it would +only make her sadder. The doctor had really advised her going south. + +"And so we were alone in the solitary house--Anna Maria, the child, and +I. The child's cradle stood in her room; she would lie for hours before +it, and could not look her fill at the round, childish face. She could +still weep, weep bitterly, for Klaus; but her grief had grown gentler, +much gentler. + +"On a stormy evening, a few days after Susanna's departure, Stuermer came +to speak with Anna Maria. He had not been here for more than a week. + +"Brockelmann showed him at once to Anna Maria's room; we had not heard +him come, and she was right on her knees before the cradle, talking to +the child, so simply and affectionately, so sweetly and naturally, about +the Christ-child and the Christmas-man. All the great, overflowing love +of which the girl was capable, an infinite tenderness and gentleness, +sounded in the tone of her voice. But Anna Maria had no heart--how often +had the man said that, who was now standing still at the door and +looking at her as in a dream. + +"She sprang up in confusion as she caught sight of him; the old proud, +impenetrable expression returned to her face at once. + +"'It is so lonely over there,' he said apologetically, 'and then I had +to bring you the mortgage from the mill; the old crow has begged so +hard, Fraeulein Anna Maria, I think we will leave it to him, or, if you +prefer, I will take it too.' + +"She shook her head. 'Oh, never,' she said calmly; 'the money must stay +at the mill; Klaus promised it to the man.' + +"He was still holding his hat in his hand. 'May I stay here half an +hour?' he asked. + +"'If our sad society is not too tiresome for you, Stuermer,' replied Anna +Maria. 'You give us a pleasure.' Then she suddenly turned and went out +of the room. + +"'Now tell me, for Heaven's sake, Aunt Rosamond,' asked Stuermer, 'what +is the matter now? Why do we sit here, and where is Frau von Hegewitz? +Have the two fallen out again, perhaps?' + +"'Susanna? Ah! you may not know yet, to be sure,' I replied. 'Susanna +went away to Nice three days ago; she had a cough, and feared the +winter.' + +"He sprang up impulsively, and began to walk up and down the room; then +he stood before the cradle, and looked at the slumbering child. 'And +this young Frau has gone _alone_?' he asked at length. + +"'No, Edwin, with Isa.' + +"'Of course,' he said. He began his walking to and fro again, till Anna +Maria came in, followed by the child's nurse, who carried the little +sleeper into the next room. Then we sat silent about the table. It was +almost as in the old days, with the old furniture from the sitting-room, +and ticking of the clock under the mirror. Anna Maria had brought out +her spinning-wheel, and Edwin Stuermer looked at the floor, and, lost in +thought, played with a tassel of the table-cloth. + +"Then all at once he started up; the clear sound of children's voices +came in from the hall: + + "'Martins, martins, pretty things, + With your little golden wings,' + +echoed the old Martinmas ditty. + +"'To-day is Martinmas,' said I. Edwin Stuermer looked at me. It was a +strange look; what did he mean? And all at once Anna Maria--the proud, +heartless Anna Maria--threw her hands over her face, and bitterly +weeping, went out. + +"'What is that, Edwin?' I asked; and, as he did not answer, I tapped him +on the shoulder with my wooden knitting-needle. And the strong man rose +too, stood at the window, and looked out without replying a word. + + "'Little summer, little summer, rose-leaf, + Village and city, + Give us something, O maiden fair!' + +died away the old song." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + + +"The winter passed quietly away, and with the spring, just as the trees +were blossoming, Susanna came back. Anna Maria had sent the best +carriage to meet the home-comer, and put a little white dress on the +child. The table was set in a festal manner in the dining-room, and at +Susanna's place was a bunch of splendid white roses. I went to the front +steps to meet the young wife. Stuermer, who happened to have come over, +remained with Anna Maria in the salon; she had the child in her arms. + +"Susanna jumped down from the carriage, fresh and rosy, and fell on my +neck. 'Here I am again, dearest aunt, here I am again!' she cried. 'How +have you been, and how is my dear little boy?' She flew up the steps +like a bird, so that all the lace and flounces of her elegant mourning +dress stood out and blew behind her. Like a child she ran through the +hall; I could scarcely keep up with her; then she stood in the salon. + +"The baby had grown; the baby sat there quite sensibly already, on the +arm of his fair aunt; his bright curly hair fell about his lovely baby +face, and he was just grasping after Uncle Stuermer's watch. The young +mother rushed to the child with a cry of delight, pulled it into her +arms, and covered it with kisses. But the young gentleman misunderstood +this; he did not know the strange lady at all who had come in so +suddenly, and with a pitiful cry he stretched out his arms toward Anna +Maria. + +"Susanna was confounded, and then began to weep, affectingly and +bitterly: 'She had lost her child's love!' It was a painful scene. +Stuermer went into the next room, and Anna Maria tried to console +Susanna. 'It is only because he is not accustomed to you; he has not +seen you for so long, Susanna. Just hear what he has learned,' she +begged. + +"And going up to the weeping woman, she said: 'Ma--ma!' + +"'Mamma!' stammered the little fellow, quite consoled. + +"Susanna laughed, and promised to change her dress quickly; then she +came to the table. The grief was already overcome; and she showed +herself, in course of time, none too eager to regain the child's love. +Anna Maria silently retained all the cares she had undertaken; but +sometimes the young wife would embrace her child in a sudden outbreak of +tenderness, and not let him out of her arms for hours. + +"The summer did not flit away so quietly as it had begun; there were +frequent visitors, and sometimes Susanna's laugh would echo, terribly +clear, through the rooms. Anna Maria was sad; she fled to her room +whenever a carriage full of guests arrived, or a pair of saddle-horses +were led slowly up and down before the house. But Stuermer was now a +daily guest; it really pained me when I saw him ride across the court. + +"'Baron Stuermer is with Frau von Hegewitz,' Brockelmann announced one +afternoon, as she came into Anna Maria's room, where I was sitting by +the window. 'The baron inquired for the baby, and the Frau was just +coming out of the salon; she took him in with her, laughing, and said I +was to get the child.' + +"Silently Anna Maria lifted him up from the carpet, where he had sat +playing, and with a kiss gave him to the old woman. 'There, now, go to +mamma and be good.' + +"She then bent over her housekeeping book. + +"'Will you not go down, Anna Maria?' I asked. + +"She raised her head. 'Oh, aunt, I have something important to do now, +and--he will not miss me. He will be here again often,' she added. And a +faint, traitorous blush tinged her face. 'I think they still love each +other.' + +"I shook my head. 'Ah, Anna Maria, she still wears her widow's cap!' + +"'It will come, nevertheless,' whispered the girl, and an expression +full of anguish lay about her mouth; 'and then she will go away with +him, and will take the child with her, and at last the cup of my +unhappiness will be full. Then I shall feel nothing any longer, no +longer call anything in the world _mine_, not even a miserable hope!' + +"I was silent and looked at her sadly. How many hundred times I had said +to myself that this would come. I shuddered at the thought of an empty, +icy-cold future--poor Anna Maria! + +"And it certainly was as Anna Maria had said. Stuermer came often, +Stuermer came every day. We sat together at coffee in the garden-parlor, +or on the terrace on warm summer evenings. Susanna had quite regained +her old happy disposition. Sometimes, too, a white rose shone out from +her dark curls, and her eyes laughed down over the garden, without a +thought of the grave there below. It seemed sometimes as if something +took hold of me, as if a dear, familiar voice said to me: 'So quickly am +I forgotten?' + +"And Anna Maria would sit for hours with the child on her lap, and say +the word 'father' to him countless times, and rejoice like a child over +his first awkward attempts. She guided his first steps; she did not let +him out of her arms, but carried him about everywhere, all over the +house and in the garden. 'Perhaps he will retain a recollection,' said +she, 'and this is all his; he will live here some time, in his home, and +then he will be tall and strong like his father, and dear and good to +his old Aunt Anna Maria.' + +"Was Stuermer really drawing nearer to Susanna? I could not bring myself +to perceive it, and then--it could not be announced yet, the year of +mourning had not expired. But perhaps she had her word already; he loved +her, had already loved her as a girl; no other hindrance except the +mourning lay any longer between them. + +"The day following the anniversary of Klaus's death some one gave a +quick, excited knock at my door. Stuermer entered; he wore a short coat +and high boots, as if he had come from hunting. + +"'Dear Aunt Rosamond,' said he, throwing himself into a chair, as if +exhausted, and drying his moist forehead with his handkerchief--'dear +Aunt Rosamond, we have always been good friends, have known each other +so long. I have a favor to ask of you, a very great favor.' + +"'Of me?' I asked, my heart beating hard from a painful fear. + +"He looked pale, and quickly threw his gloves on the table. 'Speak for +me!' he begged. 'I am a coward. I cannot tell you what would become of +me if a second time I--' He hesitated. + +"'Are you so little sure of your case, Edwin?' I asked, bright tears +running from my eyes. I thought of Klaus, I thought of Anna Maria, my +dear old Anna Maria! + +"'I am not at all sure of my case,' he replied, 'or should I be standing +here? Should I not long ago have explained an old, unhappy mistake?' + +"'You are in great haste, Edwin,' said I bitterly. 'Yesterday was the +first anniversary of Klaus's death!' + +"'It has been very hard for me to wait so long,' he answered, in the +calmest tone. 'Well, if you will not, I must devise some means by +myself,' he declared impetuously. 'Where is Anna Maria?' + +"'No, no,' I begged, 'for God's sake! It would grieve her to death. I +will go. I will speak for you, if it must be!' And again burning tears +came into my eyes. 'So tell me what message am I to deliver?' + +"He was silent. 'If--if--I beg you, aunt, I do not know,' he stammered +at length; 'it will be best for me to speak to her myself.' And before I +could say a word he had hurried out. + +"I do not know how it happened, but I was bitterly angry with him--he, +usually the man of tenderest feeling and greatest tact! 'To think that +love should sometimes drive the best people so mad!' I said angrily, +wiping the tears from my eyes. + +"And now there would be a love-affair and an engagement; yesterday deep +widow's weeds, to-morrow red roses! I clinched my fists, not for myself, +but for Anna Maria. I was pained to the depths of my heart. For Anna +Maria it was the death-blow. The love for Stuermer was deeply rooted in +her heart. She would get over this, too; she would rise up from this, +too; but the spirit of her youth was broken forever. She could no longer +call anything in the world hers, for Susanna would take the child away +with her. I did not want to hear or see any longer. I took my shawl and +went into the garden. + +"The first yellow leaf lay on the ground, a fine mist hung in the trees, +and the sun was going down crimson. I walked down the path to the little +fish-pond. I saw the decaying boat lying in the clear brown water, and +the reflection of the oaks. Then I suddenly stopped. I had recognized +Edwin Stuermer's voice. They must be standing close by me, behind the +thicket of barberry and snow-berry bushes. + +"'No, no, I shall not let you again!' he said, strangely moved. I turned +to go. It seemed to me I must cry out from pain and indignation. + +"I walked back quickly. I know not what impelled me to go first to the +child's bed, as if I must look in that little innocent face to still +believe in love and fidelity in the world. The little man was asleep, +the curtains were drawn, and the night-lamp already lighted. The door +leading to Susanna's room was just ajar. All at once I started up, for +the sound of Isa's voice came in to me and made my heart almost stop +beating. + +"'It won't do to put off any longer, my lamb; if you have said A, you +must say B too. This is the third letter already, and you can't remain a +widow forever. Oh, don't make faces now; over there--that is nothing. If +I am not very much mistaken, he has turned about now, and--' She +probably made a sign, and then she laughed. + +"Now I heard Susanna, too. 'My child!' she sobbed. + +"'But, darling, do be reasonable. One can't take little children about +everywhere. What would you do with the rascal? Let him grow up on his +inheritance; few children have so good a one. You can see him at any +time, too, darling,' she continued, as Susanna kept on sobbing. 'You +will only have to come here. Oh, don't be so fearfully unreasonable; +have I ever given you any bad advice? Do you mean to live on here, under +the sceptre of your sister-in-law? I should laugh!' said she, after a +while, playing her last trump. + +"Susanna's weeping suddenly ceased. 'I do not know yet,' she said +shortly. + +"Then I roused myself from my numbness, and hurried through the +garden-parlor to the terrace. There they stood--yes, in truth, there +they stood--under the linden, Anna Maria and Stuermer, and looked over +toward Dambitz. The last ray of the setting sun tinged the evening sky +with such a red glow that I closed my eyes, dazzled; or were they dimmed +by tears of joy? Now I heard a light rustle behind me, and, looking +around, I saw Susanna. She had laid aside her widow's dress, and had a +white rose in her hair. The tears of a few minutes ago were dried. + +"I took her by the hand and pointed mutely to the two under the linden. +She looked over in surprise. 'Anna Maria?' she asked softly. + +"'And Edwin Stuermer!' I added. She did not answer. But she had grown +pale, and looked at them fixedly. + +"'They have long loved each other, Susanna,' said I, gravely; 'even +before you ever came here. But Anna Maria once refused his +proposal'--Susanna's eyes were fixed on my lips--'_because she would not +forsake her only brother!_' + +"The young wife was silent; but, as Anna Maria and Stuermer now turned in +the direction of the house, she turned and went in. Now they came +walking up the middle path. And when they stood before me, I saw a +happy light in Anna Maria's eyes which I had never seen shine before. +She bent over to me and kissed my hand. + +"'She has made it very hard for me, has Anna Maria,' said Edwin Stuermer, +drawing the girl to him. 'She tried to put on her icy mask again; she +could not go away from Susanna and the child. But this time I was too +quickly at hand. Was I not, my Anna Maria?' + +"Very early the next morning I heard a carriage roll away from the +court. I rang for Brockelmann. 'The gracious Frau has gone away with +Isa; and has left a letter for Anna Maria down-stairs on the table.' + +"'Have you delivered it yet?' I asked. + +"The old woman nodded. 'There is some secret about it,' she said sadly; +'Isa was altogether too important.' + +"Anna Maria came, very much surprised, with the open letter. + +"'I don't understand it, aunt. Susanna has a rendezvous in Berlin with +an acquaintance from Nice?' + +"I shrugged my shoulders. + +"'She is angry with me,' she whispered, with pale lips. 'She did love +him, aunt; it is horrible!' + +"'No, no, my child,' I tried to calm her, 'no, do not believe that.' But +she made an averting gesture, and left me with tears in her eyes. +Already a shadow lay over her happiness. Reluctantly I followed her +down-stairs, and then went, almost aimlessly, into Susanna's room. Here +all was topsy-turvy, just as occasionally in former times. In the haste +of departure all sorts of things had been left lying about, on every +chair some article of clothing, fans, ribbons, strips of black crape, +and books, and in the fire-place was still a little heap of burned +paper. The fragments of a letter had fallen beside it, in the hurry +probably. I picked them up--a bold handwriting, English words. + +"'I beg for something positive at last,' I read. 'To Berlin--no +hindrance--my love--in a short time--mine forever--Robbin.' + +"I sat quite still for a while, with the bits of paper in my hand. Now +it gradually became clear to me--Susanna's restless, distraught manner, +Isa's mysterious conduct, her words of yesterday, and the sudden +departure. Susanna was gone, Susanna would never return; in a short time +she would be the wife of another, of a perfect stranger; she would never +belong to us any more! + +"And I took up the pieces of the letter and went to look for Anna Maria. +She was sitting at the window, looking over toward Dambitz. 'Here, Anna +Maria,' said I, 'your fear is groundless.' + +"She read, and a painful expression came over her face. 'I pity her, +aunt. She thinks her happiness is floating about without, but it is +slumbering here in this little cradle. She will find it out sooner or +later, and she will return, don't you think so?' she asked, anxiously +confident. + +"Then her face lighted up: Stuermer was coming across the garden; he was +leading his horse by the bridle, and sent up a greeting. + +"'Your lover, Anna Maria!' + +"She grew very red. 'Is it not like a dream?' she asked softly. + +"It was in November, the day before Anna Maria's marriage, that a letter +with a strange post-mark lay in the mail-bag for me, the address in a +man's handwriting. I gave a start; I recognized the bold hand, the +peculiar flourish at the last letter of a word. It was the same hand +that had written that letter whose remains I had found in Susanna's +room. + +"I broke open the envelope; it contained two letters. The one which +first fell into my hands was a formal announcement of the marriage of +Frau von Hegewitz, _nee_ Mattoni, to Mr. Robbin Olliver, London. + +"I took up the other letter. 'Dearest aunt,' my astonished eyes read, +'the accomplished fact has just come to your knowledge; forgive me, +forgive me everything! I am not wicked, not light-minded; I have only +sought for myself the freedom which is as necessary to my life as air to +breathing. I shall gladly follow my husband, with whom I became +acquainted in Nice, to Brazil, out of the narrow circle of rusty old +customs, to a more stirring, varied life, in which to-day and to-morrow, +weeks and months, do not follow each other in dull repetition. + +"'With longing I think of my child. I have no right to take him with me +over the sea; he belongs to his ancestral home, and I know that Anna +Maria must love him more than I. Forgive me, I beg you once more from my +heart, and send me occasionally--it is the last request I shall make of +the family which chains me with inward bonds--a lock of my child's hair, +and teach him to think without ill-will of his mother.' + +"No signature, nothing more. I turned the sheet over--nothing! I gave a +sigh of pain, and yet it seemed as if the weight of a mountain had +rolled from my heart. + +"And now I must tell Anna Maria about it. But no, not to-day or +to-morrow. These days ought never to be troubled. I went down-stairs +toward evening. Anna Maria was by the graves in the garden. Brockelmann +informed me; and the old woman showed me with pride what she had +arranged in the hall for her Fraeulein's wedding-day--all about, +evergreen, and countless candles in it. + +"'It is no great festival,' said she; 'only two or three people are +coming; Anna Maria will have it so, and he too. But just for that reason +it should be right beautiful.' + +"I went into the girl's sleeping-room and stepped up to the child's +little bed. He was slumbering sweetly, without a suspicion that his +mother had left him forever. But be quiet, you poor little fellow; you +still have a mother, a true, earnest one--Anna Maria. I stood in the +recess of the window and listened to the breathing of the boy. + +"After a while the door opened softly and Anna Maria entered. She did +not see me, but I saw that she had been weeping. She knelt down to the +child and kissed it, and then stood with folded hands before the bed a +long time. + +"Then footsteps sounded in the next room. 'Anna Maria!' called Stuermer. +She flew to the door. 'Edwin!' I heard her say jubilantly. They +whispered together a long time, and when I came in they were standing at +the window. + +"'Is that a nuptial eve?' I asked, in jest. 'In the dark thus, and +without any ringing of bells and music?' + +"They both laughed. But then the church-bell began its evening peal, and +from the next room came in the clear sound of a child's voice: 'Mamma, +mamma, Anna Maria!' Then she threw her arms about my neck and kissed me. +'And do you call that without ringing of bells and music?' she asked +happily. Then she brought in the child, and they sat together on the +sofa, with it between them, and spoke of Klaus, of past days, of the +future, and of their happiness. + +"It was Anna Maria who first mentioned Susanna's name. 'It is so long +since she has written,' she said. 'I have received no answer to two +letters. Can she be coming, Edwin? She knows that to-morrow is to be our +wedding-day.' + +"'Susanna?' I replied. 'No, Anna Maria, she is _not_ coming!' + +"'Have you news?' they asked, both together. + +"'She is married, Anna Maria, and is no longer in Europe.' + +"Neither of them answered. + +"'And she lays the child on your heart.' + +"Then she bent over and kissed the baby, who had gone to sleep on her +lap. 'Edwin,' she whispered, in a strangely faltering voice, 'this is +the wedding present from my only brother!'" + + * * * * * + +So ended the manuscript. It was the third evening of the reading. The +young man laid the sheets on the table and looked in the agitated face +of his wife. "My mother died in America," he said. "Mother Anna Maria +tied a strip of crape about my arm one day, and cried, and kissed me so +often; we were living right here in Buetze then; and then we went up to +Aunt Rosamond, and she cried too, and kissed me. They told me that my +mother was dead, but I did not understand them, because I saw Anna Maria +before me, and I did not know or care to know any mother but her." + +The young wife took his hand. She was about to speak, but did not, for +just then the door opened and a tall woman's figure crossed the +threshold. + +"Mother!" they cried, both springing up, "Mother Anna Maria!" And the +young man tenderly put his arm around her and kissed her hand. + +"Good evening, children," she said simply, and her eyes looked gently +over to them, under the white hair. + +"Oh, dearest mother, how charming of you!" cried the young wife, +exultingly. "How are father and the sisters?" + +"Edwin is well," she replied; "and the sisters are looking forward to +Sunday, when you are coming over." + +"And you, mother?" + +"Well, I had a longing to see my eldest daughter and my only son," she +said lovingly; "and besides, to-day is Martinmas." + +She let bonnet and cloak be taken off, and sat down on the sofa. "What +have you there?" she asked, turning over the papers. Then her eyes +rested upon them; she read, and a delicate blush gradually mounted to +her face. + +"Those were the sad years," she whispered; "now come the bright ones. +When I am dead then write underneath: + +"'She was the happiest of wives, the most beloved of mothers!'" + + + + +Lives of Famous Men + + +In this series of historical and biographical works the publishers have +included only such books as will interest and instruct the youth of both +sexes. A copy should be in every public, school and private library. + +LIFE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. By George Washington Parke Custis, the +adopted son of our first president. + +LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By Hon. Joseph H. Barrett, ex-member of +Congress. + +LIFE OF U. S. GRANT. By Hon. B. P. Poore and Rev. O. H. Tiffany, D. D. + +LIFE OF WILLIAM McKINLEY. By Murat Halstead, Chauncey M. Depew and John +Sherman. + +LIFE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT. By Thomas W. Handford. + +LIFE OF HENRY M. STANLEY. By Prof. A. M. Godbey, A. M. + +LIFE OF JOHN PAUL JONES. By Charles Walter Brown. + +LIFE OF ETHAN ALLEN. By Charles Walter Brown. + +LIFE OF W. T. SHERMAN. By Hon. W. Fletcher Johnson and Gen. O. O. +Howard. + +LIFE OF P. T. BARNUM. By Hon. Joel Benton. + +LIFE OF T. DEWITT TALMAGE. By Charles Francis Adams. + +LIFE OF D. L. MOODY. By Charles Francis Adams. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Sister's Love, by W. Heimburg + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SISTER'S LOVE *** + +***** This file should be named 33958.txt or 33958.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/9/5/33958/ + +Produced by Peter Vachuska, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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