wife had put their best
ribbons on their caps, and tripped to and fro in restless expectation.
Karl, too, appeared in his hussar's frock.

Meanwhile Anton went once more through the rooms, and listened for the
crack of the whip that should announce the baron's arrival. His own
heart beat: for him, too, a new era was about to begin. After all, his
life here had been a pleasant one enough hitherto: he and his trusty
ally had felt themselves the masters of the castle, and had got through
their anxieties cheerfully together. Now, however, Karl must take up his
quarters in the farm-yard, while Anton, according to the wish of the
baroness, was to occupy a room in the castle, so that he must come into
daily relations with the family, and he now asked himself of what nature
these would be. The baron was almost a stranger to him: how would he
suit this baron? And he was blind too--yes, blind. Lenore had written
him word that the surgeon gave no hope of the injured optic nerve ever
recovering. This had been kept back from the sufferer, who comforted
himself with the hope that time and skill might yet remove the dark
cloud from his eyes. But Anton confided the truth to Karl, and was
obliged to tell all the dependents that the baron was at present
suffering from his eyes, and obliged to wear a bandage over them; and he
read upon the faces of all that they felt this was a misfortune for the
property. And his heart beat unquietly, too, when he thought of Lenore,
with whom he should now be brought into constant contact. How would she
and her mother treat him? He determined carefully to suppress what he
now felt to have been idle claims, and so to behave from the first as to
afford them no cause for mortifying his self-respect. And yet he could
not help wondering whether they would treat him as a friend and an
equal, or make him feel that he was a hired dependent. It was in vain
that he said to himself that his own feelings made the latter
arrangement desirable; he could not check the delightful visions that
would arise of life led with Lenore on equal terms.

The crack of the whip was now heard in the village, and soon the family
and establishment arrived. The farm-servants, the landlord, and a few of
the villagers were grouped around the pitch-pans. The farmers rushed
forward to open the carriage-door, and as Lenore jumped out, and her
face was seen, the women pressed nearer, and the men broke out into loud
acclamations. All looked