poor
ladies, and kiss them, and comfort them, and make up for all their
griefs. What she did was to put out a very cold, shaking hand, and say
in a voice that trembled, "_Guten Tag_."

"_Guten Tag_," said the first lady to descend; evidently, from her
mourning, the widowed Frau von Treumann.

Anna took her extended hand in both hers, and clasping it tight looked
at its owner with all her heart in her eyes. "_Es freut mich so--es
freut mich so_," she murmured incoherently.

"_Ach_--you are Miss Estcourt?" asked the lady in German.

"Yes, yes," said Anna, still clinging to her hand, "and so happy, so
very happy to see you."

Frau von Treumann hereupon made some remarks which Anna supposed were of
a grateful nature, but she spoke so rapidly and in such subdued tones,
glancing round uneasily as she did so at the coachman and at the others,
and Anna herself was so much agitated, that what she said was quite
incomprehensible. Again Anna longed to throw her arms round the poor
woman's neck, and interrupt her with kisses, and tell her that gratitude
was not required of her, but only that she should be happy; but she felt
that if she did so she would begin to cry, and tears were surely out of
place on such a joyful occasion, especially as nobody else looked in the
least like crying.

"You are Frau von Treumann, I know," she said, holding her hand, and
turning to the next one and beaming on her, "and this is Baroness
Elmreich?"

"No, no," said the third lady quickly, "_I_ am Baroness Elmreich."

Fraeulein Kuhraeuber, an ample person whose body, swathed in travelling
cloaks, had blotted out the other little woman, looked frightened and
apologetic, and made deep curtseys.

Anna shook their hands one after the other with all the warmth that was
glowing in her heart. Her defective German forsook her almost
completely. She did nothing but repeat disconnected ejaculations, "_so
reizend--so gluecklich--so erfreut_----" and fill in the gaps with happy,
quivering smiles at each in turn, and timid little pats on any hand
within her reach.

Letty meanwhile stood in the shadow of the doorway, wishing that she
were young enough to suck her thumb. It kept on going up to her mouth of
its own accord, and she kept on pulling it down again. This was one of
the occasions, she felt, when the sucking of thumbs is a relief and a
blessing. It gives one's superfluous hands occupation, and oneself a
countenance. She shifted from one foot to