harge 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 Prof