ll 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