ntly 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 o