an
unheard-of manner!'

"The old actress meanwhile stood with folded arms, and an indescribable
smile played about her mouth.

"'Are you well enough to get up and drive home with me, Susanna?' I
asked.

"'No!' cried the old woman. 'Why should she go to you again? Sooner or
later they will be sure to show her the door!'

"'Susanna, Klaus is below; he has been anxious about you; and Anna Maria
is impatiently waiting at home. Be reasonable, be good; you owe us an
explanation.'

"But in place of an answer a violent fit of coughing followed; she
suddenly began to toss about and clutch at the air, and her eyes looked
over at me, large and fixed, strangely unconscious. The old actress fell
on the bed with a piercing cry, and wound her arms about the girl. 'Oh,
Lord, she is dying!'

"Had Klaus heard this cry? I know not; I only know that all at once he
was in the room, and pushed the old woman away from the bed, and that
that moment decided the fate of two human beings. All that had been
fermenting in him for weeks, the stream of his passion which had been
wearily held back by cold reason, was set free by the sight of the girl
lying thus unconscious. No more restraint was possible; he threw his
arms about her, he kissed the little weak hands, the dark hair; he
called her his bride, his wife, his beloved; never again, never, should
she go from his heart, who was dearer to him than all the world! In dumb
horror I heard these impetuous words rush on my ears. Thank God,
Isabella Pfannenschmidt had left the room; she had evidently rushed out
for a restorative, for tea or water.

"I laid a heavy hand on the man's shoulder. 'Are you mad, Klaus? Do you
not see that she is sicker than ever?' Susanna now lay in his arms,
really swooning; her head had fallen on his shoulder, and the small
face, like that of a slumbering child, showed a slight smile on the
lips.

"'Aunt,' said the tall, fair man, without getting up, tears shining in
his honest blue eyes, 'she shall not die; I should reproach myself with
it forever!' He pressed his lips to her forehead again and went out,
without looking about him; he sat on the stairs there a long time.
Susanna opened her eyes at last, under our efforts. She then let dry
clothes be put on her without resistance, but there was no sign, no
look, to betray to me whether she had heard Klaus's wild whisperings of
love. But she did not for a moment object to accompanying me to Buetze,
and energetical