at the forge had sent him, he said. I met
him on the steps, just as I was coming in from the garden, and bade
Brockelmann go up to Susanna with the note, which was written on the
finest letter-paper. The boy trotted away, and I sat down with Anna
Maria in the sitting-room. In a few minutes Susanna's light step was
heard in the hall, and she entered the room in haste.

"'I must beg you for a carriage, Fraeulein Anna Maria!' she cried, out of
breath; 'my old Isa is ill: I must go to her.'

"Anna Maria put down her pen, rather unwillingly, at this disturbance;
she had been making out accounts.

"'But, Susanna, how often have I requested you not to walk so fast? You
are out of breath again.'

"'Shall we not find out first what is the matter with Isa?' said I, for
all at once Klaus's words, 'Hold your hands over this girl!' fell
heavily on my soul. Klaus had asked it of me. Klaus was no child; he was
a calm, strong-willed man, and he was going to make her his wife, and I
knew he would accuse me, bitterly accuse me, if a hair of her head were
hurt.

"'It might be a contagious disease, Susanna,' I continued, with all the
decision at my command, as her eyes sparkled at my opposition.

"'And what if it were the plague?' she cried, and clinched her little
hands, and swung her foot impatiently under the folds of her dress.

"Anna Maria stood up. 'For shame, Susanna! I think you are quite right
to wish to take care of Isa; it would be unnatural if you did not have
this desire. But you have scarcely recovered, and a long stay in that
musty little sick-room would be poison to you; and besides, as Aunt
Rosamond says, the disease may be contagious; we must find out about it
first.'

"'And meanwhile she may grow worse and die!' cried Susanna passionately.
'What if I do take the disease? I must go to her!' And bursting into
tears, she threw herself into a chair, and buried her head in the
cushions. Anna Maria went up to her and bent over her.

"'Susanna,' she said, kindly, 'a sensible woman shall go at once to your
Isa. And now compose yourself; I have a quiet word to say to you when I
come back.'

"'God knows what that may mean!' I thought, looking at the weeping girl.
'What does she mean to say quietly to her?' I stroked Susanna's hair
gently. 'Do not cry, _ma petite_,' I said, consolingly. 'Everything is
in God's hand. He guides and rules every human life according to his
will; trust him, he will bring it right!' I do not