fair, but only try to raise Susanna to us,
to keep her away from everything which might remind her of the folly, of
the frivolity of the sphere from which she sprang; again and again to
point out to her what a rich, fair lot had fallen to her; to make her
comprehend that the wife of a Hegewitz must also be a pattern of dignity
and noble womanhood. I should have much preferred to bundle Isabella
Pfannenschmidt into the carriage again, to send her to some place miles
away, and against my will I was going out of my door, when I heard her
slow, shuffling step in the hall.

"'Please, ma'm'selle, come into my room a minute before you go to
Susanna,' I said to her. Frankly confessed, I do not know myself why I
did it; but I felt instinctively that I must speak with her first,
before she learned the latest turn in Susanna's fate from her own lips.

"The small person came slowly over the threshold, looking at me
distrustfully. She seemed to me infinitely wretched in her rumpled
bonnet and threadbare silk cloak, her face yellower than ever, and
sunken, and she was somewhat bent, as if still suffering pain. She sat
down in the nearest chair, and looked at me with her sharp, sullen eyes.
I stood before her and tried to speak, yet no word passed my lips. All
the craft, all the low sentiments which flashed out of those small eyes
toward me reminded me anew of the sort of atmosphere in which Susanna
had grown up. I had been walking up and down the room with these
thoughts; now I took a seat opposite the old woman, who had silently
followed me with her eyes. I wanted to tell her that a great, great
happiness had befallen Susanna, and found no words for it. It seemed as
if I were choked.

"'I would like to inform you,' I began, hesitatingly, but I got no
farther, for Anna Maria came in. 'Dear aunt,' said she, 'I have to speak
with Isabella Pfannenschmidt a moment.' I drew a breath of relief, and
went into the adjoining room.

"Then I heard Anna Maria's sonorous voice. She spoke of a great piece of
good fortune that had come to Susanna, and said that she hoped Susanna
would reward so much love, such infinite trust, with all her powers, in
order to make the man happy who offered her a name, a home, and a heart.

"Tears came into my eyes again; there was something in Anna Maria's
voice that pained me infinitely. I pictured to myself the proud maiden
before the vagabond actress, to whom she was now speaking as to an
equal. That which I