the hours seemed to pass much more slowly than usual. Toward
four o'clock I sat waiting at the window; my heartbeat as violently as
Anna Maria's, perhaps. She, I knew, was down-stairs in her room,
restless and anxious. Half-past four struck, five, and Stuermer was not
yet here. Instead, Susanna came into my room and sat down opposite me;
she had her kitten in her arms and began to play with it.

"I should have liked to send her away, but no suitable excuse occurred
to me at that moment. It is fearful how slowly the minutes pass when one
is counting them in anxious expectation; heavy as lead, each second
seems to spin itself out to eternity, and one starts at every sound. No,
that was a farm-wagon, now a horseman; ah! it is only the bailiff.

"Susanna felt my silence and restlessness painfully at any rate. 'Oh, it
is fearfully tiresome in the country in winter!' she sighed. 'What can
one do all day long?'

"'Have you written to Klaus yet?' I asked.

"'O dear, no!' she replied, with a suppressed yawn. 'I don't know what
to write him; I have no experience, I hear and see nothing.'

"'Well, an engaged girl is not usually at a loss for something to write
to the future husband,' I remarked.

"'Indeed?' she asked, absently. 'Yes, it may be, but I--I find it so
stupid just to drag out variations of the theme, "I love you."'

"'Klaus has written you, no doubt, Susanna, that you are to be published
from the pulpit on Sunday?'

"She started, and stared at me with wide-open, awestruck eyes. 'I don't
know,' she stammered, 'I----'

"'But you must know what is in his letter,' I said, impatiently.

"'Yes, I--' She put her hand in her pocket and drew out a letter. 'I
haven't read it yet; I was going to this evening--but----'

"'You have not opened the letter yet?' I cried, quite beside myself.
'Well, I must say, this case is unparalleled! You complain of _ennui_,
and yet carry quietly about in your pocket the most interesting thing
that can exist for you! The variations on the familiar theme do, indeed,
seem tiresome to you, Susanna!'

"I had spoken bitterly and loud. Susanna remained silent, and the same
choking feeling of fear came over me as yesterday. I heard the girl sob
gently, and was sorry at once for my vehemence.

"'Susanna,' said I, softly, 'you are standing before a very serious turn
in your life, and you trifle along like a child!'

"She suddenly broke out in loud weeping. 'What can I do, then?' she
cried, w