ned with Anna Maria in the salon; she had the child in her arms.

"Susanna jumped down from the carriage, fresh and rosy, and fell on my
neck. 'Here I am again, dearest aunt, here I am again!' she cried. 'How
have you been, and how is my dear little boy?' She flew up the steps
like a bird, so that all the lace and flounces of her elegant mourning
dress stood out and blew behind her. Like a child she ran through the
hall; I could scarcely keep up with her; then she stood in the salon.

"The baby had grown; the baby sat there quite sensibly already, on the
arm of his fair aunt; his bright curly hair fell about his lovely baby
face, and he was just grasping after Uncle Stuermer's watch. The young
mother rushed to the child with a cry of delight, pulled it into her
arms, and covered it with kisses. But the young gentleman misunderstood
this; he did not know the strange lady at all who had come in so
suddenly, and with a pitiful cry he stretched out his arms toward Anna
Maria.

"Susanna was confounded, and then began to weep, affectingly and
bitterly: 'She had lost her child's love!' It was a painful scene.
Stuermer went into the next room, and Anna Maria tried to console
Susanna. 'It is only because he is not accustomed to you; he has not
seen you for so long, Susanna. Just hear what he has learned,' she
begged.

"And going up to the weeping woman, she said: 'Ma--ma!'

"'Mamma!' stammered the little fellow, quite consoled.

"Susanna laughed, and promised to change her dress quickly; then she
came to the table. The grief was already overcome; and she showed
herself, in course of time, none too eager to regain the child's love.
Anna Maria silently retained all the cares she had undertaken; but
sometimes the young wife would embrace her child in a sudden outbreak of
tenderness, and not let him out of her arms for hours.

"The summer did not flit away so quietly as it had begun; there were
frequent visitors, and sometimes Susanna's laugh would echo, terribly
clear, through the rooms. Anna Maria was sad; she fled to her room
whenever a carriage full of guests arrived, or a pair of saddle-horses
were led slowly up and down before the house. But Stuermer was now a
daily guest; it really pained me when I saw him ride across the court.

"'Baron Stuermer is with Frau von Hegewitz,' Brockelmann announced one
afternoon, as she came into Anna Maria's room, where I was sitting by
the window. 'The baron inquired for the baby, and