ickname from her black eyes
having been the cause of a duel between two Hegewitz brothers, in which
one was killed by his brother's hand. A Hegewitz herself, and lingering
at Buetze on a visit, she had deliberately married another man. How,
when, and where, it happened, the story did not tell; but her portrait
had remained at Buetze, and hung from time immemorial in this room.

"'Ah! let the picture stay: the child does not know whom it represents,'
replied Anna Maria. 'I think it is quite comfortable and pleasant here,
Aunt Rosamond, with the view into the garden.'

"Anna Maria had, literally, no idea of comfort, so her remark did not
surprise me. She lacked that charming feminine faculty of making all the
surroundings pleasing with a few flowers or a bit of graceful drapery.
'The poor thing,' thought I, 'coming from Berlin--to this dreary
solitude!'

"Anna Maria had suddenly turned around to me, and her face, usually so
austere, was glowing with tenderness. 'Aunt Rosamond,' she said, 'do you
know, I am really glad the little Susanna Mattoni is coming!'

"'And I am glad for you, Anna Maria,' I replied, 'for you need a
friend.'

"'I need no friend,' she replied bluntly, 'and how could that young
thing be a companion for me? She is a child, a poor orphaned child, in
need of love, and I will--' She broke off, and a hot blush spread over
her face.

"'You are still young yourself, Anna Maria,' I interposed, 'and I think
she must be seventeen years old.'

"'Years do not make the age, Aunt Rosamond, but the soul, the nature,
the experiences. If God will, she shall find in me rather a mother, for
as a companion I am worth nothing. I should have to conform her to
myself--oh, never!'

"I knew that Anna Maria's whole heart, usually so coldly closed, had
opened to receive a fatherless and motherless creature, to love it, in
her way, with all her might--in her way, indeed, and that was not
understood by every one. How much time have I spent in trying to fathom
that nature, which apparently lay open to every eye, against whose sharp
corners and angles almost every one ran, who had anything to do with
her.

"'Has Klaus gone to meet your guest?' I asked.

"'No, he rode out into the fields. Why should he?' she rejoined. 'Old
Maier drove away to S---- yesterday, and I think every second she must
come. I only hope it will be before the approaching thunder-storm
breaks!'

"The unpleasant stillness before the threatening sto