e,
with a fluttering blue ribbon round her waist. She had thick beautiful
hair of a shade nearly golden, with a large silver pin like a dart run
through it, and a light wreath. The lady was taller and fuller in figure
than Susanna, but with a certain grace that reminded me of her. The
light, almost fashionably delicate way in which she placed her small
feet in dancing--it was as though she floated--also resembled Susanna,
and I therefore followed the pair with unconscious interest.

My short sight prevented me from distinguishing well, and as they passed
me, the lady's bent head was hidden by her own arm, which rested
confidingly on the shoulder of the evidently happy Martinez. What I saw
was only a broad, pure, innocent brow, which could belong to but one
person in the world, and that an escaped lock of hair played upon the
round white shoulder.

I felt my knees tremble. This tall, elegant, distinguished lady could
never be Susanna!

With a feeling of jealousy I watched the pair intently until the next
time they came by. When just opposite to me the lady raised her eyes,
her glance fell upon me, and a deep blush suddenly overspread her face
and neck right down to the lace edging on her dress.

It was Susanna!

During the scarcely more than two years that we had been separated her
beauty had developed wonderfully. The tender seventeen-year-old girl-bud
had developed into a splendid full-grown woman.

The pair sat down at the top of the room near the row of elderly ladies.

I saw next that these two were going through the last long-dance of the
ball, the cotillon, which is generally varied by an endless number of
figures, and the thought darted through my mind, that probably young
Martinez had been winning favour with Susanna the whole evening, since
he was now her partner in this particular dance. I noticed how the
minister's wife paid him marked attention, and I reflected bitterly that
he was both a rich man, and also, though shorter in stature, looked much
more grown-up and manly than I.

A knife seemed to go through my heart. I had been lying intoxicated,
like a beast, and allowed a stranger to take Susanna from me.

With wild jealousy I noticed how the handsome Martinez, dumb, but
speaking with his dark, fiery eyes, was trying, amid laughter and all
kinds of lively nods and gestures, to explain to Susanna a new figure
which was just going to begin, how he sometimes bent over her, as if
whispering confiden