"'I do not know, my child.'

"'What is that loud slamming of doors?' she asked after a while. 'And why do I sit here so cowardly, as if I had something to fear, when I have done nothing wrong? I need not wait for him to come to me; I can go to him first.'

"And she stood up again. With firm step she went to the door, but before she could put her hand on the latch the door opened, and Pastor Grune, in full official robes, crossed the threshold.

"Involuntarily the girl drew back at this unexpected appearance. The old man was plainly embarra.s.sed. After a moment's hesitation, he went up to Anna Maria and took her hands. 'I come, commissioned by your brother,'

he began. 'He wishes, through me, to put a request most fervently to your heart. Herr von Hegewitz intends, for reasons which he has not shared further with me, to consummate his marriage with Fraulein Mattoni to-day.'

"Anna Maria's pale face turned crimson. 'It is impossible!' she said, in a lifeless tone; 'it is not true!'

"'But, my dear child,' the old gentleman went on, laying his hands kindly on the girl's shoulders, 'look at me. I stand all ready in official robes to perform the solemn act. But first your brother would have peace made with his sister; he would not take this step until she, to whom he has been hitherto so closely bound in fraternal love, has again extended her hand to him in reconciliation.'

"'I am not angry with my brother,' came the denial.

"'Not with him, perhaps, but with her who in a short time will be his wife. His heart is heavily oppressed by this situation, and he begs you earnestly to speak a single word to his bride.'

"Anna Maria suddenly shook off his hand. 'I am to beg her pardon?' she cried, raising herself to her full height, her eyes flaming--'I beg Susanna Mattoni's pardon? Has Klaus gone mad, to think that I will humble myself before that girl? Go, Herr Pastor, tell him he must come himself to speak with me. I will fall at my brother's feet if I have grieved him, but I will also tell him what drove me to push the girl from me, and--go bring him before it is too late, or I----'

"'Anna Maria,' the old man broke in, raising his voice, 'cease from this defiance! Judge not, that ye be not judged, says the Scripture! You have no right to press yourself between these two; you have been prejudiced against your brother's bride from the first moment, you have judged her childish faults too harshly. Do you think by complaint to tear a man's love from his heart? Foolish child! then you do not know what love is, which forgives everything, overlooks everything. Stop, control yourself!

Anna Maria, you have an uncommonly strong will, a courageous heart; do not wholly imbitter the solemn hour for your only brother; it lacks already the consecration of a festal feeling. Your brother tells me he means to go away this evening with his young wife. Come, my child, follow your old teacher and pastor once more; come!'

"She drew back a few steps. 'Never!' said she, gently but firmly.

"'Anna Maria, not so, not so; bitter regrets may follow,' he said, appeasingly.

"'Never!' she repeated. 'I cannot go against my conscience; I should be ashamed to stand at the altar and listen to a lie! I had placed my entire hope on speaking to Klaus, on begging him to leave her. He does not wish to see me, or he would have come. I cannot do what he wishes; believe me, I have my reasons. Farewell, Herr Pastor!'

"She turned and went to the window, and pressing her head against the panes, looked out on the sinking darkness of the November evening. She was apparently calm, and yet her whole body shook.

"Meanwhile a familiar step was heard outside, pacing up and down. I stepped out. 'Klaus,' I begged, looking in his pale, excited face, 'why this terrible haste?'

"'How am I to do it, then?' he cried, impatiently. 'I cannot stay here, I am still needed in Silesia, so I must take Susanna away; what else can be done? Do you think I will expose her to this treatment any longer? By Heaven, aunt, when the girl's desperate letter came, it was fortunate that I could not come here on wings, that the vexations of the journey, and in M---- the procuring of the marriage license, detained me, or I should not have been able to control myself. Anna Maria is a stubborn thing; she has no heart or feelings, or she would at least be ready now to hold out her hand to Susanna and me.'

"'Anna Maria loves you more than you think,' said I, grieved, 'and if she was angry with your bride, she had sufficient cause.'

"He stood still, white as chalk. 'Aunt,' he implored me, with a wearily maintained composure, 'do not completely spoil this hour for me. Susanna has told me everything, and Anna Maria, in her views of united prudery and onesidedness, has regarded as a deadly sin what was an innocent, perfectly innocent act on Susanna's part.'

"At this moment Pastor Grune came out of Anna Maria's room--alone. I shall never forget the sad look with which Klaus met the eyes of the old man.

"So we three stood there; Klaus was just taking a step toward the door when in the same instant Isa stood beside him, as if charmed hither.

She already had on her black silk dress, and her withered face shone with joy and triumph.

"'Susanna is waiting, sir,' she whispered.

"'I am coming,' he replied, and turning around he said to me: 'It is better for me not to see her. I know _her_, I know myself, and I wish to remain calm.'

"Indeed it was better! G.o.d knows what would have happened if they had met. I promised to be present at the marriage ceremony, but first I went again to Anna Maria. She was still standing at the window, and did not turn on my entrance.

"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'I will come back soon; you shall not remain alone long.'

"Then she suddenly slipped to the floor, and buried her head in her mother's old arm-chair. 'Alone!' she cried, 'alone, forever, forever!'

"A few minutes later I was on my way to the hall. Several lamps had been lighted in the corridor, and the servants, with curious, pleased faces, were pressing before the open door. The report that the master was to be married to-day had, with lightning speed, reached even to the village.

Right in front by the door stood Marieken, looking anxiously into the lighted room, in which Brockelmann was still busy, helping the sacristan arrange the improvised altar. She put another pair of cushions before the table, covered with a white damask cloth into which the crest was woven, and set the heavy silver candlesticks straight.

"Pastor Grune stood waiting at the back of the room. He came toward me with an inquiring look.

"I shook my head. 'She is not coming!'

"'It is bad,' said he, 'when a good kernel is covered by such a p.r.i.c.kly sh.e.l.l. Anna Maria lacks humility and gentle love; she has no woman's heart.'

"'You are mistaken in the girl!' I cried, imbittered, with tears in my eyes. 'She is better than all the rest of us put together!'

"'And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,' said he, impressively, 'and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.'

"My poor, proud, honest Anna Maria! If they only knew what I know, if they could only see right into your heart! thought I, and bitterly my eyes fell on the ravishing, lovely creature, now crossing the threshold on Klaus's arm. She did not wear the unfortunate white dress; she was in that little black lace-trimmed dress which she had worn the first time Klaus saw her, nothing but the myrtle-wreath adorned with white flowers in her hair to remind one of a bride. But if ever Susanna understood how to make her external appearance effective, it was now, as she came, without ornament or parade, to the altar. It was no wonder that Klaus did not turn his eyes away from her, that he pressed the delicate arm so closely to him, that he dismissed as groundless chattering what people might say about this pure, childish brow.

"And then the low whispering stopped; Pastor Grune was beginning to speak.

"If I could only tell now how he opened his address! The words went in at one ear and out at the other; I saw only Klaus, his handsome face, so proud, so penetrated with kind, honest sentiment, with a glimmer of tender emotion over it; and I thought of Anna Maria lying over there on the floor, in pain and fear. Then I saw Klaus make a quick, convulsive motion, and now every word went to my heart:

"'It was on this spot that you once stood by the coffin of your dead mother, holding in your arms a dear legacy, promising with hand and heart to take care of the child and protect her in all the vicissitudes of life. And the way you did this, it was a joy for G.o.d and man to see!

There is no more intimate bond than that which united the orphaned brother and sister; and let not this bond be broken, let not the knot be untied by the coming of a third person! The wife'--he turned to Susanna--'must be a peacemaker; she must strive that unity may dwell under her husband's roof; that she may be to him a blessing and not a curse! A love between brother and sister is not less holy than between married people. There are old, sacred claims which brother and sister have upon one another, and therefore, young bride, let your first word in your new life be a word of peace; take your husband's hand and join it in reconciliation with that other which is not folded here in this place with us to pray for you. Do not leave this house without a word of peace, even if you think injustice has been done you in this hour which gives you, the homeless orphan, a home and a protector. Be gentle and ready for peace; ask yourself how great a share in the burden you bear.'

"A few shining drops ran down the cheeks of the bridegroom, while Susanna, like a child, listened with wide-open eyes to the clergyman's words, evidently painfully affected by the seriousness which he imparted to the situation.

"Then the affair came quickly to an end; the rings were exchanged, the solemn decisive 'Yes' died away--Susanna Mattoni was Klaus's wife. The servants withdrew, the doors of the hall were closed, Pastor Grune spoke a few more affecting words to Susanna, and Klaus silently pressed my hands.

"Brockelmann served a cold lunch and presented a gla.s.s of champagne; Isa brought in furs and cloak; the young couple intended to start in half an hour. Then the clergyman went away, Brockelmann and Isa had already left the room, and I was alone with Klaus and Susanna. He had drawn the smiling young wife to him. 'Susanna,' I heard him whisper, 'let us go to her, tell her that you forgive her; let us part in peace from Anna Maria, my sister.'

"The smile vanished, she stood there defiantly looking down to the floor, a deep blush on her face, and gradually her eyes filled with shining tears.

"'My first request, Susanna,' he repeated beseechingly. She remained silent, but rising on tip-toe, flung her arms about his neck; with infinite grace her head was slightly thrown back, and she looked up to him with her sweet eyes moist with tears. Impetuously he drew her to him and kissed the red lips and the little red scar on her forehead again and again.

"I stole softly out. The word of peace remained unspoken!

"An hour later the candles in the hall were extinguished, the house lay dark and silent."

CHAPTER XVII.

"Anna Maria did not become ill, as we expected; hers was too firm, too strong a nature; but she had grown bitter and gloomy. She did not belong to that cla.s.s of people whom a great sorrow makes tender.

"Joyless times followed that wedding--days and weeks, empty and cold. At first I had besought her to write to Klaus, not to let the breach become wider. She had answered me with a cold smile, and torn in two a letter from her brother after the first glance. I saved the pieces and found an effusion of honeymoon bliss, and nothing different could have been expected. Anna Maria had probably not observed the short business announcement that he had advantageously sold the estate in Silesia, and now thought of going to Paris with Susanna.