A Sister's Love Part 20

"'No, thank you, _mon ange_; but tell me, do you know if Susanna--is she----'

"'She is still with her Isa, aunt,' replied Anna Maria. 'I packed up a little basket of food for her this morning. Marieken carried it, and----'

"'Well, Anna Maria?'

"'Oh, well, she sits by the old woman's bedside, Marieken tells me, and round about her lie laces and ribbons and flowers; Susanna is making a new hat or two for herself. Marieken says she had no eyes for my appetizing basket; with cheeks as red as roses, she was all absorbed in her finery.'

"'Incorrigible!' I murmured; 'Anna Maria, why have you let her stay away? Is the old woman really so ill?' I added, out of humor.

"'Well, it did not seem to me so alarming from Marieken's account. If you were not a patient yourself, aunt, I would have driven over.'

"I lay back with a sigh. Of course, I had to be ill just now. Out of doors a cold wind was blowing over the bare fields; we should have an early autumn. My good times were over, and now were coming again the days of stove-heat and confinement to the house, of rabbit-skins and herb-bags.

"'I shall invite no one to the harvest festival this year, aunt,' began Anna Maria, after a pause. 'What would all the people do here without Klaus? It will give me no pleasure without him; on the contrary, it is painful to me.'

"'But Klaus wishes----'

"'Ah, aunt, but he will be content _au fond_. I know him!' said the girl, with a smile.

"Just then Brockelmann announced Baron Sturmer. Like a flash of fire a sudden blush mounted to Anna Maria's face, the fingers which held the needle trembled, and her voice was unsteady.

"'Excuse me to the baron. I am prevented, unfortunately; aunt is ill.'

"Anna Maria had hitherto seen him only in the presence of others; she feared being alone with him; was that indifference?

"'Ask the baron to come up here,' said I with sudden resolution. 'I am certainly old enough to receive him in bed,' I added to Anna Maria.

"'Come, _mon cher_ Edwin, if you are not afraid to see a sick old woman in bed,' I called to him, as he was now entering, and pointed to a chair by the head of my bed, opposite Anna Maria. Edwin Sturmer was the most versatile man I ever saw, and at once master of a situation. And so he was soon sitting by me, chatting pleasantly. The twilight deepened, and Anna Maria let her hands rest. She listened to us as we spoke of old times; I saw how her eyes were fixed on his face, how now and then a slight flush spread over it. She spoke little, and all at once rose and left the room.

"'Anna Maria is quiet, and looks badly,' I remarked; 'the work is too much for her.'

"He did not answer at once; then he said: 'She was always so still and cold, Aunt Rosamond.'

"'No, no, Sturmer, she is in trouble, she is worried about Klaus.'

"'Of all things in the world, that is a needless anxiety,' he returned, laughing. And evidently trying to get away from the subject, he asked: 'But where is Fraulein Mattoni?'

"'Nearer to you than you think, Edwin.'

"'With the old witch, her duenna?' he asked, with that indifference which involuntarily suggests the opposite quality.

"'Yes; the old woman is ill and Susanna is taking care of her. _Eh bien_, you will come, of course, to our harvest festival? Anna Maria intends to celebrate it very quietly, quite _entre nous_; but you must come, Edwin.'

"'What?' he asked, absently.

"'For pity's sake, tell me where your thoughts are hiding?' I scolded, irritably.

"He laughed, and kissed my hand. 'Pardon, Fraulein Rosamond, I was still thinking about Klaus.'

"'And the result, Edwin?'

"'Is that I have come to none; he is really incomprehensible to me.'

"'Why?'

"'Do allow me _not_ to say it,' he replied; 'but I _envy_ him.'

"'May I not also know what?'

"'Yes,' he said, rising, 'his cool temperament. How much needless agitation, how many sleepless nights one to whom such calmness has been given is spared!'

"'But Klaus is not cold; I do not know what you mean,' said I, reproachfully; 'as little cold as Anna Maria, and--as you.'

"He sat down again, and without regarding my objection, continued: 'For Heaven's sake, do tell me where they got this even temperament, this indifference, this coolness. The father was an eccentric, energetic man, warmly sensitive, even to pa.s.sionateness--perhaps the mother was so?'

"'I a.s.sure you, Edwin,' I repeated, almost hurt, 'you know them both very little yet when you speak thus. They are neither indifferent nor cold-hearted; but both have, alas! inherited too much of the father's warm feelings and eccentricity. Believe me,' I added with a sigh. I was thinking of the scene in the Dambitz forge.

"Edwin Sturmer laughed. 'Well, well,' he said, 'I am far from reproaching Klaus with it; it is only incomprehensible to me. I suppose I seem odd to you?'

"'Oh, Sturmer, such a hot-head as you Klaus has never been, certainly, and I know that you owe to your vivacity my brother's love, which preferred you before his own son. You may be convinced that just that pa.s.sionate, changeable nature of my brother has made the children so earnest, so deliberate.'

"'Klaus is the best, the n.o.blest of men; he is my friend!' cried Sturmer, with warmth. 'Do I say, then, that I reproach him? But he has not learned to know life; he has never come from mere fidelity to duty and deliberation, to call his a moment of inspiration which is able to carry one quite out of himself; he has ever kept to the golden mean, blameless; he has always done enough, but not too much. In short--in short, such men are model men. But what life means, Aunt Rosamond, that he does not know, and only _he_ could trust himself----'

"He broke off suddenly. 'I should like to know how I came to deliver such a lecture to you,' he added, jokingly.

"It was almost dark in the room now. I could scarcely distinguish Sturmer's profile. He twisted his beard rapidly and nervously.

"'You may say what you will, Sturmer, but cold my two children are not,'

I declared, and just at that moment Anna Maria entered.

"'A light will be brought directly,' she said, cheerfully, stepping over to her chair. 'Pardon me, baron, for staying away so long; I was kept by domestic duties, which occupy me more closely than when Klaus is at home.'

"He made no reply; I only saw him bow. Anna Maria could have said nothing more pedantic, I thought. Conversation would not flow, the light did not come. Anna Maria was just on the point of ringing for it when the bell in the church-tower began to ring in quick, broken strokes.

"'Fire!' cried Anna Maria, in alarm, hurrying to the window. Already there was a commotion in the court-yard; Sturmer had also thrown open a window. 'Where is the fire?' he called down.

"With beating heart I sat upright in bed. 'Where?' called Anna Maria, 'where is the fire, people?' Then the words were lost in the tumult.

"'In Dambitz,' at last came up the reply, amid all the tramping of horses and noise of the people. '_Sacre Dieu!_' murmured Sturmer, overturning a chair in the darkness; 'Dambitz!'

"'I will light a candle,' said Anna Maria, calmly; 'give me a moment and I will go with you.' Below, the fire-engine was just rattling across the court. The candles flared up under Anna Maria's hand.

"'Send me a wrap, aunt, please; I wish to go over on Susanna's account; do not worry. I am ready, if you will take me with you in your carriage,' she added to Sturmer; and again a red glow spread over her face.

"'The carriage is ready, if you please, Fraulein.' He was already hurrying out of the room.

"'For G.o.d's sake, Anna Maria, bring back Susanna to me!' I cried. And then I lay alone for hours. Brockelmann came up once: 'The whole sky is red,' she informed me; 'it must be a big fire.' The little bell rang unremittingly its monotonous alarm, and before my eyes stood the burning houses, and I fancied Anna Maria beside Sturmer in the carriage, driving rapidly along the lonely highway, and Susanna in danger. And my thoughts flew to Klaus: 'Hold your hands over this girl. I will thank you for it all my life!' 'My G.o.d, protect her!' I prayed in my anxiety.