“No—do as I bid you—and make haste.”
Amrie went into her chamber, and weary to death, she threw herself down for a minute upon her trunk. Oh, she was so weary, so tired, so discouraged. Could she only fall asleep and never wake again! But her duty summoned her, and scarcely had she taken her Sunday dress in her hand, when joy awoke in her heart, and the glow from the evening sky which threw a clear beam into the humble garret room, trembled upon the heightened color of Amrie’s cheek.
“Put on your Sunday dress.” She had only one, and that was the dress she had worn at the wedding in Endringen. Every fold and rustle of that garment awoke the memory of the dancer, and the joy she had felt in that dance. But the night soon sank into the room, and as Amrie fastened her dress in the darkness, her joy vanished and timidity returned. She said to herself, “that as she dressed herself to do honor to John, she would show that she prized his family also,” and she put on the necklace, the present from his mother.
So Amrie came down from her chamber adorned as she was at the dance in Endringen. Rose cried, “What is this? Why have you dressed yourself thus? Why have you put your whole fortune on your back? Is it a servant who puts on a necklace? Go, instantly, and take it off.”
“No! that I will not, for his mother gave it to me when I was a little child, and I wore it when I danced with him at Endringen.”
They heard a noise upon the steps, but Rose continued, “So you good-for-nothing creature; you, who would have perished in rags if we had not taken pity on you—and now you will take away my bridegroom from me!”
“Do not call him so before he is,” said Amrie with a strange, faltering voice; and the old cook cried from the kitchen, “Barefoot is right, a child should not be named before he is christened. He will meet with misfortune else.”
Amrie laughed, and Rose shrieked—“Why do you laugh?”
“Why should I cry?” said Amrie. “Indeed I have reason enough; but I will not.”
“Wait, I will show you what you must do,” shrieked Rose, beside herself—“so—and so.” She had torn Amrie down to the ground, and struck her in the face.