Jenny and Von Barwig looked at one another in astonishment and the little girl hurried after Thurza, arriving upstairs just in time to prevent her aunt from going into hysterics.
"Here I am, auntie," she said, and Miss Husted was so delighted to see her niece again, that she forgot to scold her. As she came downstairs after satisfying herself that Jenny was not only safe and sound, but in her usual health—she found Herr Von Barwig at the foot of the stairs waiting for her.
"She is all right, eh, madam?"
"Oh, yes," responded that lady, pleased that Herr Von Barwig should be interested in the welfare of any member of her family.
"She is a good child; I like her very much, very much."
"Yes, Jenny is a very good girl; her father was a member of one of the oldest New York families, quite the aristocrat let me tell you!"
"Ah, yes. Her father is dead?" repeated Von Barwig, "and her mother also?" he asked.
"I am her only living relative," sighed Miss Husted.
"Ah, I am glad of that," said Von Barwig simply, "Yes—I—Jenny and I have come to an understanding. I am her—what you call—not father-in-law—her—her——"
Von Barwig fumbled a little with the English language until he made Miss Husted understand that he had taken her niece under his wing, so to speak; and hoped that she would have no objection. On the contrary, Miss Husted was highly pleased, for one of her lodgers had told her that Von Barwig had been a great man in Germany.