"But, dear child, do not take this affair so sorely to heart," she admonished. "You will wear yourself out with this anxiety and excitement. Why anticipate the worst at once?"
Marietta did not turn. She was painfully pale, and a suppressed sob was in her voice as she replied:
"This is now the third day, and yet I cannot learn anything. Oh, it is awful to have to wait like this, hour after hour, for bad news."
"But why must it be bad news?" the old lady spoke consolingly. "Herr von Eschenhagen was still well and bright yesterday afternoon. I inquired about him at your special request. He went to drive with Herr and Frau von Wallmoden. The affair has probably been settled amicably."
"I should have heard of it," said the young girl, in a heartbroken way. "He promised me, and he would have kept his word, I know. If misfortune has really happened to him--if he has fallen--I believe I could not live!"
The last words were spoken so passionately that Fraulein Berger looked at the speaker in dismay.
"Do be reasonable, Marietta," she entreated. "How are you responsible for an impertinent man insulting you, or the betrothed of your friend stepping in to your rescue? You really could not act more despairingly if your own betrothed stood before the pistol."
The cheeks, just now so pale, flushed redly, and Marietta turned to the window with a quick gesture.
"You do not understand, auntie," she said, in a low voice; "you do not know how much love and kindness have been shown me in the house of the Chief Forester--how earnestly Toni begged my forgiveness when she learned how deeply her future mother-in-law had offended me. What will she think of me when she hears that her betrothed has been in a duel for my sake? What will Frau von Eschenhagen say?"
"Well, they will at least be open to the conviction that you are quite innocent in this affair, which, if it ends well, they will not hear of. I do not recognize or understand you in all this. You used to laugh away every care and anxiety, but this time you exaggerate it in a really incomprehensible manner. You have scarcely eaten or drunk in two days in your excitement; you must not sit at my table to-day as you did yesterday and the day before. I tell you that; and now I will look after the dinner."