Until arrangements could be made by him for new and comfortable quarters in the garrison he was going to, Frau Kahle was to stay on here, and First Lieutenant Weil and wife had asked her, to make things pleasanter for her, to remain as a guest at their dwelling for the short intervening time.
Joyfully Frau Kahle had accepted the friendly invitation. Thus she would have occasion thoroughly to enjoy herself with Kolberg until the hour of separation from him should strike. She felt with great relief that with her husband away she had no longer to give an account of her actions to anybody.
One day the Weil family were seated with their guest at table, when a military servant brought in a letter for Frau Kahle which the carrier had just left. She opened it, rapidly looked over its contents, and then put it away in the pocket of her robe, her cheeks reddening.
“Frau Pastor Klein is writing me to come and take a cup of coffee with her this afternoon, since she wants to see me once more before my going,—amiable of her, isn’t it? I think I will start at once, so as not to be too late.”
She arose, and sidled out of the room with a “Till this evening, then!”
A few minutes later Weil saw her hastening down the street in the direction of the town.
“Strange!” he then said to his wife. “I don’t think she ever associated with her before, and scarcely knows her. I hope this is not one of madame’s little tricks.”
“Let her go where she will, Max,” retorted Frau Weil, indifferently. “It’s none of our affair. She will leave in a day or two, anyway, and, after all, she is responsible for her own actions.”
But Weil shook his head doubtfully and went to his study.
The clock on the mantel indicated eight, and Frau Kahle had not yet returned. They began to fear anxiety on the score of their guest. What could have happened to her?