"What a night! What a night!" murmured Fränzchen. "What shall we do? What can we do?"
Suddenly she jumped up and put out both hands as if warding off something.
"What if she should have gone away, never to come home again? What if this evening she left her parents' house forever? Oh no, that is too terrible a thought!"
"She can't have been so bereft of all reason, that is impossible!" cried Hans. "That would be too terrible; it is impossible!"
"Oh, this deadly fear!" murmured Franziska. "Is that rain?"
It was rain. At first only a few scattered drops pattered against the panes; but soon came the familiar sound of a drenching, pelting downpour. The gale drove the rain in gusts across the country, the broad park and the great city.
"In spite of everything, her mother would never have consented to an alliance with this—this Dr. Stein," said Franziska. "It is true that she likes to have him in her drawing room; but she is a proud woman and thinks that she has already arranged quite a different future for Kleophea. Shortly before she went away she spoke in her usual manner of a brilliant match. Oh, it would indeed be the worst misfortune that could happen if my cousin, with her contradictory spirit, had taken such a step. Listen—there's another carriage—thank God, there she is!"
They listened again and a moment later Hans shook his head and Fränzchen sank brokenly onto a chair; Henriette Trublet slept a deep and sound sleep.
"She would be lost for her whole life!" said Hans to himself, but Franziska heard the murmured words; she started, shuddered and nodded.
"She would be lost."