"They had forgotten to latch the door; I slipped nearer, but did not understand Isabella's hissing whisper, nevertheless.
"'No, no!' cried Susanna again, but with little resistance. Fresh whispering, then a kiss. 'My little hare, my Susy, it may all be yet; now the thing is, to put a good face on the bad game!' in genuine Berlin speech. 'Now at it; you are brave!'
"An icy chill crept over me, even to my heart; I could not account for it to myself. But I was in no mood then to open the door, and went to my room with the consciousness that something wrong, something mysterious, was going on over there.
"An hour later Isabella came to me with a letter. 'Here it is,' said she proudly. 'Susanna is ready with her pen, she gets it from her father, and all that she says in this is beautiful. It is a shame that you haven't read it, Fräulein; how pleased Klaus will be.'
"'Herr von Hegewitz!' I corrected, bluntly.
"'Pardon!' returned Isabella, 'the name came so easily to my lips; I have heard it so often from Susanna that——'
"'Very well!' I interrupted. 'Now, to return to the letter; it almost sounds as if you knew the contents. I hope Susanna does not conduct her correspondence under your direction!'
"Isabella Pfannenschmidt grew crimson. 'Heaven forbid!' she said, casting an angry glance at me. 'Susanna only spoke in a general way of what she was going to write, to tell him how grateful she is and how honored and how she loves him.'
"'I do not wish to know anything about it,' I replied, coldly. 'I only expect of Susanna that she will not allow all that she has to say to-day to her lover—something which, it seems to me, should be as sacred as a prayer—to be desecrated by meddling eyes.'
"Isabella smiled in embarrassment; she evidently did not understand me. 'To whom can I give this letter,' she asked, 'to send it to the post-office?'