"I do not know if Edwin Stürmer was enraptured at my request, but like an ever-courteous man he went down at once.
"Anna Maria met me on the stairs.
"'Where is he?' she asked hastily, without stopping.
"'Susanna is not seriously ill!' she called back; 'she has opened her eyes again already.' Her blue dress fluttered once more behind the brown balustrade; then I heard the cry, 'Klaus, dear Klaus!' a sob, and the door closed.
"Susanna was lying on her bed; her dress had been taken off, and she was lightly covered with a shawl; she held both hands pressed to her temples. Isabella was perched before her, holding a flask of strong-smelling ether. She tenderly stroked the girl's cheeks, and whispered eagerly to her. When she saw me, she got up.
"'How disagreeable, Fräulein! Just in this joyful hour the foolish child has to faint; but so it goes, if young people will not listen,' she began, in a remarkably talkative mood. 'Susanna, my heart, are you better? I have said a hundred times you mustn't dance; it isn't even a refined pleasure to whirl about among those common people. Heavens! what a smell! But, obstinate as ever—wait, I shall tell your fiancé of it, that he may keep a firm hand over you. Oh, yes, young people——'
"Susanna gave her nurse a look which expressed everything possible except love and respect.
"'Come, come, be brisk, Susy,' she continued inexorably, 'or do you think it is pleasant for Herr von Hegewitz to be waiting for you like this?'
"Susanna raised herself with a jerk. 'Do be still,' she said, folding her hands, 'I am so dizzy, so ill!'
"'Lie still, Susanna,' I said, to calm her. 'Perhaps you will be better toward evening. Klaus must have patience. Shall I take any greetings to him, meanwhile?'