"'Anna Maria,' said I, 'I will come back soon; you shall not remain alone long.'
"Then she suddenly slipped to the floor, and buried her head in her mother's old arm-chair. 'Alone!' she cried, 'alone, forever, forever!'
"A few minutes later I was on my way to the hall. Several lamps had been lighted in the corridor, and the servants, with curious, pleased faces, were pressing before the open door. The report that the master was to be married to-day had, with lightning speed, reached even to the village. Right in front by the door stood Marieken, looking anxiously into the lighted room, in which Brockelmann was still busy, helping the sacristan arrange the improvised altar. She put another pair of cushions before the table, covered with a white damask cloth into which the crest was woven, and set the heavy silver candlesticks straight.
"Pastor Grüne stood waiting at the back of the room. He came toward me with an inquiring look.
"I shook my head. 'She is not coming!'
"'It is bad,' said he, 'when a good kernel is covered by such a prickly shell. Anna Maria lacks humility and gentle love; she has no woman's heart.'
"'You are mistaken in the girl!' I cried, imbittered, with tears in my eyes. 'She is better than all the rest of us put together!'
"'And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,' said he, impressively, 'and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.'
"My poor, proud, honest Anna Maria! If they only knew what I know, if they could only see right into your heart! thought I, and bitterly my eyes fell on the ravishing, lovely creature, now crossing the threshold on Klaus's arm. She did not wear the unfortunate white dress; she was in that little black lace-trimmed dress which she had worn the first time Klaus saw her, nothing but the myrtle-wreath adorned with white flowers in her hair to remind one of a bride. But if ever Susanna understood how to make her external appearance effective, it was now, as she came, without ornament or parade, to the altar. It was no wonder that Klaus did not turn his eyes away from her, that he pressed the delicate arm so closely to him, that he dismissed as groundless chattering what people might say about this pure, childish brow.
"And then the low whispering stopped; Pastor Grüne was beginning to speak.