"He was still holding his hat in his hand. 'May I stay here half an hour?' he asked.
"'If our sad society is not too tiresome for you, Stürmer,' replied Anna Maria. 'You give us a pleasure.' Then she suddenly turned and went out of the room.
"'Now tell me, for Heaven's sake, Aunt Rosamond,' asked Stürmer, 'what is the matter now? Why do we sit here, and where is Frau von Hegewitz? Have the two fallen out again, perhaps?'
"'Susanna? Ah! you may not know yet, to be sure,' I replied. 'Susanna went away to Nice three days ago; she had a cough, and feared the winter.'
"He sprang up impulsively, and began to walk up and down the room; then he stood before the cradle, and looked at the slumbering child. 'And this young Frau has gone alone?' he asked at length.
"'No, Edwin, with Isa.'
"'Of course,' he said. He began his walking to and fro again, till Anna Maria came in, followed by the child's nurse, who carried the little sleeper into the next room. Then we sat silent about the table. It was almost as in the old days, with the old furniture from the sitting-room, and ticking of the clock under the mirror. Anna Maria had brought out her spinning-wheel, and Edwin Stürmer looked at the floor, and, lost in thought, played with a tassel of the table-cloth.
"Then all at once he started up; the clear sound of children's voices came in from the hall:
"'Martins, martins, pretty things,
With your little golden wings,'
echoed the old Martinmas ditty.