"'She is sleeping, probably,' I replied.
"'Are you sure of that, Aunt Rosamond?'
"'No, Klaus, but I think it may be assumed with tolerable certainty. I know her.'
"'It is strange,' he remarked; 'I could have sworn I saw her vanish in the Darnbitz pines a little while ago.'
"'For Heaven's sake!' I cried incredulously. 'Impossible! in this heat! It is half an hour's walk from here!'
"'So I said to myself; but the gait, all the motions, the small, black-robed figure—indeed, I rode across the field at once, but of course nothing was to be heard or seen then.'
"'I will wager she is sleeping quietly up-stairs in her canopied bed, or staring at the "Mischief-maker,"' said I jestingly.
"'And now, aunt,' began Klaus again, 'I have a piece of news which will please you as it has me; but I do not know if Anna Maria—But then, it is nearly three years since that painful affair!'
"As he spoke he took a letter from the pocket of his linen coat, and looking at it said: 'Stürmer is back again, indeed has been for two weeks; I do not understand——'
"At that instant something fell clattering to the floor, and in the door-way stood Anna Maria, white as a corpse. In questioning alarm her eyes were fixed on Klaus's lips. I had never seen the strong-willed girl thus. Klaus sprang up and went toward her; I heard her say only the one word 'Stürmer.'