"I had sprung up and laid hold of the door-handle; for Heaven's sake! there would be a quarrel. But the storm had already drawn near.
"'Susanna is to remain, I tell you!' thundered Klaus. 'Do you quite forget who is master of the house? It appears to me I have let you go on for years in an immeasurable error, in letting you govern uncontrolled, and assenting to all your arrangements. It is time for you to remember whose place it is to decide matters at Bütze.'
"Merciful Heaven! My knees trembled; how was this to end? And now there was no sound there within; only the low singing of the young wife was heard from the kitchen, where she was rocking her youngest child to sleep; and I stole softly away from the door and sat down on the wooden bench before the house. Over the quiet, green graves in the church-yard lay a Sunday calm, only a light breath of wind rustled in the tall trees. Over in the little church the sermon was just finished, the sermon for the fifth Sunday after Trinity. The sound of the organ and singing of the congregation floated across to me, and my lips repeated the words:
"'Ah! stay with thy clearness.
Precious light, with us stay;
Let thy truth shine upon us,
That we go not astray.'
"Ah, yes, clearness, clearness and truth and peace; help us in all time of need! I knew Klaus, I knew Anna Maria. An almost exaggerated sense of duty, an iron will when she thought she was doing the right thing, inflexibility—that was the Hegewitz character; good, solid qualities when they got on peaceably together, but thus? And there was Stürmer coming out of the church door; he had not waited till the hymn was finished, and was now hastening up to me.
"'Fräulein Rosamond, you still here?' he asked. 'Who——'
"But I did not give him time to finish. 'Come, Edwin, give me your arm, I have been waiting for some one to escort me back.' And actually dragging away the astonished man, I succeeded in getting him into the park without betraying the presence of Klaus and Anna Maria in the little room.
"'And now, a thousand times welcome, dear Edwin,' said I, breathing freely again, as we walked under the shady trees. 'How have you been? How delightful it is to have you here again, and how well and strong you are looking!'
"He bent to kiss my hand. 'Yes, thank God that I am among old friends again!' he replied heartily. 'How have things gone here? But why do I ask? Well, of course; at least, I saw you all unaltered in church. But I would like to ask, at the risk of appearing curious, who was the young lady who—oh!' He stopped, and pointed toward the thick, dark shrubbery at one side, holding my arm so firmly in his that I was obliged to stand still.
"There sat Susanna in the deepest shade of the thicket. She was leaning her elbows on the table, and her oval face rested on her clasped hands; motionless, like a lovely statue, she was looking down before her.