"I tried to think how I might silence the little red lips, but in vain. At last a thought struck me. 'Susanna 'I cried in the midst of her sweet laugh, 'Susanna, what do you say to a song? I heard you singing so prettily last evening.'
"'Ah! no, no, Mademoiselle,' she objected; 'I cannot sing before people.'
"But the gentlemen echoed my request with one voice, and Stürmer proposed to extinguish the candles, saying that one could surely sing better by moonlight.
"'Yes, yes!' she said joyfully, 'then I will sing!' And soon the reddish light had disappeared, and the pale moon's silvery rays fell on the bright figure of the girl, who had sprung up and was now standing by the railing.
"'What shall I sing?' she asked, 'Italian or German?'
"'German! German!' cried the gentlemen.
"'Oh! please Susanna,' said I, 'the song you were singing last evening; Anna Maria and I did not understand the words very well.'
"Anna Maria suddenly rose, but as if thinking better of it, sat down again. Stürmer had turned half around in his chair and was looking at Susanna.
"And now she began, leaning on the balustrade; and the same tones came to us, soft and sweet, and the same words we had heard last evening:
"'Far through the world I have wandered away,
And the old strife goes with me wherever I stray;
Home have I come, and my heart burns with pain,
Ah, that I only could wander again!
I am held not by walls, not by bolts, not by bars—
Two great blue eyes hold me, that shine like the stars I
And were but my fiery steed by my side,
Again on his willing back fain would I ride;
He would bear me away, far away from my home—
But I've seen thee again, and can never more roam!'