"'For God's sake, where is Susanna?' I cried to her.
"'With her old nurse, who has been made really ill from fright,' she said quietly, and sank exhausted into the chair by my bed.
"'But, Anna Maria,' I wailed, 'the forge is burned down!'
"'They are at the castle,' she replied, gently. 'Stürmer has given a shelter to all who were burned out.'
"'In the castle?' At the first moment the thought was quieting to me, but then my heart grew heavy. 'Oh, but that is impossible! How could you let Susanna accept the hospitality of an unmarried man? It is wrong of you; you are usually so observant of forms. You ought to have brought her with you, and the old woman too!' I had spoken impetuously, in my anxiety. Anna Maria gave me a strange look.
"'Isa is so ill she was in no condition to make the journey hither,' she replied. 'But Susanna lies across her bed with torn hair and face bathed with tears; she is nearer to her than all of us, and at such a moment, aunt, one does not think of—etiquette.' I first noticed now how pale and exhausted Anna Maria looked. Her fair hair had fallen down, and one golden tress falling over the white forehead lay on her plain dark-green dress; her eyes were cast down and her lips quivered slightly.
"'Poor child!' I cried, seizing her hands. 'It has been too much, and here am I reproving you!'
"She let her hand remain in mine, but did not look up. 'I am quite well,' she replied; 'but it is painful—to behold human misery and not be able to help. It was fearful, aunt! And it has cost one human life—nearly two.' Her voice was strangely lifeless as she said this. 'An old man,' she continued, 'in the act of saving his cow from the burning stable, was buried beneath the falling building. Stürmer carried out his grand-daughter, who was trying to help him, unhurt—but it was at the very last moment—a falling beam injured his arm.'
"She had spoken in snatches, as if it were hard for her to breathe. And now the peculiar sobbing sound came from her breast; I knew that so well, for even as a child she had thus suppressed a burst of tears. I grasped her hands more firmly; she was feverishly hot, and her bosom heaved violently.
"'The splendid, warm-hearted man! Just the same to-day as he ever was!' said I, gently. 'God be praised for having protected him!'