A Sister's Love Part 7

"'What is the matter?' asked Anna Maria.

"'There are two of them, Fraulein, and queer enough she looks--the old woman, I mean. And a thunder-storm like this is just the time for them to come to the house in!'

"The storm had indeed broken loose, with thunder and lightning, and torrents of rain. The old woman made haste to light the candles on the great mantel, for it was almost dark in the room.

"'They are coming up-stairs already!' she cried, and hurried out, leaving the door open.

"Anna Maria had not interrupted the old woman by a word; it was not her way to apprehend quickly a new turn of affairs. So she snuffed the candles quite composedly and remained standing by the mantel, so as to keep the door in sight. Her face was as cold and still again as usual, and did not show the slightest trace of expectation or curiosity, nor did it alter when in the door-way. But how shall I describe the young creature who, as suddenly as in a fairy-tale, stepped over the threshold?

"There never was but one Susanna Mattoni! I do not know whether she could be called a beauty; perhaps her sparkling brown eyes were too large for that, too widely opened for the narrow face, the nose too short, the lips too full, and the complexion too pale; but this I know, that only by an effort I suppressed an exclamation of surprise, as she stood there, so small and slight, in her closely-fitting black dress, as if she had been charmed thither. Her light mantle had slipped from her shoulders, and a pair of very slender hands had impetuously thrown back the c.r.a.pe veil from her hat. It was evident that the young girl was in a state of great excitement; her searching, anxious eyes rested on Anna Maria's imposing figure, and then dropped to the floor in embarra.s.sment; she apparently did not know what to do now, and breathed timidly and faintly.

"'G.o.d bless your coming, Susanna Mattoni!' said Anna Maria, in her deep voice; and she put her arm for a moment around the slender figure. 'May Butze please you as a temporary home!' There was an unwonted sympathy in these words, and as she bent down to the stranger I had to smile at my former opinion. Anna Maria needed no friend; young as she was, she stood by Susanna Mattoni with the maternal dignity of a woman of forty. It was remarkable how she utterly belied her youth in everything she did.

"But at this moment it first became clear what Brockelmann had meant when she spoke of two--of the old woman. At the threshold of the room appeared the figure of a small, elderly woman, in a worn black silk gown, a shawl embroidered in red and yellow over her shoulders, and an ill-shaped hood of black c.r.a.pe on her head, from which a yellowish, wrinkled face looked forth; a pair of small dark eyes darted like lightning about the room; then she ran to Anna Maria, who was regarding her in amazement, and with a theatrical gesture raised her clasped hands to her. 'Oh, Mademoiselle, pardon my intrusion, but the child--I could not part from Susanna!'

"'Stop that!' commanded Anna Maria, decidedly disturbed. 'Who are you?'

"The woman dropped her eyes and was silent.

"'Fraulein Mattoni, who is the woman?' said Anna Maria, turning to the young girl, who, it seemed to me, looked timidly at her companion.

Susanna was silent too. There was no sound but that of the rain beating against the windows, and swaying the branches of the trees. Anna Maria waited quietly a few minutes.

"'I have been in Professor Mattoni's household since Susanna's birth,'

the old woman now began, 'and----'

"'The child's nurse, then?' Anna Maria said, cutting off her speech.

'Very well, you may stay here twenty-four hours, and see how your demoiselle is provided for. Brockelmann,' she ordered the old woman, who, with a chambermaid, had just brought up a trunk that seemed as light as a feather, 'make up a bed in the gray room for the woman. And you, Susanna Mattoni, need to be alone after so long a journey. Make yourself comfortable till supper-time; punctually at seven, I shall expect you in the dining-room.' She took her basket of keys from the mantel, and noticing me, motioned to Susanna and introduced her to me as our future household companion. The little thing shyly kissed my hand, and as I raised her chin a little to look at her face again, I saw that tears were s.h.i.+ning in the brown eyes. 'Heavens!' I thought as I went out, 'how will this little princess get on here in that gloomy room, in Anna Maria's chilling atmosphere?' I quietly patted the pale little cheek, and followed my niece. Outside in the corridor we met Klaus, dripping wet, having just dismounted from his horse.

"'And so she is really here, then, the new accession to the family?' he asked, giving himself a shake in his wet clothes. 'Well, what does she look like, the little Berliner?'

"I opened the door of my room, and the brother and sister entered.

"'You will see her, Klaus,' replied Anna Maria.

"'Right, little sister, that is true; I will change my clothes first of all.'

"'Yes, Klaus, but be quick: I would like to settle something with you before you see the young lady at table.'

"'Young lady? Whew!' rejoined the brother, and a disagreeable expression lay for a moment on his kind, handsome face. 'Do you wish me to put on a dress-coat, Anna Maria?' He laughed.

"'Well, you will open your eyes, too, Klauschen,' thought I; and all at once a thought came to me that fell like the weight of a mountain on my soul, whether it would not be better if this Susanna Mattoni, together with her black-eyed witch of a nurse, were a thousand miles away?

"When Klaus and Anna Maria had gone, I stood still in the middle of the room and said aloud, with a fierce conviction: 'The two children have made an unpardonably stupid move; what will come of it?' And much came of it! If the succession of sorrow, tears, and bitter hours that followed Susanna Mattoni's little feet could have been foreseen on her arrival, Anna Maria would have given not only the old woman, but Susanna herself, no longer than twenty-four hours to stay in her house!

"I was still standing on the same spot when the door flew open, and Susanna's old companion entered. 'Gracious Fraulein,' she cried anxiously, 'do come; the child--she is weeping, she is ill, she will kill herself!'

"The excited creature wrung her hands, and her whole frame trembled. I limped across to the girl's room, again with the thought, 'What will come of it?' Susanna was sitting, half undressed, at the toilet-table, her dark hair falling loosely over a white dressing-sack; her face was buried in her hands, and she was crying. The old woman rushed up to her: 'Darling, the kind lady is here; she will be good to us, she will let me stay here, and will speak a good word to the Fraulein; please now, my lamb, she surely will.'

"Susanna Mattoni raised her head and dried the tears from her great eyes; when she saw me she sprang up, and again I felt the magical charm that surrounded the young creature. 'What is the matter, my child?' I asked tenderly.

"'You are very kind, Mademoiselle,' she answered; 'it is only the strangeness and the long journey.' And she s.h.i.+vered with cold.

"'Dress yourself quickly,' I advised her, 'there is a fire in the dining-room, and the warm supper will do you good.'

"The old woman seized a comb and drew it with evident pride through the beautiful hair, and waited on the Professor's young daughter as if she were really a princess. She talked meanwhile of her delicate const.i.tution and her nerves. I quite forgot going, and at that stood still in amazement. Merciful Heaven! In old houses in the Mark 'nerves'

were not yet the fas.h.i.+on. What would Anna Maria say, what would----?

"Anna Maria had spoken of having Susanna acquire the art of housekeeping, so that in the future she might help herself through life with her own hands. And here! a maid, nerves, the beauty of a _grande dame_ with the little hands and feet of a child.

"And now the old woman took from the trunk a little black dress, evidently quite new, and trimmed with bows, flounces, and the Lord knows what! Over the s.h.i.+ning white neck she laid a black gauze fichu, which she gracefully arranged on the bodice, and beneath the short skirts peeped two shoes laced up with silk ribbons, such as scarcely ever before glided over the old floors of Butze Manor-house. Certainly the old woman understood her business. Susanna Mattoni was, as she stood there, the most charming girl I have ever seen, before or since, in my long life.

"'G.o.d help me, what will be the end of it?' I asked myself for the third time, as the old woman broke off a white spray of elder, and placed it, correctly and not without coquetry, in the fichu.

"'But, my dear,' I said aloud, 'there is no company here this evening.

We eat to-day _en famille_, buckwheat groats with milk.'

"But I got no answer; the busy lady's maid bent quickly to pull one or two bows straight, and I glanced from Susanna--the color in whose cheeks had mounted to a bright red--to the trunk, which looked suspiciously empty after the taking out of the new dress. The old woman observed me, and quickly shut the cover. 'The clock is striking seven,' she said; and in fact, the weak, thin tone of the Butze church-bell was heard just seven times, and at once began the noisy sound of the servants'

supper-bell.

"'Come,' said I to her, 'the servants' room is down-stairs.'

"'Thank you,' she replied, with a look of refusal. 'I am not at all hungry; but I would like to ask for some wood, for the child cannot sleep in this damp atmosphere.'

"I directed her to Brockelmann, and conducted Susanna Mattoni to the dining-room.

"Oh, I could paint the scene now! The four candles on the table vied with the rosy twilight, and in the vaulted window-niche stood Klaus and Anna Maria. He had put his arm around her, and had been saying some kind, serious word--they never stood so near each other again! I seem to see, at this moment, how they turned around toward me--how Klaus, full of surprise, looked past me at the slender, girlish figure; how Anna Maria was suddenly transfixed--and I could not blame either of them! I have scarcely ever seen Susanna Mattoni more charming, more maidenly, than at that moment, when she stood in embarra.s.sment before the young friend of her father. I wondered if she had imagined he was different.

"A warm glow overspread her delicate face; Anna Maria blushed, too. I do not know whether it was fear or anger that caused her to touch Klaus's arm, as he stepped forward to say some words of welcome to Susanna.

"'Please come to the table!' called Anna Maria. 'Here, Fraulein Mattoni, beside Aunt Rosamond.' As we stood at our places she said, in a strangely faltering voice, the old grace: 'The eyes of all wait upon Thee, O Lord!' The 'Amen' almost stuck in her throat, and in the look which she gave the young girl's dainty dress, and which fell with especial sharpness on the white flowers, I saw what the clock had struck for Anna Maria. It was almost amusing to me to compare the two girls, so unlike, and to wonder whether the high-necked, gray woollen dress and the dainty little silk gown would ever live side by side, without having to make mutual concessions.

"Klaus talked to Susanna, who sat opposite him. He touched upon the subject of her deceased father, but gave it up at once when he saw the great eyes fill with tears, which she bravely tried to swallow with the strange buckwheat groats. A fresh egg, afterward, seemed to taste better to her, but with a timorous smile she refused a gla.s.s of foaming brown beer, and I am convinced that she rose unsatisfied from the table.

"The candles were lighted in the sitting-room, and at the master's place lay a plate of tobacco and a matchbox beside the newspaper. At Anna Maria's place lay her knitting-work, and at mine spectacles and Pompadour, just as Brockelmann arranged them every evening, except that in winter Anna Maria had her spinning-wheel instead of her knitting.

To-night Klaus did not take his pipe from the shelf in the corner; Susanna Mattoni's delicate form sank into his comfortable easy-chair, and her small head nestled back in the cus.h.i.+ons; but Klaus, like a true cavalier, with a chivalry that became him admirably, sat on a stool opposite her.

"The conversation, in which Anna Maria joined but little, turned upon Berlin. Susanna was well informed about her native city, and now chattered charmingly and without embarra.s.sment; her eyes shone, her cheeks grew red, and a roguish dimple displayed itself every instant.

Now she was in the opera-house or theatre, in the Thiergarten or in Charlottenburg; now she related anecdotes of the royal family. All this came out in a confused jumble, and Klaus did not grow tired of asking questions. The newspaper lay disregarded, and his pipe did not receive a glance.

"Anna Maria sat silent, and knit. At nine o'clock she broke into the conversation. 'I think you must be tired, Fraulein Mattoni,' she said; and one could perceive what an effort she made to speak kindly. 'We usually retire about ten, but you need an extra hour's sleep to-night.'

And as Brockelmann appeared, in answer to the bell, the little thing, with a certain astonishment in her eyes, said 'Good-night,' like an obedient child. She turned around at the door, and asked, with a sweet, imploring expression on her little face: 'May Isa sleep in my room?'

"'A bed has been made up in another room for your companion,' replied Anna Maria; 'you are surely not afraid? Brockelmann's room is next door.'

"Susanna did not reply, but made another exceedingly graceful courtesy and vanished.

"'Do let the old woman sleep with her,' said Klaus; 'think how forlorn her first night in a strange house must be!'