A Sister's Love Part 8

"But Anna Maria did not reply; she got her brother's pipe from the shelf, and, smiling, pushed him into his easy-chair, and took up her knitting again.

"'There, Klaus, I beg of you, don't be so nonsensical in the future as to sit on a footstool. That was very uncomfortable.'

"'Sooner dead than impolite!' he replied good-humoredly.

"'Everything in its time!' she rejoined. 'Susanna Mattoni is to be a member of our household, and there is nothing so tiresome as formal politeness and constraint. Susanna can sit on that stool just as well as you.'

"'_Bon_, Anna Maria! But now, what do you really think of her?'

"'Since you ask me plainly, Klaus, I will answer you plainly. I say that I expected to receive something different into the house.'

"'So did I,' he rejoined laconically, drawing the first whiffs from his pipe.

"'And that if anything is to be made of the girl, the old woman must go away to-morrow.'

"'She is right,' thought I to myself, 'if it is only not too late!'

"Klaus took up the newspaper. 'Well, Anna Maria, there may be something to say about that by and by; but let her stay a week or two, so that she may see how Fraulein Mattoni gets on.'

"'Am I to bring up the girl or not?' Anna Maria interrupted, with a roughness such as she had never before shown toward her brother. 'How is this spoiled lady of fas.h.i.+on to learn to take care of herself and to use her hands, if that person remains at her side, to put on her shoes and stockings for her whenever it is possible, and turn her head with flowers and frivolities? Twenty-four hours I have said, and not a minute longer; two such totally different methods as hers and mine cannot agree.'

"Klaus looked in surprise at the excited face. 'You are right, Anna Maria,' he said appeasingly. 'I am only afraid that this being will never develop according to your mind. She seems to me----'

"'Made of different material!' finished Anna Maria ironically. 'I tell you, that will be no hindrance to me, in educating a girl whose calling it is to make herself useful in the world; affected dolls, painted cheeks, and theatrical pomp, I will not endure in my house!'

"She had risen, and all the indignation which the old woman's skill at the toilet had called forth now glowed on her red cheeks and shone from her sparkling eyes.

"Klaus laid down the newspaper which he had just taken up. 'I beg you, Anna Maria,' he said, almost indignantly, 'cannot that be settled quietly? The girl has only this minute come into the house, and is she to make discord between us already?'

"Anna Maria sat down again in silence, and took up her knitting. But after a little while she rose hastily, tied a black lace scarf over her fair hair, and went out.

"Klaus followed her with his eyes. 'Aunt Rosamond, what is this?' he asked, sighing.

"'She expected something different, Klaus,' I said; 'it is a disappointment.'

"'The girl is charming, Aunt Rosamond. I can understand the Professor's anxiety about her. But how will she get on with Anna Maria's energy?

There are not only hens and such useful creatures in the world, but the good G.o.d has made birds of paradise as well!'

"'Klauschen,' came from the depths of my heart, 'let the bird of paradise fly away; it is not suited to your nest.'

"'Never, Aunt Rosamond,' he replied quickly. 'I am bound by the last wish of the man whom I loved best in the whole world!' He was red, and his eyes shone moistly, and it struck me, at this moment, what a handsome, stately man he was.

"Brockelmann's entrance put an end to our conversation. She was hunting for Anna Maria, and looked irritated: 'It is too provoking, master; the old woman isn't suited with her bed, and means to sit up all night in her young lady's room. And there is a fire there hot enough to roast an ox, and that in May! She is doing some cooking, too; the whole room smells of green tea.' Muttering away, she disappeared.

"Klaus laughed aloud. 'Open rebellion, Aunt Rosamond! Do me a favor, and look after these two strangers. Perhaps you will be able to point out to the old woman that--well, that she can't stay here.'

"This really seemed to me the best thing to do, and I went up-stairs.

Through the hall window I caught sight of Anna Maria in the damp, moonlit garden; she was standing motionless, like a dark shadow, and looking out toward the dusky country. 'Strange girl,' thought I; 'if an ugly little creature in a patched dress had come to the house to-day, she would have taken it to her heart, and kissed it--and now?'

"As I entered Susanna's room without knocking, the old woman hastily motioned to me to come softly, for her charge was asleep. She was sitting in a high-backed chair by the bed, and, as I came nearer, rose and drew aside the curtains for me to look at the girl.

"There lay the young thing in the deep sleep of fatigue, breathing softly and quietly, a smile on the red lips; the drooping lashes rested like dark shadows on the child's pale cheeks. Her little night-dress, trimmed with imitation lace and adorned with a profusion of bows, did not look badly in the dim light which came from two candles and the dying embers in the fire-place. The slender hands were folded, and the dark hair lay loosely over the white pillow. Yes, she was charming, this maiden in her sweet slumber.

"'Is she not beautiful? Is she not lovely?' said the old woman's proud smile.

"I nodded. 'Poor little bird of paradise!' I thought, 'how your gay, s.h.i.+ning feathers will be plucked. Well for you if you do not miss them!'

And, bethinking myself of my promise to Klaus, I turned and beckoned to the old woman. By the fire-place I overturned a little silver kettle and a cup that were standing on the floor. Aha, the tea-making apparatus! On the sofa lay the clothes which Susanna had worn to-day, in picturesque disorder; one little shoe was on the floor, the other I noticed on the dressing-table, and beside it hats, ribbons, and all sorts of frippery, in the wildest confusion.

"'Will you not put the things away in the wardrobes intended for them,'

I asked softly, 'so that Susanna can find them without your help?'

"'She will not need to,' the old woman replied confidently, and looked at me with a friendly grin. 'They surely cannot be so cruel as to separate us.'

"'Certainly, my dear, you will leave the house to-morrow, and Susanna Mattoni will remain under our protection, as her father was promised.

There was nothing said about you in this matter.'

"'Then give me a rope at once,' whispered the old woman pa.s.sionately, 'that I may hang myself on the nearest limb! What am I to do, then?

Where shall I go? I had a foreboding as we drove through the gate that ill-luck awaited me!'

"'My niece will surely allow you to visit your former charge from time to time,' I said, to console her.

"'And what is to become of her?' she asked, pointing to the sleeping girl. 'She is not accustomed to be without me for a moment! No, no, I am not going; I cannot go. If this young lady has no sympathy, surely the kind gentleman will have, who used to come so often to the Professor.

Where is he? I will beg him on my knees, I will beg him to let me stay here.'

"'Listen, my friend,' I said earnestly, and took hold of the flowing silk sleeves of her dress. 'It will be for your young lady's best good if you are parted from her. This much I know, that Professor Mattoni has left the girl quite without means, and it is now high time she learned to put on her shoes and stockings alone. A poor demoiselle, of citizen's rank, needs no lady's maid. She must learn to work and to make herself useful.'

"'Oh, Heaven!' sobbed the little dried-up woman, 'I thought she was to be a guest in this house, and you will make a servant of her.'

"A harsh answer was at my tongue's end. Had her tenderness for the girl made this woman perfectly crazy? At any rate, she was not to be reasoned with. 'Go down-stairs,' said I, in vexation, 'and carry your complaint to the master. He will know better, at least, how to make you comprehend what sort of a position Susanna Mattoni is to occupy here.'

"She dried her tears, seized a candle, and flew to the mirror, bustled about with comb and brush, and spread over her yellow face something from various little jars. I began to feel a real horror of the old woman, with her artifices. Now she tied her cap-strings afresh, pulled from the trunk a lace-edged handkerchief, and holding it theatrically in her hand, said she was ready to pay her respects to the master.

"'Were you formerly on the stage?' I asked, wondering at her red, full cheeks.

"'For ten years, Mademoiselle!' she replied; 'I played the gay, her mother'--she pointed to Susanna--'the tragic lovers. Oh, it was glorious, that acting together!'

"What she further related I did not understand. 'Merciful Heaven!' I faltered, as I opened the door softly and showed her out into the hall, 'what has Klaus brought upon us, in his kind-heartedness?'

"I sat still by the girl's bed, and looked at the young face. G.o.d only knew in what slough this fair flower had grown! It was clear that the old woman must go away, if anything was ever to be made of the girl; please G.o.d it might not be too late!

"The light from the candles scarcely sufficed to light up the nearest objects. Dense obscurity lay in the corners, but the oil-portrait of the Mischief-maker was feebly illuminated, and her black eyes seemed to give me a demoniacal look. A vague fear came over me; involuntarily I folded my hands in prayer: 'O Lord, Thy ways are wonderful! Lead us gently, let not the peace go out from us that has dwelt so long beneath this roof, let no second Mischief-maker have crossed this threshold, preserve the old, sacred bond between Klaus and Anna Maria. Amen!'

"At this moment the door opened and the old actress came back. She did not deign to look at me, but knelt down by the bed, laid her head on the pillow, and began to weep bitterly.

"'Isa! Isa!' murmured Susanna in her sleep. The old woman raised her head and pressed the dark hair to her lips.

"'I am going, Mademoiselle,' she whispered to me; 'no one has a heart here in this house. But if a hair of her head is hurt, or a tear falls from her eyes, I--I--' She gasped out a few words more, and threw herself down again beside the bed.

"'When shall you leave?' I asked.