Pressburg to see how the wedding-garments were
getting on--all the preparations for the marriage were being made
outside the house--and as they were not ready, she felt obliged to
remain in town all night, and sent Boltay back to guard the house.

Hitherto, Fanny had never lain alone in her room. Her aunt had always
slept in the cabinet, and the door between the two rooms had been left
open; and on very stormy nights, when the rain beat against the
window-panes, when the wind slammed the doors, and the dogs were howling
in the yard below, it was nice to reflect that near her was resting a
good faithful soul who, next to God, was her most watchful guardian.

This particular night, too, was very stormy. The rain poured, the
tempest shook the trees, the roaming dogs barked and howled as if they
were hunting down some one, and the wind shook the doors as if some one
was repeatedly trying to open them from the outside. So Fanny invited
her mother to come and spend the night with her.

Mrs. Meyer came, of course, and watched her daughter undress. Why should
she not? she was her own mother! She looked at her often, and she looked
at her long, in fact, she could scarce take her eyes off her. The girl
seemed to fill her with equal astonishment and rapture. At each moment
the contours of her virginal figure revealed fresh charms. Ah! in the
eyes of real connoisseurs sixty thousand florins were but a bagatelle
for such a matchless creature!

* * * * *

At night, in the dark, when the candles are extinguished, old women can
chatter their best, especially when they light upon some one who does
not easily doze off and is prepared to patiently listen to all they have
to say, and even to spur them on from time to time with expressions of
amazement, horror, approbation, or other stimulating interjections. Such
occasions are the most convenient time for recounting all that has
happened ten, twenty, even fifty years ago, beginning from births and
christenings, and going right on through engagements and marriages to
deaths and burials, till at last a half-snore from one quarter or
another puts an end to the discourse. Mrs. Meyer, too, was inclined to
be talkative, and she could not have had a better opportunity than when
they were both lying in bed.

"Oh, oh! my darling girl!" she began; "my sweet, pretty girl, never did
I think I should be so fortunate as to sleep in the same room with you.
How oddly