ion and guide; but she was not
surprised when Anna told her that he could not go. "It was too much to
expect," apologised Anna. "He often has rheumatism in the spring, and
perhaps he has it now."

Susie sniffed.

"The question is," said Anna after a pause, "what am I to do, helpless
virgin, in spite of my years,--never able to do a thing for myself?"

"I'll go with you."

"You? But what about your engagements?"

"Oh, I'll throw them over, and take you. Letty can come too. It will do
her German good. Herr Schumpf says he's ashamed of her."

Susie had various reasons for offering herself so amiably, one being
certainly curiosity. But the chief one was that the same woman who had
been so rude to her the day Anna's news came, had sent out invitations
to all the world to her daughter's wedding after Easter, and had not
sent one to Susie.

This was one of those trials that cannot be faced. If she, being in
London at the time, carefully explained to her friends that she was ill
that day, and did actually stay in bed and dose herself the days
preceding and following, who would believe her? Not if she waved a
doctor's certificate in their faces would they believe her. They would
know that she had not been invited, and would rejoice. She felt that she
could not bear it. An unavoidable business journey to the Continent was
exactly what she wanted to help her out of this desperate situation. On
her return she would be able to hear the wedding discussed and express
her disappointment at having missed it with a serene brow and a quiet
mind.

It is doubtful whether she would have gone with Anna, however urgent
Anna's need, if she had been included in those invitations. But Anna,
who could not know the secret workings of her mind, once more remembered
her former treatment of Susie, so kind and willing to do all she could,
and hung her head with shame.

They left London a day or two before Easter, Letty and Miss Leech, both
of them nearly ill with suppressed delight at the unexpected holiday,
going with them. They had announced their coming to Uncle Joachim's
lawyer, and asked him to make arrangements for their accommodation at
Kleinwalde, Anna's new possession. Susie proposed to stay a day in
Berlin, which would give Anna time to talk everything over with the
lawyer, and would enable Letty to visit the museums. She had a hopeful
idea that Letty would absorb German at every pore once she was in the
country itself, and that b