the terrace. And
then his eyes would rest on Susanna with a strange expression, anxiously
and compassionately it seemed to me. He said not a word against Anna
Maria's management.

"'Aunt Rosamond,' the latter said sadly to me one day, 'I fear Susanna's
being here is a burden to Klaus; he is quiet, depressed, and not at all
as he used to be.'

"'Why _that_ cause, Anna Maria?' said I. 'Klaus does seem out of humor,
that is true, but may it not be something else? Farmers have a new cause
for vexation every day, and are never at a loss for one.'

"'Ah, no, Aunt Rosamond!' she replied. 'There has not been the prospect
of such a harvest for years; it is a pleasure to go through the fields.'

"And Susanna, the breath of whose life was laughing? She wandered about
like a dreamer. How often, when she sat opposite me in the sewing-room,
her hands dropped in her lap, and she went to sleep, like an overweary
child. And I let her sleep, for on the pale little face the marks of the
unwonted manner of life were only too perceptible. Once Klaus came into
the room, as she sat there, fallen asleep, like little Princess
Domroeschen, only, instead of the spindle, the netting-needle in her
hand. He came nearer on tip-toe, and looked at her, his arms at his
sides. Then he asked softly:

"'Do you not think she looks wretchedly, aunt?'

"'The altered mode of life, Klaus,' I answered, 'the strange food,
the----'

"'Say the over-exertion, aunt,' he broke in; 'that would be nearer the
truth. Poor little one!'

"'Why do you not say so to Anna Maria, Klaus? I, too, think that too
much is required in this early rising and continually being on the
feet.'

"He grew very red, bit his lips, and shrugged his shoulders in place of
an answer, and left me before I had time to speak further.

"Susanna, moreover, never uttered a word of complaint; but it would
happen that Anna Maria had to seek her, seek for hours without finding
her, and that Klaus very quietly remarked, 'She must have run away!' But
she would appear again suddenly, with bright eyes and red cheeks, to be
sure; she had gone astray in the wood, she said, or gone to sleep in the
garden. Sometimes she would shut herself into her dull room, and open
the door to no knocks. Once, as she pulled her handkerchief quickly out
of her pocket, a paper of bonbons fell to the floor. Anna Maria, who
despised all sweetmeats, confiscated it at once; I can still see the
look of punishment she gave