was the reply.

"I let my work drop from astonishment. 'In Dambitz? How did she happen
to go to Dambitz?'

"'S---- was too far away, Fraeulein Rosamond,' stammered Susanna shyly,
'and so she has hired a little room there at the blacksmith's. But she
says she does not notice the noise of the forge at all; her windows look
out on the castle garden, and that is wonderful, she says. She may live
there, may she not?' she added, beseechingly; 'it is certainly far
enough from here.'

"'Of course she can live where she pleases, Susanna,' said I; 'we have
no right to lay down commands about that.'

"Meanwhile Brockelmann had set the table for supper on the terrace, and
we seated ourselves. Candles were now burning on the table, and their
unsteady, flickering light fell on Susanna's beautiful pale face. Her
white dress was made quite fresh again, and even the withered roses were
replaced by fresh ones; one could see that the old Isabella had been
helping the child.

"Susanna was seated between Klaus and me, Stuermer and Anna Maria
opposite. There was a strawberry _bowle_ on the table, and Susanna drank
eagerly; gradually color came into her cheeks, and her dark eyes began
to shine. And then all at once she was in her element--laughing,
jesting, and mirth. And how she could laugh! I have never heard such a
laugh as Susanna Mattoni's. It ran the whole compass of the scale, so
light and delicious that one was forced to join in it; and as she
laughed, her red mouth displayed the prettiest white teeth, and prattled
mere nonsense and follies, and as she held high her glass to touch with
Stuermer, I saw Klaus look at her with an expression that spoke even
more plainly than his trembling voice yesterday.

"Anna Maria sat silent opposite her, and not the faintest smile passed
over her lips; this graceful trifling was decidedly unpleasant to her.
But Susanna had the majority on her side, for even honest old Pastor
Gruene did not conceal the fact that he was fascinated by her.

"I tried to think how I might silence the little red lips, but in vain.
At last a thought struck me. 'Susanna 'I cried in the midst of her sweet
laugh, 'Susanna, what do you say to a song? I heard you singing so
prettily last evening.'

"'Ah! no, no, Mademoiselle,' she objected; 'I cannot sing before
people.'

"But the gentlemen echoed my request with one voice, and Stuermer
proposed to extinguish the candles, saying that one could surely sing
better by