"Susanna bent down her crimson face, and uttered a low 'Yes!' She had
understood me.

"'_Allons donc_, my child, we will not delay.' I rose and went forward;
slowly she followed me, with a decided expression of ill-humor. At the
front steps of the castle we met Stuermer, a look of happy surprise still
on his face.

"'Oh, dear Aunt Rosamond, you will breakfast with me!' he begged, giving
me his well arm to escort me up the steps. 'Such a rare occasion!' And
he gave me a look so winning, so truly delighted that it would have been
more than uncivil to refuse. And the personality of my old favorite
exercised such a charm over me that, smiling, I let myself be dragged
away.

"Susanna flew past us up the steps; her lace-trimmed skirts stood out as
she ran, fluttering about her light feet; the rose fell out of her hair
and dropped in front of Stuermer. He picked it up, and held it absently
in his hand. Susanna disappeared behind the glass door of the vestibule;
Stuermer's eyes, which had followed her, now looked at me again, and our
eyes met and remained for a moment fixed on each other, as if each would
read the other's thoughts. Then he silently led me through the rooms of
his house.

"How often had I been here before! I had always liked to think of the
comfortable great rooms, which, with their oak wainscoting and huge
tiled stoves projecting far out from the walls, presented such an
attractive appearance to the half-frozen guests who had come in sleighs
from Buetze. It had always been a dream of mine to see Anna Maria ruling
here some day, but the picture was erased from my mind when I entered
the first room.

"Where were they, the comfortable rooms, the dark oak wainscoting, the
old tiled stoves? Gilding and colored mosaics shone, with a foreign air,
on the walls; odd draperies concealed doors and windows; low, dark-red
couches in place of the sofas; fragile little bronze tables, and vases;
everywhere mirrors reaching to the floor; groups of exotic flowers in
the corners; a Smyrna rug on the floor, in which the foot sank deep.
Astonished, I stood still on the threshold.

"'_Mon Dieu_, Edwin, have you fallen among the Turks?'

"'It is my furnishing from Stamboul, that I brought home with me,' he
replied, simply. 'But, alas! I could not charm hither the view. Imagine
that wall gone, Fraeulein Rosamond, and in its place slender marble
pillars, forming a covered walk, and then imagine yourself looking out
between the