astor Gruene stood waiting at the back of the room. He came toward me
with an inquiring look.

"I shook my head. 'She is not coming!'

"'It is bad,' said he, 'when a good kernel is covered by such a prickly
shell. Anna Maria lacks humility and gentle love; she has no woman's
heart.'

"'You are mistaken in the girl!' I cried, imbittered, with tears in my
eyes. 'She is better than all the rest of us put together!'

"'And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,' said he,
impressively, 'and though I give my body to be burned, and have not
charity, it profiteth me nothing.'

"My poor, proud, honest Anna Maria! If they only knew what I know, if
they could only see right into your heart! thought I, and bitterly my
eyes fell on the ravishing, lovely creature, now crossing the threshold
on Klaus's arm. She did not wear the unfortunate white dress; she was in
that little black lace-trimmed dress which she had worn the first time
Klaus saw her, nothing but the myrtle-wreath adorned with white flowers
in her hair to remind one of a bride. But if ever Susanna understood how
to make her external appearance effective, it was now, as she came,
without ornament or parade, to the altar. It was no wonder that Klaus
did not turn his eyes away from her, that he pressed the delicate arm so
closely to him, that he dismissed as groundless chattering what people
might say about this pure, childish brow.

"And then the low whispering stopped; Pastor Gruene was beginning to
speak.

"If I could only tell now how he opened his address! The words went in
at one ear and out at the other; I saw only Klaus, his handsome face, so
proud, so penetrated with kind, honest sentiment, with a glimmer of
tender emotion over it; and I thought of Anna Maria lying over there on
the floor, in pain and fear. Then I saw Klaus make a quick, convulsive
motion, and now every word went to my heart:

"'It was on this spot that you once stood by the coffin of your dead
mother, holding in your arms a dear legacy, promising with hand and
heart to take care of the child and protect her in all the vicissitudes
of life. And the way you did this, it was a joy for God and man to see!
There is no more intimate bond than that which united the orphaned
brother and sister; and let not this bond be broken, let not the knot be
untied by the coming of a third person! The wife'--he turned to
Susanna--'must be a peacemaker; she must strive that unity may dwell
under her h