of field flowers in her hands, he leading
his horse by the bridle and carrying her parasol and shawl; and her
chatter and his deep voice, calling her a thousand pet names, reechoed
from the old walls when they had come into the house.

"If Anna Maria could only have seen them thus, thought I, would she have
been reconciled? Poor, lonely Anna Maria!

"Susanna never inquired for her; her stay here seemed to be entirely
taken up with all manner of little trifles. Occasionally there came a
perfect swarm of guests, and then the sound of laughing and chattering
was heard in the garden-parlor till far into the night, and
Brockelmann, with a very red face, bustled about at the sideboard.

"'I don't feel my feet at all, any more,' the old woman would sometimes
complain; 'I really must have some one else to help me. In old times one
used to know it beforehand when there was to be a great supper; but if
any one came unexpectedly, he took just what there was in the house and
was satisfied. But how should I dare take thinly sliced ham and fresh
eggs and a herring salad to the Frau? I tried it once--how she turned up
her nose and begged her guests to excuse it! And then the master comes
and says: "Good Brockelmann, though it is a little bit late, do get us a
couple of warm dishes, and this and that, and a little fowl, for my wife
does not like a cold supper when there is company; you must have some
asparagus or green peas?" Heavens and earth! And then old Brockelmann is
so stupid, too, as to run her heels off and make the impossible
possible. Oh dear, oh dear, if Anna Maria knew how my storeroom looks,
and my account books!'

"And she put her hands up under her cap and shook her head.

"'You may believe it, Fraeulein Rosamond,' she would sometimes add, 'the
Frau is well enough yet, at least she doesn't concern herself about me;
but the old woman--O Lord! She sticks her nose into everything, and more
than a hundred times she has brought her chocolate out to me again--it
wasn't hot enough, or was burned, or the Lord knows what! As if the old
creature understood anything about it, anyway! Oh, yes, and then, if my
patience is utterly exhausted, the master comes into the kitchen. "Good
Brockelmann," he says, in his friendly way, "do keep peace with Isa,
that my little wife may not be vexed." Well, then I keep still; but I
see how he takes to heart everything that concerns his wife. And then I
think how loud and angrily he has often s