ter.

"Below, in the court-yard, it was still as death; only old Mandelt, the
watchman, was going slowly along, shaking his rattler; and above the
slumbering world glittered the brilliant stars of the August sky as
through a light mist.

"Then I started up; heavy steps were approaching my door, and now
Brockelmann called into my room: 'A boy, Fraeulein Rosamond! Come
down-stairs--such a dear, splendid boy!'

"Never did I hurry down those stairs so quickly as on that night, nor
did Klaus ever take me in his arms so impetuously, so full of thankful
jubilation, as then, when he came toward me to lead me to the cradle of
his child. The strong man was quite overcome, and the first words that
he whispered to me were again: 'How Anna Maria will rejoice!'

"If ever a child was welcomed with joy it was this one. His presence
worked like a deliverance upon us all; even Brockelmann and Isa spoke
pleasantly to each other to-day. Isa's anxiety about her darling had
reached the highest pitch, and she had left her place in the room of the
young mother to the quiet old woman; and Brockelmann--well, she would
not have been the honest old soul that she was not to rejoice with her
master over his son. Whatever grudge against Susanna may have still
lingered in her heart, this day wiped out; with a truly motherly
tenderness she presided at the sick-bed. And did it fare better with me?
I, too, old creature that I was, knelt down between the bed and the
cradle, and kissed the little pale face again and again; in this hour
everything with which she had once troubled us was forgotten.

"And Klaus sat at his writing-desk and wrote to Anna Maria. 'Do you
think she will come?' he asked as he came in again. He had sent a
special messenger to E---- with the letter to his sister. 'Will she
come?'

"'Surely, Klaus!' I replied.

"The messenger was gone three days; then he returned with a letter from
Anna Maria. Heartfelt words it contained, here and there half blotted
out by tears. She would come soon, she wrote, come soon--in a week or
two, perhaps--but would it be right to Susanna?

"I was sitting by the bed of the young wife as Klaus came into the room
with this letter. She was holding the small bundle of lace in her arms.
Isa had had to adorn the young gentleman's toilet to-day with blue
ribbons. Susanna played with him as if he were a doll, and wanted to
know what color would best suit the young prince. She was so merry and
pretty about