g before. She was lying on the sofa in Aunt Rosa's
room; above her smiled down the ancestress with the powdered hair, and
the whole wonderful rose-wreathed room was in the full glow of the
morning sunshine.

At the foot of the bed on a low footstool sat a young girl in a black
dress and a white apron; the dark head had fallen against the arm of
the sofa--Adelaide was sound asleep.

The young wife got up softly. Her drenched clothing had been taken off
the night before and her own dressing-gown put on; there was still a
large part of her wardrobe in Niendorf; she even found, her dainty
slippers standing before the sofa, which she was accustomed to put on
when she got up. She was very quick and very careful not to wake the
young girl. But as she softly opened the door, the sleeper sprang up,
and a pair of wondering dark eyes gazed up at Gertrude.

"Where are you going?" asked the clear voice.

Gertrude stopped, undecided.

"Mr. Linden went to bed so very late," continued Adelaide Strom; "he
sat here beside you till about an hour ago. You will not wake him? It
is not four o'clock yet."

A pair of firm little hands drew the young wife away from the door
towards the sofa, and in contradiction to the childish words a pair of
grave eyes looked at her, saying plainly, "Do what you will--I shall
not let you go."

Gertrude sat down again on the improvised bed and bit her lips till
they bled, but the young girl busied herself at a side-table, and
presently a fragrant odor of coffee filled the room.

"Here," she said, offering the young wife a cup of the hot beverage,
"take it, it will do you good. I made some coffee for Mr. Linden too,
in the night: only drink it quietly, it is _his_ cup and no one else
has ever touched it."

And as Gertrude made no reply and only held the cup in her trembling
hand without drinking, Adelaide continued without taking any
notice--"Ah, yesterday was a dreadful day. The frightful storm and that
dreadful thunderbolt, and the great barn was in flames in a moment, and
before any help came the other was burning, and it was with the
greatest difficulty the animals were saved. If Mr. Linden had not been
so calm and had so much presence of mind, it would have been frightful.
But he went into the horses' stable just as if the flames were not
darting in after him, and he put the harness on the horses and they
followed him out through the flames like lambs, though no one could get
them out before. A