"And you will come to us again," sobbed her mother. "Gertrude, Gertrude, my poor unhappy child, did I not foresee this?"
"This is too much!" growled the old gentleman. "Confound these women! Don't let them talk you into anything, child," he cried, forcibly; "settle it with your husband alone."
"A carriage, uncle," reiterated the young wife.
"Wait a while at least," entreated Jenny, "till mamma's lawyer--"
"Oh," groaned Uncle Henry, "if Arthur had only been here, this confounded affair wouldn't have been left in the women's hands. I will get you a carriage, Gertrude. Your nags are at the factory, Jenny? Very well. Excuse me a moment."
Gertrude was standing in the window like one stunned; she had as yet no clear understanding of the matter. "The whole city is talking about it," she heard her mother sob. Of what then? She tried forcibly to collect her thoughts, but in vain. Only one thing: it is not true! went over and over in her mind.
She clenched her little hand in its leather glove. "A lie! A lie!" fell again from her lips. But this lie had spread itself like a heavy mist over her young happiness, bringing so much vague alarm that her breath came thick and fast.
"Shall I go with you?" asked Jenny. The carriage was just coming across the square.
"No, thank you. I require no third person between my husband and myself."
"You look so miserable," groaned her mother.
"At least send back a messenger at once."
"Perhaps you think he beats me too?" she inquired, ironically, turning to go.
"Child! child!" cried Mrs. Baumhagen, stretching out her arms towards her, "be reasonable, don't be so blind where facts speak so loudly."
But she did not turn back. Calmly she took down her mantle from the hat-stand. Sophie gazed anxiously into the pale, still face of the young wife, who quite forgot to say a pleasant word to the old servant. At the carriage-door stood Uncle Henry.
"Let me go with you, Gertrude," he entreated.
"It is only out of pure selfishness, Gertrude," he continued. "If I don't know how it is going with you I shall be ill."
"No, uncle. We two require no one; we shall get on better alone."
"Don't break the staff at once, child," he said, gently,
He lifted his hat from his bald head. There was a reverent expression in his eyes.